Spring Chapters 3 and 10, Kozol Chapters 9 and 10

Spring page 62

“Plessy vs. Ferguson highlights the principle that race is a social and legal construction.”

We can see that the meaning of the term “race” has changed many times throughout our American history:  In the case stated above, in the Takao Ozawa vs. United States case (1922) and in the United States vs. Bhagat Singh Thind case (1923).   We have been talking in class about how race is what it is defined as today only because of what our society has deemed it to be.  Race does not have to do with the color of one’s skin, which is proven by the court’s inability to decide on what they should classify as different races between the different cases listed above.  If the courts can’t make a clear and final decision on how to classify races, then can there really be one at all?  Stereotyping is what the meaning of the word “race” comes down to.  Race has nothing to do with one’s cultures or background, but is many times a label for the color of one’s skin.  Spring talks about how the courts even realized that skin color won’t work to classify different races because everyone has a different skin tone.  So why is it that the courts were able to make the decisions they did even though “race” cannot be clarified based on the color of one’s skin? How should we teach about the concept of race in our classrooms in relation to how the government defines it (or doesn’t define it).

Spring page 69

“… second-generation forms of segregation can occur in schools with balanced racial populations; for instance, all white students may be placed in one academic track and all African American or Hispanic students in another track.”

I ahave never heard of second-generation segregation before, well the term of it I mean.  Unfortunately, even though segregation was supposed to be ended eyars ago, we still see many schools segregatedtoday.  I have never really thought about the way that segregation can happen within one particular school that is segregated demographically as a whole.  Seeing all these forms of segregation and how it has truly never ended in our school systems, I wonder if it ever will end.  When the Court decided to end segregation, many schools were forced to have close to an equal amount of each “race” attending each school.  The ones that were successful in doing tat, turned to the second –generation segregation that moved segregation to within the walls of the school.  Not only is this segregation between races, but it can be found happening to chidren who have special needs also.  The terms segregation and social prejusdice seem to go hand-in-hand when talked about this way.  Can our schools ever change from being this way?  If our society never changes the prejudices they have towards people, how will our schools ever be able to?

Spring page 255

“In contrast, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1996 let stand the decision by the U.S> Court of Appeals for the Fifth District that school systems were not liable for sexual harassment of students by other students.”

I think I am a little confused by this statement.  There are laws stating that harassment is not allowed to happen in schools, even though it is evident that these laws are not followed through with because there are still cases of student suicide caused by bullying.  If there are laws against harassment, or bullying, then would sexual harassment be different that regular harassment, causing children not to be protected in those specific cases?  If that is true, then I don’t agree with that at all.  To me, any form of harassment can be dangerous for a child to experience.  Too many children become depressed or end their lives because of what they have to deal with from peers at school.  If I am wrong in the way I perceive this information, can anyone please correct me?

Kozol page 217

“In school, you would not sense his feelings of political impatience; he does his best to make his fifth grade class a happy and protective place for children. His wrath emerges when he’s leaving school, or walking in the neighborhood, or when the weekend comes.”

This quote is talking about a teacher named Louis Bedrock who has been working at P.S. 30 (a school in the Bronx) for sixteen years.  This quote shows the importance of leaving feelings that should not be brought into the classroom, out of the classroom.  It is important for the children to be made aware of what is happening in the community in which they are living in, but for Mr. Broderick to be angry at something that is not happening within his classroom while he is teaching all day would hinder the children’s ability to learn.  Children need a compassionate community in order for them to learn and grow to their fullest potential.  They need to feel important within the walls of the room despite the segregation that may have put them there.  As long as the child is being nurtured in the best way for them within their learning community, then it will help to maximize their learning. Mr. Bedrock is a good example for all teachers to follow in this aspect of teaching and dealing with the struggles of the reality that society is not what it should be.  The feelings behind the struggles should be left outside of the classroom so that the main focus can be on the students.  What would be a good way to help more teachers remember to do this all of the time for their students?

