Why do I have to be aggravated right before I have to visit a doctor and have my blood pressure checked? In a bout of inexplicable industriousness, I decided to visit the course blog before the appointment. Which is where I discovered that a student had left the following comment:
Today we see Muslims as terrorists, so how come Iberian Muslims were so different?
If there is one thing capable of making me rabidly angry, it’s this. And as if the statement itself weren’t enough to make my BP shoot up, the student just had to use the word “we” in the comment. At least, one could have the consideration of not attributing one’s offensive ideas to others.
This is the same student who has already regaled us all with a story of visiting Mexico that contained the following gem:
I visited Mexico once and what I found really annoying were all those Hispanics begging us for money.
I had to have a personal talk with the student after that statement but I’m seeing now that it had no effect. We are starting to talk about the indigenous civilizations of the Americas today, and I cringe in fear of what we might hear from this student in class discussions.
If you are thinking that this is some ignorant kid, you are wrong. The student is at least my age. And she homeschools her two children. At first, I was very happy to have her as a student because it was as if I were educating 3 people for the price of one. But now I’m afraid of reading the course blog because I never know what she might write there.
Yes, I know it’s my job to educate people. But we are all human and we all have things that are difficult for us to process. For me, “all those annoying Hispanics and terrorist Muslims” are such a thing.
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