"On an unseasonably cold day last November in Foley, Ala., Colby Roster and Michael Peterson, two students in William Bender's fourth-grade public-school class, informed me that the class corn snake could eat a rat faster than the class boa constrictor." Just saying, I know not every one agrees, but I liked to watch snakes too when I was a kid. Having pet snakes in my classroom would have been fun. That is not something that pertains just to boys. Creating settings that aim to set social standards for children based on gender in crazy. What are these kids going to do when they are faced with settings that are co-ed, like many colleges? I really cannot say much on this subject because the idea of splitting children based on their gender may really prove successful, but I still wonder if this idea will embed social norms amongst these children which would later cause issues in their personal and social lives.
"Fifty-seven percent of Foley Intermediate’s students are white, 24 percent are black and 17 percent are Latino; 70 percent receive free or reduced-price lunches each day. In the first year of Foley’s single-sex program, a third of the kids enrolled. The next year, two-thirds signed up, and in its third year 87 percent of parents requested the program." Reading further into the article, the author provides statistics and the fact that enrollment into the single-sex programs are receiving overwhelming support and more and more people are committing their children into these schools. Apparently they are doing something right because this strategy has proven to work. Focusing on areas where girls and boys learn better based on proven tests is a strong factor that is weaning people's support on the issue. Tests that show boys listen better to louder, deeper voices, and that girls learn better when colors are used does play a key role in what these schools are focusing on to create the most favorable and effective outcome. Maybe they could take this idea and those who fell that integration is crucial and find a common ground where they can be mixed and still have an effective outcome!
"So many variables are at play in a school: quality of teachers, quality of the principal, quality of the infrastructure, involvement of families, financing, curriculum — the list is nearly endless. Riordan says, 'You’re never going to be able to compare two types of schools and say, ‘The data very strongly suggests that schools that look like a are better than schools that look like b.’ ” I agree completely with Riordan's quote because so many factors play into how well a school performs and how well the children fend in the school. Before schools can be judged all factors need to be accounted for and if the school does well in certain setups that others do not, it may not be because that system is bad, it may just not work for a certain school.
This article was actually very enlightening because it did not play into one side although it does somewhat glorify the idea of single-sexed schools. I mean to say that the article gives examples where single-sex schools have failed and proven not to work. I'm at odds with whether I agree with this issue or not because in certain situations it does really seem to work, according to the article anyway. What I did not like was the fact that the article mentioned single-sex religious school setting and the fact that they are failing. I wonder if some of the information in the article is fabricated because many Catholic school for example are failing due to their traditional methods and this is a problem amongst single-sexed and co-ed schools. All in all though, I found the article to be interesting and I always like ideas that are different.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Talking Points #6: Wise "A Particularly White Whine"
This article makes light of the fact that many white Americans complain that it is easier for African American students to receive scholarships to colleges that they would normally not enjoy because their merits are not up to par. It gives statistics that show how untrue this notion really is. According to Wise in fact, less than 4% of scholarships are awarded because of race and that 0.25% of scholarships are restricted to minorities. This article is interesting because I have heard that excuse before. I can't really say where, but I have heard it and dismissed it. I actually would assume and I may be wrong, that colleges would not want to award scholarships that apply directly to race because... whether people like to say it or not, as in the Johnson's S.C.W.A.M.P. article, race is a touchy subject, and many would rather just avoid it. All I can think about is those people who say things concerning whether scholarships are easier for African Americans obtain and I wonder about their ignorance and what they would say if someone showed them a few statistics.
Reading further I learned that the National Merit Scholarship for example is awarded to only 15,000 students and it is evenly distributed between the states and students receive them based on PSAT scores. BUT the kicker is, "Because the quality of schools varies dramatically across states, average scores on the PSAT will also vary widely, but students in Mississippi will alway get their 'fair share' even though many of them wouldn't have qualified had hey attended school in a state like Massachusetts." This system automatically knocks out those of color for the most part. In states that don't perform as well as others giving the privileged all the rewards. Just the tone of the writers article reminds me of Delpit's "The Silenced Dialogue." The author is obviously frustrated and the sarcastic tone is coming out because he is sick of hearing comments that black scholarships are unfair.
The last point that I really liked because it confronts the fact that there is racism and we can't avoid it. Many writers even myself, say that we need to end the fact that people base their opinions and ideas off of race and that we need to move forward and look past that, which should not be important anymore. But racism does exist and we can't just say get rid of it every being present. We have to recognize our mistakes and confront them instead of leaving ourselves in ignorance. The author says, "Surely scholarships for people of color are not predicated on intolerance for whites, nor are they based on some kind of blind contempt for white as a group. Rather they are rooted in the quite reasonable belief that people of color have been singled out for mistreatment on the basis of race, and thus, special efforts should be made to provide full opportunity to them, by taking account of the thing that had prompted the mistreatment in the first place." This reminds me of last weeks article by Kanhe and Westheimer because they confront what community service has become and that it shouldn't be about charity, but rather it should be because there is caring for the greater good and the fixing the wrongs that have been done to others!
