Citizenship in School, Kliewer Response

In my experience in grade school, they, the school system, had a place specifically for those with disabilities and tempers, the were sent to a building separate from the main one where all of the "normal" students reside. If you had a disability you were sent to this building. If you were disrespectful to the extreme and were viewed as violent, you were sent to this building. The only time either students interacted with each other was during a fire drill. Neither the "normal" students or special needs students saw each other, some not at all. In my time at my highschool I had no interaction with special needs students and may have benefited through interaction, expanding my view of the world. Unfortunately this did not happen and thus I remained blind until College where I met a handicapped man with one leg, though he was not mentally handicapped we did share a few interests and became friends. If he were at my highschool we may never have met. Even when we transferred to RIC we remained friends to this day. Because of the walls put forth by the school enlightenment is difficult to achieve for both sides. This only serves to enforce the stigma between special needs people and the "normal" people. A Stigma that still resonates today, though steps have been taken to break this metaphorical wall.

Tracking and Oaks Response

Tracking a student's progress and grouping them into a class at their level can be very detrimental to their education. A lower level student given the resources of a lower level student will have difficulties excelling do to the limitations of the materials and staff provided. Teachers who teach children of this sort are usually disinterested thinking that because they are of a lower level their performance will be as well. The materials presented are usually of a grade behind or more or not provided at all and so these poor stimuli can only decrease the progression of said students. It is a vicious circle that continues through their school lives, likely putting them off from attending college, thinking that the instructors are as enthusiastic as their grade school counterparts. The one's that are sent to the higher level classes however receive special treatment, with the expectation of greatness from them, these students receive high grade books detailing their subjects to a T, barely missing any information at all as the teachers enthusiastically instruct them and give them special treatment in hopes of spawning a genius amongst the group, since the seed of intelligence is clearly shown through these children's grades. In doing this we are separating these children into two categories, Dull and lesser and bright and greater, we label them even before they are sent into the real world where those labels influence the rest of their lives and in doing so reflects the great divide between classes. It is terrible to assume that a student who does not excel at one subject will not be able to learn it effectively, we are branding them because the teachers and staff are too lazy to focus on them, they would rather throw them away and get on to the next batch so they can continue earning their paychecks according to schedule.

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/ability-grouping-and-tracking-in-schools-advantages-and-disadvantages.html#lesson

Empowering Education, Critical Teaching for Social Change, Shor Response

I would have to agree with Ira Shor and her views on educating through political intrigue instead of monotonous spoon fed procedures. The social aspect of teaching and learning is as important as the act itself. To talk about the act of teaching is more thought provoking in itself. Self questioning always is. When we think back to our days at school we don't fondly remember PEMDAS or MLA formatting, rather we remember the relationships and experiences we had with one another. The emotions that our young minds experience echo throughout our lives and shape who we are in the current. Sure grades are a motivator but not to all students in early life. The fact that you got an A on a test felt good but what did that A really mean? Did it influence your decisions this morning or did it help you find out more about your self? In reality it's just a letter that can mean many things and means different things to different people. The act of laughing or a general feeling of happiness is usually achieved through social interaction, a common feeling that we all enjoy, yet schools tend to skip social action in favor of processed information injected through quickest means into our psyche, no matter the danger, because the only thing that matters is that A right? A chart of A's and nice report to the faculty's boss, just so they are assured that paycheck that they struggle to live on. All children want something, sometimes that shapes their future, but more times or not that want warps from the views and teachings of education, from the teacher. It is difficult for even a trace of that spark to come out of Highschool un altered by the standards set forth from standardization, from "what works".

In this reading Shor goes on with a process that I like to call PAPSMDDDRIA, A process in which she breaks down teaching to it's core to respond to the problem of mass produced education.

• Participatory

• Affective

• Problem-posing

• Situated

• Multicultural

• Dialogic

• Desocializing

• Democratic

• Researching

• Interdisciplinary

• Activist 

Long story short, Shore explains that participatory learning is important because interaction with the surrounding environment is one of the few ways that someone can truly learn from it. That interaction is the only way to transform the learning environment to your needs and that to not do so leads to being a slave to the education system. To accept your lesson inoculation and taste that sweet cherry "A" lollipop to distract you from the damage that has been done. 

