Monday, September 13, 2004
Education does not eradicate ignorance
I was shocked the other day by the tremendously ignorant remark of a classmate, whom I assumed to be upper-middle class, hence educated, hence not stupid. Boy, I have to stop making these stereotypical assumptions.
Another classmate of ours, also Korean and quite Americanized, was talking about making
kimchee for another classmate. Overhearing this conversation, one of my lab partners asked the other, "
What is he making?"
"Who knows? Probably dog or something."
Mind you, this person said this with me standing right in her personal space--literally two feet from her.
Saying Asian people eat dog is like saying "educated" people are intelligent; it doesn't always correlate. Most Asian folks
don't eat dog. And I guess a lot of educated people
are ignorant. (At least in my experience, my friends and aquaintances without college degrees seem much more in-touch than some of those with "higher" education.)
I've always thought education was supposed to foster enlightenment, provide us insight into the world, impart compassion, and facilitate empathy and understanding towards people who are different than us. Apparently, I was wrong.
Reality Check
In all honesty, and as I'm sure most people understand, being Asian is not a bad deal, when you think of all the other skin colors one could be born into and all the hassles they come with.
Yes, Asian people have to deal with being labeled nerdy, meek, violin-playing, karate-chopping, slant-eyed, buck-toothed, dog-eating manicurists who own dry cleaning businesses, and yes, Asian women have to deal with phrases like "Asian porn" and "love-ya-long-time," and guys with creepy Asian fetishes, and off-color jokes about our reproductive anatomy-- but only rarely, if we choose our aquaintances wisely.
However, we
don't have to deal with the kind of racism that saturates one's life: we don't have to sit in job interviews wondering whether employers are actually looking at our qualifications or only at the color of our skin, nor do we have to face people who assume we are uneducated, inarticulate criminals, nor do we see a look of surprise on someone's face whenever we demonstrate our competence. We don't have to prove ourselves at every turn, and we don't carry the burden of representing our race well, so as not to be labeled "part of the problem."
Being Asian is not a bad deal. Being called a "chink" once every five years and hearing stupid comments about eating dog or having a horizontal koochie is
nothing compared to dealing with the hell that is the racism black, Hispanic and Middle-Eastern folks have to deal with
every day.
"Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught."
--Oscar Wilde
