My name is Tiffany Martínez. As a McNair Fellow and student scholar, I’ve presented at national conferences in San Francisco, San Diego, and Miami. I have crafted a critical reflection piece that was published in a peer-reviewed journal managed by the Pell Institute for the Study of Higher Education and Council for Opportunity in Education. I have consistently juggled at least two jobs and maintained the status of a full-time student and Dean’s list recipient since my first year at Suffolk University. I have used this past summer to supervise a teen girls empower program and craft a thirty page intensive research project funded by the federal government. As a first generation college student, first generation U.S. citizen, and aspiring professor I have confronted a number of obstacles in order to earn every accomplishment and award I have accumulated. In the face of struggle, I have persevered and continuously produced content that is of high caliber.
I name these accomplishments because I understand the vitality of credentials in a society where people like me are not set up to succeed. My last name and appearance immediately instills a set of biases before I have the chance to open my mouth. These stereotypes and generalizations forced on marginalized communities are at times debilitating and painful. As a minority in my classrooms, I continuously hear my peers and professors use language that both covertly and overtly oppresses the communities I belong to. Therefore, I do not always feel safe when I attempt to advocate for my people in these spaces. In the journey to become a successful student, I swallow the “momentary” pain from these interactions and set my emotions aside so I can function productively as a student.
Today is different. At eight o’clock this morning, I felt both disrespected and invalidated. For years I have spent ample time dissecting the internalized racism that causes me to doubt myself, my abilities, and my aspirations. As a student in an institution extremely populated with high-income white counterparts, I have felt the bitter taste of not belonging. It took until I used my cloud of doubt and my sociological training to realize that my insecurities are rooted in the systems I navigate every day. I am just as capable if not more so than those around me and my accomplishments are earned.
This morning, my professor handed me back a paper (a literature review) in front of my entire class and exclaimed “this is not your language.” On the top of the page they wrote in blue ink: “Please go back and indicate where you cut and paste.” The period was included. They assumed that the work I turned in was not my own. My professor did not ask me if it was my language, instead they immediately blamed me in front of peers. On the second page the professor circled the word “hence” and wrote in between the typed lines “This is not your word.” The word “not” was underlined. Twice. My professor assumed someone like me would never use language like that. As I stood in the front of the class while a professor challenged my intelligence I could just imagine them reading my paper in their home thinking could someone like her write something like this?
In this interaction, my undergraduate career was both challenged and critiqued. It is worth repeating how my professor assumed I could not use the word “hence,” a simple transitory word that connected two relating statements. The professor assumed I could not produce quality research. The professor read a few pages that reflected my comprehension of complex sociological theories and terms and invalidated it all. Their blue pen was the catalyst that opened an ocean of self-doubt that I worked so hard to destroy. In front of my peers, I was criticized by a person who had the academic position I aimed to acquire. I am hurting because my professor assumed that the only way I could produce content as good as this was to “cut and paste.” I am hurting because for a brief moment I believed them.
Instead of working on my English paper that is due tomorrow, I felt it crucial to reflect on the pain that I am sick of swallowing. My work is a reflection of my growth in a society that sees me as the other. For too long I have others assume I am weak, unintelligent, and incapable of my own success. Another element of this invalidation is that as I sit here with teary eyes describing the distress I am too familiar with, the professor has probably forgotten all about it. My heartache can not be universally understood and until it is, I have to continue to fight. At this moment, there are students who will never understand the desolation that follows an underlined “not.” There are students who will be assumed capable without the need to list their credentials in the beginning of a reflective piece. How many degrees do I need for someone to believe I am an academic?
At this moment, I am in the process of advocating for myself to prove the merit of my content to people who will never understand what it is like to be someone like me. Some of you won’t understand how every word that I use to describe this moment was diligently selected in a way that would properly reflect my intellect. I understand that no matter how hard I try or how well I write, these biases will continue to exist around me. I understand that my need to fight against these social norms is necessary.
In reality, I am tired and I am exhausted. On one hand, this experience solidifies my desire to keep going and earn a PhD but on the other it is a confirmation of how I always knew others saw me. I am so emotional about this paper because in the phrase “this is not your word,” I look down at a blue inked reflection of how I see myself when I am most suspicious of my own success. The grade on my paper was not a letter, but two words: “needs work.” And it’s true. I am going to graduate in May and enter a grad program that will probably not have many people who look like me. The entire field of academia is broken and erases the narratives of people like me. We all have work to do to fix the lack of diversity and understanding among marginalized communities. We all have work to do.
Academia needs work.
TIFFANY MARTÍNEZ 
Dear Miss Martinez,
I stand in solidarity with you. As a WOC and a PhD candidate, your post resonated with me, validated me, and gave me strength. It was good that you spoke out and advocated for yourself. It’s not right what happened. The professor did not exercise sound judgement. The professor did not offer a principled critique.
You matter and you are important; not because of your wonderful accolades (you did that girl!), but because you are a child of God, a human being who deserves respect. Continue to address the challenges as they come and you will find that you will only become stronger and skilled in navigating social-political tragedies like this. Find a trusted ally to vent with. Keep a detailed account of your interactions. Continue to duly note your experiences.
All of the angels in heaven are with you. All the women scientist and academics from antiquity are with you. All of us doing the damn thing TODAY are with you.
Remember, the stone the builder refused later became the cornerstone…te amo mucho.
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I hate to burst your bubble, but rather than present yourself as the poster child for educated Latinas, you should first be educated. Your poor use of the word “hence” at the beginning of a sentence is not very impressive. I don’t mean to steal your thunder, but you aren’t doing much to break the stereotype that Latinas are a little “learning challenged”. Sorry, you’re doing more to prove it than disprove. 😦
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tl;dr: Louie Peterson has no dick.
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Wow. Just wow. Who are you to judge this woman. You make the statement that she is proving Latinas are learning challenged? That is not even a stereotype. It is what rasicts believe You are just a racist. She lists her credentials to start the piece and you look over them to judge a standalone sentance in a piece of writing. That is textbook racism. I hope you ponder that last statement long and hard.
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As a retired University Professor of English, your comments who your ignorance. In the context used, starting the sentence with “Hence” is perfectly proper. Ms Martinez has IS a highly educated woman. That you did not recognize her accomplishments makes you the ignorant one. Your language also strongly suggest you are a racist. I hope others realize the obvious with your comments.
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People called “Louie” are learning challenged, deeply racist and straight bigots. You’re only bursting your own bubble of entitlement and stealing nobody’s thunder. Shame on you.
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I hate to burst your bubble, but your inability to grasp the subject matter of this post is not very impressive. I don’t mean to steal your thunder, but you aren’t doing much to break the stereotype that privileged people can’t see past their own experiences and realise that there is a whole other world out there. The matter at hand is about racially motivated assumptions/accusations regarding academic dishonesty, not about syntax and pedantic word choices. Nice try, though.
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In order to burst her bubble, you would have to say something of consequence. “Hence” is properly used at the beginning of a sentence if the cause precedes it. “I am neither particularly intelligent nor informed. Hence, I should not be critical of others who doubtlessly are.” Unless, of course, the particular forum for the writing requires adherence to the Chicago Manual of Style. Asserting that her “improper” use of the word “hence” is in any way a valid test of whether she is educated (“you should first be educated”) and that she “is not doing much to break the stereotype that Latinas are a little ‘learning challenged'” speaks more to your biases and your education than hers. -Another educated Latina.
