Premise
Suburbs
Pain
Special needs
Jocks
"All American Guy"
privilege
character
Lefkowitz's Argument
Lefkowitz argues that because the boys involved in this horrible crime are privilged white male athletes, that this gives them amnesty and are excused for their actions.
Evidence
"The silence of the students and adults. The inclination to blame the woman and exonerate the men."
This shows that the towns people of Glenn Ridge blame the victim who is special needs, for what happened to her. It couldn't possibly be the boys fault, because in their eyes they can do wrong.
"Often, they identified the victims of the tragedy. It was a short list: the young men who had been arrested, their families, and the good name of Glen Ridge. The list, more often than not, omitted the young woman in the basement and her family."
"Many of the parents didn't want to hear anything bad about their children."
Comments
Reading this story was horrifying. I wanted to stop reading it, but I couldn't put it down. What these young men did this poor girl is unexcusable and they should have been punished. But just because they are white male athletes and looked at as the golden boys, the all american boys, they walk away without a scratch. Its disgusting.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tim Wise
Premise
affirmitive action
racial prefenc
privelge
race
fair/unfair
Wise's Argument
Wise argues that white people are blind to privelge because of racial preference, and because they have been given it their entire life that they are unable to see it.
Evidence
"We ignore the fact that at almost every turn, our hard work has been met with access to an opportunity structure denied to millions of others."
Wise is saying that if you're white you are treated differently and recive more opportunities to succed than you would if you are a person of color.
“privilege, to us, is like water to the fish: invisible precisely because we can not imagine life without it.”
Privilege has always been there, so we see past it and don't even notice it.
Comments
This piece was really easy to read and intresting. Being white I never realized how much power and privilege I actually hold and the advantages I recieve soley on my skin color. A lot of people don't realize that segeration is still around today. It may not be as prominent as it used to be, but it is definatley still there.
affirmitive action
racial prefenc
privelge
race
fair/unfair
Wise's Argument
Wise argues that white people are blind to privelge because of racial preference, and because they have been given it their entire life that they are unable to see it.
Evidence
"We ignore the fact that at almost every turn, our hard work has been met with access to an opportunity structure denied to millions of others."
Wise is saying that if you're white you are treated differently and recive more opportunities to succed than you would if you are a person of color.
“privilege, to us, is like water to the fish: invisible precisely because we can not imagine life without it.”
Privilege has always been there, so we see past it and don't even notice it.
Comments
This piece was really easy to read and intresting. Being white I never realized how much power and privilege I actually hold and the advantages I recieve soley on my skin color. A lot of people don't realize that segeration is still around today. It may not be as prominent as it used to be, but it is definatley still there.
Charles Lawerence
Premise
Black
White
Segregation
Brown vs. Board of Ed.
Justice
Lawerence's Argument
Lawerence argues that the descision made in the Brown vs. Board of Education fostered a certain way of thinking that allowed/allows society and the judicary to deny the reality of race in America.
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"
This shows that Lawerence feels that just because schools were desegregated did not mean that it solved the problem, but in society and the judiciary's mind everything went away and the problem was fixed.
"The oppressor's understanding of his oppression is limited by self-interest, and ultimately we must find ways to make our oppression operate against the self-interest of those in power."
Lawerence is saying that society/the states only fix what they want or feel should be changed, and that if people want more done about it then they need to bring it to their attention in some other manner.
"Equality of education is not enough, there can be no equality under a segregated system. The American negro is not a dominant minority; therefore he must fight for complete elimination of segregation as his ultimate goal."
The way schools were set up children who were white got the better books, and the better education, children of color were left behind and did not get the same, their schooling was inferior to that of a white child. Showing that seperate is not equal.
Comments
I knew about this case but I did not know it in detail. It was interesting to learn more about it and to know that this case did change a lot but at the same time wasn't succesful in the way it should have been.
Black
White
Segregation
Brown vs. Board of Ed.
Justice
Lawerence's Argument
Lawerence argues that the descision made in the Brown vs. Board of Education fostered a certain way of thinking that allowed/allows society and the judicary to deny the reality of race in America.
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"
This shows that Lawerence feels that just because schools were desegregated did not mean that it solved the problem, but in society and the judiciary's mind everything went away and the problem was fixed.
