Brown vs. Board of Education

Well, first off, I would like to mention that I had a difficult time doing this assignment for some reason. Not because I'm not interested in the topic, but I got easily distracted while watching the videos and I was all over the place, so I had to watch them a view times to get a good understanding. The article was really interesting though!

Anyway, Tim Wises' broadcast were pretty cool, once I got to listen carefully to them. Right from the beginning he said that we had to deal with what is real and that racism is still going on,  yet were pretending it is not. This made me think of Johnson's Power, Privilege and Difference. He said that we know that there are issues in the world, but we're afraid to confront them or talk about them. We don't use the word "privilege," just like we don't use the word "racism," which I think is true. He also said that people of color are wise, but they have a different style of showing it, which I thought was very smart because I didn't think of it like that. He then went onto say that people of color don't have to be like Obama to be successful, and I believe that but I want to know who told him that they believed that? What color person said that they can't be successful unless they are Obama, or like him in a sense, because that is not true at all. He said that "Individuals of color can accomplish great things, Even if they don't go to Harvard, and go to schools like University of Michigan, which is absolutely true! This relates to the Brown vs. Board of Education because all those students wanted was an education, and it didn't matter from where. But White's didn't believe that they should have equal education because they weren't "smart" or "potentially successful" as Whites. Later in the video he said that if the past was the present, people believed that Blacks had equal opportunities, CRAZY!! The people during the time of Brown vs. Board of Education didn't believe that Blacks needed schooling, because they already had the right to vote and those laws, so that's all they really needed. Even though it was successful, it took a lot of time to have a change, and Wise said that this case was probably the biggest, but it showed us that things still needed to be changed. The thing that Wise said that stood out to me was that "We see excellence". We should have noticed it in the past and we should be noticing it now, because no matter what, everyone can achieve excellence. And it still wasn't as simple as it should have been. 

Remember the Titans: First day of school! This is my favorite movie ever btw, watch it if you haven't!

When I read the article by Bob Hebert, I immediately thought about our Service Learning Program. In the first paragraph, he said that it is hard to get good educators in schools located in high-poverty areas and that is why they are not always the best. He then said "these, OF COURSE, are the schools with Hispanics and Blacks" He said it like it was automatically assumed that it is the schools with Blacks and Hispanics, it was kind of sad to read it like that. During the Brown Vs. Board of  Education,  no one wanted to be a teacher to the "black students," and they refused to teach them. Yet, here we are now. Hebert said "Schools are no longer legally segregated, but because of residential patterns, housing discrimination, economic disparities, and long-held custom, they most emphatically are in reality." Even after the case, we still see schools that are mostly White, like where most of you went to High School, or even mostly Black and it's all because of those reasons. But we stem from the root that there were segregated schools in the past. The main point of his topic is that students learn in a better environment, away from provish areas. 

Hebert said "The election of Barack Obama has not made a true integration any more palatable to millions of Americans". I believe that this speaks words and it is really important to understand. Because have things really changed for the better? Because according to Wise, people of color believe they have to be like Obama to be successful. I believe that the Brown vs. Board of Education was a huge milestone in 1954 and the election of Obama was a big milestone in 2009, but like Wise said there are still works that remain. I found an interesting article about the 60th anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education case and how it was successful and not so much. Pretty cool to read! 

Topic Point: In Wise's broadcast, he said that we couldn't really understand how the African American's felt during that time because we weren't in their shoes. Only White's shared their opinions about how they felt they were in fact equal opportunities, which they weren't. But anyway, that's like saying we can't understand how someone feels unless we walk a mile in their shoes. If you were a student back then, how would you feel? Or sense we are all teachers, lets say we were put back in time during 1950's and this case, what kind of teacher would you be? 

In The Service of What?

