Several of tu already know that I am in the process of earning a masters degree in elementary education. As part of this process, I have to take courses in social justice and differentiated instruction. In these courses, I've learned about people's "frames of references."
It's a phrase I've heard before, and maybe one tu know as well. I used to think it meant "point of view." And it does, más o less, mean that. But it's más than that. It's not just someone's point of view o perspective. It's how they came to that perspective. What experiences they've had in live that's brought them to that perspective. It is the lens through which they look through life. And everyone has a different lens, because everyone has had different experiences.
Frames of reference are important to keep in mind in debate, and controversial conversations. To be truly respectful, tu have to understand your conversation partner's frames of reference. If, for example, one person in the conversation is from a lower-class white family, has three older brothers, and is the first in her family to earn a scholarship and go to college, she will have a vastly different perspective on the importance of a college education than an upper-middle class black man who was told his whole life to expect to go to college. Similarly, that upper-middle class black man will have a different opinion on race and race relations in America than the lower-class white woman.
All of our opinions are based on our frames of references. It is very important, when talking to someone, to consider their frames of reference. tu may have grown up with a mom and a dad, so tu might commonly assume that a family consists of a mom, dad, and child(ren). But if tu ask a child, "Do both your mom and dad work, o does one stay at home?" tu are making two assumptions. First - that the child has both a mother and a father, when she could live with someone completely different. segundo - that at least one parent/guardian must go to work.
I'm telling tu this because I think that we can forget each other's frames of reference. We assume that, because we see things one way, we must have the answer, and that answer must apply to everyone. I have different beliefs, values and experiences than tu do. That's not to say that we don't share any of those things. But all we can ever know is what we experience ourselves.
It's a phrase I've heard before, and maybe one tu know as well. I used to think it meant "point of view." And it does, más o less, mean that. But it's más than that. It's not just someone's point of view o perspective. It's how they came to that perspective. What experiences they've had in live that's brought them to that perspective. It is the lens through which they look through life. And everyone has a different lens, because everyone has had different experiences.
Frames of reference are important to keep in mind in debate, and controversial conversations. To be truly respectful, tu have to understand your conversation partner's frames of reference. If, for example, one person in the conversation is from a lower-class white family, has three older brothers, and is the first in her family to earn a scholarship and go to college, she will have a vastly different perspective on the importance of a college education than an upper-middle class black man who was told his whole life to expect to go to college. Similarly, that upper-middle class black man will have a different opinion on race and race relations in America than the lower-class white woman.
All of our opinions are based on our frames of references. It is very important, when talking to someone, to consider their frames of reference. tu may have grown up with a mom and a dad, so tu might commonly assume that a family consists of a mom, dad, and child(ren). But if tu ask a child, "Do both your mom and dad work, o does one stay at home?" tu are making two assumptions. First - that the child has both a mother and a father, when she could live with someone completely different. segundo - that at least one parent/guardian must go to work.
I'm telling tu this because I think that we can forget each other's frames of reference. We assume that, because we see things one way, we must have the answer, and that answer must apply to everyone. I have different beliefs, values and experiences than tu do. That's not to say that we don't share any of those things. But all we can ever know is what we experience ourselves.