The Four I's of Oppression

    For this week’s blog post, I have decided to choose the reflection option. Both the video and the article talked about there being four types of oppression: ideological, interpersonal, institutional, and interalized. As the name suggests, ideological oppression deals with ideologies, or stereotypes. In the video, Luna Malbroux uses the example of the ideology of a “real boy” in comparison to a “real girl”. “Real boys” are associated with sports, the color blue, and working in fields that are involved with math or science, while “real girls” are associated with beauty, the color pink, and working as caretakers. These stereotypes are so strongly instilled in society that it becomes the societal norm and turns to be oppressive. Another type of oppression that is discussed is interpersonal oppression. This form of oppression takes the form of being social – being within groups – and can be intentional or unintentional (i.e in the form of a microagression). Institutional oppression is also discussed in both the video and the article. Institutional oppression is when policies and laws turn oppressive. For example, giving more money to wealthier school districts, while giving less funding to poorer, less fortunate districts. The final form of oppression that is discussed is internalized oppression, which is oppression that comes from hearing, witnessing, and experiencing other forms of oppression. In essence, this oppression is when someone is constantly told of every reason why they’re different/inferior, and they hear it so often that they start to believe it to be true.

    While reflecting on the article and video, I have been able to see forms of oppression in my own life. Last year during FNED 101, we visited the Providence Career and Technical Academy. When we visited, we were able to see regular classrooms in addition to their career and technical education rooms. Something I noticed, though, is that there were two classes (one ninth grade and one tenth grade), learning two separate topics but sharing the same classroom. When we asked why they were sharing the classroom, we were told that there were not enough classrooms for the students in the school. I feel like this could relate to institutional oppression because the school did not have enough classrooms to accommodate their students. If they are lacking in the basic necessity of having enough space, I can only imagine what other resources they are lacking for their students. If they received more funding, they could build an addition to the school to have more classrooms, and provide their students enough resources. While reflecting more, I look back on my own school experiences. I went to middle and high school in Smithfield – a majority white district with people who tend to be better off with their money. When thinking about my own school, we always had enough classrooms to fit our students; sometimes we even had classrooms not being used. We always had plenty of resources and updated technology. For a town that tends to do better money wise, I’m sure that our district also gets more funding. I think that this just isn’t fair because wealthier districts are taking money from less fortunate districts, and it’s at the cost of the students in the form of institutional oppression. This leads me to ask, how can we as educators do things to help our students who are facing institutional oppression (or any form of oppression, for that matter)?