December 9, 2016 - 20:43
Princess Jefferson
A Project Worth While
I am not one who naturally likes projects, and I must admit when my professor announced that my class and I would have to do a six week(s) project, I became very anxious. With the end of the semester drawing near, I began to wonder just how productive my project would be. But this project was different; unlike some professors, Anne Dalke, and her Partner in education Jody Cohen, allowed this project to be chosen based on what we, the student would like to conduct research on, and for this I was very grateful. I decided to conduct my project on the culture of politeness here at Bryn Mawr College.
I chose this as my project because since my arrival to campus, I noticed that the people here were very nice. To some this may seem perfectly normal, but there is a such thing as being too nice so nice that the action of being nice is simply just a façade. I would talk to people who had this passivity about them, and in all honesty this erked me. I would meet with my professors and my dean and instead of people giving it to me straight I was faced with very unsatisfactory responses. It was like I was a child again, instead of a young adult attending college. What was most unsettling was I knew that in the real world things would not be like this and I felt that while Bryn Mawr thought it might be okay to live a utopian lifestyle on campus, this was not what it would be like when I walked outside the Bryn Mawr community.
I began to wonder if other people felt this way and more so if this “culture” was more beneficial or non- beneficial to both students and faculty. After establishing a series of interview questions I went out into the Bryn Mawr community and interviewed thirty individuals; ten faculty members, ten upper class people, and ten fresh people. I had no idea what affect this project would have on me, nor did I realize how time consuming it would be, but for the results that I received I have to say that it was well worth it. At the conclusion of my project what amazed me the most was that almost 98% of the intervees shared the same feeling. They noted that Bryn Mawr as an institution and a growing community does a lot with good intent placed behind it, but the action itself does far more harm than good.
I learned that people believed that the act of being polite is a cover because not everyone knows how to be civil and being polite helps people avoid conflict and stray from certain conversations. The political correctness of Bryn Mawr prohibits students and faculty from being themselves and speaking up in society. It was repeatedly said throughout these interviews that as long as people share the ideals of the college everything runs smoothly, but the moment any one differs there is a problem. The point that I am trying to make is that, I am more upset that almost everyone recognizes exactly what I recognized the moment I walked on campus, yet the problem is ignored and instead of addressing this problem, like a lot of other situations on campus, it is swept under the rug.
I would like there to be a space that we can talk about this and address it face on, because until then, people will continue to exist in passivity and many will continue to be excluded.
During this process I began to think more about contact zones, because at the start of the year I had no idea what this term meant, and after watching the presentations this past week, my thoughts became a little more cloudy because I believed that my peers where using the term incorrectly. Although I did not have a definition of my own of Contact zones, I knew that the term was not related to comfort zones, which is what a lot of my peers said. I have decided to dove deeper into this term before the semester ends because I want to know what are my own contact zones and have they changed in my time here at Bryn Mawr, but also in my taking part in this E-sem course.
I enjoyed watching the presentations, one In particular being “Invisible Identities”, by Beatrix, and Maia. This was a project that I personally felt that I could relate to because I am both a first generation and low income student. I attend Bryn Mawr, solely because I am a posse scholar and had it not been for posse I would not be here. But even with this scholarship, it doesn’t change the fact that I am here from Texas, all alone wit out my family and have no one in my family to talk to about the struggles that I have had adapting here on campus. I agree that there should be more done for students like me as a first generation and I also like the idea of the financial aid office doing more from students like me who come from low income families and feel like they could use someone else to lean on when things get a little shaky.
Beatrix mentioned she would like a mentoring program to be built from first generation college students with someone who has been in the shoes of someone like me, I strongly hope that she continues to pursue this idea.
In conclusion this project was more than I thought it would have been, and I learned a lot in the process. I hope that all the information that people have gathered including myself, is used to promote productive action on campus. I know for me, this is only the beginning; it is time that people learn that it is okay to ask questions, and that conflict and variation is real, we cannot be shielded from these components of life.