Course Introduction
Why are we unequal?
We do not live, love, or labor in an isolated world, away from pressing issues that contour the social, political, economic, and cultural worlds around us. Yet we are constantly bombarded with messages that we are individuals (as people, as communities, as countries) operating independently of each other and within a system of society that is neutral, equal, and fair: people rise as a result of their own hard work or fall as a result of their own personal failings. This is the Myth of Meritocracy, and it is about as powerful as the myth of Santa Claus. We WANT this to be true because it means everyone's got a fair shot in life.
This is, of course, false. Everyone doesn't have a fair shot. The playing field isn't equal and it never has been. But these myths operate so powerfully in our society and in our subconscious that it is nearly impossible to avoid believing them. Our beliefs in certain ideas about how our own lives work and how the society operates prevent us from making meaningful change in either. We need new tools for thought; and this is a course that will equip you with those tools.
Making Sense: Thinking Critically - Acting Justly is a course designed to investigate these claims and examine how they have been installed throughout society and internalized within ourselves. The course is structured to simultaneously attend to macro (structures of society) and micro (structures of thought and self). This course will support you to think critically and unpack these old systems of thought that have been complicit in maintaining inequality and injustice.
Course Design
Making Sense is designed to engage you in a critical study of society that challenges taken for granted assumptions, perceptions, notions and beliefs. Throughout the course, you will be studying key concepts such as socialization, prejudice & discrimination, oppression, power, hegemony, privilege, and ideology and doing coursework that challenges your worldview by suggesting that you may not be as open minded as you may have thought. You will encounter evidence that inequality not only exists, but is deeply structured into society in ways that secure its reproduction. You will also be introduced to the concept that, contrary to what you have likely been taught, categories of difference (e.g. gender, race, and class), rather than merit alone, do matter and contribute significantly to people’s experiences, opportunities, and outcomes.
The process of encountering these new bodies of knowledge, especially where they conflict with long-held, mainstream beliefs and “common sense” understandings of how the world works can often result in an experience of cognitive dissonance. This is a feeling of discomfort that may arise when you are simultaneously holding two, competing positions. In other words: it doesn’t always feel good to challenge what we know. For this reason, people may resist new types of knowledge in class through silence, withdrawal, immobilizing guilt, feeling overly hopeful or hopeless, rejection, anger, sarcasm, and argumentation.
There are three important things to underscore about course participation: 1) your reactions are welcome evidence that you are doing the difficult work of deconstructing deeply internalized and taken-for-granted assumptions about yourselves and society; 2) you are not fragile and your discomfort will not cause you harm; and 3) my job is to create this discomfort in us all. This is how we learn and this is how we grow. And I'm glad we will be doing both together.
Hi, I’m Dr. Laura Kalmes.
I am a writer, philosopher, cultural theorist, educator, mother, and activist. I earned a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015 in Educational Policy Studies. My work focuses on critical theory, critical social justice movements, cultural criticism, radical education, democracy, antiracism, and motherhood.
I have been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on these topics throughout the country over the past 8 years. earned a doctorate of philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2015. Her work focuses on critical theory, critical social justice movements, radical education, democracy, antiracism, and motherhood.
I have been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in these subject areas at universities throughout the country. In 2016, I founded a radical progressive school for preK-8tth grade student to educate and empower youth to be agents of change in their communities and world. I have also worked nationally and internationally as a speaker and organizer for social justice campaigns. (See my TEDx Talk here.) My writing also appears in online magazines, social issues blogs, and on my website
Course Features
Each week, a new lecture will be recorded that summarizes the material we read and clarifies key concepts or ideas.
We will have live weekly classroom conversations hosted on a video platform where everyone can discuss our readings and its application to current events and our own lives.
I will share lots of resources that complement the material we are studying and solidify its connection to contemporary issues.
The course will feature ongoing discussions through our online forum, where participants can engage in dialogue, ask questions, or review ideas.
Connect theories to practice (praxis!) by reaching out to support community initiatives or getting involved in local, state, or national action.
Sign up for an empowering and transformative education experience.