Talking point #10

Johnson

Premise:
-schools
-power
-privaledge
-acceptance
-problems
-soultions
-answers
-rejection
-discrimination
-difference

Arguement:
Johnson arugues that the more we face problems the more the problems will disappear. If we ignore them they will never go away. So basically say the words that need to be said and face the problems that need to be faced.

Evidence:
-"Taking responsibility doesn't have to involve guilt and blame, letting someone off the hook, or being on the hook yourself. It simply means acknowledging an obligation to make a contribution to finding a way out of the trouble we're all in and to finding constructive ways to act on that obligation"

-"Dare to make people feel uncomfortable, beginning with yourself"

-"In the end, taking responsibility doesn't have to involve guilt and blame, letting someone off the hook, or being on the hook yourself. It simply means acknowledging an obligation to make a contribution to finding a way out of the trouble we're all in and to finding constructive ways to act on that obligation"

Comments:
I like reading about Johnson because he makes really good arguements that we need to face problems instead of running from them. We need to say the words instead of covering them up. If everyone works together then things really can change but you cannot depend on one person to change the world. Of course it does start with one person but once other people join in, it makes things much easier to be acceptable to change.

Our group project is going very well Thursday was a very successful meet :)

Talking point #9

"School Girls" by Peggy Orenstein

Premise:
-gender
-students
-teachers
-community
-inequalities
-education
-families
-occupation
-schooling
-opportunites
-self esteem

Authors Argument:
Orenstein argues that all students should be taught the same no matter what their gender is.

Evidence:
"Curriculum should be both a window and a mirror for students , that they should be able to look into other's worlds, but also see the experiences of their own race, gender, and class reflected in what they learn."

"It disturbed me that although girls were willing to see men as heroes, non of the boys would see women that way"

"Sexual harassment is part of the hidden curriculum for girls, and for boys, too, because they learn whether it has anything to do with them or not"

Comments:
This was a really easy piece to read. It was very interesting to see how much everthing is referred to masculine. It was almost like we have been blind to it our whole lives. Women should not be silent and we need to stand up for our rights.

Talking point #8

..sorry for posting late...

"Whites Swim in Racial Preference" by Tim Wise

Premise:
-race
-society
-privilage
-money
-influences
-family
-differences
-prefrence
-cause and effects
-income
-opportunity
-minorities

Argument:
Wise agrues that privaledged people are unaware of the inequalities that go around in the world.

Evidence:
-"We strike the pose of self-sufficiency while ignoring the advantages we have been afforded in every realm of activity: housing, education, employment, criminal justice, politics, banking, and business."

-"In other words, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that white America is the biggest collective recipient of racial preference in the history of the cosmos"

-"Ask a fish what water is and you'll get no answer. Even if 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:
This article was not bad to read it was understandable to follow. People in America are priviledged and do not seem to notice what we take for granted. If only people knew what life was like on the other side then we'd take things more serious.

Talking Point #7

“One More River to Cross” - Charles Lawrence

Premise:

-whiteness
-priviledge
-race
-labeling
-students
-seperation
-lies
-hate
-change
-misunderstanding

Author's Argument:

Lawrence argues that segregation still exists in the schools now a days and the Brown vs. Board of Education was no successful and is still an issue in the school system.

Evidence:
"Once the state has effectively institutionalized racial segregation as a labeling device, only minimal maintenance is required".

“Segregation’s only purpose is to label or define blacks as inferior and thus exclude them from full and equal participation in society.”

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

Comments:

I do not think that segregation will be completely gone in this generation because the older generation is still alive who was all for labels and segregation. If we start to teach the younger generation about race and its okay and normal then it will slowly start to disappear but i do not think it will fully go away until another few generations.

Talking point #6

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route by Jeannie Oakes

-kids
-stratergies
-talking
-classroom
-discussion
-opportunities
-ability
-tracking
-speed
-education
-priviledge

Premise:

Oakes argues that by labeling kids at such a young age it gives the impression that other kids have a better opportunity than other kids.

