champions of the 'ordinary people'

* * * names have been withheld to protect the ignorant * * *

in an effort to get my students out into the world of art and culture i give an assignment at the first of the semester that requires them to attend an 'art activity' in the community. believe it or not, Ephraim has a lot going on in this department relative to its size: opening receptions at the Central Utah Art Center and Snow Art Gallery, visiting artists, and this semester i started an art and foreign film night on Wednesdays. after attending the activity students need to write up "a brief, thoughtful reflection" of their experience (as it is stated in the assignment description). nothing complicated - i just want to see what they think of trying something new.

two weeks ago at film night we featured Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, a documentary on the musical protest of apartheid in South Africa - i highly recommend it.

one of my students came to the film, left half way through, then emailed me this to fulfill the assignment:

For my art activity I watched Amandla! on film night. I think it was made to show how the power of song was used to communicate, motivate, unite, and create a change against South Africa’s apartheid. I didn’t really enjoy the film. All that I learned from the movie was that the black people were forced to live in government built housing called the Meadowlands. Other than that, I couldn’t find any other reasons that the black people disliked the white people. I knew that in South Africa there were problems with racism. I learned that from a movie on the Disney Channel. I thought that it was cool that the black people rallied together and supported each other and it was cool how they expressed themselves through song. But I also thought some of the things they were singing about were creepy. I can’t remember anymore what the exact lyrics were but I do remember that they had something to do with inflicting violence upon the white people. I had a very hard time understanding what the people were saying a lot of the time. I wish that everything was captioned. The movie didn’t win me over and make me feel sorry for the black people of South Africa because they didn’t do a good enough job of teaching me what the black people were so mad about. I know that they were moved to the Meadowlands and that doesn’t sound very fair. Was that the only reason they marched down the streets with signs and why they gathered together as soldiers singing songs about overthrowing the white man? I would have liked to have learned more about what the white people did and I wanted to hear the white folks side of the story. I have no idea what it had to do about art other than the singing in that movie. Music is art and that was the only artsy thing I found in it. Maybe the end of the movie would have answered all my questions but it was lasting forever with no signs of ending and I had to go to study group.

yeah. needless to say i was shocked and very disappointed that a student would turn something like this in - especially after walking out half way through the film. the worst part though, is that it's fairly well-written by Snow's standards (i know this is sad and it's a subject for an entirely different post) but most papers i get from students have grammar, spelling and punctuation errors galore. not this one. this student is smart and yet for some reason s/he choose to take an anti-intellectual approach. why? -- This is where i would go off on how American culture, corporations, our president, etc. reinforce this notion of anti-intellectualism but i don't feel like it right now.-- instead, this is what i wrote back to the student:

I would like you to explain to me why I should accept this assignment considering that you left half-way through the movie (the reason why you left is of no importance to me - you had the entire semester to do this assignment and if study group came up, it is still your responsiblity to complete the assignment).

Also, the reflection that you wrote illustrated only that you had a bad attitude about the film and didn't care to understand. If you are still confused about why black South Africans were against the oppressive (white) government, I suggest taking a few minutes to research apartheid and get informed before making such broad generalizations and sweeping judgements. You are now an adult which means that your ignorance is no longer an asset, it's your problem and responsibility, as is your grade in this class.

the next question was, 'will he respond?'