As the school year begins to come to an end, seniors in their CSU Expository Reading and Writing classes, ERWC, are discussing gender and society norms put on genders. The curriculum allows for students to voice their opinion on their current view on society and the toll labels have on a person.  

Seniors feel as if they are being censored by their teachers’ strong opinions toward the topic themselves, and the problem is not  the teachers opinion, but how it is expressed. They feel as if their English teachers are too liberal or too conservative about the topic. And that it is not about playing devil’s advocate anymore according to the students.

I feel like my teacher is more censored, herself, on this topic. In all reality, she has done a great job in establishing a voice in a cautious yet respectful manner. She allows for every student to speak in the class regardless if she agrees with them or not. Unfortunately, not every senior taking ERWC feels that way.

She also brings up the point that many people have very liberal views because we live in Southern California. Los Angeles within itself is very liberal and the Downey community has become heavily populated with diversity. So teachers may be expressing themselves in regards to their audience.

In the class we speak about men’s movements, masculinity being taken away from men by women, and the non acceptance of women moving up in society. There is discussion on socially constructed roles that women and men are taught or accommodated to like: victims of domestic violence, stay at home moms/ dads, who brings in the income, victims of rape, femininity, roles in the household and at home, and how those roles structure our lifestyles and the movements we are seeing in 2018.

Although I believe gender is an identification label put on us by society, it is acceptable for others to believe that gender correlates with the sex of a person. Gender is put on people in order to be labeled. Everyone has a label whether they want to or not- it is a form of identification, and  I do not believe that is an issue.

Along with the labeling, this topic may be highly complex, but it allows for students and teachers to get a glimpse of how their classmates view some of societal norms.

A teacher may voice their own opinion, and I think students should, as well, be open to hearing their teachers opinion. Yet, their is also a proper way for teachers to conduct themselves when hearing and speaking to their students.