Whoa whoa whoa...

http://www.westislandchronicle.com/pages/article.php?noArticle=6063

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Filipino eating habits bad manners? That's what they say in Canada...


It's the latest issue here circulating in the FIND circles. My thoughts later...

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We live in a society that ideally embraces cultural diversity. We all like to dream it is a small world after all, because that is what we are taught and socialized in from the moment we enter the western educational system.

I read the article above and re-discovered a reality that there are still individuals out there that simply don't get it. Here we are, adults molding the impressionable young minds of our youth and this is what we are presenting them? I am using the article "we" in a general sense because we all have a responsibility to show our youth the beauty and importance of diversity. How can this principal, no doubt an educated man, brush off the eating habits of a seven-year-old Filipino child and describe it in a way akin to a farm animal?

I see the point that the principal wants to teach his students the value of good etiquette. But on the other hand, shouldn't we leave it up to the student to use that particular knowledge instead of forcing it upon them? To me, it seems like a mild form of oppression. From childhood, Filipinos are taught to eat with a fork and a spoon or even with their fingers in some homes. To force the child to eat the Canadian way, whatever way that may be, seems like a mistake on the part of the educator. It's basically asking the child to reject his own culture because eating the "Canadian" way is eating the "right" way.

Does that mean that eating the Filipino way is the wrong way? Of course not. But to a child, whose world is often colored in black and white, merely punishing him for something he has done all his life may have serious consequences. I wonder if the principal has thought about the repercussions of his expressions of disdain towards the actions of his student.

What if other students of Asian descent came to school using chopsticks during lunch? Would he reprimand them too? Shouldn't he be teaching cultural understanding and open mindedness? It boggles my mind as to how there are still people who go through life thinking that everyone should conform to the invisible standard, that anything that veers off that standard is a mistake. Who is this man to make a judgement about what is right and what is wrong?

There is still a long road ahead. We just have to stay up on it and never falter.