Review Of Cathy Davidson's Essay 'Project Classroom Makeover'

A strong, indisputable correlation exists between privilege and reality. Our reality exists based on perception of the world, and such perception is tremendously impacted by our privilege. The privilege that we are accompanied with since our birth shapes our perception, influences our judgment, and becomes an essential component of our reality that cannot be removed. As shown in the essay, “Project Classroom Makeover”, the author Cathy Davidson’s reality is bounded by her privilege. Davidson proposes “a revolution in the democratization of knowledge” (54). Instead of the traditional education based on “expertise, specialization, and hierarchy” (Davidson 54), Davidson aims to advocate a digital way of learning dependent on crowdsourcing and

As a result of her ignorance, Davidson recognizes her privilege as her right and as part of her reality. The most apparent privilege Davidson remains unaware of is her white privilege. Despite of many Civil Rights activists’ efforts, white privilege still exists. White privilege is prevalent throughout the history of education, and it still continues. For instance, in her writing, Davidson describes Horace Mann as “the first great champion of national educational reforms” (57). Davidson claims how Mann not only graduated from Brown University as valedictorian, he also created the “common schools” (Davidson 57) that welcome boys and girls of all classes. Nonetheless, Davidson fails to consider Mann’s privilege. Although Mann was only “the son of a farmer with limited means” (Davidson 57), he has the privilege to attend school because of his skin color. Due to his skin color, Mann had access to education in an era when “several states explicitly forbade the attendance of nonwhite children (Davidson 57). The opportunity to do so gives Mann the possibility to climb up the social ladder and change his status. Therefore, Mann’s white privilege serves a s a key that opens the door to all of his future opportunities. However, for people of other races, it was impossible to do so in the nineteenth century. There were African Americans who were willing to achieve great success but failed because their fate was limited by the privilege they