Unnatural critical thought as the driver of social change: Steve Joordens at TEDxTrondheim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM07P-5BlYI

From Belly Dancers to Burqas: Media Representations of Muslim Women Response

I recently went to a presentation by Afshan Jafar who discussed to views on Muslim women in a 45 minute lecture. She first handed out scrap paper and asked of us to record our thoughts on what Muslim women are, just three words to describe one half of an entire culture. Most words chosen were beautiful, abused, and secretive and at the end of the exercise she asked us what words would describe a Christen women. We all questioned what kind of Christen woman and from where since there are a lot of variations of the Christianity. Then she said and what of the Muslim women? Don't you think there are more than just one type of Muslim? We all thought about this for a minute and she was right. We just do not have enough of a point of view when it comes to cultures across the see or better yet across our borders. We tend to keep to our selves and assume what it is like out side of our red, white, and blue nest.


Another topic Afshan talked about is the depiction of Muslims in the Disney movie Aladdin, in which the villain also named Jafar is represented more closely to the image of a Muslim than the main characters who are depicted as Americanized to relate to the viewers but in doing so stigmatizes the true Muslim image. Jasmin in this movie is also not depicted in a traditional burqa and instead seems to wear a belly dancer's outfit, showing off her flared hips and impossibly small waist. In the Opening song of the movie they comment on how barbaric the setting is and how your ear will be cut off if they don't like your face. They later changed it to commenting on the desert but kept the barbaric portion due to complaints.

Original Lyrics: Oh I come from a land, from a far away place, where the caravan camels roam. Where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face, it's barbaric, but hey, it's home. When the wind's from the east, and the sun's from the west and the sand in the glass is right; come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly to another Arabian night. Arabian nights, Like Arabian days more often than not are hotter than hot, in a lot of good ways. Arabian nights, 'neath Arabian moons, a fool off his guard could fall and fall hard, out there on the dunes.

New lyrics: Oh I come from a land, from a far away place, where the caravan camels roam. Where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense, it's barbaric, but hey, it's home. When the wind's from the east, and the sun's from the west and the sand in the glass is right; come on down, stop on by, hop a carpet and fly to another Arabian night. Arabian nights, Like Arabian days more often than not are hotter than hot, in a lot of good ways. Arabian nights, 'neath Arabian moons, a fool off his guard could fall and fall hard, out there on the dunes.

 

Original Song

After this discussion she moved to another point of interest involving National Geographic. In 1984 Steve McCurry photographed a young Afghan girl who would later become famous in 1985, though no one would know her name for 17 years. National Geographic commented on her eyes and how haunting and haunted the girl was from years of war, though in reality she was pissed that some random white guy was taking a photo of her when she clearly did not want to be photographed. The person who benefited from this photo was McCurry, not the girl that he so rudely photographed and this went on for 17 years until he was asked to go find her. Through eye and jaw analysis the girl was eventually found. Sharbat Gula is her name, now around 30 and she was a victim of generalization by foreigners.

 Take this article with a grain of salt.
 http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text


 When we think of the burqa we tend to think that women who wear them do not like to, and that they would prefer to be free like many of us Americans, to wear what ever they choose. But in reality they choose to wear their burqas. It is another part of their culture, a part of themselves that they show proudly. Afshan went on to say that our view on what is right is not always right and that other cultures such as the Muslims have different view points. 

Overall this lecture was very eye opening to the views of Muslim women in this country and how the media likes to make it American friendly, even if the process strips the truth, poisoning our views on what really is the Muslim way of life.


Afshan Jafar
 
http://uvenus.org/editorial-collective/afshan-jafar/

Between Barack and a Hard Place: Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denial in the Age of Obama Response

