Blog entries must be 200-400 words in length and must be submitted as comments to the main thread before the next class period.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Spring Class (2)
Hello class!
For your second blog post, please reflect on the Ivan Illich article we discussed in class or what your group talked about and how it relates to your trip.
Feel free to e-mail us at albreaks@ku.edu with questions!
The Ivan Illich article was a little surprising, but it didn’t offend me at all. I think there are many different conclusions we can draw from Illich, but what I understood was that he was not discouraging us from traveling to Latin America. He’s trying to give us a wake-up call to let us know that the United States should not feel some responsibility to help Latin America progress by imposing our own values and religion, because our country isn’t perfect either. We should be focusing our energy to improving our own neighborhoods and communities. Maybe at times Illich can sound harsh, but I think we need to realize that we can’t expect for every country that is poorer or less advanced than the U.S. to want us to come and help them. We shouldn’t feel a sort of responsibility for other countries that don’t want or need our help. But Illich does state that if we want to help in some way, we should do so by helping the tourism economy by traveling to Latin America to genuinely learn about its culture, rather than spreading ours. After traveling to several places around the world, I’ve learned that there are many things we can learn about other cultures and we should open our mind to different ways of living.
As this was not the first time I had read Ivan Illich’s article, I looked at it with a slightly different lens during class this week. When I had a chance to read it before, I took it personally offensive. I didn’t understand why someone would attempt to stop anyone from offering help to someone who needed it. But that’s exactly the point.
Now that I’ve had a chance to read it again and reflect, I am struck by the absolute power that we ourselves have as volunteers. It is not simply our intentions that matter, but how we treat others and the manner in which we try to learn from them. We must not attempt to push our ideas or culture on others, as we cannot hope to understand the complexity of their lives at a glance. On our spring break to 826 Chicago, I want to learn, but I don’t want to put it on anyone other than myself to learn. It is not the responsibility of the people I meet to educate me on cultural and socioeconomic issues. It is mine.
We have only a few days to make whatever change we are able. Above all, the Illich article has made me ponder the importance of recognizing my own privilege and checking myself. I cannot hope to learn or be an agent for change if I don’t understand my own privileged perceptions.
I did not find the article very surprising and actually agreed with some of Illich's sentiments, but I believe it is best to take his points with a grain of salt There is very little that part time volunteers can do and if they go to another country pushing there own ideals on others, they're only going to cause harm with that mindset. Yet I believe that volunteers that are properly prepared can have merit in Latin American for tasks like help building houses or helping to educate children, though going to a place like that for a week still wont do much but if well done it would be better than nothing. I think that places like that need more long term help from our government then just sending down volunteers. I would personally not volunteer in a Latin American country because I don't speak the language and because of that I doubt I could connect with the people on a personal level. These reasons are why I wouldn't find myself prepared for Latin America volunteer work. People going to a country like that should be adequately prepared for the challenge. The main problem that I had with the article was when Illich said that going to a U.S ghetto and trying to help the poor there help themselves would end up with you getting laughed at and spit upon. As someone who is going to an impoverished area (Detroit) to work in a guidance center helping the poor and mentally ill, I think that good could be done through the right program. I don't think the situation is as negative as Illich thinks. I think that I would still be able to do them a service. I know doing this wont solve all there problems but at least, I think it could create a ripple of positivity which is always needed.
The article, to me, was a little surprising at first, but once I got past the initial shock of what he was saying, I really agreed with his points. I would think it insulting as well if "wealthy" citizens from a neighboring country came in and were somewhat insulting to my way of life, and did not even know the language. I think that this article forces people to look in the mirror and truly decide why they are wanting to go on a trip. If the number one reason is for a resume booster, then your intentions may not be exactly pure. I believe that going on a alt break for the sake of helping people should be the obvious number one reason.
My group talked about how we were a little surprised by what the Ivan was saying, but some of my group members thought that he was seriously generalizing, and this may be true, however I just thought it was a man being protective of his people and their way of life. If one tries to not take what he is saying personally, then I think that something can be gained from reading it. You can either complain that he is being harsh, or reevaluate your intentions for going on a trip, and make sure that they are pure, and good-hearted ones. I really enjoyed the article, because it opened my eyes and made me remember why I am going on an alt. break.
