Brown v. Board of Education

 

Connections:

"most Americans believe that a racially integrated, ethnically diverse society and educational system is a worthy goal..." (Brown v. Board Website)

Sorry but I have to say I call B.S. on this quote. What I really want to know about this quote was the statistics behind it. The race and culture of the people. Lets connect this to Mott Haven. The children in this city in New York have seen, heard, and most likely done more than any child. These children have seen people get shot, siblings dying of diseases, and their parents fighting to just get a roll of bread on the table. If most Americans really believe this they need to come sit in our class one day or go to Service Learning with us.

"Denial of problems" "White people deny everything" (Video 2)

I find this funny actually, this comes from two white people. One an interviewer and one a writer. These people have most likely never looked at the world. These people are the "type" of people that do Service Learning for the political aspect. They are still going to get into their 25 grand car and drive up their driveway to see their wives with two kids about the eat dinner. (Yes I realize that this is exactly what "Safe Spaces" tells us not to believe). But look at the bigger picture, they CARE and GIVE some of their love but they still are not at the doorstep of the Board of Education laying down the facts.

On ABC Family their is a show called "Switched at Birth" I never realized how downgrading this show is, I always thought it was great and uplifting. "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us" really still impacts everything I do, say, or watch. It probably always will honestly. In this television show there are two girls that were switched at birth. One got "lucky" and ended up being a part of a White family and going to private school while getting everything she imagined. The other got placed in a Latino family, and actually became deaf at the age of three. If she had good health care she could still have the luxury of being able to hear and talk "normally". Right now in the show Daphne the deaf switched has many lower-class students switched into her school.

 

 

Here is one video of the show. I personally can connect this with White v. Black, Hearing v. Deaf. These people like being deaf. It gives them identity, perspective, community. And "hearing people do not know themselves"

 

"Schools are no longer legally segregated, but because of residential patterns, housing discrimination, economic disparities and long-held custom, they most emphatically are in reality" (Article)

 

Why Help?

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer join together and write about the politics of Service Learning.

Reflection:

The part that I connected to most in this document is when the speak about the three different domains. These being moral, political, and intellectual.

Moral

"In the moral domain. service learning activities tend toward two types of relationships. Relationships that emphasize charity we will call "giving." Those that aim primarily to deepen relationships and to forge new connections we will call "caring." In caring relationships, Nel Noddings asserts, we try to consider the life and disposition of those for whom we are caring. We attempt to "apprehend the reality of the other" and then to "struggle [for progress] together." In so doing. we create opportunities for changing our understanding of the other and the context within which he or she lives."

Here is the paragraph written about the moral domain. It explains how service learning is based on two things: caring and giving. In my opinion I believe that these two do not also go together. Many individuals do care for each other but do not to have the power to give. When many people can give, so they do so but do not really care. This brings up the political domain.

Political

"In the political domain, the intentions of those promoting service learning activities draw from two different assumptions about political socialization and what it means to be a citizen. Those who focus primarily on charity believe that, to be properly educated in a democracy. students must undergo experiences that demonstrate the value of altruism and the dangers of exclusive self-interest. They stress the importance of civic duty and the need for responsive citizens. Volunteerism and compassion tor the less fortunate are the undergirding conceptions of political socialization associated with this vision.  The second notion of political socialization reveals fundamentally different assumptions about the requirements of citizenship. Those promoting this vision of service learning hope to move students toward participation in what Benjamin Barber refers to as a "strong democracy.  "They call for a curriculum that emphasizes critical reflection about social policies and conditions, the acquisition of skills of political participation, and the formation of social bonds."

What I see here is that the politics of things force people to do service learning and community service. In my high school we had to do 5 hours each year to graduate. People spent weeks procrastinating it and not doing it. Or even worse filling out the paper work and faking the attendance. Now, my city is a pretty fortunate city from the side the school was so I just could not understand why my classmates could not just give five hours of their time to help someone.

 

 

 

Intellectual

 

"In the intellectual domain. a service learning curriculum can further a number of goals. The ability of a service learning curriculum to foster authentic, experience-based learning opportunities, to motivate students, to help students engage in higher-order thinking in contextually varied environments, and to promote interdisciplinary studies has led some, such as John Brisco, a leader in the field, to label service learning "the Trojan horse of school reform." The service component may help us get the support needed for implementation, he argues, but its real impact is seen in its ability to promote powerful learning environments."

This is why it is important for high school students to give back. To learn there is more out there than just your city. That people are less fortunate than yourself. I also believe that every person on this earth has something that's unfortunate in their life. Either its a loved one dying of a disease, not having food, shelter or rent, or having a family or people to just talk to. Everyone on this earth is fortunate and unfortunate. It should be your own personal goal to show your fortunate and help others.

http://www.edutopia.org/poll-schools-require-community-service

^^^^ READ THE COMMENTS


Disney: Dumb, Inequality, Sexist, Numbing, Expected, Young

ARGUMENT:

    Linda Christensen argues that "Our society's culture industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream."

