Evolving Matriarchy and Stagnant Educators
Yo...
I went to a great workshop today (for the fun of it, believe it or not). The group of attendees was not particularly fabulous, but the topic, my partner in crime, and facilitator were. It was Class: A Hidden NH Culture (poverty in the granite state) and I was eager to get into some of the topics we veered away from as interested parties consisted of mostly educators and people who enjoy the sound of their own voice more than anything else in the world.
It did bring up some interesting distinctions and generalizations about the class system of NH that I always thought were too taboo to say out loud. It presented them clearly, and with confidence that made them less offensive. The most interesting point made, and one that will stick with me was about the concept of time behind each class. For generational poverty, it's about the present and often survival. For middle class, we think in terms of future. How do I get there? For wealthy, upper class it's about tradition and what has happened in the past. These are not applicable to all things class relative, but it's an interesting distinction, especially when you consider the education traditions for each extreme class. I say extreme because obviously we all find ourselves in a mix of one or more classes, and there are intensely varied structures and hierarchies in each. Fascinating stuff. Wish there were less teachers in the room though.
Tied back to my coursework, the workshop identified that poverty is the most matriarchal class. As you move to middle class, we begin to see a patriarchal family unit. Strange that moving "up" in the world socio-economically should take this pattern. Not going to make any assumptions here. Just interesting.
The facilitator did a fine job of creating a sense of "different not better" that took the least condescending road it could for a group of middle to upper class schleps who got together on a monday morning to discuss poverty in one of the least impoverished states of this nation. Hmmm. one wonders what our motives are...
off to try and write the next great poem... as if we'd ever agree there was a first.
wish me luck, and try not to be an asshole if you can!
I went to a great workshop today (for the fun of it, believe it or not). The group of attendees was not particularly fabulous, but the topic, my partner in crime, and facilitator were. It was Class: A Hidden NH Culture (poverty in the granite state) and I was eager to get into some of the topics we veered away from as interested parties consisted of mostly educators and people who enjoy the sound of their own voice more than anything else in the world.
It did bring up some interesting distinctions and generalizations about the class system of NH that I always thought were too taboo to say out loud. It presented them clearly, and with confidence that made them less offensive. The most interesting point made, and one that will stick with me was about the concept of time behind each class. For generational poverty, it's about the present and often survival. For middle class, we think in terms of future. How do I get there? For wealthy, upper class it's about tradition and what has happened in the past. These are not applicable to all things class relative, but it's an interesting distinction, especially when you consider the education traditions for each extreme class. I say extreme because obviously we all find ourselves in a mix of one or more classes, and there are intensely varied structures and hierarchies in each. Fascinating stuff. Wish there were less teachers in the room though.
Tied back to my coursework, the workshop identified that poverty is the most matriarchal class. As you move to middle class, we begin to see a patriarchal family unit. Strange that moving "up" in the world socio-economically should take this pattern. Not going to make any assumptions here. Just interesting.
The facilitator did a fine job of creating a sense of "different not better" that took the least condescending road it could for a group of middle to upper class schleps who got together on a monday morning to discuss poverty in one of the least impoverished states of this nation. Hmmm. one wonders what our motives are...
off to try and write the next great poem... as if we'd ever agree there was a first.
wish me luck, and try not to be an asshole if you can!