Saturday, April 26, 2008

Richard Rodriguez- "Aria"

Key Words- unfamiliar, bilingual, family, learning

Author's Argument- bilingual students are at a disadvantage when the are not taught the same language that is taught at their homes, and are made to learn english, why cant they learn in their own language

Evidence- "supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their families language" p.34

Comments- first of all id like to say that the post before Kozol was supposed to say Dennis Carlson, i mixed that up pretty bad, but i swear this is the post about Rodriguez. anyways, i agree with Rodriguez to an extent, i believe that they should be taught in both english and their own language, so that will get the best out of both languages, they will be able to go farther with English and they will be able to stay connected at home with their native language, it isnt all that hard to get together a system that would make this happen id imagine, i dont know though, but i certainly do believe that students can not loose their identity at home and should still hold onto that language.
Jonathon Kozol- "Amazing Grace"

Key Words- suppression, underprivileged, communities, fairness

Author's Argument- people are not underprivileged by their own actions, but by the society and circumstances beyond their control that make them underprivileged

Evidence- "only 7 out of 800 children do not qualify for free school lunches" p.3

Comments- this case is horrible, when there is a community that is in this much need, we need to step in and do something about, i do not understand how we as a human race can look at situations like this and not right the wrongs that go on in them right away, it disgusts me
Richard Rodriguez- "Aria"

Key Words- right v. wrong, gay, normal, education

Author's Argument- educators should not be afraid to mention the words gay and lesbian in the classroom or for that matter teach about it

Evidence- "three techniques of normalization (hence) marginalization has been a primary importance in this regard
1. the erasure of gayness in the curriculum
2. the "witch hunting" of gay teachers
3. verbal and physical intimidation for gay teachers and students" p. 236

Comments- i believe in what Rodriguez is saying in this because it obviously is not right for teachers or students to be afraid to come to school or in that case be an out cast because of who they are, they obviously cant help who they are so we should accept them for that. teachers should not be afraid to talk about gayness in the classroom, it is society and little Clair's mom who does not want the teacher to talk about gayness to her daughter, we need to change that

Friday, April 25, 2008

Linda Christensen- "Unlearning The Myths That Bind Us"

Key Words- racism, discomfort, gender, culture of power

Author's Argument- that the media producers need to be wary of the message that they are putting out there because children's minds are affected by what they see on T.V.

Evidence- "'This is just a dumb little cartoon with some ducks running around in clothes' Then students start to notice patterns-like the absence of female characters in many of the older cartoons. When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds--even in many new and 'improved' children's movies" p.130

Comments- I had never thought about this, but when we talked about it in class a while back it kind of did hit me. And it almost ruined my sense of liking Disney movies, because now in a lot of the Disney movies that i watch i look for signs of racism and sexism, stuff like that, its kind of a bummer because i really enjoy those movies, but i do understand what Christensen is saying because its things like the image of Minnie Mouse that really do affect little kids in what they do almost every day
Jeannie Oakes- "Why Schools Need To Take Another Role"

key words- tracking, unfairness, inequality, students, parents

Authors Argument- tracking can be good, but most of the time it has bad consequences for the student, they are not given the right chance to succeed in their life, and the tracking follows them throughout their school years

evidence- "The Kind of changes likely to promote high-quality learning for all students in heterogeneous classrooms go far beyond mere fine tuning or correct practice. These changes also require fundamental changes in the structure of schooling and teacher's work" p.181

Comments- i believe Oakes is correct in this point of view, for example in my class i have seen tracking in a good way i think, but on the other hand i think that its a bad thing, my teacher has me dealing with all the smarter kids i believe, so that they are not held back by the other kids, i dont know if this is true or not, but its just the feeling that i get.
Bernard Lefkowitz- "Our Guys

Keywords- hatred, jocks, embarrassment, perfection, privilege, appaling

Author's Argument- that privilege, power, and whiteness is a cocktail for disaster if put into the wrong situation

Evidence - The Silence is a perfect example of how it is not the best way to go about getting over thing, and it shows that Leslie was ashamed of herself that she fell for the ploy that lead to her rape. and that the rest of the "jocks" didn't say anything. Silence is acceptance.

Comments- I agree with this, i learned during RA training that silence is acceptance and that if something happens in front of you that you know is wrong, and you don't do anything about it then you are saying tat is it okay for what happened to happen, this is wrong in so many ways

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Charles Lawrence- "One More River To Cross"

Key Words- school, society, power, privilege, segregation, race

Author's Argument- The Supreme Court's decision to not act upon segregation in Detroit was wrong, because they didn't understand the true nature of segregation, and no one recognized the racism and inequality in the United States.

Evidence-""If one views the Brown case narrowly, as a case intended to desegregate the nation's schools, history has proven it a clear failure" p.281

Comments- I agree with Lawrence because we still see issues like this pop up everywhere and its a terrible thing to see happen in this day in age. and its something that future generations are going to have to deal with if we do not stop it right here right now.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Tom Wise- "White Swim In Racial Preference"

Key Words- Segregation, Laws, Families, opportunity, history

Authors Argument- Racial preference is the reason that our society is that way that it is, the privileged get all the opportunities they want

Evidence- "ask a fish what water is and you will get no answer. even if the fish were capable of speech, they would likely have no explanation for the element they swim in every minute of every day of their lives. Water simply is. Fish take it for granted"

Comments- i believe this is true, every day we see it going on and we just take it as the norm. blacks still do not have the same "rights" i guess you could say as whites, you see a black man in the car riding low and a cop may just pull him over because hes black and looks "sketchy", it something that we live with every day, behind every door and behind ever wall, this is going to sound childish but like harry potter where the other world is everywhere you just cant see it, racial preference is the same way, its everywhere just not out in the open for all the eyes to see it, its secret in a sense but you know that it is still there.


Allan Johnson, "Privilege, Power and Difference, What can we do?

key words- power, oppression, difference, listening, solutions, responsibility

Authors Argument- Johnson says that change needs to be made in our society, and that people need to know about the problems that are going on, and when people are aware of these problems is the only time that we will be able to fix the problems

Evidence- "Listen to what is being said. Take it seriously. Assume for the time beings that its true, because given the power and paths of least resistance, it probably is. And then take responsibility to do something about it" p. 140

Comments- I totally agree with Johnson on this, i think that people are not aware of the problem that go on around them. they are in a state of "ignorance is bliss" where if they do not see or hear about the problem then it is not there. so the problem needs to be shown to them so that they may fix it, or at least know that it is there and want to change it.