Friday, July 5, 2013

Prejudice is the Last Thing I'm Paying for


A few days ago I lost my respect for a teacher. I don’t want my education to be filled with prejudice by him.

There was one time when he mentioned a movie, a sappy, cliché romantic film, and after he commented on how terrible it is, added, “But girls will love it.” I was immediately irritated; is he trying to say that girls have bad taste in movies? I tried telling him that I was offended by his stereotyping, but he quickly justified himself with the idea that labeling helps people to learn.

He believes that girls constantly dream of romance and a tall, handsome boy to come and save them. When we were discussing the difference between romantic as describing love and romantic as pertaining to Romanticism, he specifically called the female students to distinguish the two. I told him that boys make the same mistake as well, and he didn’t believe it. He asked students who made the mistake to raise their hands: three girls, two boys. He seemed utterly surprised.

I can proudly say that I’m a supporter of feminism and LGBT rights. And I HATE when people say “That’s gay.”

This teacher says “That’s gay” numerously while teaching. I asked him to stop saying it and he forgets it the next class. I don’t think he is purposely insulting gay people; on the surface he speaks for “gay” as meaning happy. He just blindly follows whatever phrases young people are using nowadays to sound casual. I’m not making an excuse for him, however. If those people use “gay” to describe something stupid, that means they must equate “gay” with “stupid” in their heads, whether they know it or not.

What enrages me the most is the fact that he is a teacher. If teachers look down on girls and say things like “That’s gay,” how is that going to affect the students? A lot of students in my school already say sexist and homophobic things like that. To them, I can at least tell myself that they’re immature and stupid, and move on. And that is why I don’t respect this teacher anymore, because he is just as immature and stupid. 

Well, anyways, I’m too busy dreaming about working on a super awesome concert with laser beams. Now excuse me while I enjoy watching black and white films and TV shows about murder.

No comments:

Post a Comment