The author, Kahne and Westhimer, argue that a Service Learning Project or community service is important to students in the school system. These authors who wrote “In the Service of What?” are explaining that they believe service learning is something that students should be doing. They feel that it is a good thing for three reason/domains: Moral, Political, and Intellectual domains. They would develop a stronger sense of morality, because they would be more caring and giving. The service learning would make them care for someone else, than just themselves. This would also teach them more about other people as well. They would gain a sense of a political view, meaning that they would become more responsible students and even citizens. And of course, the students would become more intellectual. The students would learn so much more than just the core subjects, that they would be transformed into a new person. Students could participate in any community serve they want, such as, volunteering at a homeless shelter or an elderly home, mentoring another student, tutoring, etc. These activities will teach them to become better citizens and they will learn more about the culture of other people. The authors believe that it will help them in the school setting as well. However, the authors make the point that the parents have an impact on the students. For example, a music director at a middle school wanted to take his students to perform for a school that was in a poorer neighborhood than them. Parents declined it because they felt their kids would be in an “unsafe area," and that reflected on the students views. However, they went and they did not feel the same way when they left, they enjoyed it. Political leaders, like Bush, Kennedy, etc, were noted for their powerful words, that the authors relate to service learning, which is a great point. The main point that the authors are trying to make is that they believe community service is important to students and it should be apart of the child’s curriculum.  This website states the top reasons why community service is important and should be in high schools. These reasons relate to the author's argument for this topic. 

As well as doing the argument part, I just want to add a view comments of my own going off about the main topic. The authors mentioned that community service is being put into place as a graduation requirement in schools. In my high school, we had to complete twenty hours of community service in order to reach a graduation requirement. To me, I thought that this was a great idea and it was easy for me because I volunteer at places often. I know that some students had a difficult time completing this task and I feel that it was because they did not find something they truly enjoyed, because they just saw it as they needed to get it done. Others felt that it was a great experience, which is what more people should believe. Here is a website that speaks of community service as a policy throughout Rhode Island (but you could look at other selected states), it's pretty interesting to read with all of the state facts and laws. Also in my school district, students could complete a Service Learning Project and complete tasks in order to graduate. However, they took that away and now we have to do Portfolios, which is I hope is all changed when we become teachers. The project was anything that a student wanted to do And was approved to do. They would volunteer in a work field and learn all about it, then complete a project. In some districts, this option is still available to do and they love it. I feel that it makes a lot of sense and it’s a great opportunity for them to grow as a person. I believe that our service learning project is one of the best things in this class. I absolutely love it and it has already taught me so much. I’ve always been into volunteering, whether it be for my old Church, Special Olympics, or mentoring children, but it has all shaped me into the person I am. If more students were aware of community service and learned how to do a service project, I think that those students would grow from it. They would learn all of the things that Kahne and Westhimer described because it would be such a great opportunity. I related this article to White Privilege Knapsack. In my previous blog about that I talked about a few quotes that McIntosh stated. She said that "I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will" I believe that being apart of community service makes you who you are because you get to experience so much great things. I know that it was about two separate topics but it made me think that being a volunteer was apart of your morals. Community service wouldn't be a "thing" if we didn't have problems or issues in the world that needed to be fixed. so I also related this to what McIntosh said as well "Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end these problems." I said before that I disagree with this quote because I believe it can, but each individual act of community service is a great thing that is working to make something better. (So I was just using quotes from McIntosh that made me think about this article, not so much the overall topic of her article). As you can see, I am big for volunteering, because I truly think it is a great experience that would effect someone in great ways. One of the people in the article said “The hope was that the students values and beliefs might be transformed by these experiences.” 

Topic Point: Did anyone else have community service as a graduation requirement? Did you guys like the idea of it or did you just feel it was something that had to get done? If you could do something like the Service Learning Project when you were in high school, do you thing that you would feel the same way as you do know? Although I am all in for volunteering, I also feel that it won’t have a huge effect on someone unless they are more mature and “grown up”. Like in elementary school, once a month we would all make blankets for the poor. I knew that it was a great thing to be doing, but I had more fun just making the blankets than understanding what it was truly about. Now I would appreciate that more. Anyone else feel this way?

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

When I was in preschool, I was asked what I wanted to be. Obviously, I responded with "A Princess", just like every girl at that age. And we have Disney to thank for that. We dream of the fancy clothes, the wonderful lifestyle, a prince, and a happily-ever-after. I remember when I reached elementary school, still having a mindset that I wanted to grow up to be a princess, my parents told me that it wasn't realistic and that they are just movies. They never happen in real life. Now I look back on what they said and I see a different reason why they said that. It is because of all the stereotypes in the movies, and now in our age, there are women and girls changing it. Sure there are some instances where fairy tales do come true, which means there are some instances where stereotypes do occur. But I believe that the more years that come, we begin to see what the Disney movies actually mean and it is kind of sad to watch.

