A few years ago, I took my first qualifying exam along with 10 other graduate students. 4 of those 10 were other students of color in my department and as the results slowly started to come in we realized that all 4 students of color had failed the exam, while the other 6 had successfully passed on to the next stages of the program. In the days following the results, a couple of things were made clear to us: 1.) in the past 5-10 years the only people who had not passed an exam in the department had been students of color 2.) A professor who believed I should have passed was told by another reader “it wouldn’t hurt her to take it again” as the only explanation for failing me and 3.) a colleague was told by another professor – to her face - that students of color should never answer the race question because we were not capable of answering it correctly and without bias. Apparently, because of our life experiences and all our focus in graduate school is on race and politics, we have the hardest time answering the question appropriately and should try to avoid it.
Interestingly, the professor who made the last claim only writes a question for the exam when a student studying – lets say “congress” - is also taking the exam. So how is it that a student studying “congress” can effectively answer a congress question because that is their expertise, but a student studying race should never answer a race questions because their interpretations of the readings are flawed? Of course, many more things were said throughout the months that followed, making it even harder for those that did not pass to focus since it had become such a big scandal within the department and everyone else knew who had failed the exam.
At one point all of the students of color were invited to a dinner so we could discuss what WE could do differently to prepare better for exams. As much as I tried to explain to them that there may also be things the department could do differently, since the passing rates for students of color seemed to be systematically lower, that wasn’t a topic they were ready to tackle with just yet.
Interestingly, the professor who made the last claim only writes a question for the exam when a student studying – lets say “congress” - is also taking the exam. So how is it that a student studying “congress” can effectively answer a congress question because that is their expertise, but a student studying race should never answer a race questions because their interpretations of the readings are flawed? Of course, many more things were said throughout the months that followed, making it even harder for those that did not pass to focus since it had become such a big scandal within the department and everyone else knew who had failed the exam.
At one point all of the students of color were invited to a dinner so we could discuss what WE could do differently to prepare better for exams. As much as I tried to explain to them that there may also be things the department could do differently, since the passing rates for students of color seemed to be systematically lower, that wasn’t a topic they were ready to tackle with just yet.
By: intellectual gangsta
Wait--is this a place to post the stupid things that grad students say? Or the idiotic racist things that FACULTY say without penalty or remorse? I'm more interested in documenting the latter!
ReplyDeleteDear LT,
ReplyDeleteI think the faculty sayings are critical too. Please post your thoughts!
Its about anything stupid things that happens in graduate school. About what it means to be a marginal students in these spaces. Anecdotes, analytical pieces, thoughts on epistemology, anything really... Contributions are welcome/encouraged. please email. anonymous or name, school are fine.
ReplyDeletesaludos,
pocho enough