Teaching in Aggieland: Non-Traditional Questions

Sphere: Related Content “And how do we keep our balance? I can tell you in one word: tradition!”

Last week, our class readings addressed concept of ethnocentrism. I love making these Aggies squirm, and I knew this would do the trick.

So, after introducing the concept of ethnocentrism (the belief that one’s culture is superior to another’s), I ask my students: “how many are you from Texas?” Most of them raise their hands.

“How many of you think Texas is the greatest state in the Union?” Students laugh, most continue to raise their hands.

“How many of you think Texas should secede?” Some students laugh, some keep their hands up.

One student replies “Yeah but Ms Litia, that’s not an opinion, those are the facts!”

He was joking. Mostly. But not totally.

Then I introduced the concept of norms (norms: rules about appropriate behavior, implicit or explicit; often traditions. In Aggieland, ubiquitous).

I’m trying to get them to question the norms that guide their behavior. When is a norm a bad thing? What are the sanctions for violating a norm? When can norms be good? So I have to provoke them a bit…

“Here we are, in Aggieland, where you’re supposed to put pennies on the boot of the statue of a former KKK member for good luck, where alums visit a building named after a man who compared the rape of women to bad weather, where it has been rumored that students originally tore down houses in the African-American areas of town for Bonfire kindling (note: I have found no evidence of this beyond hearsay, though this book may provide it) and even as I am saying these things aloud, I know my students don’t want to hear it. I finish my mini-diatribe on the traditions of Aggieland and take a deep breath. Many students are looking down, several are visibly offended. One says “Okay Ms. Litia, can we move on?”

The thing is, I love Aggieland. It was definitely shocking at first, but I have found my place on campus (and off!) and I wouldn’t change my decision to come teach here. But why is my loyalty to the school questioned just because I question a few traditions? Can’t I enjoy where I am and critique it? Aren’t I as much a part of this community as the red-asses?

I recently came across a concept called “crazy patriotism” that I think applies here. “Crazy patriotism is the unhealthy condition—a pathology of limitations—that impairs the ability to both love and critique, to both honor and re-imagine, to both recognize the noble possibilities of this country while interrogating its wrongs…” (Madison, 2009). She is of course writing about the U.S., but we can easily apply the concept to any place with a distinct culture that highly values tradition.

On campus, there seems to be a feeling that the traditions are already set. Most students will grant that yes, some of them are based on negative things but they then remind you that “that’s not what it means now!” Or “it’s just a tradition!”

They don’t seem to realize that traditions shift and change with time. We now have women and non-white people at the University. That is a norm that changed. When I point this out, students agree that these changes are for the better. Yet they are still so afraid to question the traditions of A+M.

But who says we can’t start a new tradition today? A hundred years from now, when everyone you and I know affiliated with A&M is gone, what will they say about us, about these years? What if our new tradition becomes embracing Aggieland as a region of rebirth, a community of critical engagement, a pile of people who approach each other with love, not naiveté? I hope my students are wrestling with these same questions.

-Ms. Litia

*Note: Ms. Litia is a pseudonym. It stands for liberal-teaching-in-aggieland. Mostly because I want to be honest and I don’t want to lose my job.