Don't You Forget About Me

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain…”
ANDREW (vo): “…and an athlete…”
ALLISON (vo): “…and a basket case…”
CLAIRE (vo): “…a princess…”
BENDER (vo): “…and a criminal…”
BRIAN (vo): “Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.

Though it’s over (throat constricting) TWENTY years old, I think this closing speech from the Breakfast Club has a strong connection to our discussions about identity this semester. 

We have spoken at great length about identity over the last fifteen weeks.  Some believe that we have but one identity and choose to show different sides of it depending on the situation and who we’re sharing with.  Others believe we have discrete identities (work me, school me, family me, friend me, by myself me) but it could be argued that is the same thing as simply having different sides of one identity.  Fine.  However, I proposed in my “Identity is in the Eye of the Beholder” post that it really doesn’t matter how we define ourselves, because it’s everyone around us who really decides.   We lead very busy lives, and though it would be nice if everyone really took the time to know everyone else, more often than not, like Mr. Vernon above, a label is assigned pretty early on so as to allow for categorization and filing away, resulting in a “oh, so she’s one of those. . Got it.  Next!” types of thought processes.  

How society perceives us is dictated by not only our direct words and actions, but also by how behave when we’re just going about our business, i.e., (or is it e.g.?)  are we nice to the checker at the supermarket, do we throw litter in the parking lot, do we yell at our children in public, do we recycle, etc.   Our online identities, on the other hand, are man-made.  We have no online identity if we never go online.  How we present ourselves to the online community is of our own making.  As a result, it would seem natural that most people would want to promote themselves in the most positive way possible online.  Blog posts are thoughtfully written; tweets are witty and clever; podcasts are scripted or outlined.   So if I’m reading your blog, do I really have a sense of your identity?  Do you have a sense of my identity by reading mine?   I would argue that you know what I want you to know, and vice versa. 

We as educators have different views on what and how to share our identities with our students.  Some are all business:  no discussion or peek into life outside the classroom whatsoever.  Others err on the side of getting too personal.   Disruptive technology can aid in communicating a teacher’s identity, and allow him or her to learn more about students’ identities.   Perhaps if Mr.Vernon had been able to peruse the online musings of the Breakfast Club, he wouldn’t have had to ask them to write an essay on who they were.  And he might have shown a different side of himself if they were able to do the same.  But to think that would give a complete picture of the individual is unrealistic.  Only through putting all the pieces together—what we observe, what we read, what we experience when we interact, etc.—will any of us truly get a more complete & accurate sense of a person’s identity, and see that we are all a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.   Cue Simple Minds here . . .