"The oppressor's understanding of his oppression is limited by self-interest, and ultimately we must find ways to make our oppression operate against the self-interest of those in power."
Lawerence is saying that society/the states only fix what they want or feel should be changed, and that if people want more done about it then they need to bring it to their attention in some other manner.
"Equality of education is not enough, there can be no equality under a segregated system. The American negro is not a dominant minority; therefore he must fight for complete elimination of segregation as his ultimate goal."
The way schools were set up children who were white got the better books, and the better education, children of color were left behind and did not get the same, their schooling was inferior to that of a white child. Showing that seperate is not equal.
Comments
I knew about this case but I did not know it in detail. It was interesting to learn more about it and to know that this case did change a lot but at the same time wasn't succesful in the way it should have been.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Oakes
Premise:
curriculum
tracking
strategies
grouping
skills
labeling
Oakes's Argument:
Oakes argues that teachers need to find a curriculum that will work for students of all different learning levels because tracking is doing a poor job in educating children.
Evidence:
"In fact, studies that control for instructional differences - providing identical curriculum and instruction to both tracked and mixed groups of students - typically find that high ability students do equally well in either setting. The fact that the students are tracked seems less important than that they have the other instructional advantages that seem to come along with classes that are highly able."
This shows that students of a higher level learn just as well in a mixed track group than if they were in all one level. It also proves to be a better learning environment for students of lower tracks also.
"...Students with high abilities or with handicaps had the effect of making students in the middle "unspecial" and guaranteeing that they were taught in "unspecial" ways."
Tracking is unhelpful because it teaches students that others are valued more and that they should be at a higher level. They are treated differently.
Comments:
Tracking can be erased from schools entirely if the school system put in the effort to create a curriculum that would be conducive to everyone. Until this happens though we are stuck with a tracking system that leaves students feeling left out and unimportant. It is hindering their learning, instead of learning from each other by being mixed, they only have others to work off of that are in the same track that they are in. Tracking needs to be stopped starting from a young age.
curriculum
tracking
strategies
grouping
skills
labeling
Oakes's Argument:
Oakes argues that teachers need to find a curriculum that will work for students of all different learning levels because tracking is doing a poor job in educating children.
Evidence:
"In fact, studies that control for instructional differences - providing identical curriculum and instruction to both tracked and mixed groups of students - typically find that high ability students do equally well in either setting. The fact that the students are tracked seems less important than that they have the other instructional advantages that seem to come along with classes that are highly able."
This shows that students of a higher level learn just as well in a mixed track group than if they were in all one level. It also proves to be a better learning environment for students of lower tracks also.
"...Students with high abilities or with handicaps had the effect of making students in the middle "unspecial" and guaranteeing that they were taught in "unspecial" ways."
Tracking is unhelpful because it teaches students that others are valued more and that they should be at a higher level. They are treated differently.
Comments:
Tracking can be erased from schools entirely if the school system put in the effort to create a curriculum that would be conducive to everyone. Until this happens though we are stuck with a tracking system that leaves students feeling left out and unimportant. It is hindering their learning, instead of learning from each other by being mixed, they only have others to work off of that are in the same track that they are in. Tracking needs to be stopped starting from a young age.
Kahne and Westheimer
Premise:
understanding
school
community
service learning
volunteering
lessons
Kahne and Westheimer's Argument:
Kahne and Westheimer both argue that service learning should be part of school requirments, but that students should learn from the experience, not just par-take in it because they have to. They feel that the students should walk away from the experience with a better understanding and appreciation for others.
Evidence:
"In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promite 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 curriciulum reform efforts."
Not only should students be helping others but they are helping themselves as well, by developing skills that they may not have without the experience.
“Service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling.”
It helps students later on in life, but only if they learn from it and take something from the experience.
Comments:
Theres a difference between charity and volunteering? I never thought of it the way Kahne and Westheimer put it, but it makes sense. Students should do community service but it should be a fullfilling experience for all parties involved. Everyone should take something away from it. It shouldn't be a one way exchange.
understanding
school
community
service learning
volunteering
lessons
Kahne and Westheimer's Argument:
Kahne and Westheimer both argue that service learning should be part of school requirments, but that students should learn from the experience, not just par-take in it because they have to. They feel that the students should walk away from the experience with a better understanding and appreciation for others.
