There are many things to consider when thinking about the way that our lenses shape the way we read the world. In Chapter 7 of the reading “Against Common Sense” by Kumashiro, he talks specifically about examples of challenging oppression by changing what is being read and how it is being read within English literature. It is common for people to want to read only certain stories, with these stories being the ones that reinforce their understanding of the world. We see that “when students read literature by only certain groups of people, they learn about only certain experiences and perspectives, especially those of groups that have traditionally been privileged in society” (Kumashiro, 2009, p. 71). When considering how my upbringing/schooling has shaped how I read the world, I have realized that this is something I have never really thought about before. I, a white settler, grew up and went to school my whole life in a small town in which a majority of the community members are white. I was not often exposed to much diversity and with this being said, many of us had the same way of reading the world, which was generally “suggesting that an entire culture or a group is ‘like this’” (Kumashiro, 2009, p. 71). Ukrainian culture is very prominent to my family and community, so this has also had a major effect on how I read the world. This included doing things in school such as decorating Ukrainian Easter eggs in art class and making perogies or other traditional Ukrainian dishes in foods class. This was something that I just assumed everyone did, but when new students began joining my class from different towns or cities, I realized they were not familiar with these types of things. The biases and lenses that I bring to the classroom have all changed as I get older. In the past, I found myself strongly believing in the traditional ways of the classroom, being that we “often use lenses that reinforce the status quo” (Kumashiro, 2009, p. 74). I had a lot of biases towards people of colour and different genders when I was younger. I also held a strong belief that students all learn the same way through the traditional notes and test method. This led to me being biased against any other methods, such as group work. Being that I was also mainly taught through a Eurocentric viewpoint, I was also biased against learning through other knowledge systems. This resulted in me viewing everything primarily through a Eurocentric lens. As I have moved forward, specifically in university classes, these biases and lenses have significantly changed. I now read the world through a lens that is considerate of all biases that might be out there. We can unlearn/work against these biases by educating ourselves so that going forward, things can slowly begin to change. We must be open to analyzing and interpreting things in different ways than we previously have. While school has a major factor in creating these biases, school must also become the place where we work against these biases and learn to read the world through different lenses.

In the video “The danger of a single story” by Adichie, she discusses how dangerous it can be to hear only a single story about a group. It is mentioned that we are impressionable and vulnerable to stories, especially as children. She goes on to state that “the single story creates stereotypes” (Adichie, 2009). In this sense, they are incomplete, but even though there are these stories that might break dignity, they can also repair it, as Adichie says. There were many single stories present in my own schooling. In general, when I again think about the prominent Ukrainian culture in our community, this is a single story in itself when it comes to our school as a whole. People often associate our school with Ukrainian culture and that culture alone. This is assuming that every student in the school has ties to Ukrainian culture, which is definitely not the case. I also find that a very prominent single story in my schooling had to do with race. In particular, a single story of Indigenous peoples was very common. Their story was often referred to from the viewpoint of Europeans. There was never much consideration when it comes to the Indigenous peoples as individuals rather than as simply a part of colonization. This single story ends up reinforcing stereotypes that we have previously come to know. Another single story in my schooling was that of the students who were a part of a lower class. This grouping was often based on appearance or their physical belongings that they had at school. Being that this is all they were seen as, it was never considered that they could potentially excel in school classes or other things such as sports. It was as if because they were of the lower class, people did not think they were capable of doing good in other areas of life. A similar case of a single story could have also been seen with upper class white settlers in my school, being that they were often assumed to have an amazing life with no problems, even though this was not always the case. When it comes to whose truth mattered, we see power as being the dominant factor. As Adichie mentions, “it is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power” (Adichie, 2009). We see the truth of the white settlers being dominant, specifically those of the upper class as they are seen as having more power and those who hold higher positions in the school. This is because of the traditional ways we have learned to view the world.  It is also the truth of history that matters in all of these cases, but it is important to consider all aspects of history and not only those associated with the European worldview.

References:

Kumashiro, K. (2009). Examples From English Literature. Against Common Sense: Teaching and Learning Toward Social Justice (pp. 71-79). Taylor & Francis Group.

Adichie, C. N. (2009, July). The danger of a single story [Video]. TED. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en