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For the benefit of your career, I suggest that you put this matter behind you and focus on graduate studies. Whatever institution you have chosen for that ought to see you in terms of accomplishments at Suffolk, and your contributions to their programs. Not all graduate programs are sufficiently stable and self confident to withstand a person (even wrongly) perceived as a trouble maker. You are not that. You have a positive role to play in educational diversity.
What Suffolk does about their professor is their business, and I have offered them free advice as well:)
My best wishes to you.
Doug Schaefer
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
Yunnan, China
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Would you mind posting the actual text of the paper so that it can be proved you didn’t plagiarize? There are online tools to do this that most universities require there professors to use prior to failing a student.
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Are you fucking serious right now?
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She shouldn’t have to post it here; that would be making her work accessible to the public for free, and it is her intellectual property. Yes, universities have access to said tools, and it is therefore up to the university and professors to use them, not you or the public at large. Even in the case of suspected plagiary, there is a way to handle the situation tactfully and respectfully–making accusations in front of fellow students is NOT the way to do so.
The way the professor handled this situation is absolutely deplorable, and Tiffany, thank you for having the strength and courage to speaking up/out against it.
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What I find strange about whomever made that note is that , from my own experience I find I THINK differently when I’m writing . Hence is a PERFECT word 7 that’s why it stayed around so long . Every word I use I learned somewhere, & sometimes I write in Prose but I speak very little.
I think a linguist could explain that, but to be questioned about words I love ,or use ,would make me wonder about the Teacher’s experience. I have NO education,lived alone at 15, but memorized passages of Jude the Obscure ,& the beginning of Tale of Two Cities to keep me company on the pavement. Don’t let anyone tell you what words are yours. They aren’t theirs either ! ps (did your teacher start a conversation with the word ..’SO’ ?? Now THAT’s stolen..from a bad writer.!
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Insecurity is endemic in academia. Most insecure people are easily threatened. When they perceive a threat, they belittle and demean to temporarily assuage their discomfort. Insecurity paired with racist or sexist proclivities is particularly poisonous. Keep up the good work and the good fight, sister.
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Keep fighting the good fight, Tiffany. You belong in academia, and there is a whole network of McNair scholars and other underrepresented students, who believe in you, value your voice, and depend on you to bring justice and equality to the education system. Thank you for sharing, and for showing America that we are not there yet in terms of equality. Racism is still alive. But the good news is that with your courage, it won’t be alive for long.
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Move to the South. You will be treated better.
There is a lot of prejudice in the North.
I have lived in Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia and have been accepted.
I briefly lived in Connecticut and felt disrespected.
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Too often we forget that the experience of being Latino/Hispanic in the US is one where we are presumed to be foreign and stupid. It appears that your Professor violated first and foremost FERPA by discussing your grade in class and out-loud. For all of you concerned about this case write a letter to the Sociology Department
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I felt a weird sense of deja vu reading your story, because something very similar happened to me about twenty years ago. But I’m a white guy. I went to the instructor who had accused me of cribbing the paper, and I was on fire. He backed down and gave me a “B”. Which was a whole ‘nother injustice, of course. First you call it stolen and then you say it’s not “A” material?!
But like I said, I’m a white guy. I somehow suspect that things like this happen about a thousand times more often to women, and especially nonwhite women. Nonwhite men, too, for that matter. See what Neil deGrasse Tyson has to say about it, in the video linked below. You get yourself into academia, gather yourself a team of like-minded fellows, turn academia upside down and shake it until at least half of the bullsh*t falls out. The world will be a better place for it!
Good luck!
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I am not an academic. But your experience brings back memories of my college days as a student and a student activist during the eighties. In writing essays, I sometimes had self-doubt about the words I wrote vs. the words I spoke. That’s because I thought more about the appropriate use of each word in a written sentence vs. a spoken one. Did I use the word “Hence” back then? Of course! To this day, I don’t recall ever saying “hence” in conversations?
Two cardinal rules I learned in writing is to avoid word repetition and to be concise. How many times can one use the words “thus”, “consequently”, and “ergo” in an essay? I wonder how the professor would have reacted if you had instead written the word “ergo”!?
Your story resonates with me as I was born in the Dominican Republic and my daughter attends a Boston university. As a parent, I would definitely confront the prejudice of the professor and each rung of the university ladder including the board of trustees. We need to expose the institutional conformity with regards to prejudice and discrimination that is still prevalent in higher education. So, to you, I say Bravo! Pa’lante!
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I am Dutch, English is my second language, and I love to write funny and interesting posts in English. Your post is eloquent and to the point, and I am glad you are putting it out there. There is something very wrong with your professor. It’s racist, demeaning and immoral. Keep your head up girl! Thank you for your beautiful words.
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I am at such a loss of words..this really hits home. It is such a struggle in this country as Latin people (or any other minority for that matter) when they push it down our throats to “Speak English, this is America” and when we do speak and write properly, we are challenged because it is apparently a hard pill to swallow and to acknowledge that Hispanics and other minorities can be intelligent and articulate? My last name, Fernandez, when spoken or heard, comes with an attached stereotype of who and what I’m about. And when I’m seen and heard…it is usually accompanied by how I don’t look or sound Puerto Rican…as if I should take it as a compliment by being disassociated from my own race. Its happened countless times. I call bull that the professor couldn’t have pulled you to the side and spoken to you in private. Why embarrass you in front of your peers? What was she trying to prove? Does it stem into something deeper, of making sure you know what “your place” is?” How does someone become a professor at a respectable university thinking the word “hence” is some kind of advanced grammar that minorities can’t possibly know about? It makes no sense to me. I stand in solidarity with all my Latin and African American sisters out there who have to work twice as hard because of how systems that are in place choose to rigidly define us….to tell someone that the word hence is beyond and above them, is a vile insult.
It’s despicable and I hope the school investigates this…..
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Notice that Tiffany carefully left out the gender of the professor, but I’m willing to bet the professor is a male–the handwriting looks male, and the brusque, arrogant nature of the comment screams male. Tiffany, why not go ahead and name the professor? It’s not slander, because you’re stating facts. Plus, you’re the one who was wronged, and you may do others a favor by warning them not to take a course from a bigoted instructor with poor teaching practices. I’d also initiate a formal complaint against the instructor with your university.
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That “professor” is right! English is not your language, and “hence” is not your word. “Hence” originates in Middle English – 13th century. Of course, there’s no telling from whom the English learned the word. Since you haven’t been English for 800 years, you cannot claim “hence”! They are not my language or word, either; I am second-generation American of Sicilian extraction.
Tiffany, stick to your guns.
Suffolk, do not make enemies of your students. They remember,
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Before we spoke English, we spoke Norman French , all legal stuff in Latin. Hence is still used at times, but was used in Victorian times, as colloquial.
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English is Tiffany’s language as much as it is my language, your language, and the language of every other person who speaks it, and the words that make up the English language ‘belong’ equally to every person who speaks the language. ‘Hence’ is as much ‘mine’ as it is yours and Tiffany’s. The only responsibility any of us have is to use the words of the language(s) we speak correctly, or, if not correctly according to the rules of grammar and syntax, at least creatively. 😉 I’ve heard English described as a language that lurks in alleys and mugs other languages for words, and I know at least a handful of the recent additions to American English are from Spanish, courtesy of the Chicanex cowboys in the Southwestern U.S. *tips hat brim* There are Hindi words that have made their way into the English language, such as ‘futon’.
