“I am a student of a minority background. I was recommended to TA for a class that I had TA’d for in the previous year. The course was taken by a new professor - one who was extremely abusive to the TA’s. I went to report multiple abusive incidents to the head of my school (Architecture), but instead of trying to listen to my story, he dismissed the incident in the first minute of our conversation by saying - “Seriously, what is up with all of you Koreans? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have some experience in this matter because my wife is Japanese”.
Yes I am Korean, the professor that I was talking about is Korean, and he has had previous reports from multiple TA’s, one of which included another Korean. Mind you, though, the three ‘Koreans’ were all born and raised in all different countries. Replying to my comment that Koreans and Japanese are not the same, the Head of my school (who is white) said ‘but they’re very similar,’ and went on to talk about how much he knows about both cultures (including many erroneous assumptions).
I asked him to apologize for his comment, only to be dismissed again, accused of “making an extremely false accusation that I was being racist when I was trying to see things from a cultural perspective”, and reported to the Dean of CFA. I believe that this is yet another example that shows that implicit bias is deeply rooted in the minds of our educators.
Yes I am Korean, the professor that I was talking about is Korean, and he has had previous reports from multiple TA’s, one of which included another Korean. Mind you, though, the three ‘Koreans’ were all born and raised in all different countries. Replying to my comment that Koreans and Japanese are not the same, the Head of my school (who is white) said ‘but they’re very similar,’ and went on to talk about how much he knows about both cultures (including many erroneous assumptions).
I asked him to apologize for his comment, only to be dismissed again, accused of “making an extremely false accusation that I was being racist when I was trying to see things from a cultural perspective”, and reported to the Dean of CFA. I believe that this is yet another example that shows that implicit bias is deeply rooted in the minds of our educators.
- Anonymous