Lens Exercise Reflection

Rebecca Duncan

Lens Exercise: Self-Reflection

I am a white woman and I come from a white, middle class family with several generations from the Pacific Northwest. My entire childhood was spent in Vancouver, Washington (which is a city just outside of Portland that is basically a suburb of Portland). Both of my mother’s parents came from working class families, and my father’s father also grew up in a working class family, so both of my parents were essentially the first in their families to complete college and get jobs that required college-level education. Because of this, I have been surrounded all my life by a mix of working-class people and more affluent, educated people. (I enjoy this hodge-podge of class and culture, I think it is very significant in shaping who I am today).

When I was young, I was considered to be “gifted” in comparison to many of my peers, so I spent many years in elementary school in the “challenge” program in my local school district, successfully completed the full IB program, and have consistently performed above average on standardized tests. This measure of my apparent possession of above-average intelligence has shaped my community of peers, but not always in a way that I have liked. Sometimes, the pompous and arrogant atmosphere I would observe in some of my advanced academic classes was stifling, uncomfortable, and conflicted with my values. I utterly disagree with the idea that anyone ought to be considered to have less worth or have less of someone’s time because they are less intelligent or do not see the world in a “standardized” way. In order to contrast this negative experience, I deliberately took extra classes and participated in extracurricular activities that had nothing to do with academic success, and have found myself to be so much better for it. With a great mix of people surrounding me I was able to find a love for music, community service, and theater; hobbies and activities I hope to continue with for the rest of my life.