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hoppytoad79 – I use “belong” differently from your usage. English is not my language; it is England’s. I use it because of historical circumstances.
Thank you for “I’ve heard English described as a language that lurks in alleys and mugs other languages for words…”! Delightful. I have friends of English ancestry; I can hardly wait to inflict that aphorism on them.
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happytoad is right, the English language belongs to the people who use it. All languages have evolved from earlier languages. And English is no different. If you are looking for something to inflict on an English friend try this description “English is just French spoken really badly”. All of which reminds me of your President Bush II who in criticizing the French socialist ways uttered the immortal words “The French don’t have a word for ‘entrepreneur'”
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I do hope you reported the professor. There are ways (computer programs that search the internet) to prove plagiarism before accusing a student of it. Unfortunately, academia is unlikely to love you back. I have a PhD and work as a professor. I never experienced more prejudice than when I studied in an elite academic institution. I was always asked “where are you from?” I assume because of my last name (also Martinez). I was even told to register into the international student’s office because the registrar apparently did not believe I was American. I later learned there is a word for this – micro-aggressions. But I also had an amazing (Haitian) professor tell me that I should not allow them to pigeon hole me. Minority professors are woefully underrepresented in tenured and full professor positions. They don’t want us there. That being said, I never let the actions and beliefs of others dictate what I do and where I want to go. You shouldn’t either.
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What a shame. It won’t be the first time a teacher made a mistake, but to shame you in front of the class is unforgivable. In the navy we had two phrases that seen applicable here. The first is, “praise in public, criticize in private.” The second, and more important for your mental health is “don’ let the bastards get you down.” Unfortunately, academia is rigged such that if you complain or express a contrary viewpoint, the jerk/b…….will punish you with the grade.
So please, get on with your life. You have considerable writing talent. No more wallowing allowed.
And don’t insist on any of this safe space B.S. The world is not always nice. Learn how to deal with it and surround yourself with positive people.
P.s. I once has a high school English teacher tell me that the word “good” was always an adjective, never a noun. Even when I gave her the example of “the battle between good and evil,” she still did not acknowledge that I was right.
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I can live for one month off of a single complement. Press on!
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No te preocupes… academics can rarely be trusted in the first place. The blue pen IS their power, that and convincing young minds that being an academic is the top of tier of life. Keep pushing through it, I promise you this won’t be the last asshat you’ll have to navigate in academia… and take solace in the fact that there is slightly less asshattery once you get into corporate.
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I completely understand you. When I was a senior in High School, I had a girlfriend who had no 6th period while I had an American Lit class for 6th. I missed that class more often than not. I never liked literature and actually never turned in a single assignment. The teCher pulled me to the side and told me I was in danger of not graduating but had an offer for me. She said that the final exam would be in the form of a essay with a reference book log. She said I can pick any subject and whatever I get on that essay will result in my grade for the class.
I chose to write about, Led Zeppelin.
My mom actually bought an electric typewriter and I worked day and night for about a week or so until I produced my final draft. Much to her surprise, I actually turned it in and when I got it back, I saw she gave me an A- and kept her word as she also gave the same for the course and I graduated. She insisted I get test for IQ, I scored 130.
Just recently, I posted an argument in a political blog I believe it was Morning Joe. Someone posted a reply stating that I had copied and pasted because the words and tenses of my post were of journalistic caliber. I wasn’t sure if I should take it as compliment or insult?! About ten years ago I was once again tested for IQ and scored 147.
I think you ought to do as well and take it both as compliment and insult to your advantage. That professor will soon leave your life but the experience will fuel you for years or decades to come. Mine is too long a story to explain why or how. Suffice it to say, I have always used my “surprise” intellect I in serious matters pertinent to my career as real estate and mortgage broker and more importantly as Union Representative. In about ten years as Union Rep, I must have represented over eighty members and lost zero cases! I’ve negotiated labor contracts and fully understood rights and wrongs as I actually helped write them for the company.
Your years of schooling will be drawfted in comparison to your years as a professional. I reiterate and elaborate on my previous comment, use it all both good and bad to your advantage and you may come to thank that professor for his incompetence!
I recommend the movie, “Finding Forrester”.
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I am a professor and this guy is a jackass. He needs to show proof of plagiarism by producing the original source, or he can STFU. Appeal this to the Dean if you haven’t already.
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Finding Forrester, anyone?
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I posted my recommendation (of the movie) prior to reading your post!
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Aren’t you special?
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I’m simply wondering what your response is going to be when your baccalaureate thesis is critiqued to shreds, or when your Master’s thesis, doctoral candidacy paper comes back to you and your hand-selected committee hates it – tells you to “re-write it”? Are you going to complain that they’re in cohorts against you and that the system is rigged, or are you going to go back to them, ask them in detail what their critiques are and be prepared to defend those elements that are academically sound, then be willing to change those parts where what they’re saying is valid? Part of the process of education is the ability to open our minds to the possibilities that what others read in our essays and publications might come across as jarring, archaic, or pedantic. It may have nothing to do with our race, our backgrounds, our goals, or our need for immediate approval. In fact, we have to work with people and professors who may not like our personalities at all, regardless of background or ethnic group. Could your use of “hence” been construed as an archaic use of English, and could you have replaced it with another transition? All I’m saying is that it takes a huge amount of professionalism and emotional maturity to grow academically. To convince a professor of your legitimacy as a scholar is going to change radically depending on every single class you take. They have personalities and preferences too. It’s also going to get harder and harder, way more scrutinizing the higher you go academically. That’s why less than 3% of the world population is able to get the Ph.D. I’ve been there myself. I urge you to ask yourself what you hope to gain by crying “foul” here. This could be a huge learning curve for you and the chance to humble yourself to the Body of Knowledge among the people who have gone before you and who are, sometimes unfortunately, in positions of academic authority. To turn this into a huge fight and attempt to destroy the professor’s livelihood just seems to me completely poor form, and if you think that its going to assure you a future as a professor or academic, well its very sad and disappointing that these are the maneuverings for achieving that goal. Whether you have the makings of a scholar isn’t just how well you know something – it’s in character development, too. Just my two cents here from someone who’s been there and submitted to it.
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This is a condescending and racist comment. It’s not the the material didn’t meet an objective standard, it’s the fact that it was dismissed as plagiarized with absolutely no evidence other than an old white man’s prejudice.
This is just another straw man construction. You cannot deal with the fact that she, a brown woman, is right and was mistreated, so you make up a straw man to attack.
You seem to be an academic, or at least play one on the internet, so you should know better.
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Tom, what is the evidence for Tiffany, the blogger, to make a claim that the professor/grader accused her of cheating due to racial prejudice?
Tiffay is making strong accusations without any evidence. At major institutions, papers are analyzed by software to determine if there was plagiarism involved. The software can make mistakes. Tiffany cannot jump to the conclusion that the system is rigged against her due to her race without even trying to first clarify the situation.
Moreover, look at yourself man, you are calling Jana a racist when all she is doing is providing a critique on Tiffany’s character, and reckless actions; she can truly get her professor fired over a mistake.
Us minorities cannot use racial prejudice as a shield to protect ourselves from every critique. There are as many constructive critiques as there are negative ones, and if we are going to ignore them all, then we will never get progress.
