Monday, December 2, 2013
Schemas and the Internet
Thinking about the internet and how it relates to schemas, I looked back at the Schema Theory and Measurement piece by Wicks; And in a paragraph talking about assimilation and accommodation, he mentions that "schemata resist change even though people rarely find a precise fit between a schema and a piece of information." Meaning that even though people may not have a reason for the way they think about certain things, they may still keep their ideals even if they get other information that doesn't match with their schemas. So I have a question, do you think that people could really learn more participating in discussions about race online as opposed to face to face (or how much could they learn comparing the two)? I for one don't think so just because of the nature of the internet, where everyone has that option to be anonymous and can decide to "turn off" anything they do not wish to hear.
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I think that it depends on the setting. There are online spaces where people can carry normal conversations (as in people are mature enough not to say anything disrespectful or inappropriate).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do agree that online spaces has the risk of the immature or close-minder person who will post anything and everything that comes out of their mind. I've read numerous of comments on different sites (blogs, news stories, YouTube videos, etc.) where people always bring up ignorant comments--often out of nowhere.
People tend to bring up race or racial slurs when they shouldn't. Anonymity makes this possible because they don't have to state their identity. A person would probably not say something racist in a room full of people yet they would post a racist comment on a forum.
Sometimes the comment is as ignorant as posting the n word and left at that. Just a person who may be trying to be funny or start an online war. In other words the common troll.
My personal opinion is that its so much better to go the old school route of good old face to face contact. i feel the impact is so much stronger than that of learning about such a controversial topic through a computer screen. Many of the students in the course explain how their discomfort is a result of race being a taboo topic for them. They express concerns such as not wanting their comments to appear racially insensitive, racist, prejudiced, or politically incorrect. Yet, facilitators guiding these face to face race-related discussions have to be careful to not allow individuals’ discomfort or ignorance about race to become an escape for not addressing and analyzing their own beliefs about race. Teacher educators such as our professor should be willing to push students into the uncomfortable spaces where race is being discussed on an in-depth level. Thus it allows students to be asked to think about why race was not a part of their upbringing, or challenged to think about why students of color believe that race and racism are real issues in their lives.
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