     Christensen argues that young society is manipulated early by things such as fairy tales, cartoons, and toys. She then says that this early learning stays with those children into adulthood and the problem doesn't stop; it is in all media, advertising and surrounds us in our everyday life. Christensen argues that analyzing these themes can "develop their critical consciousness...(and) move them (the students analyzing) to action." She wants her students to not only critique these cartoons but to also just become aware of the "secret education" and how powerful it really is. She first begins by asking the students to look at themselves and how it has affected them. She says that no one wants to believe that they have been wrongly taught but it is so obvious that they have. Once the students can become aware of these problems she then wants them to imagine a "better world, characterized by relationships of respect and equality." After looking at all of these issues in all media types, pulling out examples and relating it to everyday life, she then "create(s) the possibility for action." Once the students formed strong opinions about these issues they were able to create projects that could each about what they had learned. This made their projects real and meaningful, these issues are not just in the classroom they are in everyday life so this gave the students to opportunity to think about something, form an opinion and take action to try to make a difference. Linda Christensen makes her point, to not be manipulated and allow these stereotypes to become just accepted knowledge. In order to not do that she suggest becoming aware of the issues first and foremost, then analyzing them in order to form an opinion, and finally take action in order to create change. Christensen however made me question Disney's ways and somehow happened that multiple Disney movies were on ABC Family this morning. I watched Dumbo and saw this scene, which actually surprised me.

 

 

 

So this made me look up the definition of roustabouts. And I realized that they are calling themselves unskilled. Now I don't know about you but I think building a circus tent in the rain with elephants is pretty impressive.

 

 



   The part that aggravates me is that these movies were produced in 1930-1950. Disney would not put a movie like this in production today because of the outlast it would begin. If you watch 100 Dalmatians you can hear people saying stupid and dumb multiple times in different contexts. Now Disney has to make sure the kiss between Troy and Gabriella in High School Musicals are not to long in case someone will say it enforces that kissing is okay. Sometimes people think to deeply about these things and I think Linda is one of those people. Many people in our class grew up watching these movies and singing the songs but I think were okay now...

 

Do people really think this deeply about six princess.... There is so much hatred about Disney movies yet they are one of the biggest movie producers. I really want to know what the class has to say about this picture.



LGBT

Safe Spaces is a book written by Annemarie Vaccaro, Gerri August, and Megan S. Kennedy. They show the importance of making schools and communities welcome the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, and Transgender youth.
 

REFLECTION:

The pages in this book made me think more than any of the documents we have read before have. It Made me think of every single scenario I was ever in with someone that was not straight.
Ever since I was a little girl my family raised myself and my siblings as good American Catholic citizens. My religion is against any talk of this sort, which is not fair in my belief, because I have always been told God loves each of us. Just today actually, at the end of mass during the announcements arborist announced he will be taking a break and will be back in three months. And then he said "also please stop all of this gossip". And at that moment I knew why he was talking about. He was speaking about the accusations that he is gay. Which made me think about where else "coming-out" is an "issue".

At my high school they decided to start an diversity week the week before April vacation. At the time I really thought it was a joke. I mean my high school was roughly 99% white, middle class students. Never did I think that LGBT was an diverse issue. But then this boy "came-out" on Facebook. Guess how many likes he got... 159 likes. Absolutely amazing seeming Facebook is dead AND that no one wants to talk about the "issue". In my eyes there should be no issue. Everyone deserves the same respect.
 
I decided to do some research about other TV episodes for children have had a different family life than usually perceived. The only children television show recently shown was Good Luck Charlie. The show is made by Disney Channel, and they are getting many reviews; good and bad.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/disney-channel-debuts-lesbian-couple-good-luck-charlie-article-1.1603673
Honestly please check this link out its good. And make sure you read the comments underneath too see what other people's view points are.

"Aria"

"Aria" by Richard Rodríguez is an autobiography written by a bilingual male. His first language is Spanish and he later started learning and speaking English when he was seven years old and in a Catholic School.

Extended Comments:

For this post I decided to use Sarah Medeiros's post to agree with the ideas that she had.

I agree that Richard was making "his overall message is one of finding an identity in the world." Just as Sarah pointed out. I totally agree with her connection to the "Silenced Dialogue". But I also ask if "Aria" connects to the first reading we did as a class being "Privilege, Power, and Difference" I make this connection because Allan G. Johnson says how he has so many privileges being a male. But could Richard actually have more privileges because he DOES know how to speak two languages. Honestly speaking I personally struggle every single day at working trying to understand what Spanish speaking customers are trying to tell me, and envy the other employees that can switch so quickly and not even think about it. Also when people at work start speaking Spanish I start trying to leave the scenario or just smile and fix myself, always wondering if their talking about something about me... Putting me at a greater disadvantage I feel. Also in education many children do come into the classrooms speaking only Spanish, and the people that are applying for the job that are bilingual have a greater opportunity to get the job, and have a better controlled class. Just like how Sarah said "a comforting environment where he did not feel as though he was being judged or tested when trying to give a response."

Overall I give Sarah most credit for all the thinking that I did because of this blog post.... Here's her blog to check it out http://smedfned.blogspot.com/2014/02/aria-by-richard-rodriguez-argument.html and also check out the link she connected the blog to http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/The-Advantages-of-Being-Bilingual/