What’s Your Vantage Point? Sistine Chapel or Dogs Playing Poker
By Quetzal Mama • June 29, 2014
What’s Your Vantage Point?
Sistine Chapel or Dogs Playing Poker
Copyright 2014 Roxanne Ocampo
On Friday night, Dr.
Alan Daly – our Professor and Chair of the Education Studies Department at UC
San Diego, led us in an interesting discussion. Our Doctoral cohort
learned about educational leadership through the lens of a particular vantage point or
perspective. We discussed
concepts like “Focusing Illusion” and “Fundamental Attribution Error” and how
our cognitive biases anchor our decision making process. The larger
question for our cohort: Does selective, skewed, biased
attention matter in educational leadership? As we watched the
classic “Invisible Gorilla” video it became clear how prevalent the
concept of “Inattentional Blindness” impacts our perspective. In a
nutshell, we learned how we have a human tendency to rely on one piece of
information or historical knowledge that anchors our decision making
process.
During the last moments
of class, I related this concept of perceptual bias to a question posed to me
earlier in the week from a student at Stanford University. I’ll call
him Eduardo. Eduardo’s question was, “Why do I help students for
free?” His question surprised me. We had just worked
together for 1.5 hours, discussing college admission strategies, and it was
late. The students were tired from a full day of packed learning
activities. These rising high school seniors are part of a select
group of 24 students participating in the annual Stanford Medical Youth Science Program. All of the students are low-income, historically underrepresented,
and high performing. This was my second year returning to work with
their cohort.
Eduardo was sitting in
the back of the room, so I asked him to come closer. I was intrigued
by his question and needed to experience a close dialogue. I explained to
Eduardo that when I meet students like him, I see their brilliance. I don’t see limitations, barriers,
or blight. I understand that throughout their academic careers, many
of them have been encased and bordered within a dilapidated, decayed, beat up,
threadbare frame. However, my perception of students like Eduardo is
not clouded or distorted. Instead, I see priceless, valuable works
of art. From my vantage point, these students only lack an
appropriate frame to signify their worth. To answer his question: I do this work for free because I recognize their value. And, I want stakeholders in the admissions world to recognize their value. Without proper coaching by an admissions consultant, these valuable works of art will likely remain stored in an old closet or rickety storage shed — never to be adorned in Annenberg Hall or Tanner Library.
At this point, I laugh
at myself. I quickly think of one of my favorite films – Hitch by
Columbia Pictures. I re-imagine the scene where Will Smith’s
character “Alex ‘Hitch’ Hitchens” introduces himself to Kevin James’ character
“Albert Brennaman.” Hitch says to Albert, “Heard of Michelangelo? Heard
of the Sistine Chapel? Albert says, “Yeah?” Hitch points
to himself: “Michelangelo” then points to Albert: “Sistine
Chapel.” “My name is Alex Hitchens. Let's go paint that ceiling.”
Are we recognizing the
Sistine Chapels in our elementary, middle and high schools? Or, do
we only see a dilapidated frame encasing dogs playing poker? More
importantly, what is our role in discovering these masterpieces? And,
if our perception is distorted, how can we remove the accumulated grime and
discolored varnish, so that we may appreciate the art as it was intended? I
believe we can spot the masterpiece once we remove our bias and historical beliefs
about marginalized students.
Go paint that ceiling!
—Quetzal Mama