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Sigh. It’s obvious from the prof’s comment she wasn’t giving a critique so the paper could be written better. The prof assumed the student was plagiarizing, and if she/he thought that, they should have addressed it in private with the student, not make assumptions loudly in front of class.
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It’s one thing to offer constructive criticism but this professor immediately assuming that the work could not have possibly been hers is unfair. It doesn’t take a genius to see that this professor was clearly being prejudice. The fact that you tried to reduce this beautifully written article about the struggle non-white students face(which you probably have and will NEVER experience) to simply her trying destroy her professor, be ‘sensitive’ and utilizing it as a maneuver for achieveing her goals is disgusting and means you read it with your *everything is cool, racism doesn’t exist, we are all the same and treated fairly* glasses. Also referred to as bullshit. Do yourself a favor and do not try to minimize experiences that you will never have to live through. It’s very ignorant and sheds light on the sad world we live in.
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Ciara – “Do yourself a favor and do not try to minimize experiences that you will never have to live through.”
Hit the nail on the head.
To the well intentioned skeptics above who seem to think that it is simple a critique: Please look at the photo at the top. Can you explain to me what the prof’s remark “This is not your word” is supposed to mean?
To the author – well written essay. I feel your ache in this. Please remember – this comment says more about the professor than about you.
Just remember – Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. 🙂
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You’ve been there? Meaning you’ve been discriminated against for your race? You’ve had people accuse you of plagiarism because they couldn’t believe you’d have the ability to write at that level? If so, why is it so hard for you to believe that’s what’s happening in this case? If not, you’re coming from a place of privileged ignorance.
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Your an imbasole!
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You mean “You’re an imbecile.”
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[This morning, my professor handed me back a paper (a literature review) in front of my entire class and exclaimed “this is not your language.” On the top of the page they wrote in blue ink: “Please go back and indicate where you cut and paste.”]. So no, the professor’s comment wasn’t there as a suggestion of word change. And this post wasn’t a student simply crying “foul” because of criticism.
Good to know that someone who’s clearly “been there” didn’t bother to read the entirety of an internet post before making assumptions and writing a long, condescending paragraph about it. Get off your high horse.
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Yes, enable shitty teachers! That’s the answer! Are you kidding me?
Your analogy is also terrible. If she wrote a crap thesis and was told to rewrite it would still be acknowledging that she did the work. Instead, it’s shaming her publicly without any proof.
1. It should be asked in private
2. There should be some evidence
Don’t you see how lazy the teacher is being by accusing the student of being lazy?
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Since when is “hence” archaic? Not in academia.
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You missed the point by a country mile. He accused her of plagiarism with his only “proof” being his racist assumption that someone “like her” couldn’t possibly have produced something of such high quality. It was actually a backhanded way of acknowledging the high caliber of her work.
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You are the exception, not the rule. I am sorry that your experience trying to earn a PhD was met with a lot of condescending people and attitudes. This is reality for some people, but it’s about how you navigate the system, and you decide when it’s game over for you. Tiffany’s courage and boldness to make this known is a step in the right direction toward the 3% of PhD holders.
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You’ve shown in your response you completely missed the author’s point about inherent and pervasive racism in all of America, including academia. Your attitude is why racism will always exist–you appear congenitally incapable of seeing life from any side but your own “dominant culture” background. (And you post oozes with a sense of fright at losing that status.)
The “language” of academia–which all serious scholars adopt to some degree–includes the word “hence” as a perfectly acceptable choice for a transition word. The author of this blog strikes me as an excellent writer and scholar, and one who would naturally use “hence” as a transition.
I’m a college-level instructor of English who is constantly on the lookout for plagiarism and instances where language in student essays is–based on my interaction with the student–not the student’s own. But, 99% of the time, plagiarism and the “overly sophisticated language” issue occurs with students who have demonstrated patently weak writing. Tiffany Martinez is obviously not a weak writer.
An instructor who singles out ONE word for censure, and demeans the student unnecessarily in front of others is an instructor with a problem. Your defense of the instructor, as well as implying that the author singled out this offense as a way to “assure” her future as a professor (which doesn’t even make sense, by the way…) shows you are as wrong-minded as the offensive professor.
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This is missing the point in very many words. There are things that are absolute and things that are subject to preference. The correct use of a word is absolute. Little wonder some educated people contribute no ground breaking ideas to our existence, being uselessly pedantic.
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It likely isn’t the prof’s language either. An American speaking the language of England, why, that’s not elocution, that’s just parroting.
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You write like shit for someone so pretentious — just FYI.
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I think it’s hard to understand what it feels like to be the only minority in the class and constantly singled out during your entire academic career. That’s why some people are saying that “it’s not a race thing” or “it happened to me and I’m white.” It’s hard for people who haven’t experienced something like this to related because it seems unfathomable to them.
I’m from NYC too, I’m mixed race and I have experienced a lot of negative experiences from middle school all the way through college. In high school I had a teacher tell me I didn’t deserve to be in his AP class completely unprovoked. He started screaming at me after class and said people wanted to be in his class and couldn’t because I was in it. Even now I have teachers nit pick my assignments and let other students slide with major mistakes.
I guess this isn’t really encouraging (lol) I’m just trying to say you’re not alone. I let that teacher and some college professors affect my self-esteem to the point where I dropped out of college twice. I think your experience represents what a lot of people go through so you’re standing up for a lot of us by speaking up. I’m proud of you for accomplishing so much and not letting negativity hold you back. That is very inspirational and it’s great that people are actually discussing this instead of just ignoring it.
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Dear Tiffany,
All I can say is – I hope that one day my daughter can write like you. And I hope that some day, she can have a professor with an intellect like you.
The hell with this professor – he/she probably realizes that you might be better than him/her, and that insecurity shows up as a convoluted power-play.
Carry on with what you are doing sweetheart – we will no doubt see you reach great heights!
All the very best – and don’t let the ignorant and incapable slow you down.
-Sunil
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Dear Tiffany, I am sorry that you had that discouraging experience caused by an Educator that we as students are taught to look up to with respect and admiration, only to be crushed by their insensitive and cruel judgements and personal prejudices. A very similar incident (actually more than once from the same teacher) happened to me over fifty years ago, and your story revived that horrible experience from my memory. I was a naive teenager and had no idea why She, the teacher had such disdain for me. I was new to her advanced art class, she also publicly critiqued and humiliated me in front of the whole class, told me I’d never make a living as an artist, and then took a palate knife and cut it across and through the painting I had done because it did not look exactly like the example she gave the class. I was horrified, humiliated and angry, and shouted back at her. The teacher caused me “”b**ch” you stay after school and scrub the sinks”.
I did, then went to the office and asked that I be removed from that class. The art career I dreamed of all my life had been crushed from my heart.
Another time she again, out loud, insisted the sketches and landscapes in charcoal I’d done, “was not my work, I could not have done it and did not even sign and date it. ” she made sure both times to get the nasty reaction she wanted from the class.
The fact is those drawings were done with my father present, he took me out to the countryside on the weekend to draw plein air, as my teacher had instructed for homework, which I related to the teacher, whose answer was ” your father must have drawn these”. I am not a person of color, I am an American born Jewish woman who never recognized as a child that the hatred spewed at me was antisemitism cloaked by criticism of my personal achievements and efforts.
We are in the same boat called “the Prejudice”.