After watching "Between Barack and a Hard Place: Challenging Racism, Privilege and Denial in the Age of Obama" I realized that what I have as a white person was inherited through foul play. How the Whites began their wealth in an age when Blacks, Natives Americans, and Chinese were unable to, setting a ripple that continues today, a momentum of a wealth gap with little signs of slowing down. Because of the amount of time between now and then the mindset of White superiority has been ingrained within the consciousness  of the nation to the point where racist thoughts are common place even with non-racists, a Freudian slip sort of speak. A slip of the tongue or thought that enforces the racial biases everyone embodies. For example, when ever a bus full of African Americans arrive at the restaurant that I work at order I always assume that the majority of those customers want some form of chicken, the same with Asians and fish and ect. Why do I think that? Most of the time this is true but at the same time I am subconsciously focusing on the orders that include chicken and fish and in my mind this confirms the stereotype that I was presented even though they might have ordered the same amount of burgers, the fact that they ordered said racial foods overrides that fact. While this is not a negative thought, well at least I'd hope not, of a certain race, it is still a racially biased thought. These biased thoughts that people have can have more consequences than a couple of extra chicken sandwiches, lives can change from biased opinions based on race. White privilege again is an issue, when the blind sentence the seeing based on illusioned conjecture, how can we see this as fair? Again looking back at White Privilege and Power, Blacks are less likely to obtain jobs or degrees based on the color of their skin. Whites have no such obstacles and see everything as fine, as they continue life with little to no speed bumps while the Blacks take the lower unpaved road, a road that was neglected by early society, a road that the Whites did not see to pave, instead paving their own roads with the unwilling help of the Blacks. The highway of society is paved by those with power, White power, taking advantage of the other races to use as labor. This highway that we have now is improving in the ares that need improving but not at an acceptable rate. The momentum set foot centuries ago is slowing down but it will not stop anytime soon.

Part 2

Christenson, Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us Response

After reading Christenson's text I feel lied to. As if my entire childhood was a secret training camp to shape me into a racist, sexist American pig. I enjoyed many Disney movies and several cartoons as a child since that was the only thing to distract me from my parent's constant bickering and I can see how the subliminal messages in said cartoons and movies have shaped my perception on how the world supposedly should be. My views on femininity stem from such media as I viewed girly acting women as how they are supposed to act, though I eventually broke out of that train of thought, the thought of a woman taking a mans role seemed strange to me as a child. My ideas about race were also based on the media growing up and that it loosely impacted my thoughts about those of different ethnicites I have encountered, though few when I was growing up. You could say that I was ethnically challenged. The idea of being the "hero" as a child set my standards high, so high that there was no way to reach them and so I thought of my self as weak and insufficient to the world's view. This subconsciously continued through out my early life and aided my medical depression in making me take drastic action against my self, actions that I do not wish to discuss unless you are a therapist in the field of depression and self harm. As I grew older I realized that it was a false view of the way people should be though the thought still persisted on what my perfect self should be, I saw that no one really fit the description of the perfect person and that it was okay to be who you are. This helped a bit while going in and out of high school though other problems at the time still weighed me down.

Delpit, The Silenced Dialog Response

Like in in White Privilege by McIntosh, Delpit explains the communications block between those with power and those with out it, mainly Whites versus everyone else. White educators have difficulty relating practices and experiences with people of color because they have different experiences and practices. As Delpit put it, "Those with power are frequently least aware of-or least willing to acknowledge-it's existence. Those with less power are often most aware of it's existence." To see the advantages of another race while you your self has to endure lesser or different treatment is much easier than to see a difference when you assume that everyone enjoys the advantages that you enjoy on a day to day basis. Teachers of other colors besides white are sometimes considered to be skills oriented when teaching students. Teachers of the White ethnicity are usually considered to be process oriented as process is what they are used to. A student in Delpit's text complained about a White teacher who used this method, she would have the students write essays then have them correct each others work. The student felt as though he was not learning anything while in another classroom he comments on how a friend has a black teacher who explains in detail the skills and steps in writing a paper. "Neither teachers agreed on each others teaching methods. The cultural and or view barrier is real and it can effect the way students view their teachers. A teacher who just stands for example from the text who seems like she does not know what to do and who assumes that the students should know what to do may look weak and unworthy to the st
udents and this may turn such students off from education. A balance between the several methods of teaching should be shared in group meetings and practices of many kinds should be tried at least once to accommodate for the students. The students attitude is what drives them in the end.



Critical Pedagogy and Teacher Education: Radicalizing Prospective Teachers

Lilia I. Bartolomé

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/23478420?uid=33249&uid=3739888&uid=2&uid=3&uid=67&uid=368664851&uid=33247&uid=62&uid=3739256&sid=21104389090171