Reading further I learned that the National Merit Scholarship for example is awarded to only 15,000 students and it is evenly distributed between the states and students receive them based on PSAT scores. BUT the kicker is, "Because the quality of schools varies dramatically across states, average scores on the PSAT will also vary widely, but students in Mississippi will alway get their 'fair share' even though many of them wouldn't have qualified had hey attended school in a state like Massachusetts." This system automatically knocks out those of color for the most part. In states that don't perform as well as others giving the privileged all the rewards. Just the tone of the writers article reminds me of Delpit's "The Silenced Dialogue." The author is obviously frustrated and the sarcastic tone is coming out because he is sick of hearing comments that black scholarships are unfair.
The last point that I really liked because it confronts the fact that there is racism and we can't avoid it. Many writers even myself, say that we need to end the fact that people base their opinions and ideas off of race and that we need to move forward and look past that, which should not be important anymore. But racism does exist and we can't just say get rid of it every being present. We have to recognize our mistakes and confront them instead of leaving ourselves in ignorance. The author says, "Surely scholarships for people of color are not predicated on intolerance for whites, nor are they based on some kind of blind contempt for white as a group. Rather they are rooted in the quite reasonable belief that people of color have been singled out for mistreatment on the basis of race, and thus, special efforts should be made to provide full opportunity to them, by taking account of the thing that had prompted the mistreatment in the first place." This reminds me of last weeks article by Kanhe and Westheimer because they confront what community service has become and that it shouldn't be about charity, but rather it should be because there is caring for the greater good and the fixing the wrongs that have been done to others!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Talking Points #5: Kahne and Westheimer "In Service of What?"
This article's focus is based on students and how they can participate in the community. The article, "In Service of What?" explains the importance and enriching factors which community service can provide to younger populations. Kahne and Westheimer bring to the table an important notion that children should not be confined to learning only in a classroom. Classrooms can provide rich learning experiences, but that does not mean that learning will be well-rounded.
"As is commonly the case with new policy initiatives, however, more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are headed. While service learning advocates rush to forge coalitions and find a shared vocabulary that accommodates multiple agendas and while practitioners and researchers begin to work on difficult implementation and evaluation issues, educators from schoolhouse to university to statehouse are neglecting to answer the most fundamental question: In service of what?" This quote is so true in that it basically reacts to people's want of everything RIGHT NOW. Impatience has grown to become a key behavioral trait that many societies possess. I know I myself rush to do everything, even though I always find myself late. The authors give two examples of legislation, The National and Community Service Act of 1990 and The National Service Trust Act of 1993. People expect positive results right away, but not everything works in high-speed. I think that as humans, we need to be looking at the path we are walking on, instead of the clearing up ahead, which is what the authors are trying to relay.
The second quote that caught my attention was, "In contrast, much of the current discussions regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change. The claim regarding the relation of service learning to the development of altruism is relatively simple to articulate and, in many respects, compelling." I think that people revert to calling their service a charity, for many people anyways, is the fact that as one person, many feel that they cannot really change anything. This is obviously not true because however small an impact is, it's still an impact. Going back to Christensen's article about the media, we see all these movies about people who have done great things which they are praised for, but what about those people who have done great things which have not been recognized?
"To tap into the full power of service activities, however, these practitioners would want to combine critical inquiry with action. This process can transform students' understandings of both disciplinary knowledge and the particular social issues which they are engaged." I liked this quote the best because I want to be a teacher. I know that when I become a high-school teacher that I will have to consider ideas like this because no two students are alike, each and every one will learn differently. I also liked it because, as I said before, it will help to make a well-rounded classroom. I know there will be millions of things that I can't teach my kids, but that is what makes this article so important. If I can connect my students actions with critical inquiry, there service will have more importance. Even more, some of those things that I or other teachers cannot touch upon, they will learn from others who can!!!!
"As is commonly the case with new policy initiatives, however, more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are headed. While service learning advocates rush to forge coalitions and find a shared vocabulary that accommodates multiple agendas and while practitioners and researchers begin to work on difficult implementation and evaluation issues, educators from schoolhouse to university to statehouse are neglecting to answer the most fundamental question: In service of what?" This quote is so true in that it basically reacts to people's want of everything RIGHT NOW. Impatience has grown to become a key behavioral trait that many societies possess. I know I myself rush to do everything, even though I always find myself late. The authors give two examples of legislation, The National and Community Service Act of 1990 and The National Service Trust Act of 1993. People expect positive results right away, but not everything works in high-speed. I think that as humans, we need to be looking at the path we are walking on, instead of the clearing up ahead, which is what the authors are trying to relay.