Love and blessings,
Iris
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As a middle aged reasonably conservative white make, all I can say is this is bullshit. You are obviously talented and articulate and this professor should take a blow to the groin. (Metaphorically, not really)
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I vote for non-metaphorically kicking the Professor’s groin
At the very least, their shins
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Tiffany, you write beautifully. Your professor is not fit to profess anything other than hatred and bigotry, and I don’t know of any academic departments which look for faculty in those areas. I hope you continue in your chosen path, for I expect you will be a person who cares for her students and looks for them to learn values as well as the subject matter you will teach. But, if you should change your mind and think of a career as an attorney, please feel free to contact me. I’m a law professor who does care for his students’ welfare.
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I can bet that this teacher has done this to others, and have known professors like this one, so sure in their assessment of their students, so … superior, because they believe their position assures them the right, no, the “responsibility” to point out to students that they are the teacher, their intellectual better and therefore, should you DARE to try to sound like you have even marginal intelligence, you need to be slapped down.
I would advise you confront this professor in the class, same as he did with you. If you have a friend in the class have them record this on their phone. Ask him to point out where HE thinks you “cut and paste” in your paper. Make absolutely sure you use, at every opportunity, words and language constructs he claims you could not use or know. When he sputters and gets angry just tell him if he cannot prove you do not know how to speak or write that way he needs to re-grade your paper as presented and give it the grade it merits without the insults.
Take the video and any other witnesses of the original returning of your paper and public slander to the Dean of the school whom the professor answers to at your University, and let him know this professor has not only slandered you but linked you as well and these can be considered legal isaues of discrimination, wrongful accusations of cheating and general defamation of character. This professor should not be teaching. He either needs a reprimand or to lose his job. Unacceptable.
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Didn’t she mention there are times where she doesn’t feel safe doing what is right/just tho?
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Hi Tiffany. I just want to say that this whole thing is so ridiculously absurd that really you should be laughing at the sheer idiocy of it all. You sound like a very intelligent and accomplished person and it’s a shame this twit made you feel so awful and doubt yourself. That’s not a criticism of you – you’re only human and anyone would probably feel the same in this situation. The insanity of picking out one word and trying to call it plagiarism – well this guy has serious problems! Even a stupid person could have learned the word “hence” the day before writing the paper and decided to use it. Please do not make this neanderthal poor excuse for an educator affect your confidence.
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You said, “I have confronted a number of obstacles in order to earn every accomplishment and award I have accumulated. In the face of struggle, I have persevered and continuously produced content that is of high caliber.”
Awesome Tiffany, you are a remarkable young lady. That’s called strength of character, it’s who you are. Many great men and women before you, however, have faced challenges and adversity far more tumultuous than a “hurt heart” and “feelings of insecurity”. I’m not invalidating your experience, however, using trials as an opportunity of endurance, development and personal growth is what sets “the great” apart in humanity.
Tiffany, you said,
“I name these accomplishments because I understand the vitality of credentials in a society where people like me are not set up to succeed”
My last name and appearance immediately instills a set of biases before I have the chance to open my mouth”
“People like me”, “My people”, “As a minority”, “Language oppressing the communities I belong to”
“Spent ample time dissecting the internalized racism that causes me to doubt myself, my abilities, my aspirations”,
“My insecurities are rooted in the systems I navigate everyday”.
Listen to the words you speak to yourself; the story you keep hearing. If this is your story, the story you tell yourself every day and anchor your subconscious with the chains of limitation, than sadly you are choosing a life of angst and struggle. You are a leader of young women and your intelligence, achievements and ability to overcome will not only show, but empower many if you use it positively and wisely. Please don’t write about being the victim, it demeans “who you are” as a being and has no purpose in leading others. It only brings more anger, insecurity and limitations to those who follow, HENCE 🙂 perpetuating the cycle of oppression within your own heart and theirs.
Take your eyes off of the professor and place them on the “mark” you have set before you. Biases and struggles are a part of life. It’s not the professor, and it’s not the critiquing, after all that is why you chose this path, to become a better person than you are today. You cannot measure progress without reasonable or even unreasonable criticism.
If the niche you have found your passion in is to be “the victimization of cultures in America”, than that’s the self-limiting belief you have chosen. But you chose it. You may or may not be able to change conditions around you but you can change yourself and your thinking by becoming a better person. Let your character and your words be used for good, and not to belittle someone else. You said yourself; it’s when you open your mouth…. That’s your opus!! And should be the turning point in your thinking. Grow within yourself, encourage & inspire others through your accomplishments, not your feelings of overcoming oppression.
I wish you the best.
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You need to learn the difference between speaking out against oppression and languishing helplessly. This woman wrote the first half of her article specifically to convince people with your views that she /is/ working hard to accomplish her goals, and that instances like this are nothing more than obstacles in her path. There is no reason for her to simply brush off or ‘overcome’ prejudice if she is willing to speak against it, and in no way does her bravery for taking a stand mean that she is somehow creating her own troubles as you imply. She has every right to be proud for standing up to institutionalized racism, and no one has the right to suggest that she minimize that valuable character trait.
When you tell people not to protest oppression, you may think you are saying ‘be an optimist,’ but in reality you are saying ‘be the model minority’ and ‘be silent.’
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You just blamed a minority woman for the racism and sexism she encounters every day. That is frankly disgusting.
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Oh fuck off please. The niche of self victimization? So pointing out that people of color historically have a harder time navigating through life is self victimizing? You talk big, about how one needs to better themselves, but honestly, it’s like you don’t give a shit that Tiffany has done much more than any other college student her age in bettering not just herself, but the community around her. She points out these societal flaws BECAUSE she wants other PoC of any gender to not have to go through the same obstacles that she’s had to go through. Yeah, challenges build character, and they make us who we are. But if someone’s life is just full of challenges without any chance of making it out, then that’s fundamentally a societal problem. Why are you so against this author trying to better the world for other PoC? Can you just not stand the fact that these people do in fact go through more struggles than the average white American? Your comment seems to have good intentions, but really, you’re just being condescending as hell and detracting from the point she’s making…
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You wish her all the best? How many thousands of micro aggressions must this woman endure before she uses her voice and calls it out? How do we repay a person who opens up herself to be vulnerable so we can learn from this experience; who shares self talk and how she has to quietened her self doubt to remain resilient, despite all the overt and subtle messages from others that she does not belong in academia? Your comments to me are as bad as the professors. How dare you say by her sharing this experience that she is being a victim? As for saying she might like to name her passion as the ‘victimization of cultures in America’ – did she even tell us what she is studying? What do we know about her passions? Telling her she can change herself to be a better person, indeed! How patronizing! Read your privileged words and instead try to stand in the shoes of a strong young woman who has just been publicly humiliated by a professor. Save your words for outing this unprofessional, biased attitude by waking up to its existence. If you have been in her situation and singled out unfairly as being inadequate or worse, a cheat then talk about how you deal with it. If that is not your experience then open your eyes and see the privilege you enjoy. If your passion is ‘the status quo is fine, thanks very much’ then you chose it. But it is very self limiting thinking.
