Power Wheel Activity

For the Socratic Seminar this week we looked at the power wheel and had questions to respond to about the wheel.

Power Wheel Activity
a. Identify where you fit in all of the areas on the wheel
b. What do these aspects of our identities reveal about us?
    What do they not say about who we are?
    To what extent do they matter at school?
    To what extent do they matter outside of school?

Identify where you fit in all of the areas on the wheel
Gender: Women
Race: European-Anglo Americans
Class: Rich, Poor, Educated
Ability: Able
Language: English
Appearance: Young
Sexuality: Heterosexual

What do these aspects of our identities reveal about us?
All of these aspects of our identities reveal how society views us. Society either puts in one category or the other, either your marginalized or your not. With this power wheel and society in general there is no gray area, just an area of black and white (figuratively speaking). Everything is either one way or the other.

What do they not say about who we are?
These aspects have nothing to do about who we are as individuals. The wheel groups us up by a lot of things that have little to do with the people we are. Just because an individual is of color and i'm not doesn't mean that i am any better or worse then they are. This same thing goes for ability, class, gender, and all of the other categories in the wheel. I don't think a wheel should define a person and what they are about.

To what extent do they matter at school?
I don't think any of these categories on the wheel should matter in school, unfortunately, it seems as if they do. Many teachers, administrators, and students alike see people not as individuals but as a group defined by such a wheel. Its kind of sad that we all can't be our own person, and are defined by where we came from, what we prefer, or how we look. In a place such as school, every one should be able to be their own person and not be limited by our identity and how others see us.

To what extent do they matter outside of school?
I feel the same way about this question as I do the one before. The aspects defined on the power wheel shouldn't matter outside or inside of school but they do.