Evidence:
"In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promite 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 curriciulum reform efforts."
Not only should students be helping others but they are helping themselves as well, by developing skills that they may not have without the experience.
“Service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling.”
It helps students later on in life, but only if they learn from it and take something from the experience.
Comments:
Theres a difference between charity and volunteering? I never thought of it the way Kahne and Westheimer put it, but it makes sense. Students should do community service but it should be a fullfilling experience for all parties involved. Everyone should take something away from it. It shouldn't be a one way exchange.
Linda Christensen
Premise:
society
disney
stereotypes
racism
media
children
society
Christensen's Argument:
Christensen argues that children are subjected to planned out messages from the media of how they should look and act to fit a certain mold in order to be accepted in society.
Evidence:
Daffy Duck--"'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" .
This gives girls the idea that they need to be skinny and sexy in order to be liked and to fit in. For a guy to like them they need to fit a ceratin mold on the outside, they are taught this instead of that it is their personality that really counts.
"But I want students to understand that if the race of the character is the only thing changing, injustices may still remain."
Just because the race changes doesn't mean the same message isn't put across.
Comments:
I never really noticed that all these messages have been put across to children and at such a young age. I knew that teenagers were subjected to this everyday in the media, but to have to be subjected to it at such an early age? To have these thoughts about having to have the perfect body, and be a certain way by the age of ten is crazy.
society
disney
stereotypes
racism
media
children
society
Christensen's Argument:
Christensen argues that children are subjected to planned out messages from the media of how they should look and act to fit a certain mold in order to be accepted in society.
Evidence:
Daffy Duck--"'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" .
This gives girls the idea that they need to be skinny and sexy in order to be liked and to fit in. For a guy to like them they need to fit a ceratin mold on the outside, they are taught this instead of that it is their personality that really counts.
"But I want students to understand that if the race of the character is the only thing changing, injustices may still remain."
Just because the race changes doesn't mean the same message isn't put across.
Comments:
I never really noticed that all these messages have been put across to children and at such a young age. I knew that teenagers were subjected to this everyday in the media, but to have to be subjected to it at such an early age? To have these thoughts about having to have the perfect body, and be a certain way by the age of ten is crazy.
Dennis Carlson
Premise:
gay
lesbian
oppression
individuality
Carlson's Argument:
Carlson argues that students who are gay have always been oppressed and that it is a teachers job to make students and society aware that they too have a voice that needs to be heard, and it is the teachers job to give those who feel voiceless a chance and speak up for them.
Evidence:
"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 shows that Carlson feels that it is the teachers responsibility to give these students who are gay a voice in an otherwise straight society.
“Three techniques of normalization and (hence) marginalization have been of primary importance in this regard: (1) the erasure of gayness in the curriculum, (2) the “closeting” and “witch hunting” of gay teachers, and (3) verbal and physical intimidation for gay teachers and students”
People need to be made aware that gayness is not a bad thing, it's just another way of life. And to do this they need to be exposed to it, by voicing it in schools, and society.
Comments:
We need to be more accepting of different lifestyles, and more open to differences. It's not right that a gay couple has to hide their partner and way of life, while someone who is straight does not have to go through the ridicule. One way of helping this idea spread is by talking about it in the classroom like any other subject.
gay
lesbian
oppression
individuality
Carlson's Argument:
Carlson argues that students who are gay have always been oppressed and that it is a teachers job to make students and society aware that they too have a voice that needs to be heard, and it is the teachers job to give those who feel voiceless a chance and speak up for them.
Evidence:
"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 shows that Carlson feels that it is the teachers responsibility to give these students who are gay a voice in an otherwise straight society.
“Three techniques of normalization and (hence) marginalization have been of primary importance in this regard: (1) the erasure of gayness in the curriculum, (2) the “closeting” and “witch hunting” of gay teachers, and (3) verbal and physical intimidation for gay teachers and students”
People need to be made aware that gayness is not a bad thing, it's just another way of life. And to do this they need to be exposed to it, by voicing it in schools, and society.
Comments:
We need to be more accepting of different lifestyles, and more open to differences. It's not right that a gay couple has to hide their partner and way of life, while someone who is straight does not have to go through the ridicule. One way of helping this idea spread is by talking about it in the classroom like any other subject.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