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You have no damn clue what it’s like to be oppressed, discriminated against, to be on the receiving end of racism and microaggressions. It is not self-limiting to call out the wrongs you see around you and the wrongs done to you, it’s necessary for things to change for the better, and it does NOT mean you’re finding your “passion in…’the victimization of cultures in America’…”. Calling out what’s wrong means you are refusing to sit by and allow the wrongs to continue unchallenged, for people to be oppressed and limited and discriminated against and mistreated as they have been for hundreds of years. Change does not come, and has never come, when people sat silently and did nothing, or asked politely in hushed tones. Anyone who studies history knows that change comes when people get loud and cause a disruption and shake things up, and keep shaking things up. Slavery did not end because slaves asked whites, “Will you please free us?”. The U.S. government did not decide to finally do the intelligent thing and stop barring women from voting because women asked political movers and shakers over tea if, it wasn’t too much trouble, they’d be willing to see about getting a Constitutional amendment together giving women the vote. The civil rights progress in the 1960s didn’t come about because blacks asked whites nicely to stop discriminating and to please allow them to use the same facilities they did. I don’t know much about Latinex and Chicanex rights, but I’d put all my savings on this: any gains in Latinex and Chicanex rights in the U.S. came because the oppressed spoke up, got active, made a fuss, and made damn sure whites couldn’t ignore them. *That* is how change happens and gains are made. *That* is how people stop being victims, by standing up for themselves, by refusing to sit there and take the insults, the slurs, the slaps, the punches, the kicks, the shoves, the “Get to the back of the line, n*gger/s*ick/w*tback. You’re after all the whites”, having to attend a school in facilities that are grossly inferior with not enough supplies and books that are tattered and very out of date. Demanding to be treated equal to whites and refusing to settle for anything less, to be given equal facilities, equal supplies, equal teachers, equal funding, not targeted by law enforcement, not redlined when buying a house.
If you think standing up for your rights and wanting to be treated like the intelligent human being you are equals giving up, buying into victimization, being pessimistic, and/or self-victimizing, you are part of the problem.
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Don’t let the blatant ignorance get you down. It’s going to get that educator right in the tuckus.
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Reblogged this on The Black Male Nudist and commented:
Academia Love Me Back
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It makes my blood boil that you experienced this. It seems clear that the instructor was intent on shaming you in front of your classmates. If they suspected that you copied portions of your paper verbatim, all they needed to do is write a note on your paper that said “come see me please.” It’s also very easy to check for plagiarism online. Many colleges use tools like “Turn It In” that automatically indicate if there is a high chance that a paper was copied, but the instructor still needs to verify that prediction. I think you would be entirely justified in taking this incident up with some higher up in the department; this teacher needs to be better trained or replaced. Wishing you well in your continued academic career.
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I wrote this on my facebook and I’d like to share it here:
“I know everyone is posting this but I gotta add my own two cents. If you haven’t already please read this super brave+powerful+important post by Tiffany Martinez!!
“There are students who will be assumed capable without the need to list their credentials in the beginning of a reflective piece. How many degrees do I need for someone to believe I am an academic?”
My mother has no less than 10 degrees. When she moved from Cuba to America, she was told that education was the only way to the top. And for every degree she got, she was told it was not enough. And when she got a whole slew of degrees, she was told things like, “Why are you overcompensating? You must be super bad at something else. That’s just too much.”
The first time I ever got accused of plagiarism, it was in an extremely similar manner to Tiffany Martinez. I was told that my language was too advanced, too clear, and that even though it was consistent throughout my piece, I must have somehow copied and pasted from somewhere else. It was suggested briefly that I could have had an adult help me… but notably, my own mother was left out of that suggestion.
I was so scared to go home and tell my mom, worried that she wouldn’t believe I didn’t cheat. But when I handed her the note from the teacher my mother beamed. She still brings the story up today. The time her daughter wrote so well the teacher thought it had been written by… well, a ‘real’ American child. Someone who wasn’t first generation, someone who hadn’t grown up on a mix of Yiddish/ Spanish/ ‘Broken’ English. The fact that there was a perceived dissonance between my heritage and my actions was a point of pride. A smart, well-spoken, assimilated child: the ultimate goal of the poor immigrant.
I don’t mean this in any way as an insult to my mom. She navigated within a messed up, racist system the best she could. Growing up I hated her insistence that my English speaking/reading/writing/analytical skills needed to consistently be far better than those of my classmates. I was so annoyed that I wasn’t allowed to use slang at home. I was so frustrated when I was made to leave the dinner table to look up a word in the giant dictionary we still have on a pedestal in the center of the living room, or to turn off the TV for several hours of reading out loud to my dogs each and every night. None of the other kids ever had to do this. I didn’t get it. It didn’t feel fair.
All of her hard work- and by extension, mine- meant that my reading skills tested at college level by the time I reached 4th grade. I have never gotten less than an A in any English class I’ve taken, including honors/AP. And when I took the MCAT recently, I didn’t spend a single day studying for the English part, and got a perfect score.
My English skills have given me so many opportunities and privileges that she never had. People are always surprised when they find out I’m first generation, and I’ve been told multiple times it’s because of how advanced my English is.
“Wow, you don’t SOUND first generation!”
It’s not a problem with my mother, and it’s not a problem with me. It’s a problem with how our system is run. How immigrants and their children are treated. The assumptions made before people even meet us that continue to persist long after.
It has been made clear to both of us we need to speak “American” to get anywhere in life. We have both been forced for the majority of our lives to use “THEIR” words…. only to be told that they will never be OUR words, no matter what.
When my mother moved to this country America did its best to take her culture, her pride, and her achievements away from her. They took away her language to the point where she struggles to remember words in Spanish she has no problem using in English. America has taken so much from us, but they cannot take our voice.
English is my best language. These are MY words. My mother’s words. Tiffany Martinez’s words. So we’ve surpassed America’s expectations for us time and time again, leaving non-immigrant Americans confused and angry? That’s just too bad. THEIR system, THEIR problem. They can go ahead and make all the excuses they want. It doesn’t change the fact that we’ve taken everything racists have thrown at us and come back stronger. HENCE, local racists can use their words to complain all they want. It just doesn’t matter, because these are our words too.”
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This is beautiful. And you and your mother are both figures of pride. My parents pushed me because education was (is!) very important to them – both of them were teachers – but to this day I have to explain that in Mexico education and being a professor is matter of great respect. That isn’t assumed from Mexican immigrants but that is solely a matter of a lack of access to effective education. People (non-Latinos) may be surprised that I am articulate, but no Mexicans ever are.
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I suggest you don’t paint every experience in a racial light. This exact same thing happened to my white son in school. His teacher thought he was using vocabulary too “big” for his age — then she met me.
There are teachers who aren’t the brightest bulbs. They are a lesson in how to get along with people you don’t especially like. You’ll meet a lot of people like that. I have, too. So have my white sons and my white daughter, and my white husband.
You got one of the dimmer bulbs. Move on.
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When she was talking about people who will never understand how she feels, that included you and your white family. So, unless you have supportive words, nobody cares about your little issues because they pale (no pun intended) in comparison of hers. Hers are existential, yours are circumstantial, at worst. Please be a decent person and don’t steal her sorrow. Thanks.
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I suggest you own that you have just stated what a blind racist you are. You assume. Talk about white privilege.
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She’s a grad student, not a school kid. That is different from a elementary or even high school teacher questioning good vocabulary. At that level of education, vocabulary shouldn’t even be questioned! The fact she did is VERY odd, specially when the teacher humiliated the student on top of it.
The truth is that racists DO EXIST in our communities. The life of a minority is MUCH different from those of Caucasians. It is, and this difference cannot be understood unless a person lives it themselves.