 

So, both of these videos are about the stereotypes that the women in Disney movies are portrayed. I really don't want to give so much away in the videos because they are wicked cool and I really hope you watch them! But basically, they are about the typical women, who are domestic, they clean the house and cook, they change themselves for love, and they do what they must in order to do so. But the videos also show the different women: Mulan, Esmeralda, Tiana, Rapunzel. All who are supposed to follow the "rules of women", but who chose to go against them. What you say? Women going against stereotypes? Thats crazy!!!! But those are the movies we should be showing to young girls, so they know. 

I also wanted to talk about Frozen, which was a pretty good movie. But those stereotypes changed. Most of you know the movie, so I won't go into so much detail. But, Elsa was the queen and did not need a king to rule with her. Elsa became one of the first princess to say that Ana could not marry a man that she just met. This movie also showed that Elsa didn't need a man to save her, it was her sister who did. Unlike all the other Disney movies, they were not portrayed this way, rather the complete opposite. I believe that is why so many parents, or even young adults, saw this as a great movie because it changed everything. Kids should be growing up, learning the things that Frozen taught. I couldn't find an interesting video, but here is a website that speaks of the broken stereotypes. Also, I know that Brave was a movie similar to this, I think, but I never saw it so I don't know! I didn't want to leave that out.

I believe that girls should be brought up knowing that they can be whoever and do whatever they want. I think that this article and Disney relates to Delpit's rules of power number 2: There are codes or rules for participating power- that is there is a culture of power. The culture of power is that women are expected to be cleaners, as men are supposed to be the "man of the house", but why? Someone created it that way and everyone followed it. The rules:

1. Girls cannot do boy things

2. A girl must marry a man to be successful 

3. Boys are supposed to be seen as strong and powerful

4. Women are supposed to be perfectly dressed

5. Boys must save girls

AND SO MANY MORE!! But things are changing. 

This article makes me also thing of SCWAAMP (like everything else). The things that we find important in our society and that Disney also only shows. Society values Straightness. Have we seen a Bi/Lesbian/Gay couple? Society values Able Bodiness. Princess's are seen as very skinny, perfect hair, perfect body. Prince's are seen as strong, masculine, and powerful. Have we seen an imperfect looking Prince or Princess? Society values Maleness. Disney shows that a women cannot do male things or the other way around. But Mulan finally showed the difference. We need to show more of the differences to let society know that it is okay to show the differences. The media is a huge part of people's lives and that is a start to show the differences. 

So, here I am at 18 years old, and I believe I am absolutely Princess Kaileen. But I didn't get here because I cleaned the house, which I don't at all. I don't have fancy clothes or I'm not rich. Prince Charming didn't come and save me. But I am just starting my life and so far it is happy, so I believe I will have a happily ever after. I hope some girls just dream of that, and not everything in between. 

Topic Point- I found this really interesting video where someone spoke of 5 different incidents in schools disapproved of kids not following the gender roles. I was going to post it, but it had a lot of swears. But has anyone ever witness or heard about issues where kids got in trouble for not following the "rules"? 

Safe Spaces

Just by the name of this article, I knew it wasn't going to be a positive one, rather sharing horrible stories of experiences. So I read other people's blogs before I started reading, and I was even more shocked than the actual article. Many people wrote that they had no interaction with LGBT communities, or even knew anything about it. They wrote that they're schools didn't address it or notice it, which is just awful to me. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. My close family members are drag queens, gay men who dress as women. (Some of them are really attractive men and then they transform into beautiful women. It's amazing.) So I've been around them, in both forms, my whole life and it is nothing different from everyone else. About five of my neighbors are lesbians, all with one or two children. They are definitely my favorite neighbors, not because they are lesbians, but because all my other neighbors are a lot weirder than a different sexual orientation. I was in a school that accepted these students and it was great when those kids felt they could be who they are. Not that we spoke of LGBT or focused on it in school, because we didn't have too. They were accepted and treated just like everyone else. I've never known a Transgender until about three years ago. I volunteer for Special Olympics and a male joined the swim team. We became really great friends and always talked. I later found out that he was born a female, but felt that it wasn't who he really was. It went through everything and now he is simply happy. How are you going to discriminate against someone who is happy? 

