Pondering Privilege

Lately, the phrase “check your privilege” has dominated the national news scene. This month, students at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government devised a way to institutionalize the concept on campus: a mandatory training program for incoming Kennedy School students to understand privilege and power differentials in the classroom.

The ultimate value of the proposed programming, however, will depend on how it is conducted. We urge the Kennedy School to create an open forum in which people can discuss experiences constructively. But while we hope the initiative does foster conversation, we do not believe it should be mandatory. Kennedy School students should be considered mature enough to make their own decisions.

We understand the need for further education on privilege and power. The students behind the campaign, called HKS Speaks Out, point to classroom experiences where they have noticed unhealthy power dynamics. They also indicate that other classes fail to address important issues like race and gender when it comes to policy formulation. Both of these concerns are valid and serious. In no Harvard classroom should some students feel less comfortable speaking than others. Moreover, Kennedy School students are in training to become world and national leaders, and they cannot carry out those jobs fully without a nuanced understanding of how social dynamics and inequality affect any country and its citizens.

The form that discussion takes around the subjects HKS Speaks Out wishes to tackle will play an integral part in its success. It is crucial that the group frames its proposed sensitivity training as a conversation, where students can share their experiences and learn from constructive debate with one another. The initiative will prove far less effective should it exist as a lecture-style seminar in which students are told by a select few how the world works.

Students at the graduate level have the capacity, developed over years of life and education, to think clearly and cogently. This capacity also vests them with the power and responsibility to come to conclusions on their own. Sensitivity cannot be taught in a classroom—it comes from personal interactions and contemplation. For this reason, we do not think the Kennedy School’s privilege training should be obligatory. Rather, we trust students who think they would benefit from the seminar to attend, especially if the Kennedy School takes it upon itself to develop more robust programming. We also trust these students to consider power, privilege, and their implications outside of the classroom.