What is my Standpoint?

In one of my last blogs I wrote that I would like to be objective when teaching, and Geraldine commented afterwards that it is impossible to be completely objective. I realized this, but the comment got me thinking about the ways in which I know I'm biased. How am I biased, and can being biased ever be a good thing? I know that my challenge as a teacher in Saskatchewan will be that I am a White, middle-class female. I am privileged in many ways, but if I want to be a good teacher I have to think outside of the social factors that define me or, even better, not let those factors define me. My goal is to connect with as many students as possible, but I realize students with different backgrounds than my own may see our differences as a barrier than as someone who may have something in common with them.

The two questions that really got me thinking this week were: 1) Is knowledge an attempt at domination? and 2) Does gaining power disempower someone else? I have to admit that, although I think these are interesting questions, they shed a negative light on gaining knowledge. They raise an interesting concept though - does education provide a further barrier between individuals? We already know that race, class, gender, etc. provide social barriers, but knowledge as a form of social separation is something I had never really given thought to. I suppose the way I had thought about it before was that knowledge was tied to class. In that sense, I believe knowledge does create a divide between those who have it and those who don't. The way the first question is phrased, however, as knowledge being an "attempt at domination," gives the impression that domination is the sole purpose of gaining knowledge. Knowledge is power, but domination is another thing.

I wonder if being female ties in with the "insider-outsider" discourse. Maybe I'm feeling strongly about this topic because I was watching Miss Representation with my grade 12 class recently, but I feel that being a female makes me an outsider in our patriarchal society, but also an insider because I am living in it. Maybe that's not what Longino meant, but I think I could make that argument.

That's all for this week!