I really liked Marley's approach, the teacher who helps educators in classrooms k-12, she address the questions and isn't afraid to see the response of others. She speaks of own experiences in her classroom and also gives out articles, which I think is such a great idea to get people more aware. Don't treat this like an elephant in the room. Don't tiptoe around the differences like it isn't there. In high school, I took a psychology class and one of the topics we learned about was a shortened version of LGBT. There was a student in the class who was a lesbian, and another who was gay, and the teach asked both of them too share experiences and explain to the rest of the class what it means. It was really eye-opening to the rest of the class. If a teacher is just dismissing it, the student will feel out of place and the teacher just shouldn't be a teacher. (Sorry, harsh I know) But truthfully, as a teacher, you are expected to educate students in all you know, and I believe that it goes just beyond the 4 basic Subjects. We are supposed to teach them about life, world, and everything in between. So if we aren't going to address the reality of the world, what are we really teaching students? That is one of the realities of the world. 

I also loved Patrick's approach into telling the students not to use the word "gay" like they were. He handled that situation like a real teacher would. If I was in that situation, I would have done the same exact thing. Gay is not a word to call something or someone stupid, and it is certainly not an insult. On the other hand, Marcus' teacher did not handle the situation correctly. Sending a student to the principals because he used the word Gay in the correct way? I don't understand how a teacher can feel that is a right thing to do. I was upset just reading that.  "Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end these problems."-McIntosh. These are individual acts that can absolutely end these problems in not accepting humans. 

This article I feels relate to the first text we read this year. Johnson described the issues that occurred in the schools and what they truly meant. This is one of the situations that are now more prominent in schools and how we have to embrace it, rather than ignore it. I also relate this to the text, Power, Privilege and Differences, where Kozol says that we don't use the word "privilege" because we don't like to accept it. "Transgender," "bi," "gay," are all words that people are afraid to use for no reason. It doesn't make any sense to me. This also relates to SCWAAMP. The S stands for straightness, which is something that America accepts as the correct view in our society, which is wrong. Things are changing everyday. Everyone who is anything besides straight is a PERSON. They are a human beings in this world; no difference between me and you. We need to start accepting and doing something about it. 

P.S. I didn't know where to put this into my article, but this is a really cool website, GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. I found an interesting article they wrote about research based on LGBT in middle school. I wrote too much already, but I hope someone brings up Teen Suicides because of these reasons!!! 

Topic Point: I could go on forever about this topic, so sorry for being so straight forward! But how would you handle a situation as a teacher if something came up in your classroom one day? Also, I know it's a difficult question. But why are so many people not welcoming to LGBT's? Are they afraid of differences? 

Aria

Reading Aria by Richard Rodriguez, was really interesting. I liked that it was a story and he shared his emotions and feelings through story telling, rather than stating the facts like the other pieces we have read. I decided to do an extended comment for my blog and I'm connected it with Josh! (Who did a really nice job on his work and I really liked it)

For Josh's first quote he chose, I completely thought of the same thing. I could not believe that the nuns would come in and tell Richard's parents that. I felt that they thought they had more power over the family to tell them what to do. Also, Christy mentioned this in her blog as well, but that he should feel comfortable in his home and speaking Spanish is what they do to feel comfortable. Now its like his in a whole new and different place. I took spanish in High School and my teacher moved to the US when she was 20 and learned English and decided to be a Spanish teacher. She gets stuck sometimes and still has a thick Spanish accent and it was difficult to understand her. All I can think about is going into HER home or HER classroom and saying "you need to learn better English". (Which I would never do, she was an amazing teacher) Awful, just sad to think about?

