Because Privilege: Linguistic Pedagogy as a Metaphor and Medium of Social Justice
In the U.S., fewer people have PhDs than live in the city of Chicago … and yet it is only a minor subset of these individuals—those who choose to be university and college educators—who we have invested with the incredible power and opportunity to teach the next generation of undergraduate students. At the same time, the demographics at our institutions of higher learning have ever increasing numbers of racial, ethnic, and cultural minorities, as well as first generation college students and students from lower income backgrounds. With Bachelor’s degrees, individuals from historically marginalized groups have the greatest chance of getting a well-paying job, buying a home, and creating a safe and prosperous environment for their families. What this means is that, as post-secondary teachers, we are in a unique position to "grow privilege." As linguists, we have a disciplinary tradition of teaching through exploration, appreciating unique approaches to complex problems, and honoring the influences of history and geography, as well as recognizing and celebrating the expertise of underrepresented groups. These approaches contribute to an active learning curriculum that is effective for a wide variety of students, facilitates critical thinking skill that generalizes across disciplines, and (more importantly to our administrators) leads to better retention and graduation rates. As linguists with advanced degrees, we can leverage our own educational attainment and disciplinary awesomeness to create the kind of positive socioeconomic and political progress that that ripples across generations. We can "be the change that (we) want to see in the world" and model a meaningful and viable path to greater social justice.