HILT Meet and Greet and Mutual Recogntion

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel spoke of something called mutual recognition and last month. in philosophy and in anthropology, I started to really feel what this concept was all about. In my three and half years as a Washington-Lee student, I don't remember ever having a full-on conversation with a HILT student. In the same hallway is a classroom full of students. They're all first-generation immigrants, speak English as their second language, and have only been in the United States for two years or less. They all came over to our classroom and we had the opportunity to mingle and help them out, something that never really happens. The talking and the listening gave us a way to get to know them and start a relationship. Some of them were not as engaged as others, but the ones that were into it were very nice and sharing laughs and stories makes me hopeful that, with this mutual recognition, the social barriers will dissolve.