Evidence:

"Students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far richer schooling experiences than other students."

"To be successful, heterogeneous classrooms probably need to lean toward placing students more in charge of their own evaluation--checking their own understanding and asking for and providing feedback"

"These differences in learning opportunities point to fundamental and ironic school inequities. Students who need more time to learn appear to get less; those who have the most difficulty learning seem to have fewer of the best teachers"

Comments:

i like this article alot because i believe that students do not get the same education if they are divided. If certain kids are getting taken away to the class for "special help" then they are missing out on what everyone else is learning in the class. This article was very easy to understand and very easy to read. There were alot of good arugments in it as well.

Talking point #5

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer " In the Service of What?" The Politics of Service Learning"

Premise:

-community
-education
-service learning
-understanding
-experiences
-learning
-volunteer
-classrooms
-charity
-morals

Arguement:

Kahne and Westheimer both argue that service learning should be part of the school's curriculum as an opportunity not as charity because it betters the lives of students.

Evidence:

"For Thanksgiving this year my stepmother and I helped serve the seniors their Thanksgiving dinner. This was a very rewarding experience helping others in need."

"The idea that educators should foster a volunteer ethic and encourage youths to give something back to their school or community currently receives widespread support"

“In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promote students’ self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences—all goals of current curriculum reform efforts”

Comments:

I think that everyone should do community service because it really does make you feel better about yourself and it really is a rewarding experience.

Talking point #4

Linda Christensen Unlearning the Myths that Blind Us

Premise:

-media
-stereotypes
-the norm
-minorities
-movies
-racism
-sexism
-women
-cartoons
-influences

Authors Argument:

Christensen argues that media influences children to a point that it affects their behavior and by viewing profanity on the televsion it is only going to make them believe that this is okay.

Evidence:

"Many students don't want to believe that they have been manipulated by children's media or advertising. No one wants to admit that they've been "handled" by the media. (128)

"But I want students to understand that if the race of the character is the only thing changing, injustices may still remain."

"Children's cartoons, movies, and literature are perhaps the most influential genre "read"

Comments: All of the evidence shown above is basically showing that media really does influence the children. Kids are in denial of it becuase they dont want to face the facts. But the only way kids will really have a chance to learn is by reading and doing schoolwork. It was once a survey that the show Mr.Rogers was well rated because he was very soft spoken and laid back and kids werent hyped up when watching him, but then shows like powerpuff girls or power rangers get kids all hyped up and i think that this is the reason for ADD because kids are so used to bouncing off of walls, instead of watching tv all the time if they read books then they wouldnt have to worry about some other things. i know my friend as a kid she liked to read and i didnt i always watched tv and she has alot more vocabulary than me and i think that reading has alot to do with that.

Dennis Carlson

Premise-

gay
lesbian
straightness
gayness
homosexual
heterosexual
gender
culture
children
public schools
sexual preference
race
sex
different cultrures
different lifestyles

Argument:
Carlson argues that sexual orientation should not be silenced it should be recognized because it is not going away whether you like it or not, so schools should not ignore it.

Evidence:
“In what follows, I not only want to point to some of the ways gay people and “gayness” have been “kept in their place” in the school community; more importantly I want to argue that these practices are increasingly hard to sustain.”
-basically it is difficult to be gay in america becuase of the thoughts of others

“Abuses get tolerated because gay teachers and students operate in an environment where they feel afraid to stand up for themselves, and because any discussion of gay people continues to be absent in the curriculum so that homophobia is not interrogated."
-people should not be asahmed of what their prefernece is, but in public and private schools it is looked down on to be gay and people are afraid to stand up for what they believe in

"Gay people have been for the most part been made absent, invisible, and silent within this community and at the same time represented as the deviant and pathological ‘other’"
-gay people feel like they cannot be themselves around others and they shut themselves out of the world to avoid conflict.

