3 ms·

At a certain point don't you have to trust people to be adults? If someone's being a "subtle" racist, they're just being racist, and you can deal accordingly (

by cjf4 12y ago

At a certain point don't you have to trust people to be adults? If someone's being a "subtle" racist, they're just being racist, and you can deal accordingly (likewise for the rest of the "subtlisms"). Beyond that, if you want people to act with maturity, you have to treat them like adults, which these rules certainly don't do.

nawitus 12y ago
The problem is that it's there's no objective definition of racism, instead there are wildly different (and well-reasoned) positions. Some people think that even "believing" 'races' exist is racist, for starters. Perhaps even believing that someone could be justified in "believing" 'races' exist is racist in someone's mind. Then there's the whole debate about whether positive discrimination is racist or not, or if it's racist to prefer to have a relationship with one's "own race" etc. I guess the point thing is that racism is an extremely complex social issue with a lot of (well-argued) positions on a large number of questions. On top of this, there's this idea of "subtle racism", which could include things that should be allowed if "suble racism" is defined by extremely politically correct people, or which could include only things that actually are racist according to some decent arguments.
davidbalbert 12y ago
I'm one of the founders of Hacker School. We care tremendously about treating people like adults[1]. If you think the social rules don't treat people like adults, you're fundamentally misunderstanding them. The purpose of the rules is to make us all aware of the ways that we can unintentionally frustrate and hurt each other, not to shame people. The rules are not enforced top down, nor do you get in trouble if you break one. The way you treat a person like an adult is by being honest with them when they make you feel frustrated or uncomfortable and having an adult conversation about it. Our job is to build an environment where everyone at Hacker School feels safe to focus on becoming a better programmer. I don't think you could find a single Hacker Schooler who would disagree that the social rules made for a better environment, and there've been well over 350 so far. [1] cf. https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/28-treating-people-like-adults https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/28-treating-people-like-ad...

by cjf4 12y ago

nawitus 12y ago

The problem is that it's there's no objective definition of racism, instead there are wildly different (and well-reasoned) positions. Some people think that even "believing" 'races' exist is racist, for starters. Perhaps even believing that someone could be justified in "believing" 'races' exist is racist in someone's mind. Then there's the whole debate about whether positive discrimination is racist or not, or if it's racist to prefer to have a relationship with one's "own race" etc. I guess the point thing is that racism is an extremely complex social issue with a lot of (well-argued) positions on a large number of questions. On top of this, there's this idea of "subtle racism", which could include things that should be allowed if "suble racism" is defined by extremely politically correct people, or which could include only things that actually are racist according to some decent arguments.

davidbalbert 12y ago

I'm one of the founders of Hacker School. We care tremendously about treating people like adults[1]. If you think the social rules don't treat people like adults, you're fundamentally misunderstanding them. The purpose of the rules is to make us all aware of the ways that we can unintentionally frustrate and hurt each other, not to shame people. The rules are not enforced top down, nor do you get in trouble if you break one. The way you treat a person like an adult is by being honest with them when they make you feel frustrated or uncomfortable and having an adult conversation about it. Our job is to build an environment where everyone at Hacker School feels safe to focus on becoming a better programmer. I don't think you could find a single Hacker Schooler who would disagree that the social rules made for a better environment, and there've been well over 350 so far. [1] cf. https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/28-treating-people-like-adults https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/28-treating-people-like-ad...