I recently had a professor make a discriminatory remark about people with mental illness. The prof argued that most people wouldn\u2019t want someone with a mental illness flying a plane.<\/p>\n
Our society has a very skewed idea of what mental illness is and usually associates it with negative tendencies. This adds to the fear these people face of discrimination, unequal access of opportunity, and marginalization.<\/p>\n
After my prof\u2019s discriminatory remarks, my heart was racing. Knowing that boiling anger and confrontation don\u2019t always make for a good stew, I waited a day to decide on an action plan.<\/p>\n
In the end I chose the \u201cyou\u2019ve got mail!\u201d approach. I knew I needed to present my arguments in a professional manner.<\/p>\n
Here are a couple of tips for confronting a prof.<\/p>\n
Tip one: avoid using \u201cyou\u201d language. It might not be best to say, \u201cYour opinion that people with mental illness shouldn\u2019t fly a plane…\u201d As soon as you use \u201cyou\u201d language, the person on the other end is going to feel attacked. This is what you want to avoid. What you do want to use is \u201cI\u201d language. For example, \u201cI felt the point being made…\u201d This attacks the point being made, not the person.<\/p>\n
Tip two is end on a high note. Thank your prof for allowing the space they provide in class to have discussions\/debates such as these.<\/p>\n
I wish you all the best in finding your own way to stand up to profs and others in your life for what you feel is right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recently had a professor make a discriminatory remark about people with mental illness. The prof argued that most people wouldn\u2019t want someone with a mental illness flying a plane. Our society has a very skewed idea of what mental illness is and usually associates it with negative tendencies. This adds to the fear these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,72],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-april-4-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t