32 As it Turns Out, it Does Relate

From kindergarten through high school, I went to a private, Missouri Synod Lutheran school. The relatively small class sizes and dedicated teachers provided an excellent foundational education and I look back on those formative years fondly. However, the fundamentalist “fire and brimstone” philosophies presented to (and pushed upon) me through the school’s affiliation with the church did not seem to match my own developing reasoning and critical thinking skills, nor my personal morals, ethics, and worldview. This probably had a lot to do with my social worker parents, who provided more inclusive and justice-oriented narratives in contrast to those being taught in my daily religion classes and weekly chapel services. But, as a young person, I had to spend a lot of time and energy figuring out how to navigate the fundamental tension between these authority figures. Even in early childhood, I can remember being perplexed as to why women could not become pastors if they so desired and I couldn’t accept there was anything inherently wrong with LGBTQ+ folx. On the other hand, I also have memories of anguishing over the fact that my father did not attend church most Sundays, wondering if he was headed for eternal damnation. Processing messages and developing standards for information to create your own set of beliefs is hard work. Spoiler alert: that struggle never ends.

My experience as a student changed dramatically during my first year at Indiana University — a large state school like UA with similar Gen Ed requirements. While I’d always excelled as a K-12 student, I remember absolutely falling in love with learning for the first time in a wide variety of Gen Ed courses. Instead of being taught what is “right” and “wrong,” I was encouraged to be critical about sources of information, regardless of the course content. I learned that asking questions was just as important as seeking answers. I explored different kinds of data and what constituted “proof.” Perhaps most importantly and impactfully, though, courses like Living in the Information Age, Society and the Individual, Sexual Diversity, and Introduction to Ethics, helped develop and foster “critical consciousness.” Critical consciousness is the ability to perceive social, political, and economic contradictions, and to act against the oppressive elements of society (Sharpe). Instructors in these courses would challenge and reframe taken-for-granted assumptions about society. I particularly remember my conceptions about religion changing as I learned to step outside the lens of a particular belief system to more objectively analyze ceremonies, traditions, and the functions of groups. I began to see scriptural interpretations that vilified LGBTQ+ people as a form of social control. I also have many memories as an undergraduate feeling truly shook while learning about a wide variety of other topics like racial and educational disparities, as well as childhood hunger in the US. Dominant narratives that associated individual characteristics like “laziness” with poverty became untenable for me, as professors helped me explore the structural causes of inequality. This perspective — focused on privilege, fairness, and the “underdog” — would shape me as a future professional.

I later spent 15 years working in parks and recreation settings, as well as campus recreation, holding various positions: from tennis instructor and volleyball official, to intramural supervisor, program and special events coordinator, and tournament director for national-level sporting events. No matter what I was doing professionally, I found myself looking for creative ways to expand access and break down barriers, especially for marginalized groups. I prioritized initiatives like offering youth sport scholarships and free equipment rentals for families that might not otherwise be able to participate. One specific example, working with the Detroit Cricket League, inspired me to eventually go back and pursue my PhD. That dynamic group (consisting of more than 30 teams) was entirely Indian American. The more I worked with and got to know them, the more obvious it became to me they were being subjected to some blatant racism and discrimination. The leaders in the Detroit Cricket League struggled to secure practice and competition space with parks and recreation agencies, as well as school districts throughout Southwest Michigan. They were consistently given leftover and undesirable field times, only after baseball and softball were prioritized. Thankfully, I was able to provide some direct support for them in my professional role at the time, helping them host a new, large, high-profile tournament on the athletic fields I controlled. However, I also recognized the issues were structural and not unique to this group or geographic location. A few years later, my doctoral dissertation would go on to critique the limited conceptions of diversity and cultural competence in the National Recreation and Park Association, calling for more resources, training, and accountability.

I could draft an entire other narrative about the writing and quantitative reasoning skills I acquired as part of my Gen Ed experience (in courses like Introduction to Argumentative Writing and Finite Mathematics). They helped lay the foundation for me to be able to craft professional memos for city council meetings and build 200+ team double elimination tournament brackets. I certainly wasn’t aware of all these future, pertinent connections at the time I enrolled in any one Ged Ed course. As it turns out, though: it all relates. Whether it is the development of critical consciousness, clarifying your own moral and ethical codes, honing writing and quantitative reasoning skills, or acquiring other forms of knowledge (disciplinary or otherwise), I encourage you to embrace broad personal growth and eclectic intellectual development sooner rather than later! Afford yourself the joy of learning, for the sake of learning. There will be future professional and personal applications, whether you are able to identify them at this moment or not. I would argue that even if these explicit, applied connections remain elusive for you, your experiences in Gen Ed may just help you on the never-ending path to finding your place, and purpose in this complicated world and perhaps make the journey a little bit easier for others along the way.

Works Cited

Sharpe, Erin. “Are you awake yet? : The conscientization process.” Speaking up and speaking out: Working for social and environmental justice through parks, recreation, and leisure, edited by Karen Paisley and Daniel L. Dustin, Sagamore Publishing, 2011.

About the author

name: Matt Ostermeyer

Matt Ostermeyer is an associate professor of practice in the Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies Department at the University of Arizona, where he is also the program coordinator for the recreation & sport in communities, parks & schools minor. Matt is happiest spending time in nature with his husband, cuddling with his pets, playing with his nieces and nephews, reading a good novel, or chatting with students.