It is called “progressive stacking,” a technique where teachers give priority to students according to race or gender. The technique is being hotly debated at the University of Pennsylvania after Grad student Stephanie McKellop tweeted about how she only reluctantly will call on a white male after giving preference to various groups based on their gender or race. While many find stacking to be a form of discrimination, some academics have rallied to the side of McKellop in favor of such techniques.
According to news reports, professors and graduate students from Notre Dame, Auburn and the State University of New York have stepped forward to support McKellop despite her stated resistance to calling on white males.
When people objected that McKellop was intentionally avoiding students based on their race and gender, she called such critics “Nazis” and blasted Penn for failing to rush to her side in defending such discriminatory practices.
She added that as a teacher “YOU get to control social setting” and “flip” the social barriers to speaking.
The university was understandably alarmed that McKellop was actively avoiding the participation of white or males. Steven J. Fluharty, dean of Penn’s School of Arts and Sciences, said in a written statement:
“The university’s policies prohibiting discrimination are intended to reinforce our commitment to equity and inclusion . . . We are looking into the current matter involving a graduate-student teaching assistant to ensure that our students were not subjected to discriminatory practices in the classroom and to ensure that all of our students feel heard and equally engaged. Contrary to some reports, the graduate student has not been removed from the program, and we have and will continue to respect and protect the graduate student’s right to due process.”
McKellop was irate that the university would force her to treat males or white equally in classrooms. She announced:
“Hi Friends, the University of Pennsylvania is issuing a press release condemning me and my teaching practices. It comes out tomorrow. Because this involves calling on Black students more readily than white men, the white nationalists and Nazis were very upset.”
In a Chronicle of Higher Education article University of Arizona Nolan Cabrera insisted that progressive stacking is merely seeking out the voices of minority students — giving them priority among various hands raised in a class. It is “an acknowledgment that traditional pedagogical techniques have silenced marginal voices.” However, even if one were to accept that approach, McKellop shows how such manipulation of class participation easily becomes a form of discrimination. Most academics strive to maintain an environment where everyone can speak as opposed to stack participation to address social patterns or bias. Each student must be treated equally — not de-prioritized due to his association with a racial or gender group. While there are an array of social ills outside of the classroom, we maintain an equality of thought and status as a basic component of higher education. Moreover, our students come to our schools to be treated equally — not to find themselves the ongoing social experiment of people like McKellop.
What do you think?
Balkanization, Lebanonization…both started when demographic gerrymandering imploded. Now, we’re teaching the next generation(s) how to do that to this country. We’re doomed ladies, gents, zhes, etc.
In the math classes I taught, I used a randomizer on my cell phone to pick students. It resulted in a high degree of student engagement. If you are a race-conscious educator, I recommend a randomizer as a means of putting conscious bias to bed. If you are a post-racial educator, you will enjoy this type of approach for deciding who to call on.
pbinca – although I no longer teach, I would have bought into that. I would often try to think, who haven’t I called on in a while and then go for them if everyone seemed awake. Otherwise, I would look to see who was checking their shoelaces and they were my target de jour. 😉 We didn’t have that app when I retired.
When I taught back in the 80’s and 90’s, I was the randomizer. My students knew to be prepared because I would call on them whether they raised their hands or not. This was not post-racial or pre-racial or whatever that is supposed to mean. This was Teaching 101.
Smarty pants Mckellop needs some shock & awe.
Stack her class with wild Indians that can’t read, write, or count to 5. The Mashco-Piro is a mock name given by rubber barons to this Amazon tribe, meaning “wild & savage”.
Here’s a rare video of them setting up an ambush in Monte Salvado, Peru. Then 200 Mashcos attacked. The camera man cuts the video & runs for his life. Imagine Mckellop in the Amazon jungle. I give her less than a week due to lack of survival skills.
Jerry – she looks like a decent pole dancer if she loses this gig.
Probably the only way to get universities’ attention to this, and the many other “social justice” issues on-going on university campuses (in particular, the silencing of conservative speech) is by cutting off the money.
Alumni should stop giving, or cancel promised gifts, and tell the universities why they’re doing so.
Parents should dis-enroll their children, enroll them in a school that doesn’t practice social justice, and tell the universities why they’re doing so.
Congressmen should be lobbied to cut Federal funds from these universities.
