Anna Deg's Blog

My name is Anna, and I am currently enrolled in Mr. Gallagher's Facing History and Ourselves course at WHS. As a senior, I'm finding this class to be very interesting and informative, especially now that I'm about to go out into the real word in less than 5 months. At the same time, this class also serves as a break from my stressful day-to-day schedule. I heard about the class while taking Mr. Gallagher's U.S. History I class during my sophomore year and was curious about it from the start.

Facing History and Ourselves is a course that is designed to teach its students about bias, racism, and prejudice of history and its people. The course also examines diversity, identity, the individual, and how that one individual deals with everything the society throws at him. During the semester, we learned valuable lessons of life by going through examples of history and placing ourselves in people's shoes. Sometimes articles, books, documentaries, movies, and other films were used to help us as students understand what the people from the past were going through and see the messages behind the media. Later, discussions were held and/or reflections through blog entries were encouraged to promote thinking in ways one might have not thought of while thinking on their own.

As geeky as this sounds, a few of the things that we discussed in class I had already thought about on my own free time before taking the actual course. I guess I'm just weird that way. (Who said being weird is a bad thing?) I have my own blog, and I sometimes talk about one thing or another if I feel strongly about the subject. Taking this course, I actually had a the opportunity and a way of hearing other people's opinions and could hold an intelligent conversation with someone about certain topics that interested me. Now THAT is something I don't get to do every day!! I really enjoyed taking this course.

I'm the type of person who likes learning for the sake of learning. Putting a grade on on the things I do in class generally makes me somewhat reluctant to do the work because I feel like I'm only doing it for the grade and not for the knowledge that I can get from the course. As frustrating as it is, that's basically what I have to deal with in school. Facing History and Ourselves was something different, and I liked that!! Our grades basically depend on blog entries that include our reflections about the class lesson we had or the media we viewed. With opinions, there cannot be a wrong or right answer, which made everyone more willing to really say what was on their minds, I think. I feel like I learned a lot about myself (and some history, of course!) from the class, and even someone who hates school will be able to take something away from it. There are some meaningful lessons and media that I took away from the course and enjoyed.

During the first few days, we got a small one-page handout about someone's account describing good manners in today's world. I could easily connect to Jeffrey Duggan's article because I had previously blogged about the subject. The world is really beginning to take others' politeness for granted, and we sometimes take advantage of this. Who can think of one time when you walked through an open door held by another person and you didn't say anything? I'm sure many of us have. Many more of us have probably never even thought twice about it. And it's not just limited to holding doors open for others!! It can be any kind act that helps someone out. I used to always make a point of helping others out when they needed it, and now it's just sort of become a habit. It's really sad this is something that gets looked over, so I appreciated that the subject was brought up and we all got the opportunity to think twice about what we were doing everyday. We're now one step closer to being better people.

Not too late after that, we read a small book called “The Bear That Wasn't” by Frank Tashlin. Despite its simplistic storyline, the story really gets the message across to the reader: who are we really, and how much of that is really defined by the people we meet and interact with? The story also displays how the world functions today. There isn’t a day of our life where we don’t interact with someone new and different. These people (and there may be a lot of them) may be there to try to impose their opinions onto you, but most people aren’t willing to stand up for themselves in the face of adversary (especially one with power). Every single time, we have to adapt to the circumstances of the situation and ask ourselves: am I really letting this person shape my identity for me? I found this small lesson meaningful because it really made me question how much people affect me as an individual.

Right about now, all the messages and lessons are becoming connected in my mind, and I honestly have no idea what to write about next because my mind is just jumping from one topic that I could write about to another. Let's settle on the topic that I was about to go into anyway: the idea of an individual and the article “Belonging.” When we were asked to reflect on what being an individual meant to us, I had quite the revelation. In the back of my mind, I always had a vague idea of who I am and how that image of myself came to be, but I could never fully define it. Taking the time and reflecting on the “Belonging” article made me realize the something that I had been searching the answer to all along.

What do I now know? I'm individual (just like everyone else, haha), so I know sometimes I may not exactly fit in. That's okay with me. I love being different and have no desire to fit in and be exactly the person someone else wants me to be. Of course, there are times when I like being with and fitting into a group of friends (who may or may not share my interests), but we're not copies of each other. I think that to some degree the more unique and different I am, the better I feel about myself. I've tried to fit in and be the person everyone expected me to be before, and all that really does is make you feel like a clone, a copy, a fake, and I hated that!! Plus, if you're unique, you're irreplaceable :)

Being this open about who I am can sometimes get a few negative reactions, but that's perfectly alright. I don't really care what others think of me – except perhaps for a few close friends and family. Having known them for many years, they're some of the few that I really trust. I allow them to have a say in my opinions, but mostly I form my own. I don't need anyone to tell me what to wear, what to say, how to act, or anything like that. However, there ARE rules (so many!) in today's world. I work with and around them; basically, I do what's expected of me, but I don't follow rules blindly because history shows us people misuse their power and use it to control people. I follow rules when it makes sense and is the logical thing to do. But some things are just more important than following rules and regulations in my mind. I try to do what's right.

In the film “A Class Divided” and its follow-up documentary, children and adults struggled with what to do against discrimination and against a person (or people) of authority who had overstepped their power and made people do what they didn’t want to. I mostly saw people getting angry about the way they were treated (or the way Jane Elliott made them treat the other group), but almost nobody stood up or did anything. This film and a lot of the other media that we got to work with in these last couple of months (like “The Longest Hatred” film) really got me thinking about discrimination and bullying. More than usual, I mean. Being a student in a somewhat diverse environment allows me to meet and interact with plenty of other people. Many of these people probably do not share the same views as me, but some stick to old stereotypes, use ignorant language, and put down others without thinking twice about it. Before, I would just kind of notice the people doing all of these things but I would sometimes just look the other way or mostly just wonder if I should do something to stop it. After taking this course, I began to look at things differently. I realized I cannot be a bystander but have to do something to help anyone I can. It's like that poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller we read last year:

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

Even if not speaking up DOESN'T affect me in the long run like it did the narrator of that poem, I still have to stick up for others because it's the right thing to do. I've actually taken to being more assertive and saying something when I see someone being bullied or hear someone using the word “gay” in a derogatory way.

I'm glad I took this course. I learned some history, something new about myself, and I'm more assertive now. I learned to do the right thing, even if it means putting myself in an uncomfortable position. But – hey! – who said life was easy??

There are so many valuable lessons that I wish I could mention, but sadly I'm only allowed 1500 words, so I've run out of space. So much of the media that we came across in this course moved me and drove me to think in ways I hadn't before. I wish someone had shown me these things before...

Thank you, Mr.Gallagher. For everything!! :)

Anna Deg's Blog

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Introduction~

What Facing History and Ourselves Meant to Me~

Works Cited~