De-exoticization: Respecting Individualities And Embracing Common Values
“Be prepared for all those sad stories as they may experience extreme hardships,” the comment from my friend unconsciously passes on the stereotypical labels given to the 826LA students. Such labeling gives rise to the preconceived notions that they are completely different from us and must be struggling with a lot of unimaginable difficulties. While some hold the expectation of going “cross border to understand others”, I argue that though certain borders do exist, we must not perpetuate the perception that all community partners are “outsiders”. Instead, via critically evaluating the differences between me and the 826LA students, we should strive for de-exoticizing and embracing the community as a whole by discovering possible intersections. Therefore, in order to direct higher-quality tutoring that serves the best interest of the community, my community engagement needs to respect the complex individualities, yet at the same time, seeks to discover sets of common values between us and develop more in-depth personal relationships.
Admittedly, in reality, certain borders do exist, such as different races and classes. Given the cultural inclusiveness of the society, I have encountered students of different colors who come from distinct backgrounds, including myself being a Chinese international student. In “826LA Freedom Mixtape”, a student named Victor Lemus shared his story of confronting all the depressing memories of growing up in an unsafe neighborhood due to poverty. He recalled that “everything got harder and harder”, and the neighborhood was filled with “gang members at the corner” (77). His experience is not a special case as there are many other children who have been trying to escape from the same situation, dealing with difficulties that one from upper classes could hardly imagine. As a result, gradually, experiencing poverty and insecurity has become a single story for the community.
Ultimately, the reason for expecting a wide difference between service workers and the community partners stems from the long-rooted idealizations in the community service. On the contrary to the 826LA students, who are ideally from under-resourced schools or neighborhoods, typical ideal student volunteers are portrayed as privileged and lack of experiences, such as being white, able-bodied, full-time students, and come from middle classes (Butin). This assumption then automatically places the two parties at opposite sides, with the student volunteers being “superior” to the 826LA student, which in a broader term, creates a dichotomy that separates the “student” community.
Aware of the presence of the biased expectations and the, after all, existing differences, during the past few weeks of tutoring, I tried to create a culturally sensitive classroom which prioritized the emotional security of the students instead of being abruptly persistent. Apart from one-to-one discussions with the students, I also paired them up with other peers where they are encouraged to share their own stories as long as they feel comfortable with. Addressing cultural dynamics in the classroom as well as being responsive to students’ requests provides a safe space for healthy communications that helps to minimize negative emotions such as anxiety and shame.
On the other hand, apart from the undeniable differences between me and the students, there are also clear intersections, in other words, there are still certain experiences we share as a group. For instance, regardless of socioeconomic status or cultural backgrounds, we are all students; we all have experienced or are experiencing the process of college application; and we all have different identities in the society including students, family members, and for some, part-time workers. All these commonalities stress the fact that we are not mutually exclusive, and thus no one should ever “exoticize” the 826LA community in any stereotypical or superficial way.
In fact, eliminating the perception of the 826LA community as “outsiders” has several benefits. Specifically, it overturns my internalized biases, which helps to provide a more equal classroom where I could work with the students more non-judgmentally — given that the reality lives of these 826LA students are not only filled with “sad stories” . For example, while many of the students I am acquainted with might have experienced various difficulties regarding family issues and economic conditions, many of them mentioned many other achievements or highlights in their lives, such as taking a leadership position or winning an award at school. One student, in particular, speaked about teaching herself how to read in order to be better prepared for college, since she was unable to read before middle school. Her story deeply touched me as it made me realize that there are also ups and downs in their lives, just like everyone else. By giving a sense of inclusion to the students, it could also raise their self–confidence and self-esteem by reducing internalized feelings of inhibition or alienation.
While the above examples demonstrate that it remains crucial to find out the common values between me and the 826LA students in order to better embrace the community, service workers like me should strive to establish more in-depth personal relationships with the students, with communication being the prerequisite for exchanging perspectives. While tutoring, I arranged the classroom in a way that ensured my physical proximity to the students. The students and I sat together in a cycle and I would frequently walk around to check in on their progress. By physically getting involved in the conversation, it helps to reduce students’ sense of vulnerability and eliminate any potential inadvertent signal of distancing, which in turn creates a more equal environment for building stress-free connections. In addition, before asking the students to share about their lives and stories, I would often start with a self-introduction and one or two of my own stories. Providing an autobiography not only gives 826LA students a chance to learn about other perspectives but also lessens stress by taking an initiative. Such rearrangement of the classroom as well as the altered order of speaking have proved to be beneficial, especially with one student expressing that “it felt such a relief”.
Nevertheless, though recognizing the importance of developing personal connections, service workers should never forget to respect individualities. Considering the distinct personality of each student, instead of employing one single top-down approach, one should be able to make adjustments based on individuals’ preference of working. Taking myself as an example, when tutoring five students at the same time, I blended two styles of teaching in one table by discuss directly with extroverted students, yet allowing students who preferred an introverted style of thinking to chat with their peers first or write down their thoughts on a piece of paper. Given me as an introvert, while I appreciate the effectiveness of the extroverted style of communication, I also understand the shyness and embarrassment an introverted student might go through when being asked to share their life experiences out loud. Hence, as one is likely to gain a general understanding of students’ distinct personalities and working styles through developing personal relationships, the tutors should respect boundaries, meaning avoiding being too persistent about having an answer, and adopt a variety of methods that stimulate the optimal productivity of the students.
Combining the two methods — developing in-depth connections and respecting individualities — is thus believed to offer an ideal starting point for better tutoring and community engagement. The sensitive and responsive nature of the classroom could be applied to both virtual and in-person tutoring, facilitating higher levels of immersion during writing because of reduced feeling of intrusion and exclusion. Indeed, many students I have worked with claimed that they felt more confident about their personal statements after the tutoring session. As the students are able to concentrate better and feel less pressure to write about their experiences, it is likely that a sensitive-responsive tutoring that aims to “de-exoticize” the 826LA community could assist the students with their college application process to the maximum extent.
Overall, along with the way of understanding the existing differences between service workers and the community partners, individuals’ stories should not be generalized as a label for the entire community. With society striving to advocate for racial and cultural diversity, why can’t we embrace all types of diversity that go beyond one’s biological background?