She’s 25. She was admitted to the Penn History graduate program after earning a degree in psychology at a rank-and-file private college. And, of course, her dissertation adviser is another gender obsessive.
The Penn History department is looking like a train wreck of friend hires friend.
Maybe it’s time to segregate all the students to different schools. Blacks can teach blacks, whites teach whites and Asians teach Asians. There would be no racial bias in the attention given to students. But, who would the progressives blame then?
Prof. Reynolds will nod to this story under the heading ‘Higher Education Bubble Update”. Every time you think the purveyors of tertiary schooling in this country have finally hit bottom and cannot sink any lower, they prove you wrong.
What a twisted little monkey. It is way beyond time to address what is happening in our schools, this is just ludicrous. NewSpeak doesn’t even begin to cover the level of delusion, in saner times, the majority of radical progressives, particularly in her age range, would be institutionalized. I barely know what to say anymore.
Of course her progressive stacking philosophy isn’t carried over to her grading process, right?
I would wager w/ this progtrqash Asian students are at the bottom of the barrel w/ the white trash.Stories from colleges are almost all The Onion worthy.
This is one of the many reasons why online education is superior to classroom education. Online any student can comment at any time. It is an educator’s job to facilitate learning by stimulating contributions by all participants, not to arrogantly view him/herself as the controller of who does or doesn’t get to comment.
Chris Bacon – some students do not have the discipline for online courses. I don’t. I want immediate feedback from my teacher and I want the discussion in the classroom. I learn from all of those. I don’t get that from an online course. Now, some people are very happy campers with online and more power to them, but I want a full classroom of awake and engaged students who are participating in the class and a participating instructor. When I was teaching, that was always my goal. I tried very hard to answer all questions from my students, even the seemly dumb ones, without hurting feelings.
In a perfect world she is a racist. However, this is a far from perfect world.
In ANY world she is racist!
I think any student who is intentionally being passed over in class is being defrauded of an education.
I cannot take seriously the racist rantings of an individual who insists that everyone else use they/them gender pronouns when they address her, but refers to herself in the singular when posting her confused tweets. She needs to be demoted from any teaching position as she needs that time time for reprogramming.
CCS – I would suggest a year of reprogramming in the lettuce fields, picking lettuce for a year. That bending and stooping would be good for her.
Because if the Nazis were known for anything, it was a principled adherence to racial non-discrimination, right?
More to the point, she apparently considers all white men Nazis! Fire her useless ass!
What a racist insult to black students. Essentially she is saying to “my Black students”: you are incapable of acting on your own behalf so let me stand up for you”.
Like Trump refers to, “my African-Americans” at his rallies?
Depends on the context. Do you have an example?
Go to around the 44 second point in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37-M_AzPxmM
FFS – this would be like Kathy Griffith refers to “her gays”.
Not calling on a student because of their race or gender is wrong. She needs to change her ways or resign.
I think her approach is wrong, but “not calling on a student because of their race or gender” is kind of the norm isn’t it? Just the other way around.
Where is that the norm, enigma?
It has historically been the norm throughout America. Only after integration of course.
Paul is correct. Teachers are supposed to catch students who haven’t done the assigned reading. Otherwise, teachers are supposed to address questions to the entire class. If some students are more eager than others to answer the teacher’s questions, then the teacher should call on the apathetic students. In that way excessive enthusiasm gets marginalized while apathy gets center-stage.
Diane – you want to call on the enthusiastic ones as well because they usually know the answer and you want to reward them. They often have great follow-up questions.
“Teachers are supposed to catch students who haven’t done the assigned reading” Good God! you can’t do that, that would be a micro aggression to call out a student who didn’t do the work. What about their feelings? They should be given a pass or passing grade regardless of work performed. as for those no good eager ones, well, we have a use for them….
“Progressive Stacking”: Another example of academics inventing a new word to explain an already adequately described phenomenon, i.e., discrimination, in order to justify their otherwise non-productive existence.
I always picked on the student that looked the least engaged. They either knew the answer quickly or they were slacking in my classroom. I am appalled at this technique and that others defend it. This teacher/TA is racist and should be removed from the classroom. She gives a bad name to teachers everywhere.
Paul, my younger son has classes in which classroom discussion is part of his grade. The result is obvious, if he had a TA as racist as Ms. mcKellop. Some of his German classes over the last 1.5 yrs only had Caucasians in them. At Penn, that would make for some pretty boring classes. 😅