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I suggest you don’t try to change someone else’s narrative on their personal experience while trying to minimize it by comparing it to your experiences. There are indeed many prejudices, racism, sexism, agism, ect, but one doesn’t negate or make the othet unlikly. Try perhaps supporting those who experience prejudices instead of insulting their intelligence by suggesting that they did not experience what they did.
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The difference between Tiffany and your son is that she is a fully actualised adult at the time, unlike your son, who presumably did not already have a degree. Can’t really compare the two cases at all.
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“This exact same thing happened to my white son in school. His teacher thought he was using vocabulary too “big” for his age”
Did you somehow miss the fact that Ms. Martinez experienced this in a university environment? This is not a matter of “vocabulary too big for her age.” She’s expected to have a big vocabulary. This is a matter of racism. The professor in question assumed that they know what Ms. Martinez is capable of, and accused Ms. Martinez of being dishonest.
So this isn’t remotely like what happened to your son in elementary school.
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You would not understand what a non-white person goes through as I doubt you rarely experience racism. As she stated some might not understand or agree with her and you are one of them who does not understand.
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Build a case for yourself and post the full paper so we can submit to turnitin.com and prove the professor wrong.
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My dear it is nothing but a deep rooted fear that propels this individual to doubt your intellect? You said it yourself, I ASPIRE TO HAVE THIS PERSON’S POSITION. The oppressor will NEVER easily allow the OPPRESSED to flourish , was once said.
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My love, being a woman of non-white descent is a profound threat to this professor you refer to. You said it yourself, I AM ASPIRING FOR THIS PERSON’S POSITION”. It is fear you instill. DO NOT GIVE UP TE FIGHT, EVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR
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As a puerto rican from the boogie down Bronx with an Irish last name, most professors ate surprised to see my brown skin when they call the first days’ attendance. I laugh to myself when I see their surprised look. As I approach the completion of grad school, I still find it funny when they see my face and I see their reaction. Don’t let this hinder you in any way. As they say the proof is in the pudding. Keep doing your thing in spite of any critique.
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Are*
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Actually, what you experienced reflected something else – a lazy or inexperienced teacher. They saw a pattern in your work they thought indicative of plagiarism (well, one word, which is hardly a pattern), but couldn’t find anything it was plagiarised from (did they even bother looking? How well do they know their own reading lists or the relevant literature?) So they make an accusation, and worse still, rather than doing this via an informal, private discussion with you, it takes the form of public accusation without the opportunity for defence. That’s pretty appalling teaching on any level.
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A lazy or an inexperienced teacher (heaven forbid, they’re both) can ALSO be racist, how about that?
The fact the fool decided to humiliate her in-front of HER PEERS was a sign that it was an act of “other-ing” her. She is a minority in a wealthy, primarily white school environment. She hears what is said of demographics they don’t belong in.
If she didn’t defend herself in class, it’s almost a given that she didn’t feel safe to. After all, she explained that in the beginning of her post, where isn’t always in the position to say what she knows or feels. That’s what happens when you’re a minority – you don’t have the option to choose your battles the same way the privileged do (which is usually whether they’re in the mood to or not)
Granted, let’s also remember this sort of communication. This is the online, public journal managed by Tiffany Martinez. This is a public forum, yes, but it is neither a court room nor a debate stage. The requirement for a “Defense Team” of any sort is a mute point.
So instead, let’s recognize the level of anonymity granted to her Professor;
The only thing we know is they’re presumably male, a Professor at her college, and teaches Literature. There is a hard way to narrow down WHO she is talking about, especially if you don’t attend or work at the school, or even know someone who does. You would need to do a TON of personal research just to guesstimate who she’s talking about (unless they have a public FB page or something and reveal themselves).
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**sorry, ignore my last two paragraphs and the sentence in-between, I misread your post loll
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This same thing happened to me, in high school.
My history instructor accused me of plagiarizing the entire paper, and after he gave me a chance to underline the words that were mine he added a plus to my grade of C. I had long hair and I can only assume the instructor categorized me as a weed smoking surfer like he was in his youth (as he so proudly confessed on many occasion throughout the year).
I ended up dropping out of school that year, never to get a diploma, GED or college degree, but still managed to create a successful life for myself (and now my wife and soon to be daughter).
Some instructors do not seem to realize just how great of an impact their words and actions can play in the lives of their students. I’d never recommend taking the path I choose, but certainly do sympathize with anyone who has experienced anything similar.
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I get the irony of using the present/future tense “choose” when I meant the past tense “chose”. 😉
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Thanks 4 sharing your experiences. Just had a couple of questions for clarification, you wrote above that your professor, “exclaimed” that this is not your work. Do you mean he vocally said that in front of your peers or was that what you inferred based on the notes he/she wrote on your paper?
Secondly, was this a Full Professor who did this, or a less experienced Teacher’s Assistant?
His/ her actions and assumption of plaigirism is very unprofessional & discriminatory considering he/she didn’t bother to seek proof.
Also as being someone who spent 7 years in post-secondary education, writing, teaching and grading, I will say that criticism is a part of the process. So it is a good thing you’ve been forced to develop a tough skin because when it comes to writing, the criticism doesn’t end. Some of it will be valid, and unfortunately some of it will be bullshit.
Best of luck with the rest of your studies. Hope u have better experiences.
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Um, the fact OP referred to the person in question as “Professor” NONSTOP should clue you in that it’s not a Teacher’s Aide??
As for the “did they say it out loud, or what?” accusation:
“This morning, my professor handed me back a paper (a literature review) in front of my entire class and exclaimed “this is not your language.” On the top of the page they wrote in blue ink: “Please go back and indicate where you cut and paste.” The period was included. … they immediately blamed me in front of peers. … As I stood in the front of the class while a professor challenged my intelligence I could just imagine them reading my paper in their home thinking could someone like her write something like this? ”
If lazy after my omission of personal feels:
> Teacher wrote on paper “Please go back and indicate where you cut and paste.”
> OP receives her paper while standing before the class
> Teacher told OP, “This is not your language”.
idk about you, but I read that as OP’s class is given assignments back one-by-one (typical depending on classroom setup and teacher’s preferences), and then the teacher said loudly something inferring she plagarized ALL WHILE HER PEERS ARE RIGHT ON THERE WATCHING HER
But nah, apparently this requires a “thick skin” to get beyond. ’cause it’s merely (constructive) criticism.
A BS’d excuse to pull the rug under OP, yeah, but factors outside of their writing ability alone paints this in a completely different light than “oh he just didn’t like it” loll
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I am sorry, but how is this a racial issue?
You are making a critique of your work, perhaps a mistake on the part of the grader, as a racial issue.
Just have a chat with the grader first. No need to vent online without due diligence.
I am a latin immigrant too. If I had seen every obstacle on my path as a racial issue, I would not have made it where I am.
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Something tells me you don’t think much beyond the surface loll
But this piece is honestly about OP’s feels regarding this? Due to the multitude of factors that work against her in her learning environment, racism is far from a possibility.
Heck fact a word as basic-as-can-be was an example of wtf isn’t “her language” (“hence”),, there’s clue inside there ALONE that this was definitely not a mere criticism of her writing prowess.
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* racism is far from an impossibility
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Reblogged this on The Adventures of Fort Gaskin-Burr.
