UNDERSTANDING

John Passmore said, "There are many different ways of understanding, overlapping but not reducible to one another and, correspondingly, many different ways of teaching to understand." (The philosophy of Teaching. 1982, p. 210)

 You only understand a topic if you can teach it, use it, prove it, connect it, explain it defend it and read between the lines!

Piaget wryly noted years ago that egocentric persons have only one point of view, theirs! 

Unfortunately, most often we can hear this sentence which says, "You just don't understand." 

When we truly understand, 

• we can explain
• we can interpret
• we can apply
• we have perspective (can see and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears!)
• we can see the big picture
• we can empathize
• have self-knowledge

We must be able to perceive prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede our own understanding!

"A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" and Prejudice

Gabriel Garcia Marquez's story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings," blends magical realism with a simple, straightforward style of writing. 

In the story, Marquez incorporates satire, irony, and humor, while also addressing serious and somewhat dark themes and topics. The author uses humor, magical realism, irony, satire, metaphor,...so many literary techniques to help him convey the story's central message or theme.

Elisenda and her husband Pelayo were looking at the old man with his enormous wings lying face down in the mud. A neighbor woman “who knew everything about life and death” says to them, “He’s an angel,” she told them. “He must have been coming for the child, but the poor fellow is so old that the rain knocked him down” (307). 

Garcia Marquez uses a satire to show human vices. The people are cruel to this angel because he does not fit with the picture that the villagers have of angels. They put him among the chickens. Garcia is showing how humans can be ignorant and mean to each other. They do not realize that this old man is a blessing because they are self-centered and close-minded. They failed to see the old man blessing because they do not see with their heart. 

Garcia’s satire helps him to convey a strong moral. The people with their limited knowledge, conventional wisdom, and superstitious beliefs can do a lot of harm in this world. 

In Garcia Marquez's story, "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings,"  the old man's appearance in the town reveals the character and motivations of the townspeople.

Pelaso held him captive and he watched over him with his bailiff’s club and then he locked him up with the hens in the wire chicken coop. The priest decides to write a letter to the bishop. Then the bishop will write to his primate and then the primate will write to the Pope. Elisenda decided to charge admission.

Garcia depicts the townspeople as close-minded and cruel. The old “angel” is not bringing bad things to the village and he is armed with a great patience but Pelayo and Elisenda show no respect to the old man. They treat him like an animal. The couple becomes rich but they do not show any kindness to the angel and they do not even thank him. Then, Elisenda shouts, “that it was awful living in that hell full of angels.” She associates the angel with hell.  

Garcia Marquez reveals a characteristic of human beings of discrimination. Angels who are old and speak and different language are disrespected and not accepted in the society. Even though this angel has performed some miracles, he is feared because he is different from the image of angels that the townspeople have. 

Garcia Marquez wanted to reveal the true nature of people through this satire: the lack of compassion for fellow humans and the inclination to exploit others for money. The townspeople are superficial, superstitious, and simple-minded and they are willing to manipulate the weak and the poor.

 The townspeople use stereotypes in other to understand someone who is different from them.

Well, unfortunately so many students do the same everyday!! Please, do not use stereotypes in order to judge your friends or other people.

Race and Ethnicity: We must combat Prejudice

According to Hermstein & Murray (2008), almost every year, researchers in the U.S. ask a representative sample of U.S. adults to rank racial and ethnic categories with regard to overall intelligence.

Survey research shows that people in the United States tend to view some racial and ethnic categories as more intelligent and trustful than others.

Social scientists consider any such differences a reflection of environment and culture rather than innate intelligence!

Do we have to downplay our ethnicity as a way to avoid prejudice and discrimination? I do not agree with that!

The fact that some of the terrorist attacks have been carried out by Arabs encourages some people to link being Arab or holding an Arabic name with being a terrorist. Of course, this attitude is unfair because it blames an entire category of people for the actions of a few individuals!

According to Ali & Juarez (2003), Ali, Lipper, & Mack (2004), and Hagopian (2004), People holding an Arabic name around the world have been targets of an increasing number of hate crimes and many feel that they are subject to "ethnic profiling" that threatens their privacy and civil liberties.

Charles Hamilton (1967) described institutional racism as "racism at work in the operation of social institutions, including the economy, schools, hospitals, the military, and the criminal justice system."

Racial profiling, in which police or others in power consider race or ethnicity to be, by itself, a sign of probable guilt, illustrates the operation of institutional racism.

It is difficult to hold an Arabic name today because people would always look at you with suspicious eyes! When you are asked at the immigration to "Please, wait here" or "can you follow me, please", your heart will drop straight down at high speed! oh yes just because of your name!!! You are called Fatma or your name start with Abdul and that is it! They will keep you longer at any immigration post and then with no explanations or apologies, you will be asked to continue your journey.

But how can you continue your journey after you had experienced racial profiling! All these experiences at the airports, at the consulates to ask for visas, or at the embassies are great examples of intolerance and prejudice.

But we all live together in the same world and it should be a world were people live together in it and not against each other.

That is why I believe that teachers can fight discrimination, prejudice, and racism in classrooms through educational programs designed to recognize cultural diversity and to promote respect for all cultural traditions.

In France, a law passed in March 2004 that outlaws the wearing of "conspicuous religious symbols" in public schools. The law has aroused immense controversy because it forbids Muslims female to wear hijab. In December 2003, people demonstrated in Paris to protest a law forbidding Islamic veils in French schools.

But what most of the people in France do not understand, women who wear the hijab made the personal decision to wear it. They explain that at the root of the hijab is the philosophy that a woman should be regarded for her personality, mind, and abilities rather than her physicality. Well, that is their choice and we have to respect it! According to Mariam Rahmani, "the Hijab encapsulates the spirit of independent thought."

But in France, most of the people view the Islamic Hijab as a symbol of male oppression. But believe me, most of the women who have decided to wear the hijab have chosen to do so. Legislation of the law in March 2004 in France had only succeeded in ostracizing the women who have decided to cover their head!

We are all living in the same planet so no one should suffer discirmination because we choose to live differently, wear differently, or hold different names!