Radical Acceptance Advice from Assistant Professor of Psychology Marcus Rodriguez during virtual learning
The Participant interviewed Assistant Professor of Psychology Marcus Rodriguez in late October on the psychological aspects of virtual learning this semester and asked him for his advice for the Pitzer community. What are your thoughts on the College going exclusively online? I think it’s the safest and most ethical and socially responsible option for us at this time. But it’s not ideal, and it’s not equivalent to teaching in person. Specifically, I think it’s more challenging to create a sense of community and connection between students. To me, that’s one disadvantage of online classes. I’m teaching clinical classes where we support each other as we provide emotional support to others, so that sense of community is really important. How are you creating community with your students? I start each class with a mindfulness exercise or by reading a children’s book that’s related to the content we’re going to discuss, or both. Then I ask students to reflect on the experience and to share their observations. My goal is for everyone to say something within the first five minutes of class. Because I’ve found that if people say something early on in the class, they’re more likely to participate and remain engaged, rather than being passive observers. If they’ve gone 15 or 20 minutes without saying anything, the likelihood that they will say nothing in the next hour is high. I’ve also borrowed a question that [professor] Kathy Yep likes to use: She asks, what brings you joy? And everyone answers. It might take just two 26 · The Participant
minutes for everyone to share one thing, but once they’ve unmuted themselves and said a word, it’s way easier to do it again. Is it getting harder or easier for students to deal with online learning? Definitely easier. The more you practice doing something the better you get at doing that thing. There is a certain amount of radical acceptance that people have achieved as it relates to the pandemic and to online learning. I think we are using less energy resisting those realities. What is radical acceptance? Radical acceptance is the idea of basically trying to make peace with pain that can’t be helped quickly or a problem that can’t be solved immediately. Radical acceptance is when you stop fighting reality, stop throwing tantrums because reality is not the way you want it to be, you let go of bitterness. It doesn’t mean you approve of something or that you like it, and it also doesn’t mean you’re passive or against change. It means acknowledging reality as it is, like “OK, this is the way things are right now, and so what does it mean for me to make the very best of this situation?”