The second quote Josh chose was something I picked out immediately as well and it stood out to me. I knew it was a powerful sentence, but I didn't look that deep into it until I read Josh's explanation. He said that Richard didn't feel like he belonged or wasn't apart of the country he was born in, just because he didn't speak English. I just thought the sentence was saying once he spoke english for the first time he was proud and felt like he made an achievement. But he wasn't proud of himself, because it was something that he was forced to do. It wasn't so much as a goal or something to accomplish, he HAD to do it. Up until that point, he was just Richard Rodriguez, not Richard the American citizen. And like Josh said, I feel bad for him as well. Reading Josh's explanation reminded me of Grinner's SCWAAMP. One of the components of being a true american is Whiteness and American-ness, both of which were not Richard. Sure he was born in America, but he wasn't an American to society because he wasn't white, he Had a spanish last name, english wasn't his first language, and so on? Then I started to feel even more sad for him because I couldn't imagine ever feeling that way too.

The last quote Josh picked out broke my heart even more than his second quote. Just Richard explaining how much has life had changed, when he didn't even ask for it too. He was uncomfortable when the nuns came in and forced them to speak English more, now his whole world was changed upside down. His home life was different, but now everything is different. Josh makes a great point that he learned English in an awful, forceful way. I wonder if he had learned it in an easier and more caring way, things might have been different. In the other reading, Teaching multilingual students, the author speaks of different ways that they can work to teach those students. Some of those should have been used to help Richard. Josh also put up a nice picture of a face with spanish near the brain and english in the mouth. I thought it was really powerful because thats exactly what it really is. The brain is telling you to speak what you know, but your mouth forces you to say what you have to say. Really compelling.

The two videos were exactly what Josh said: eye opening. I can't even describe them in a way that moves you because there are so any thoughts running through my mind! The facts were just so powerful and things that you couldn't believe. It was a mixture of laughs and facts to get everyone to realize the strength of what is going on. Our world has focused on simply english, and all the other languages are nothing compared to. There should be all these languages in the school systems, other than spanish, and french (those were the only ones at my high school). Josh made a good point in his blog that education in schools should be teaching English, not at the homes. I found a short article about language barriers in schools, really interesting I think. Home is for homework, so you work on school work at home but if you're having trouble, school is where they help you fix you're difficulties! I would love to learn another language! Without different languages, the world is just boring I believe. Why wouldn't you Want a group of diverse humans coming together and being united? I feel that is just wonderful.

Josh, you did a great job!! I loved everything you spoke about and your thoughts were really strong and eye opening as well. :)

Topic: Did anyone else take a language in high school and college? How was your experience?

White Privilege Knapsack

Let me first start off by saying, I read McIntosh's first because I read everyone's blog about Amazing Grace and I couldn't bare to read it and have awful thoughts in my mind. So I decided to write about this one because even though they are both to scary to be true, Kozol's made me really nervous and scared because I don't want to face that truth.

So, I read White Privilege Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh and I really enjoyed it. It was along the same lines as Kozol's first piece we read, Privilege, Power, and Difference. The author talked about the issue of whites, specifically males, having more privileges over other races. This is what the first article we read was about. The article was very interesting and there were many quotes that I really liked, but I chose the ones that stood out the most to me.

1. "I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will." (2)

      -I had to sit here and think about this quote for a few minutes because it made my mind run. I believe that everyone should be raised to learn that. You become the person you are from how you are raised and you should know that with hard work and determination, you will succeed, not because you are White or Male. You will receive great things if you are a nice and true person, not because you are white. That's how the way things should work. I feel that people don't think about this too often and they should. There is this really nice article from a student at Princeton (2014),  who describes exactly what this quote is saying. I really enjoyed reading it because it was true and real, he learned the right way, which is how we should all be taught. 

2."In addition, since race and sex are not the only advantage systems at work, we need to similarly examine the daily experience of having age advantage, or ethic advantage, or physically ability, or advantage related to nationality, religion, or sexual orientation," (5). 

     -The author just got through with speaking that some don't classify "whiteness" as an advantage, and if so, just think about all the other advantages that are in the world. She described that students may not think whiteness is an advantage. (Which I disagree with. I know students of other race believe in this and me, being white, is know realize this is true because of what we have read). But all the other advantages are present in the world today. This quote directly deals with the lesson we learned about SCWAAMP. These "advantages" are what we value most in our world today and not many people realize that. But they are all true. 

