In Class/OutClassed

The workshop was kind of awkward for me, yet very beneficial. I invited people that I had constant disagreements/fights because of class. My original idea was for them to go to the workshop and maybe see might point of view better, yet I actually was one who learned a lot. A lot of comments hit very close to home and I definitely took them to heart. Overall, the workshop I feel was a success yet, there definetly should have been more time to futhur discussion and it also felt very isolated. Like the only people who could possibly benefit were the ones present. If we could some how get more people involved and thinking about this more critically, than I am sure than we can have some serious change on Bryn Mawr College.Yet, for the most part, I believe the workshop was a total success that needs to be repeated to more of the college's population. 

Friday's workshop was a good start towards opening up a campus discussion about class and class issues. It was interesting to hear from some of the more established administrators in one of my discussion groups about how Bryn Mawr used to be. I knew from the other day that class used to be very apparent on campus, but hearing it about it from someone who was involved in distributing the list of students on financial aid enhanced my awareness. I am very appreciative of the changes around campus. It is possible to argue that the changes make discussions about class taboo and uncomfortable and that it does no good to sweep these topics under the rug. I am of the opinion, however, that there is a difference between openly discussing class and announcing a student's financial situation. It is possible to have the free-flowing and inclusive discourse without the extremes, and workshops such as this are how to achieve that balance. The next step is to augment the group in the workshop and to include some experiential activities, not just a few brave souls commenting and discussing with the rest of the group watching.

I didn't post this until late because I chose to reflect on the workshop and its usage by putting the interview process in motion and seeing where I saw the insights I gained from the workshop in the interviews. A question that remained- as I culled it via interview- was "Why are people so quick to bring up examples of money as indicators of inequality?" A person can be money poor and yet be rich in love. I realize it is really corny to say this but cold piles of cash do not love you the same way a  mother or father or lover do. Why do people measure class in wealth when really the situation varies and some with less money may have more love then those who possess a lot of money. I found it to be riveting to listen to those who attended in the 80's talk about their experiences. It made me realize how valuable elderly people's stories are to society. Invent all the ipads and iphones you want, nothing replaces experience and the hands on joy of doing something for yourself. I loved moving around to places we felt comfortable, I'm a very kinesthic learner and that really connected me to the topic. As my friends know, I never stop moving and that I got to do that in a workshop was awesome!  I added an interview question- "Where do you feel most comfortable and why?" just for that activity and I loved the reasons why- they ranged from a simple "Its warm" to an intricate " I love the ambiance and vitality of it." I wrapped up my last interview 20 minutes ago and it was rather engaging to interview people and hear what they had to say.

The forum on Friday really brought to light for me the idea that our campus is really quite separated between faculty, staff members, and students. This was especially obvious to me when we were asked to stand in the area where we felt the most uncomfortable and a majority of the faculty and staff members went to the dorm area where, later, a majority of the students said they felt that they had the most ownership. I feel that, though each party of the campus – students, faculty, and staff – are all essential to keep the campus running smoothly, and though we all interact with one another daily, there is still quite a significant divide between all of us. Whether caused by class, culture, “rank,” or age, it is still interesting to reflect that on a campus that is supposed to be so community oriented and inclusive, there should exist such a distinct line that these three groups so thoroughly avoid crossing. Of course, we do need to have our boundaries, but at what point do these boundaries become too distinct and actually inhibit us from understanding one another? Even reflecting on the forum now, I realize that we really didn’t have any housekeepers at the event and we discussed, prior to the forum, the fact that the housekeepers whom we did ask, turned us down because they felt that they would be out of place in that setting. This, I believe, is just one example of where the boundaries we have set get in the way of everyone understanding one another, and I really believe that we need to find a way to overcome these barriers.

The workshop was a success. I was impressed by the turnout. From the first analysis of the images, it struck me how my group members and i, despite being of different ages and coming from different racial, economic and educational backgrounds all shared close and sometimes identical views on issues of class. We all gravitated towards using appearance, comportment, and environment as physical markers to classify our subjects.

I felt ratified to see that many people were bothered about the inequality in the pay scale for student's working with dining services in comparison to those working with other departments on campus. I appreciated the different perspertives on the issue of ownership, especially the conflict between claiming a space as mine and having to share it with a roomate or classmates etc.

I second the motion to expand the conversation to include the entire school community, possibly even making it a part of the wellness seminar. I felt proud to be a member of In Class/Out Classed.

I think that the workshop was a great turnout but it could’ve been a bit better. S. Yaeger mentioned that she would have loved to see some custodial and grounds staff at the workshop and I definitely agree. However, I was kind of expecting for little to none of the grounds and custodial staff to be there just because of the feedback we got (as a class) about how some had asked their housekeepers and how most felt like it wasn’t their space to be there. I thought that the conversations that we had were great. I got a chance to speak with two Spanish professors and Kelly who I believe is a multicultural director of some sort. Their ideas were very compelling about class and the different definitions that are associated with the word. I had the chance to understand and hear different perspectives about how each individual perceives class. Something that I am still questioning is the definition of “ownership”. I feel like ownership is something that directly relates to being comfortable. In a space where we have some sort of ownership, is usually a place where we also feel the most comfortable because we feel in control. I think what would be helpful is to continue these conversations, if possible, once every two months or so.

I have so many thoughts about our workshop.  It's hard to find a spot to start.  

I was surprised to see how many falculty members where there, and also a little saddened to see that there were not a lot of people from the support staff there.  I loved that there were people who work in admin there, but would have liked to have seen some custodial or grounds staff included too.  

In many ways, the absence of housekeepers and landscapers from the worksop highlighted one of the difficulties in starting a discussion of this nature on campus.  No matter how hard we work to be inclusive, there may always be a barrier between those in privileged positions, and those who are in positions of support.  I wonder how we can bridge that barrier.

I was very impressed with how open people were in the small breakout groups, and I always tend to like those better than big discussions anyway. I think that the biggest thing I took from my breakout groups was a sense of understanding a little better how others feel about their own class status on campus.

One of the few criticisms I have is that the workshop might have been a little too big for comfort in terms of the ammount of people there and the ability for everyone to be heard, but I think that's the sort of thing that can only become apparent through attempting to hold these events.  Overall, I thought it went well as a starting point, and I am very interested in seeing where all of this will lead.

I thought Friday's forum brought to light a lot of issues and solutions. When we had to describe an instance of how class mattered on campus I shared about my custom group's trip to Hope's Cookies. During customs week my customs people decided to take us to Hope's Cookie's for a fun activity. When we got there I noticied that a few people didn't get anything to eat. During the forum I realized it was wrong of our entire customs group to assume that everyone could afford to buy over priced cookies and ice cream. Therefore, it's important for class based discussions to happen within the customs group and for it to happen in HA and customs training. I'm glad for me this came to light at the forum and I was able to talk to a bunch of different people about how they saw this experience.

One interesting thing I observed in our on-campus workshop is when people tried to find the solution to class issues at Bryn Mawr. Most people suggested that we should have some open talks/ platforms about class issues in class or Wellness program. Yes, it's right that we should fix the issues by confronting rather than avoiding talking about them. However, it raises the next questions for us: Should we make the talk voluntary or coercive? If it's voluntary, we still have some people attend this kind of talk. However, I guess they are all open-minded people who are willing to solve the conflicts between different classes. Class issues are created by some narrow-minded individuals who stick themselves to certain catergories and isolate themselves from the rest of the community. I believe if we talk about class issues in some coercive environments such as in the classroom in which everyone is forced to participate, it may produce better results.