One of my favourite classes this semester is a Critical Theories class.
It's not what I expected it to be at all. The premise of the class takes place on open discussion and reading chapters from the textbook. The chapters can be a bit complicated but discussing them with group members helps me understand things better.
One of the topics we're learning about in this class is to Challenge Ideologies, which can be thoughts, beliefs, etc. that have been so embedded inside you, that you don't even realize they're there.
When we were learning about that today, I thought about my family life. It seems my Dad has an ideological view about education. He might not even know he has it. But it's there, and I notice it now.
He thinks formally educated people should be seen as superior as those that are not formally educated. An example of that would be J. Yes. My boyfriend.
My dad doesn't seem to think that our relationship will work out in the long run, because I'm working on my Masters and J doesn't have much post-secondary education as I do. But that doesn't mean he couldn't have it if he wanted to. J is an intelligent man, he doesn't need a piece of paper to prove that. Not to anyone, especially my dad. If my dad looked past the education part, he'd be able to get to know J better and not judge.
Maybe these sort of beliefs from my dad were passed on through his family, and he tried to pass it on to me. But it stops there. I won't listen to it, because I believe his view is a bit warped.
So maybe that means I'm challenging his ideology?
I'm okay with that.