I was surprised to read “To Hell with Good Intentions” by Ivan Illich in class. On the one hand, I do agree with some of his points about the disconnect between American culture and that of Mexicans. Illich calls the American’s “salesmen” for American culture and as a result, these volunteers make the Mexicans doubt their native culture or the volunteer gets injured. While these points may be true, I do not think that this should prevent Americans from trying to expand their horizons and learn about life in Mexico or even in an American poor area. How can we learn to relate to people with different backgrounds if all we do is send money and never look back? Illich also chooses to attack the Peace Corp in particular but does not mention other organizations such as Doctors Without Borders that provides medical care and other services that I believe to be above reproach. However, this article did make me reevaluate my reasons for wanting to volunteer over my spring break. I believe that I will be more aware of myself at the Peter Paul Development Center and ask how can I help rather than trying to impose my own ideas onto them. I will listen and try to learn about their lives and society rather than showing off my own. I may not be able to change the culture that I have grown up in, but I can take this opportunity to reflect on myself and learn to be a better volunteer for the spring. -Rebecca Howard
"To Hell with Good Intentions" was the last thing I expecte to read in class. I didn't enjoy the article, and I am not sure how anyone else did. Sure, the author might have been making good points, but he spoke with the most high-strung, condescending voice I have ever read in a paper in my life. Any point he was trying to make didn't get through to me because this guy was busy sitting on his own high moral seat, judging everyone else in the world as below him. The author used tactics, powered by being as offensive and rude as possible to make a point. Tactics like those invalidate any point he is making though because of how the point is made. His content was good, he didn't need to resort to intentionally offending people.
However, he had several good points. The volunteering system today seems strange. Why is volunteering counted in hours and used as some sort of meter to measure candidates? The reasons and ways people volunteer aren't always the best intentioned, but in the end, the same results are reached.
The author made a great point about the volunteering power that we have. We are so capable of doing great things in other's lives. Simply giving our time can make a huge difference, and people seem indifferent to that. People need to start viewing volunteering differently in today's world.
I found the article really intriguing. I think it is fascinating how Americans insist on imposing our cultures on others around the world. The author tackled this topic in a really interesting way too. I would have loved to see him give this speech in person. The best point he made was how to actually benefit from a service trip one must have the right mind set. Going to a third world country to "help" is the wrong mindset because you are making an assumption that they were ever in need of your help. Instead, I like how the article focuses on going with the mindset to learn and experience new things so you can understand other cultures better. This relates to my groups trip because we are going to Montgomery, Alabama for Teach for America. I can see how we could easily be perceived as just a bunch of college students that are there for the wrong reasons. My group discussed how we may be perceived at the schools and how sometimes it might not always be positive. We talked about how it is important to be ready to have a learning mindset in order to really understand what is going on and how we can help.
I think the general consensus from out group after reading Ivan Illich’s article was “wow.” We were all a bit surprised at his blatant and somewhat harsh words. The article all made us stop and think for a while before discussing it together. We all agreed that we knew where he was coming from; we just wouldn’t have put it in his exact words. Illich said in his article that “hypocrisy is unconscious” of most people, which I believe can be very true. I feel like in most cases people do have those good intentions and do not realize the potential harm they could do by disrupting an underprivileged community. The idea Illich talks about that Americans feel like they should give what they have and “share God’s blessing with his poorer fellow men” is not a bad idea, but it can lead to many mistakes when people try to help in a place that does not want outside help. My group discussed that we obviously do not want to create disorder in any way but we do want to help however the Guidance Center sees fit. Because we are not traveling out of the country, we should be able to connect in some ways with the people we will meet. However, I think everyone was a little bit nervous on how to connect with some of the students with disabilities when all of us are healthy and able-bodied and able-minded. We recognized the fact that we won’t be able to relate 100%, but we can still focus on the things we can connect with.
The Ivan Illich article was not exactly offensive to me. I understood where he was coming from. Granted, it was a bit too harsh and blameful. But I too have had frustrations in the past with people volunteering for the image or another selfish motive. I have lived in 5 different states and within them I have seen a variety of socioeconomic groups. In Kansas and Indiana I was in predominantly upper middle class areas where church groups would hold can drives or volunteer at soup kitchens but ostracized the families in their neighborhoods that were lower income. When I lived in Arkansas and Texas I saw the other side of the economic spectrum. My high school in Arkansas would hold peanut butter drives for families actually attending the school so that they would have something to eat outside of school. I watched high school students fail out of classes because they had to work to support their siblings and just didn’t have time left in the day to go to school. These life experiences have not left me as bitter as Illich; however, they have made me more aware of my own actions and motives. In choosing to do alternative breaks I did take a second and check myself to see if my motives were what they should be. This article just reiterates this thinking. It just helped remind me to continue to keep an open mind and student approach to this coming trip.