3."Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end these problems." (6)

     -I'm not sure if it's because I'm naive and still believe that there is good in the world, but I truly believe that these problems can end. If every individual in the world can make one simply act, then eventually all of the problems will end. It won't happen over night, and it might not happen completely in our lifetime. I think of it as the Ripple Effect. Someone throws a pebble into the water, and it creates a ring, and then another, and then there are many rings. Someone throwing that pebble into the water is an act and then others follow the act and it because larger, until eventually the ripples, problems, are gone. (I can't remember if the Ripple Effect is considered a bad thing or not, but I look at it as a good thing.) Or you can think of it like Professor Bogad described with tapping on the glass, creating cracks, until it eventually breaks altogether. There will be many pebbles to throw and many mirrors to break, but I want to believe that these issues will end. It also relates back to the first quote I chose, that we need to have moral will to succeed, not just privileges.

Topic to Discuss: When i'm writing, I just can't stop! I have so many things to say so I might just be babbling, sorry. Am I the only one? Also, for the ones who read Kozol's piece, why did you chose that one over this one?

A Silenced Dialogue- Edited!

A Silenced Dialogue, by Lisa Delpit, was a very interesting article to read, although I enjoyed it, I feel like the comments stated were ones that I figured out on my own, yet were sad to actually read. However, there were a few statements that stood out to me and caught my attention. In the first paragraph, the author is speaking to a Black teacher in an urban elementary school and discussing certain instances she has had. 
"White people think that know what's best for everybody, for everybody's children"(21). 
          -This stood out because the teacher has been through it first hand in the school system and the way other faculties and parents are approaching her. She has seen that the way she teaches, others believe that it is not right and she could be doing more, when she is doing the best she can. It makes me upset that people have come to this reasoning, and others are letting it happen. This leads to the author describing that there are five rules of people or culture with power. I believe that the Black teacher feels she has no power over the White people telling her what to do. 
The next quote I found interesting was "many liberal educators hold that the primary goal for education is for children to become autonomous, to develop fully who they are in the classroom setting without having aribitary, outside standards forced upon them"(28). 
          - In this comment, I took it that higher authoritative people believe children learn who they are and their best inside a learning classroom. However, I completely disagree, I feel that children learn who they are outside of the classroom, as well. I think that children discover more things about themselves than just school work or how they are labeled in a classroom. This also relates back to the issue of people having more power than others and thinking that their opinions are more important. This comment really made me think about how I feel if someone said that to me. 
          -EDITED: This quote and the explaination that I wrote about reminds me of Shor. Shor speaks of socialization for the students and that it is a great thing for them to do. He says that we shouldn't be just focusing on the basic subjects, which is true. Student's learn so much more than just outside of the classroom and that is where they realize the joy in learning. Shor says that the attitude of the teacher and the students plays a big role, which I agree on that. It is just the power of the school and teachers who believe that learning is strictly in the classroom. However, Shor would have to say the opposite, and I agree with him!
The last quote that I found really interesting was "I am also suggesting that appropriate education for poor children and children of color can only be devised in consultation with adults who share their culture. Black parents, teachers of color. And members of poor communities must be allowed to participate fully in the discussion of what kind of instruction is in their children's best interest"(45).
           - I think that this comment is extremely important because it is true. Parents and adults know their children better than anyone else and they should have in say in how they are taught. They know what is right for them and they should be allowed to act upon that. However, not everyone believes that should be the case, and thats wrong. Delpit said "both student and teacher are expert of what they know best," and that is certainly true and both can learn from each other. 
          -EDITED: This reminds me of when we spoke of Brown vs. Board of Education. One father pushed for his daughter to be at the right school and get the same education as the white schools. He knew what was best for his daughter and he made sure that is what he was going to get. Even though they were not so much poor, they were still classified as that because they were African Americans and during that time it was seen as unequal. No matter who the parent is, the parent should always play a role in their child's education. 

Here is an interesting article that I found, from 2012. It is an interview with Lisa Delpit and her theories and points made in this article we read. 

Comment: What exactly is Distar? Which schools did this program take place in?  I was a little confused.