Frederick Len, Period 2, 10/04/22

 Modern Mythology 2023: Socio-political Consciousness

• What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

As inequity comes under increasing scrutiny, and people discuss how to rectify the injustices committed in our modern-day world, I have come to notice a phenomenon that threatens to undermine many of the well-intentioned solutions that are created to combat unfair practices. In rallying against inequity, many people seem to target inequality instead. And while the two states of being can be related, it would be hasty to assume that an unequal outcome necessarily equates an unjust one. 

Look at school admissions. Many of the top educational institutions in America are reported to have a disproportionate number of Asian and White students attending, and higher numbers of men applying for STEM degrees. Viewing these inequalities, many school administrators tried to give underrepresented groups a chance to attend these schools through equitable practices, such as need-based scholarships and more holistic admissions, to ensure these groups had equal access. However, these practices have not resulted in equal representation within the classroom.

When looking at this outcome, what hasn’t been considered is individual choice to attend the university or declare a specific major. When students are given the same opportunities to access a college, and one chooses to pursue it but not the other, then is it fair to continue blaming the university for not having a more diverse cohort? 

Thus lies the danger of using an equal outcome as a benchmark for combating inequity.

• How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

One thing I have learned about critical thinking while on the internet is how impossibly hard that task is. On social media, you are bombarded with so much tailored information that appeals to your preferences and beliefs that you stop critically examining them. Even if you see something you know is wrong, it is never worth it to try and articulate in the comments why it is. So the best thing I do whenever I have an epiphany about my own beliefs is to step back and self-evaluate myself. This introspective approach has served me well over the years, and has allowed me to correct myself whenever I start becoming afflicted by bias. I’m also realizing that something that I need to do is to find more varied sources of information so that I can obtain a more nuanced understanding of a specific issue.