The second quote that caught my attention was, "In contrast, much of the current discussions regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change. The claim regarding the relation of service learning to the development of altruism is relatively simple to articulate and, in many respects, compelling." I think that people revert to calling their service a charity, for many people anyways, is the fact that as one person, many feel that they cannot really change anything. This is obviously not true because however small an impact is, it's still an impact. Going back to Christensen's article about the media, we see all these movies about people who have done great things which they are praised for, but what about those people who have done great things which have not been recognized?
"To tap into the full power of service activities, however, these practitioners would want to combine critical inquiry with action. This process can transform students' understandings of both disciplinary knowledge and the particular social issues which they are engaged." I liked this quote the best because I want to be a teacher. I know that when I become a high-school teacher that I will have to consider ideas like this because no two students are alike, each and every one will learn differently. I also liked it because, as I said before, it will help to make a well-rounded classroom. I know there will be millions of things that I can't teach my kids, but that is what makes this article so important. If I can connect my students actions with critical inquiry, there service will have more importance. Even more, some of those things that I or other teachers cannot touch upon, they will learn from others who can!!!!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Talking Points #4: Linda Christensen...."Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us"
This article was especially interesting because it is something that all people face, whether they are black, white, fat, thin, fat-ankled, big-footed, ugly, pretty, whatever. The first quote that I really liked was, "The "secret education," as Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman dubs it, delivered by children's books and movies, instructs young people to accept the world as it is in these social blueprints." I read this point which I could easily relate to and I also thought about other things that influence society's outlook on what people should look like. For instance, Barbie and GI Joe, both going out of business, but they too set standards of images. Some foods for example, usually the more expensive ones, show images that wean people's incentive to buy that product with a promise to help them lose weight and look more like the perfect person on the box. To top that off, anyone notice how much more expensive the health food sections are at your local store? Even better, society blames weight issues on those people who buy the cheap processed foods.
I also like the quote from Dorfman that the author includes. "We are not only taught certain styles of violence, the latest fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic strips; we are also taught how to succeed, how to love, how to buy, how to conquer, how to forget the past and suppress the future. We are taught, more than anything else, how not to rebel." The bad guy always loses. Almost every Disney movie shows the clashing of two titans in the media world; the good guy and the bad guy. The bad guy usually tries to take over the world or tries to suppress a group of sweet little kids and the good guy somehow always saves the day. The good guy does not always win, in fact many people would say that their ending is not a happy one. What about those orphans who don't find a wonderful family, those people who don't marry prince or princess charming, or those people who really just don't ever have that fairy-tale ending?
Christensen talks about the fact that Disney does not have a black cinderella. She talks about how this fact made people angry. Today there has been a black cinderella and other movies by Disney, where the color of the cast is black, but Christensen makes a very important point that does not just relate to the issue of color. She points out that changing the color of the character does not change the fact that the character is still sets an example for children and sets a standard for societies. She says, "Both young women wanted the race of the actors changed, but they didn't challenge the class or the underlying gender inequities that also characterized the lives of Cinderella, Ariel the Mermaid, and Snow White."
This article was very good to read because I as a reader could relate to what the author was saying directly. But, if Disney wasn't setting a this certain standard, then what other standard should they set? Not setting any standard in my point of view is near to impossible. I do feel that society should be more open to differences, and that Disney is a crucial player in helping to form acceptance. I'm not saying that Disney should be setting standards where the princess always finds her prince or where the poor find riches from their wildest dreams. What I am saying is that Disney as a company is marketing off of what they have found makes the most sales. Shouldn't people's preference over what they want to show their children take some of the blame?
I also like the quote from Dorfman that the author includes. "We are not only taught certain styles of violence, the latest fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic strips; we are also taught how to succeed, how to love, how to buy, how to conquer, how to forget the past and suppress the future. We are taught, more than anything else, how not to rebel." The bad guy always loses. Almost every Disney movie shows the clashing of two titans in the media world; the good guy and the bad guy. The bad guy usually tries to take over the world or tries to suppress a group of sweet little kids and the good guy somehow always saves the day. The good guy does not always win, in fact many people would say that their ending is not a happy one. What about those orphans who don't find a wonderful family, those people who don't marry prince or princess charming, or those people who really just don't ever have that fairy-tale ending?
