Labels are Not for People
by Why labeling is actually limiting.
Labels are limiters. They tell what something is, but not entirely. They confine a thing to a certain class, category, or group. They define, but they also prescribe a certain set of characteristics, beliefs, attitudes and norms. If you are fat, then you are not pretty because overweight people do not grace the covers of magazines or fit the image that is shown on the screen. If you are old, then you are not youthful and you shouldn’t act or do things that young people do. We are expected to fit neatly into labels and conform to them willingly, find our grail, not create one.
I look around me, as a college professor teaching nontraditional students, and I see a sea of bright minds who have never been asked to reach the limits of their potential. Many of them feel that the work is too difficult, that they are not smart enough, and that they can only reach certain very limited goals. Society has told them this, placed limits on them and sent them on their way to conform to a prescribed notion of normalcy. Because of ethnicity or socio-economic status, they have been labeled and placed into finite packages, set out on careers in customer service or menial labor. It is my job to remove the labels, to set the bar higher, and to undo what society has so clearly done. It is a difficult and often painful task, but I do it with a smile, and often a sigh because I really shouldn’t have to do it in the first place. But I will, as soon as I find my stapler and put a label on it.
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Post Commentladybaby
On May 23, 2009 at 6:17 am
EXCELLENT! I am labeled “LD” Learning disabled. All through school I was considered “DUMB or STUPID.” First of all I HATE the term, Learning DISABLED. I am far from being disabled in being able to learn. I simply need to learn DIFFERENTLY. I can not be TOLD how to do something. I need to be SHOWN how to do it. Does that make me stupid? I can look at a crocheted item and duplicate it without a pattern. Many highly educated people with a bunch of degrees could not do that. But my talent does not get me a job. My talent is of no value because I can’t get a degree for what I can do. So in the eyes of society, I am still dumb. And I always wondered, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ‘AVERAGE’ ANYWAY? Why does everyone always have to be above average? I always hated those bumper stickers on cars that said, “MY CHILD IS AN HONOR STUDENT.” big deal!Just because they can retain information long enough to get good grads on exams, does not make them any more special than an “average” student. Instead of looking at what kids CAN do, we focus on making them do what WE WANT them to do. I wish you had been my teacher. (smile)
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