Kozol page 221

“At every opportunity I have to talk with advocates and educators who share any part of my beliefs about these matters nowadays, I ask the same repeated questions: Where should teachers, superintendents, principals and others who are troubled by the silence of our nation’s leaders on this issue look for recourse and for reinforcement of their discontent?”

Kozol then goes on to state that we need to find the voices to magnify our cries for help and change in the people who have lived in the very problems we are trying to fix.  Successful Black people who went to segregated schools and never want to return and White people who went to desegregated schools and experienced success are just two examples of people who we should turn to to help change it.  The citizens who are not a part of the government will have the loudest voices against what is happening in today’s school systems, because they have experienced it and continue to experience it every day. A question that I have is how to we get people to use their voices against “the norm” of today’s society?  How do we get rid of the fear that many may have to stand up for something that the government is blind to?  How do we get the government to hear our cries for change and help when they turn a deaf ear and blind eye for the most part today?

Kozol page 238

“Choosing his words deliberately, Wilkins spoke of what he termed “the small-minded triumphalism” of contemporary political leaders who grew up in “isolated worlds of white male privilege” and have, as a result, “inadequate education for the responsibilities they hold.””

Again, this is what we have talked about in class.  So many people are not aware that they are privileged because that is all they grow up knowing.  If no one tells them that they are privileged, they are not made aware to think so.  What people are not faced with, or are not taught, they just don’t know about.  White male privilege is very real and is the truth for almost every white working male.  White males get paid more than any other person, etc.  If this is not pointed out to them, however, they may never realize this reality.  In this unfortunate reality, too many of these “unaware” people are the ones running our government.  They are not educated enough in reality to know how to deal with reality.  They try and solve problems that do not exist in the way that they think they do because they are not livng the problem every day.  NCLB was an example of this.  One white, privileged man decided to grade a child’s and teacher’s success solely on a standardized test, and if they don’t pass then the school is considered failing, etc.  Unfortunately, that man was not an active part of the education system on a daily basis.  He made a law that, although he thought would help, ended up hurting our schools, students and teachers.  To make matters worse, RTTT, which was supposed to “fix” NCLB, has only made things worse.  How can we make these people who are unfit to govern our education system see what it really needs to survive and flourish?

Folder 12

Revitalizing the Commons  Page 3

“This transformation alters the communal practices where work is reciprocated and where much of daily life is based on a barter or mutual exchange system.  The process of enclosure meant that communal access is restricted in ways the benefited, generally on a monetized basis, the owner of the land, water, and so forth.”

It continues to talk about how enclosure also expands to relate to the way that the world is teaching people to care only about themselves and become more independent instead of turning to others to forma relationships and ask for help.  This means that now most transactions between people, looking for help, etc. are based off of money and payment. Many years ago, before our economy became as dominant as it is and money started controlling our lives, people had real relationships with others and could look to each other for help and advice.  Today, everything like that costs money.   People today can’t look to someone else for help or guidance without either having to give something or pay money in return.  This is only making our economy more market based because it makes what used to be friendly transactions between people, now money transactions.  People focus on the money aspect of it instead of on helping someone.  What is this teaching our children?  Is this affecting our school systems?

The False Promises of Constructivist Theories of Learning page 114

“As pointed out earlier, what is made explicit, what is passed on as taken for granted, what is based on cultural assumptions that are never examined, and what is presented in an abstract way that represents it as universally true, will influence the student’s ability to think in ways that take account of the complexity of vital issues and to articulate a point of view that will lead others to reflect more deeply.”

We talked a lot about this topic in class, and in many ways our entire class has been molded around the main idea in this sentence.  Bringing up topics is extremely important in order for people to learn and grow around them.  Thinking critically is one of the most important aspects that are part of making us individuals. If we are never taught to question the “norm” or think critically about topics that should be thought about critically, then how can problems ever be changed or even brought to the surface.  For example, in order for someone to change their racist thoughts, words and actions, they must first be aware of the fact that they are racist by being aware of the social prejudices that have become a normal part of today’s society.  If no one ever tells them about social prejudices, then no one would ever feel that they are racist.  How can a teacher react to a statement like the quote above?  How does that relate to the job of a teacher?

