wednesday

I deleted yesterday's post because upon later thought, I felt it was unprofessional to voice my frustrations here in a public forum. thank you, secretmomthoughts, for you comments.

don't you love this, always something new with me...

in my studies, much is said about labels and how they contribute to our view of the world. for this reason, I am now abandoning my themed days and I will just write. I also, will abandon the labels of my posts. I will keep the ones already attached, but no new ones will emerge.

naming, or labeling something limits the way we think about it. just thinking of myself, I could be labeled a "student". what does that mean? I could also be labeled a "graduate student". what does that mean and how does it differ from just "student"?

and here's where things really start to get crazy. I am, in some way, all of these things:

student
graduate student
parent
mother
woman
breastfeeding mother
daughter
child
wife
spouse
sister
sibling
lover
friend
companion
unemployed
blogger
tall
cyclist
brown-haired
white
American
bus
commuter
renter
scientist
biologist
hippy
dog owner
consumer
shopper
28
lower middle class
registered democrat
cousin
independent
niece
aunt
controlling
open minded

this is just the list that I've compiled today, throughout the day. and it's interesting, after seeing all these things that I am, to look at one label and see what it means for you.

I'll reexamine "student". to me, this is a younger person, teens to early 20s, who is going to school, doesn't have much money, lots of roommates, not very responsible and parties a lot. but this is not me. so how could I possibly label myself a "student"?

what about "graduate student"? the only thing I may change in the above is the age range. otherwise, that is my idea of a "graduate student". still not me.

okay, so now I tried to modify student, and here's what I came up with: I am a graduate student, a student of the world, a student of early childhood and infancy, a student of society, a student of relationships, etc. this is where I will stop, but I could continue.

and this is why labels are so hard. you label someone and there are automatically assumptions attached to that label about who that person is and how they act. how unfair. in schools this is happening all the time. students are minority, limited english proficient (LEP), low-performing, gifted, poor, talented, mexican, asian, white trash, rich, etc. and all of these labels bring to mind assumptions of who those kids are. and in doing so, I see and really now believe, we are shortchanging these kids. we limit them, or put undue pressure on them, by labeling them.

to try and fully understand this, I've been trying to think of how I would feel if labeled low-performing. would I be motivated to do more? would I give in and believe the label and act as I felt someone with that label would act?

okay, okay. so why put all this here. first, I like to share knowledge, especially freshly discovered as it will hopefully pique your interest as well and maybe a cool discussion will begin. also, I no longer want to label my posts. I just want to write. I want you to come here with no assumptions as to what you will find other than my thoughts. I will continue my blog-a-day challenge for myself, but that is all to be expected here. I may change the title of my blog, but that has yet to be determined. I'm open to suggestions.

I hope you understand, continue reading, and enjoy!