Conclusion:
It seems as though gay people are afraid to be themselves because of what others think of them. This article was very hard to read it didnt make much sense to me but after reading a while i started to understand. Basically if we ignore a problem then it is never going to go away. people will be gay no matter what avoiding it isnt going to make it better. it is better to face the facts, just like racism still exists so we cant ignore it we have to face it.

Richard Rodriguez- Aria

Premise:
-Different languages such as classroom language
-language used at home
-outside of school language
-Advantage-ness of the english language
-disadvantages of non english languages
-teachers
-students
-priviledge
-kids becoming mute from not knowing the english language

Argument:
-Rodriguez argues that even though being an American you should speak the 'American' way which is English, bilingual children should never forget their backround and they should still keep with the spanish or whatever language to keep their heritage in their genes and pass it on to their kids. It's part of who they are so they should not lose that.

Evidence:
-Because i wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of of home. At school, words were directed to a general audience of listeners. Words were meaningfully ordered. And the point was not self-expression alone but to make oneself understood by many others" (34). There is a difference between language at home and language at school but if children arent taught the proper english at a young enough age, then they are going to be lost once they go to school.

-“I did not realize that they were talking in Spanish however until, at the moment they saw me I heard their voices change to speak English. Those gringo sounds they uttered startled me."
The Spanish language is unfamiliar to english speaking people because it can be intimidating to others who are not familiar with the language.

- "My mother! My father! After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use when addressing my parents”. Being that both parents speak both spanish and english it can probably get frustrating not knowing the primary language at home.


Comments:
I think that if someone is a spanish speaking person, they should definetly learn how to speak english because when they go to school it will be alot easier to talk to other kids and teachers and better learning opportunites, However they should never forget their original roots and never stop speaking the spanish language becuse its part of who they are.

This makes me think of the kids i teach at the prov. school because 95% of them can speak both english and spanish and they speak english at school and sometimes at home, but they never forget their original roots.

Kozol and Goldberg

Premises:
- Whites against Black
-Poverty
-Illness
-Drug Abuse
-Opportunities
-Success/Failure
-Religion
-Sex
-Depression
-Enemies/Friends
-Issues in the classroom
-Racism
-Jobs
-Hungry/Starvation
-Home Life


Argument:

Both Kozol and Goldberg argue that poverty, sickness, and wealthy-ness are big issues in society. If you are rich then you get a higher education compared to someone who is living in poverty because they are surrounded by filth in their enviorment. When someone is sick, they have to wait days in the waiting room, compared to someone who is wealthy they will be seen asap. If a child has all distractions such as family issues and poverty and illness, they are not going to be focused on their school work, leading them to do poorly in school.

Evidence:

"There are children in the poorest, most abandoned places who, despite the miseries and poisons in the world has pumped into their lives, seem, when you first meet them, to be cheerful anyway." (6)

-This quote really fasicnated me because it seems as though people who are living in these conditions are used to living this way, and they know things really suck so they try to make the best out of their life. They are happy that they are even alive. This is the attitude is the way everyone should be and there would be no hate in the world.

"Why are the bears in the tree i ask. he doesnt answer me but he smiles at the bears affectonetly. I saw a boy get shot in the head over there he says a moment later, in a voice that does not sounds particualary sad. Then looks up at me and asks if i want a choc. chip cookie" (6)

-This is shocking because it seems as though this boy is not bothered by the horrors in the world because he has seen the worst compared to people in a higher soceity they do not see these things, they simply hear them on the news. It is just amazing how people can live in a world like that.

My first post

My names Marissa, im in my second semester @ RIC, im majoring in Eled. with a concentration in Sped. (mild moderate). Im very excited to be in this class and start volunteering because it is a very good experience to see what im getting myself into haha. School can get overwhemling but i try not to let it get the best of me. I think thats all for now!

--Marissa--