The Ivan Illich article was a little surprising, but it didn’t offend me at all. I think there are many different conclusions we can draw from Illich, but what I understood was that he was not discouraging us from traveling to Latin America. He’s trying to give us a wake-up call to let us know that the United States should not feel some responsibility to help Latin America progress by imposing our own values and religion, because our country isn’t perfect either. We should be focusing our energy to improving our own neighborhoods and communities. Maybe at times Illich can sound harsh, but I think we need to realize that we can’t expect for every country that is poorer or less advanced than the U.S. to want us to come and help them. We shouldn’t feel a sort of responsibility for other countries that don’t want or need our help. But Illich does state that if we want to help in some way, we should do so by helping the tourism economy by traveling to Latin America to genuinely learn about its culture, rather than spreading ours. After traveling to several places around the world, I’ve learned that there are many things we can learn about other cultures and we should open our mind to different ways of living.
ReplyDeleteAs this was not the first time I had read Ivan Illich’s article, I looked at it with a slightly different lens during class this week. When I had a chance to read it before, I took it personally offensive. I didn’t understand why someone would attempt to stop anyone from offering help to someone who needed it. But that’s exactly the point.
ReplyDeleteNow that I’ve had a chance to read it again and reflect, I am struck by the absolute power that we ourselves have as volunteers. It is not simply our intentions that matter, but how we treat others and the manner in which we try to learn from them. We must not attempt to push our ideas or culture on others, as we cannot hope to understand the complexity of their lives at a glance. On our spring break to 826 Chicago, I want to learn, but I don’t want to put it on anyone other than myself to learn. It is not the responsibility of the people I meet to educate me on cultural and socioeconomic issues. It is mine.
We have only a few days to make whatever change we are able. Above all, the Illich article has made me ponder the importance of recognizing my own privilege and checking myself. I cannot hope to learn or be an agent for change if I don’t understand my own privileged perceptions.
-Natalie Parker
I did not find the article very surprising and actually agreed with some of Illich's sentiments, but I believe it is best to take his points with a grain of salt There is very little that part time volunteers can do and if they go to another country pushing there own ideals on others, they're only going to cause harm with that mindset. Yet I believe that volunteers that are properly prepared can have merit in Latin American for tasks like help building houses or helping to educate children, though going to a place like that for a week still wont do much but if well done it would be better than nothing. I think that places like that need more long term help from our government then just sending down volunteers. I would personally not volunteer in a Latin American country because I don't speak the language and because of that I doubt I could connect with the people on a personal level. These reasons are why I wouldn't find myself prepared for Latin America volunteer work. People going to a country like that should be adequately prepared for the challenge. The main problem that I had with the article was when Illich said that going to a U.S ghetto and trying to help the poor there help themselves would end up with you getting laughed at and spit upon. As someone who is going to an impoverished area (Detroit) to work in a guidance center helping the poor and mentally ill, I think that good could be done through the right program. I don't think the situation is as negative as Illich thinks. I think that I would still be able to do them a service. I know doing this wont solve all there problems but at least, I think it could create a ripple of positivity which is always needed.
ReplyDeleteThe article, to me, was a little surprising at first, but once I got past the initial shock of what he was saying, I really agreed with his points. I would think it insulting as well if "wealthy" citizens from a neighboring country came in and were somewhat insulting to my way of life, and did not even know the language. I think that this article forces people to look in the mirror and truly decide why they are wanting to go on a trip. If the number one reason is for a resume booster, then your intentions may not be exactly pure. I believe that going on a alt break for the sake of helping people should be the obvious number one reason.
ReplyDeleteMy group talked about how we were a little surprised by what the Ivan was saying, but some of my group members thought that he was seriously generalizing, and this may be true, however I just thought it was a man being protective of his people and their way of life. If one tries to not take what he is saying personally, then I think that something can be gained from reading it. You can either complain that he is being harsh, or reevaluate your intentions for going on a trip, and make sure that they are pure, and good-hearted ones. I really enjoyed the article, because it opened my eyes and made me remember why I am going on an alt. break.
