Morning Pages: Privilege Walk

Would I use this exercise in my classroom or not?
I would use this exercise with a classroom of students in high school. Like the black male in the video admitted it reminded him of when he was in school learning about black slavery, and how it made him angry for a few days, and then he realized that this is just the way it is.  I think those feelings would be too intense for someone in middle school, when students are already grappling with many identity issues.  I think making glaringly obvious their place in the line up of privilege would cause humiliation, resentment, and maybe would not be very effective, because middle schoolers in a lot of ways are constantly wanting to fit in and be like their peers. However, I believe that high schoolers would be more apt to gain from a Privilege Walk experience. High schoolers are more mature, and yet are still grappling with identity issues as well, but may be able to reflect more on the activity and see how privilege plays such a huge part on an individual's chance at success in our society and greater world. I would hope that it would speak to those with privilege even more than those without, because I feel like that is where change, acknowledgement, understanding, and empathy needs to come from.

While watching this, I felt a flood of emotion, mostly grief and sadness that our world is so stratified, and that this stratification really harms people's sense of self worth, which is the driving factor in creating in our life. It also makes me sad to think that so much of the success and achievement that humankind has made in the past 200,000 years has very much been bred on the backs of others, and has been very much dependent on there being a poor, enslaved social class.

It is about time that we eradicate the notion of social stratification and through this kind of awareness building so that each new generation has newer, fresher, unbiased eyes towards their fellow peers and citizens, and so that gifted people from marginalized classes can contribute to the growth of our society's development, and their voices will not slip through the cracks of discrimination and bigotry.

It is hard to imagine a world without this kind of stratification, because it is incumbent in every aspect of our society, from the play school yard, to the workplace, to the residential neighborhood to the line in customs.  Yet it is our job as global citizens to continue to peel back the layers of delusion that has allowed this kind of privilege/non-priveilege mindset to prevail.

As hard as these kind of activities can be, emotionally and socially challenging, they are a necessary discomfort we all must push through.