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My advise is to stop blaming yourself and paying that much attention to what others might have to say about you or your skills. Even your teachers.
School is nothing but training; not only to prepare for the field of study you picked, but for real life situations where you will have to face and confront your arguments with all kinds of people with different backgrounds and prejudices. Like it or not, you will have to learn to respect them in the same way they are learning to respect yours and manage to sustain an argument without taking it personal. The moment you turn it emotional or ink the subject with stuff like “racism”, you fully loose credibility (MAYBE that is his goal with all this dilema).
At the end of the day, if you took the time to write this open letter, it means you clearly DID NOT agree with your teacher´s criteria and were able to discriminate if he was grading you in the right way – with a valid argument – which means you are already cappable of analytical thinking. Furthermore, your writing skills are very good.
We face similar situations in engineering all day long. To make things even worse, in my field we are not judged on “race” or “ethnicity”, but on brainpower… which can be cruel if you don´t build a strong character to deal with intelectual assholes. I´m sure most students will reach similar scenarios at some point during their career and you must decide if you want to play the martir role or learn the best out of it.
Regarding his “making it public” to the rest of the classroom by exposing the grade, you might feel anger at first, but that will actually teach you to handle attention… and you will get a lot of it (good and bad) as an academic. My point is, regardless of what you might think his personal beliefs are, take the positive part out of it and keep what you consider valuable.
Regardless of this situation being fair/unfair with you, it will have a very positive effect on your self-confidence, and clearly you will make up exiting new ways of dealing with any breed of asshole you will encounter.
Be safe
Pedro
PS: you should have answered in red: “this is NOT your handwriting, or is it?”.
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The second you discredit something that in no way cannot be racist, is when you lose positively any credibility to your weak excuse that it isn’t
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Precisely my point…. If the other side recurs to race/ethnicity as the way for an argument, HE looses credibility. Doing so means breaking the number one rule of a debate: “never atack the person, atack the ideas”.
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I am really sorry you’ve experienced this. Such poor teaching on the part of your professor. I went to university 20 years ago and I think the cultural temperature was better back then. Racism is in the ascendancy. You keep going girl, not everyone you encounter will be as unthinking as this professor obviously is. Just because he/she has the title doesn’t mean they’re smart. It just means they got through the training!
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Hey Tiffany, I don’t know if it helps at all, but I wanted to share this with you. My brother turned in an essay a few years back which was returned with accusations of plagiarism. He hadn’t plagiarized it, he was just a really smart kid. He was a white kid with an Italian last name at a Catholic school — from external signs, he should have been part of the in group, not an other.
Anyway, maybe sometimes instructors are just unable to grapple with outstanding students’ abilities. I’m sorry for your hurt and I don’t want to diminish your very real struggle, but: if it helps, consider the possibility that you’re just too dang smart for your professor!
Good luck!
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OK I thought some, and I just wanna add that I don’t mean to suggest that your perception of bias on the part of your professor is invalid, just that if you’re very smart that can be a problem on top of that. And of course you being smart should *not* be a problem, most especially not in academia — where faculty are (theoretically) paid to promote intelligence and be open-minded! In the world we all want, neither of the dual facts that you are high-achieving and that you are not Anglo should be a liability, and it’s a shame that in combination they become such.
Know that you have people rooting for you, and again good luck.
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Have you posted the full paper somewhere? I’d love to read it
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Hi Tiffany –
Thanks for sharing. While certainly racism is a possible conclusion, I would caution against presuming it to be the root. I’m a white dude and have been accused of plagiarism because my paper on preserving genetic diversity in cattle stocks ‘sounds too English.’ I think professors get so used to mediocrity that they mistrust merit when they see it, and because plagiarism is subject to mandated reporting, they are concerned about professional liability if they let something phony through. Most colleges don’t require cultural sensitivity training of their professors, so it is not typically at the forefront of pedagogical practice.
Rather than being bitter about it, tell the prof your in-class essay performance will rival that if anyone else in the class or something to prove yourself. Instead of attacking, demonstrate unredoubtably that you are capable. Once he comes to his own realization of his error, he will retain the lesson better and be more cautious of accusing others in future.
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Hi John –
I don’t think she was being bitter or attacking, I actually think this was her way of proving that she is capable. And I’m not sure it’s up to her to teach him that lesson in the first place.
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John, did you really read this piece and think, “this person needs me to explain her experience to her and tell her what to do and how to feel”?
The author did not touch on what she plans to do about the incident. Presumably something constructive. This reflective strikes me as the kind of thing someone might write for emotional catharsis before going on to tackle a confronting situation.
John, by your own admission you fall into the category of people who do not understand the kinds of barriers described here, because you have never had to face them. This is not to say that the phenomenon you described is invalid; but you are wrong to dismiss the author’s analysis out of hand.
I am hesitant to use the fad words ‘mansplaining’ or a ‘whitesplaining’, but I’m afraid you’re on the verge of both. Check your assumptions. Case in point: why do you wish you and the professor in question is male? The author’s language does not reveal their gender.
Like you, John, I am not subject to this kind of discrimination. I share your white privilege (though not your male privilege). For this reason, I’m grateful to people like this author for sharing their stories and their frustrations; it allows me a glimpse of what is otherwise invisible to me. Being aware of it, I can try actively not to perpetuate it. The trick is to actually listen, and not immediately explain away another person’s experience just because it doesn’t look like ours.
Tiffany, thanks for writing. I’m sorry you had to go through this, and I hope you get a good outcome. Your professor ought to be ashamed of him/herself, and I hope they’re able to understand the full implications of what they’ve done.
All the best.
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John-
While you have a point that professors might often become desensitized to recognizing merit in light of grading too many plagiarized papers, Tiffany’s opinions and feelings circling race and her outward appearance are certainly things to keep in mind as to why she might feel this situation is tied to her race as an underlying factor to how she is treated in mostly white environments. And while we would like to pretend that your outward appearance has no effect on the way one is perceived by their professor, unconscious bias studies would not support such an idealistic statement. As a white and privileged male, it’s time to stop objecting and to start listening between the lines as to why minorities might be exhausted from a) trying to double their efforts to prove to their professors that they’re just as good as white counterparts and b) that they shouldn’t feel bitter about the way they’re treated, and that there is always a much more logical excuse as to why they were treated that way besides race.
As a person of Asian descent, I have faced the exact opposite of what Tiffany has described. Asians for instance are stereotyped to be incredibly meek, studious and intelligent, and this can be a harmful stereotype by pigeonholing those within a very large and diverse population who fail in academic environments or perhaps fail to meet a hopeful teacher’s expectations for a math wiz or super genius. Racism that happens in environments where an authority who is supposed to be your mentor but is in fact your oppressor at the same time can be an incredibly frustrating and helpless experience.
Tiffany did not give any indication in this situation that the plagiarism accusation happened because of racist assumptions on the teacher’s part, it’s easy to understand why a minority would jump to that conclusion. Experience has trained her brain to doubt herself because of her race. Experience has taught herself to question whether or not the color of her skin caused white authorities to treat her the way they treated her. Performing constantly in an environment that is not inherently culturally or socially hers can be a huge source of self-doubt and self-examination. As the standard, white people don’t have to experience this same kind of doubt tied to race. Of course, they experience other trauma in their lives for sure, but it’s time to recognize the kind of psychological effects that simply being a minority in a primarily white society can do to someone.
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