Cody Neuburger
I was surprised to read “To Hell with Good Intentions” by Ivan Illich in class. On the one hand, I do agree with some of his points about the disconnect between American culture and that of Mexicans. Illich calls the American’s “salesmen” for American culture and as a result, these volunteers make the Mexicans doubt their native culture or the volunteer gets injured. While these points may be true, I do not think that this should prevent Americans from trying to expand their horizons and learn about life in Mexico or even in an American poor area. How can we learn to relate to people with different backgrounds if all we do is send money and never look back? Illich also chooses to attack the Peace Corp in particular but does not mention other organizations such as Doctors Without Borders that provides medical care and other services that I believe to be above reproach. However, this article did make me reevaluate my reasons for wanting to volunteer over my spring break. I believe that I will be more aware of myself at the Peter Paul Development Center and ask how can I help rather than trying to impose my own ideas onto them. I will listen and try to learn about their lives and society rather than showing off my own. I may not be able to change the culture that I have grown up in, but I can take this opportunity to reflect on myself and learn to be a better volunteer for the spring.
ReplyDelete-Rebecca Howard
"To Hell with Good Intentions" was the last thing I expecte to read in class. I didn't enjoy the article, and I am not sure how anyone else did. Sure, the author might have been making good points, but he spoke with the most high-strung, condescending voice I have ever read in a paper in my life. Any point he was trying to make didn't get through to me because this guy was busy sitting on his own high moral seat, judging everyone else in the world as below him. The author used tactics, powered by being as offensive and rude as possible to make a point. Tactics like those invalidate any point he is making though because of how the point is made. His content was good, he didn't need to resort to intentionally offending people.
ReplyDeleteHowever, he had several good points. The volunteering system today seems strange. Why is volunteering counted in hours and used as some sort of meter to measure candidates? The reasons and ways people volunteer aren't always the best intentioned, but in the end, the same results are reached.
The author made a great point about the volunteering power that we have. We are so capable of doing great things in other's lives. Simply giving our time can make a huge difference, and people seem indifferent to that. People need to start viewing volunteering differently in today's world.
I found the article really intriguing. I think it is fascinating how Americans insist on imposing our cultures on others around the world. The author tackled this topic in a really interesting way too. I would have loved to see him give this speech in person. The best point he made was how to actually benefit from a service trip one must have the right mind set. Going to a third world country to "help" is the wrong mindset because you are making an assumption that they were ever in need of your help. Instead, I like how the article focuses on going with the mindset to learn and experience new things so you can understand other cultures better. This relates to my groups trip because we are going to Montgomery, Alabama for Teach for America. I can see how we could easily be perceived as just a bunch of college students that are there for the wrong reasons. My group discussed how we may be perceived at the schools and how sometimes it might not always be positive. We talked about how it is important to be ready to have a learning mindset in order to really understand what is going on and how we can help.
ReplyDelete-Erin Dvorak
I think the general consensus from out group after reading Ivan Illich’s article was “wow.” We were all a bit surprised at his blatant and somewhat harsh words. The article all made us stop and think for a while before discussing it together. We all agreed that we knew where he was coming from; we just wouldn’t have put it in his exact words. Illich said in his article that “hypocrisy is unconscious” of most people, which I believe can be very true. I feel like in most cases people do have those good intentions and do not realize the potential harm they could do by disrupting an underprivileged community.
ReplyDeleteThe idea Illich talks about that Americans feel like they should give what they have and “share God’s blessing with his poorer fellow men” is not a bad idea, but it can lead to many mistakes when people try to help in a place that does not want outside help. My group discussed that we obviously do not want to create disorder in any way but we do want to help however the Guidance Center sees fit. Because we are not traveling out of the country, we should be able to connect in some ways with the people we will meet. However, I think everyone was a little bit nervous on how to connect with some of the students with disabilities when all of us are healthy and able-bodied and able-minded. We recognized the fact that we won’t be able to relate 100%, but we can still focus on the things we can connect with.
The Ivan Illich article was not exactly offensive to me. I understood where he was coming from. Granted, it was a bit too harsh and blameful. But I too have had frustrations in the past with people volunteering for the image or another selfish motive.
ReplyDeleteI have lived in 5 different states and within them I have seen a variety of socioeconomic groups. In Kansas and Indiana I was in predominantly upper middle class areas where church groups would hold can drives or volunteer at soup kitchens but ostracized the families in their neighborhoods that were lower income.
When I lived in Arkansas and Texas I saw the other side of the economic spectrum. My high school in Arkansas would hold peanut butter drives for families actually attending the school so that they would have something to eat outside of school. I watched high school students fail out of classes because they had to work to support their siblings and just didn’t have time left in the day to go to school.
These life experiences have not left me as bitter as Illich; however, they have made me more aware of my own actions and motives. In choosing to do alternative breaks I did take a second and check myself to see if my motives were what they should be. This article just reiterates this thinking. It just helped remind me to continue to keep an open mind and student approach to this coming trip.