American Education From a Tribal Perspective page 26

“The orchestrated “bottom-line, real world” chorus sung by many in business and government has become the common refrain of those who announce they lead the world.  Yet, what underlies the crisis of American education is the crisis of modern man’s identity and his cosmological disconnection from the natural world.  Those who identify most with the bottom line often suffer from an image without substance, technique without soul, and knowledge without context.  The cumulative psychological result is usually alienation, loss of community, and a deep sense of incompleteness.”

One of the things that tribal Indians focus on when they teach their children is how to build a community, linking people together so that no one is alone and everyone works together toward a common goal.  They are also more focused on living life in the most natural way possible: off of what the land provides for their survival, etc.  These children grow up learning how to form relationships with people around them, how to love others, how to help and how to count on others.  These children do not grow up wanting to be better than other people, thinking like is a contest to try and be better than anyone else.  However, this is exactly what most of our children are growing up learning.  They are taught to try to climb to the top of the corporate ladder because that is where they will find the most money, or happiness.  Children in our business society don’t know how to rely on family and friends for comfort.  They are not taught to help others unless given money to do so. In today’s world, happiness=money.  How can we change our own society around to get them back to where people, relationships and the world in which we live is more important than being number one and the money that we put into our pockets?  As teachers, how can we teach our children that happiness≠money when everything else in our society is telling them that it does?

A Pedagogy for Ecology page 32

“Rather than contribute to a sense of disconnection from place by writing off the environments around our most urban schools as unsalvageable or not worth knowing, teachers can instill in children an attitude of attention to what exists of the natural world in their neighborhoods.  The sense of care for and connection to place, then, can become the foundation for a critical examination of how that place has been degraded.”

Not only is it important for children to be connected with the people in their community, but it is also important for children to be connected with the environment in which they grow up in.  Children don’t have the same critical eye that people posses as they grow up and go through life.  Children also don’t know the harm in something until someone tells them about it.  So when teaching our children in the classroom, help them to look past the cars, building, concrete and to look at the trees, grass, leaves, sky, etc that surrounds them.  In a busy city filled with honking cars and people yelling, help the children to find the birds, bugs, clouds, etc to help them remain connected with nature.  Helping children to feel this connection helps them to connect to the place that they call home in a positive way.  They can connect with nature and their community in this same way.  In a society where almost everyone looks at the negative of everything, how can we, as teachers, push past our own negativity to help our own students see something that we don’t always see in our lives?

http://www.ecojusticeeducation.org/index.php?option=com_rd_glossary&Itemid=35

Culture

The practices, beliefs, traditions, moral norms that give the people a common sense of identity and way of understanding their relationship to the environment and to each other;

By looking at this definition, how can we teach the children in our classroom without teaching in respect to the cultures in which they live?  Someone’s individual culture defines who they are as a person, how they witness life, how they grow up, how they learn, etc.  What we are being taught is to teach to each individual child’s need.  We are being taught about Multiple Intelligences so that we can recognize each child’s different learning style and teach to that child’s needs.  However, in order for us to learn about what intelligence that each child uses most, or learns the best using, we must know about each child’s background (how they were raised, how they grew up, etc.)  Not only will it help us to teach each child in the way that they need to be taught, but it will help us to connect with each child on a more personal level.  How can we, as teachers, find the time to learn about each child’s individual culture if we have to spend so much time teaching for the test?

http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/pages/Read-the-Charter.html

The mission of the Earth Charter Initiative is to promote the transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework that includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace.

This has been the main topic of conversation so far in our EDF class.  In order for everything to be ok in the world of education, there needs to be equality and a bigger focus on the commons.  We recently learned about the pedagogies and philosophies of teaching, and the most important ones, in my point of view, were the ones regarding teaching concepts in a way that teaches about the community, environment, compassion, etc in a hands-on approach.  A successful community needs these things to happen because it would help people to care about each other and care about the natural resources that are provided for us to sustain the lives that we live.  How do we teach children about the more natural aspect of our lives when so much weight is being pushed on the test scores?