Please comment, critique, and help three of your peer’s assignments. So that all students have three peers commenting on their work, make sure only to comment on students that don’t have three other people giving them Feedforward. Now, comment on (1) what was effective and (2) what improvements you suggest according to the guidelines. I would like you to really help each other. Be honest. Be critical. Be respectful. Use Feedforward. Your comments for this should be at least four sentences per person.
Step 1: Why use Feedforward? We want to create long-lasting and positive change.
Step 2: What is Feedforward? Feedback is based on the past, it’s judgmental, evaluative, focuses on ratings, and acts as a window. Feedforward is based on the future, development, focus on people and process, change, and acts as a mirror.
Step 3: How to use Feedforward? We use phrases that emphasize depth, understanding, ownership, and growth. Examples include:
Opening “What are your thoughts about (this question, your example, this sentence, etc.)?”
Clarification or Description “I notice this answer focuses on _______. Show me where the prompt asks for this?” “Can you explain this in a different way?”
Probing “I wonder why…” “What was the purpose of this paragraph?” “Please explain to me how you came up with this?” “Walk me through your process for this answer?”
Suggestive “What if you decided to do this?” “How might this work if you try this?” “Almost. Try that again.” “What other options are there?” “I like that you did x, and in the future could you try y?”
Some examples:
Hi classmate, I really like that you open your essay with an interesting, attention getting question. There is a solid connection to Elliot’s experiment and how who we think we could be in the future affects our actions now. How do you think it would work if you began, Can the future influence the present? I wonder if you could then create a sentence here about how our videos and readings reinforced this powerful topic? You make a strong statement that “children are the most impressionable people and the ones most affected by expectations adults have of them. Then you reinforce that well and connect it to the prompt with your observation about the meaning behind Jane Elliot’s “blue eyes, brown eyes’ social experiment. How might the ending of your essay work if you looped back to your first BIG idea. What if you considered ending with a question focused on America and who we want to be in the future. Do you think that might tie into the beginning where you talk about how what we think we can be in the future affects our actions now?
Hi classmate, one piece that was effective in your writing was your second to last paragraph. You start by asking the audience a rhetorical question. Then you answer the question with a call to action. Your call to action was very inspiring and motivated me, as an audience member, to make a change in my community. Your paragraph inspires and moves the audience in a positive way. An improvement I suggest would be combining your conclusion sentence and your second to last paragraph. As a suggestion, the conclusion is too small as a paragraph, so to make your conclusion even better, I recommend adding it to the second to last paragraph. Overall, you have an amazing essay!
Hello classmate, your introduction paragraph is very clear in addressing the topic of the division between colored people and white people. The transitions are clear to understand and I’m easily able to read through the sources in this essay. The introduction idea is traced back in the concluding paragraph. I suggest the phrase “From my perspective” in the introduction paragraph be replaced or removed with some other phrase because this entire essay is in your opinion. In the introduction paragraph, the phrase “In the video, A Class Divided, a teacher…” the teacher’s name should be written as the reader may not remember who you are referring to. I found the 5th paragraph in your essay to be a bit confusing because I’m unsure of what its purpose is within the essay. I’m assuming that your answer is utilizing art to help solve the issue of racism. Is Marin Luther King Jr.’s source mentioned as a form of transition to help the reader more easily understand your solution to racism?
Classmate 1:
As Americans we inherently live in a mixed race, mixed ethnicity society where racial prejudices and oppression runs through our history and still effects all of us to this day. This situation has lead to a very unique view on the fight for true equality and what it means. The most prolific figure in the American Civil Rights Movement is Martin Luther King Jr. who’s ideology of mutual understanding and love towards community was a fueling fire in the movement for equality. King believed in a society built on Agape, which is love “not referring to some sentimental emotion”, but instead “understanding, redeeming goodwill for all [sic] men”. This, however, was not the only ideology in the global intellectual civil rights movement that was happening around the world at his time. Prolific figures such as Frantz Fanon, and Malcolm X both followed a less compromising, more revolutionary, and white-critical ideology that pressed against the notions of integrating with and proliferating oppressive systems. For example, Frantz Fanon saw the systemic and violent physical oppression of Africans by the colonial elite across the continents, and strongly rejected the idea of compromising and thus integrating and perpetuating the colonial system. Malcolm X shared many of these beliefs in America in direct opposition to King’s more multiracial collective effort towards equality view. Both of these viewpoints add a lot of value to the political philosophies of the time, and to the growing question of how we can move forward in a post-imperialist world. America is a multiracial multiethnic society however, so the philosophy that works here will be inherently different from the struggles faced by those oppressed in colonial regimes in Africa, or other oppressed groups around the world. As Tim Wise went over in his keynote speech, misunderstanding only begets more misunderstanding. Additionally, as we can see from Jane Elliot’s education experiments, teaching is a huge factor in the fight for equality, and can bridge the gap of misunderstanding, and systemic prejudice. For a multiracial multiethnic society, perhaps the best approach is a multiracial multiethnic one, as King envisioned, with a emphasis on dialogue and communication while never losing an inch of ground in what you believe that you are owed as a human right. Of course there is still flaws in this approach, and as society changes with time new thoughts and ideas will have to be brought up to fit, but I believe that the Agape vision is something we should genuinely strive for in America, not assimilation or division, but understanding and a mutual love for people despite their background, social standing, or origin.