Christensen talks about the fact that Disney does not have a black cinderella. She talks about how this fact made people angry. Today there has been a black cinderella and other movies by Disney, where the color of the cast is black, but Christensen makes a very important point that does not just relate to the issue of color. She points out that changing the color of the character does not change the fact that the character is still sets an example for children and sets a standard for societies. She says, "Both young women wanted the race of the actors changed, but they didn't challenge the class or the underlying gender inequities that also characterized the lives of Cinderella, Ariel the Mermaid, and Snow White."
This article was very good to read because I as a reader could relate to what the author was saying directly. But, if Disney wasn't setting a this certain standard, then what other standard should they set? Not setting any standard in my point of view is near to impossible. I do feel that society should be more open to differences, and that Disney is a crucial player in helping to form acceptance. I'm not saying that Disney should be setting standards where the princess always finds her prince or where the poor find riches from their wildest dreams. What I am saying is that Disney as a company is marketing off of what they have found makes the most sales. Shouldn't people's preference over what they want to show their children take some of the blame?
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Talking Points #3: Dennis Carlson.........Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community
"Within normalizing communities, some individuals and subject positions (i.e., white, middle class, male, heterosexual, etc.) get privileged and represented as "normal" while other individuals and subject positions (i.e., black, working class, female, homosexual, etc.) are disempowered and represented as deviant, sick, neurotic, criminal, lazy, lacking in intelligence and in other ways "abnormal"." This quote immediately caught my eye because of its strong relation to Johnson's article, "The Trouble We're In" and other classroom activities like, S.C.W.A.A.M.P. My high school experience concerning gays and lesbians was very minimal. People hid their sexual orientation for the most part. It was not until after high school that people came out and I think its because they knew that "coming out" was frowned upon and that people would just rather not know. I think that as the issue become popularized, hiding "difference" will become more open and accepted.
To back up my optimism, Carlson states in the very next paragraph, "However, as those marginalized within this normalizing discourse on community have begun to "speak out" and challenge their marginalization, and have also begun to develop collective movements and communities of support, the modernist idea of homogenous, normalizing community is being more disrupted than ever before." This article confronts a serious problem that traditional and conservative Americans are at odds with. That problem is change! Over the past few years, the rights of homosexuals have most definitely increased I mean to say that they can now marry in certain states, adopt children legally, etc. The gay community is very active in their fight to obtain rights and privileges and it seems they refuse to be ignored and marginalized.
The very last sentence in the article struck me as a very important message that all teachers should consider. "We cannot and should not attempt to impose "politically correct" beliefs on students; but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices." This point reminded me of Delpit's, "The Silenced Dialogue". She writes about different accounts and experiences of those who have been ignored and overlooked. We can't learn anything or expect to progress as a society if we cannot even listen to new or different ideas!
I found this article very interesting. What I liked most about it was the fact that the author did not just focus on gayness. He incorporated issues concerning blackness, feminism, poorness, etc. I also liked how he suggested materials like, "The Bird Cage" that incorporated a learning experience considering different sexual orientations. While reading the article, I was able to make many different connections to past articles that we have read. Finding any fault with this article is difficult because I had such an easy time reading and understanding what, exactly the author tried to point out to the reader. I liked his ideas and the fact that he made suggestions backing them up!
To back up my optimism, Carlson states in the very next paragraph, "However, as those marginalized within this normalizing discourse on community have begun to "speak out" and challenge their marginalization, and have also begun to develop collective movements and communities of support, the modernist idea of homogenous, normalizing community is being more disrupted than ever before." This article confronts a serious problem that traditional and conservative Americans are at odds with. That problem is change! Over the past few years, the rights of homosexuals have most definitely increased I mean to say that they can now marry in certain states, adopt children legally, etc. The gay community is very active in their fight to obtain rights and privileges and it seems they refuse to be ignored and marginalized.
The very last sentence in the article struck me as a very important message that all teachers should consider. "We cannot and should not attempt to impose "politically correct" beliefs on students; but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices." This point reminded me of Delpit's, "The Silenced Dialogue". She writes about different accounts and experiences of those who have been ignored and overlooked. We can't learn anything or expect to progress as a society if we cannot even listen to new or different ideas!
I found this article very interesting. What I liked most about it was the fact that the author did not just focus on gayness. He incorporated issues concerning blackness, feminism, poorness, etc. I also liked how he suggested materials like, "The Bird Cage" that incorporated a learning experience considering different sexual orientations. While reading the article, I was able to make many different connections to past articles that we have read. Finding any fault with this article is difficult because I had such an easy time reading and understanding what, exactly the author tried to point out to the reader. I liked his ideas and the fact that he made suggestions backing them up!
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