Life out of the window – Ferguson

Source: Give us new eyes

<<It’s been said that our politics are often shaped by what we see out the window. Twenty years ago if you’d asked me if I think police treat people fairly regardless of race, I would have said confidently “Yes” – just like 70% of white folks in the recent Pew survey. In fact, 30 years ago if you’d asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I’d have said “a policeman”.

Shane’s sharing on Ferguson is interesting.

My two cents:

– A friend who got a law degree from New York shared that his law professors classmates who discuss and potentially work on international issues never got out of America and did not see or know international people.Things got done on paper and inside the window.

– Another professor in Econ shared that an economic researcher on an economics issue of a South American country spent too much money of the grant on economic model and missed the assumption. He wished that the researcher just spent few $K to visit the nation and did some original research there.Things get done on computer models inside the window.

– Years ago, I was so much inspired by a story of a black man and the poor people that Dr. Tony Campolo spoke about that I decided to quit a mainstream white church for a while (I do not mean that the white church is not good!) and hang out at a black church for over a year. And I also decided to check out a homeless center to eat and befriend with the homeless. One morning, the homeless next to me shouted to a man coming in, John the Baptist, John the Baptist, pointing to a man in rags!

Later on, I was so curious about my former good and kind housemate who was an AA that I visited AA meetings for a month to understand her now that we are apart.

Life out of the window really mess me up!

– My short Ferguson story: I was fortunate enough to accompany Grace an activist in CoMo town to visit the march in St Louis in October. As a full time parent student, I was busy, just like the rest of us, so I did not care much. But I was concerned about Grace going alone so I decided to go with her. The experience was fascinating messed me up again.

My bias-aware basic sense is that the police treatment of the black people has been cruel for such a long time all over the US. And now the Mike Brown case hit the mass nerve for demonstration to bring up the issue. Where do I get this? From out of the window.

That is not to say that Mike Brown is good. But well if people practice an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth then why did the police shot him with many bullets?

Hien

Tại sao GS JB đạt nhiều giải về giảng dạy?

Giáo sư JB đạt rất nhiều giải về teaching. Tại sao vậy? JB trả lời là chẳng có bí mật gì cả. Có mấy yếu tố sau:

– Đam mê – Passion

Cần có đam mê với giảng dạy.

– Để sinh viên vào tình thế chủ động chứ không để vào bị động – Active not passive learning 

Có nghĩa là gì? Tạo luôn luật chơi cho lớp học để phân chia sinh viên vào nhóm chứ không để lẻ loi. Giao các dự án mang ý nghĩa thực tế như giao đi phỏng vấn về các nội dung liên quan tới bài giảng, tự thiết kế survey, phân tích survey để báo cáo với cả lớp, tự tìm tài liệu trên mạng để trình bày – coi như giảng luôn cho lớp….

Giao bài báo để đọc trước giờ lên lớp, bắt sinh viên phải đọc và trao đổi trên lớp.

– Quan tâm tới sinh viên – Caring

Cần quan tâm tới những bạn cụ thể chứ không quan liêu.

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Cá nhân mình thích yếu tố thứ 2. SInh viên giảng hộ giáo sư đỡ phải giảng bài 🙂