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Classmate 2:
“That institutional discrimination is a vehicle through which past discrimination has contemporary consequences; that minor forms of everyday interpersonal discrimination can be highly consequential; and that whether actors perceive they have experienced discrimination deserves attention in its own right.” (Small, Mario L., and Devah Pager. 2020. “Sociological Perspectives on Racial Discrimination.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34 (2): 49-67.)
The quote shown above is a brief made by sociologists that talks about the study of institutionalized racism and its effects in sociology and economics. More specifically, it describes how some employers decide on prospective employees based on past experiences of prejudice. This mental barrier plaguing many white Americans, and the most common distinction seen in the short videos and documentaries about race relationships in the United States is that for the most part, reparations don’t seem to positively affect the lives of repressed people as much as the introspection of the privileged and the fundamental changes in the way they think and act that comes along with it.
Deeply rooted in our minds from since we learn how to read, write, and speak, we as humans start to mold subconscious biases from our surroundings that cannot logically be explained by us with a simple thought. As to how these preconceptions form, it is shown in detail through the watch of A Class Divided, where Jane Elliot, a 3rd grade teacher and large figure in anti-racism conducts an experiment on students and adults to simulate racial segregation. The experiment revolves around excluding people into a ‘bad’ and ‘good’ group based on eye color. More unbelievable than the academic and emotional results from the children were the long-term effects that it had on them as they grew older. As seen later in the video, the new-found perspective of being in an oppressed minority had stuck with them into adulthood, which might have differed drastically if they were to not have had Elliot as their teacher considering the time period and area in which they were taught.
From this experiment arises a question, if those 3rd graders can change their attitudes towards race and privilege so easily, then why can’t everybody? And the answer to that resides in the fact that children’s minds are very malleable.
An obvious solution to this problem might be to have more education on this subject in schools, but that doesn’t remediate a large percentage of the older population who have been subjected to this matter for their entire lives.
To confront this issue, Elliot conducted the same experiment on adults but with a much more aggressive attitude. Some white participants were very agitated, but that was to be expected when they have lived their whole lives under a racially predatory environment.
A more effective solution to this can be seen in ‘agape’, a form of love heavily embedded in Martin Luther King Jr.’s work which is described as the deep care for one’s community and people. Although a more extreme example of agape, author Joy DeGruy’s account of a racial profiling incident at a supermarket exemplifies the effect that an act of human decency can have on surrounding people. Just DeGruy’s sister-in-law’s willingness to approach the misdeed very well may have changed the lives of the people around her.
Consequently, it can be concluded that although very difficult, privileged adults or anybody for that matter don’t innately think in a diluted mindset where they should control their surroundings because of an unfair advantage and can very much change the way they think by simply forming small habits of empathy and emotional awareness over time so that they can live with compassion.
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Classmate 3:
In the United States, systematic racism and poverty still exist. The majority of the time, judgments made on a daily basis by people who don’t even consider themselves racists can be characterized as systemic racism. People of color find it more difficult to participate in society and the economy when racism is institutionalized. People of different races must be shown to cohabit and thrive in varied communities in order to minimize or remove systemic racism.
Even with a black president, racism and favoritism of white Americans persist throughout society. Black households had 20 times the median wealth of white families. The likelihood of pupils of color attending schools with just black and brown classmates is 70% higher. College-educated compared to white students, black students are twice as likely to be jobless. Black persons with no criminal history are less likely to receive callbacks for employment than white people with criminal histories. I feel like being white is more advantageous than being black in this community. In the eyes of the media, white criminals are just criminals, but black criminals are given more attention due to their race, particularly when dealing with white victims. The media appears to attract more viewers for tales that elicit strong emotions, and Americans are already becoming sick of the media tactic of criminalizing black people.
How exactly do we address this problem? Politicians, religious authorities, community leaders, and everyday people have all dealt with it, yet racist concerns still exist. First, we must acknowledge that racism is a genuine issue and a psycho-social one. However, racists often behave like alcoholics. We may discuss racial issues without worrying about being completely and publically exposed as racists. We may discuss this subject in college with professors, friends, or parents as an excellent illustration. This remedy may aid in reducing racism. In addition, people are too afraid to speak up about the issue of racism. Being privileged in life necessitates introspective consideration of the possibilities at us and how we might use them to improve the lives of others who are less fortunate. I have the opportunity to inspire friends about racial prejudice nationwide and offer them hope that better times are on the way. Being of a minority race makes it difficult because people assume I support racial equality because it will benefit me financially rather than because it is a pressing issue in the nation. Lastly, it seems like people took the colorblindness problem too lightly. Many people dismiss racism and think that the issue is only overexposed. Because of this misinformation, racism has become a greater issue in America, yet many individuals who want a colorblind society do not recognize its impacts or think it even exists. This is likely a result of the fact that they have never personally encountered racism or heard of friends or family members who have had to deal with discrimination or racist remarks.
So, in my opinion, systematic racism is hurting the country that our founding fathers fought so hard to build. I am pleased that after George Floyd’s passing, people from all around the world demonstrated and protested against institutional racism. In order to battle against the institutional racism that is certain to slowly but definitely destroy our wonderful nation, structural racism must be addressed, and white supremacists who believe they are a superior race must be brought to justice.
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