Alan Jonhson Chapter 9

Premise:

• change
• responsibility
• dominance
• change
• difference
• power

Argument:

Johnson argues that there needs to be a change in society. There are also challenges that also need to be changed like privilege, exclusion, rejection, harassment, discrimination and violence. If wen are aware of these problems than we can find a solution that will benefit society.

Evidence:

1. "think about the trouble as eveyone's responsibility-everybody's hook-and nobody's fault"
2. "Find little ways to withdraw support from paths of least resistance and people's choices to follow them, starting with yourself."
3. " Don't let other people set the standard for you."

Comments:

I agree with Johnson, I think that if we find the problem and we fix it then we can have a better society for the children and people. I enjoyed this chapter because I feel that Johnson is telling you what is happening. He gets the point across but he does it in a better way. Johnson doesn't offend anyone, discriminate and I feel comfortable reading his work. Johnson makes the reader feels comfortable and he does not make the reader upset. I really enjoyed this article, especially that this is my last blog.

School Girls by: Peggy Orenstein

Premise:

• women vs. men
• unequal
• dominance
• hidden curriculum
• male dominance

Author's Argument:

Orenstein argues that we need to have a gender fair curriculum in the public school. If there is gender equality in the curriculum than girls and boys will both enjoy the learning experience. There is only a male dominance curriculum.

Evidence:

1. " it is a mirror opposite of most classrooms that girls will enter, which are adorned with masculine role models, with male heroes, with books by and about men classrooms which the female self is, at the best an afterthought."
2. "because I include a project based on women, I'm seen as extreme."
3. " if I took those lesson's that concentrated only on men's experience for a whole year, that would be normal."

Comments:

I think that what Ms. Logan is doing is great and more teacher should do what she does. If teachers made the class do a project solely on men and one on women the classroom would seem fair and equal for all the students. If they only focused on men little girls would be discouraged and would not have a role model.

I think that Ms. Logan should not only fill her walls with women role models, I think she should put males and females on her wall and I believe that the children would enjoy this. She should mix them around her classroom.

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome by: Christopher Kliewer

Premise:

• Segregation
• Schools
• Unfairness
• Down syndrome
• Individuality
• Learning
• Democracy
• Ability

Author’s Argument:
Kliewer’s argument is that Down syndrome kids learn differently from other children and they are not the same as other children. The author also tells how children with Down syndrome are treated differently from children who do not have Down syndrome.
Kliewer says that students with Down syndrome should not be separated form other students.

Evidence:

1. “It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We're all here, kids, teachers, parents, whoever, it's all about us working together"
2. “Success in life requires an ability to form relationships with other who make up the web of community”
3. “I don’t tend to see Down syndrome as something. If you look at those three kids running around then room, they’re incredibly different from each other.”
   

Comments:
I did not like this article; this was kind of personal for me. I hated how they told us how children with Down syndrome are treated different from other students. My cousin is not Down syndrome but she is mentally retarded, and when they talk about these children it hurts me hearing about how these children have to live.
I think all children are different no matter if you have Down syndrome or not but all children should also be treated equally. If the community treated all people equally we would not have this problem.

"One More River to Cross" Recognizing the Real Inury in Brown: A Prerequisite to Shaping New Remedies by Charles Lawrence

Premise:

• segregation
• separation
• Brown vs. Board
• inferior

Author's Argument:

Lawrence argues that the decision that Brown made was suppose to be a successful one but it did not solve all the segregation issues. It also made blacks feel unequal to everyone else. The decision also effected the way that the people thought of segregation.

Evidence:

1. "The first is that segregation's only purpose is to label or define blacks as inferior and thus exclude them from full and equal participation in society."
2. "social scientist indicating that the effect if school segregation on black children was to generate a feeling of inferiority."
3. "Segregation has only one purpose to create and maintain a perminate lower class or sub caste defined as race.

Comments:

1. I did not like this article because I felt that there was no solution to the problem. I felt it just left me hanging there. I also had a hard time understanding the article, Lawrence was just venting out he was not telling us a solution to the problem that was faced. I wished he would have given us a solution. He also repeated thing over and over, I thought it could have been shorter.

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route by: Jeannie Oakes

Premise:

• Alternative Strategies
• Low-ability
• High -ability
• Learning Task
• Different Skills
• Tracking

Author's Argument:

Oakes argues that there are low and high ability students in the classrooms. She also states that one thing we can do for these students is to put them in groups together so that the low and the high ability students can work together and help one another out. Another aspect she shows is that it might not be that good for the students to work together. Every student has their own way of learning. She also thinks that low ability students do not pay as much attention than high ability students, but if you add special resources they could do better. The last aspect is that the student's environment plays a role in their education.

Evidence:

1. "Students in lower-ability classes have classroom environments that are less conductive to learning than do their peers in upper-level classes."
2. " Add special resources, a sense of superior academic "mission", perhaps a parent support group, and these students will get the best education in town."
3. "As children interact with their environment, they acquire cognitive abilities."

Questions/Comments/ Points to share

I thought this article was interesting. I also found it very informing about how low and high performing children have different classes. It seemed like the privilege students got more then the lower performing kids which I thought was unfair. I would really like to see both groups join together and work together to help the lower performing students.

Teaching to Change the World By: Jeannie Oaks and Martin Lipton

Premise:

• Teaching
• Merit
• Schooling
• Progress
• Hope and Faith
• Change
• Ability

Author's Argument:

Oaks and Lipton argue that merit, scientific effecency and progress prevents the democratic possibilities happen in the school society. They also believe that people believe that if some kids have no resources or are poor that they will do poorly in school, but that is not entirely true if you work hard you can do anything that you want.

Evidence:

1. " Any child can grow up to be President. So says the achievement ideology, the reigning social perspective that sees American Society as open and fair and full of opportunity."
2. "It has become clear that regardless of their merit, some people could never overcome the disadvantages, with which they began. It was as if they were playing on a field tilted in thier opponents' favor."
3. "Many poor and nonwhite Americans also believe schooling benefits are equally accessible to all."

Questions/Comments/ Points to Share

I thought that this article was a little confusing to understand. But I liked how they brought up every single aspect to the attention of the reader. This article was not as intreging as other articles we have read. This article relates to the other articles that we read in class in the way that because you are poor it does not mean that you cannot do anything.

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us By Linda Christensen

Premise:

• Cartoons
• Stereotypes (from the media)
• Children
• Inequality
• Myths
• Unfairness

Author's Argument:

Christensen argues that the media shows all types of stereotypes through television, toys, cartoons and movies. In the article Christensen shows us that when a Disney movie is made they always make the "princesses" a white person, that they rarely ever show that a princess is a person of race or color. In the Movies they mostly show a person of color either a servant or a poor person. Most of the time the person with power is a white male like prince charming. What she is also saying is that these cartoons also send the wrong messages across to young children. She also says that the toys that they are making for children are also stereotypes.

Evidence:

1. "Watching Daffy Duck students start to notice patterns like the absence of a female character in many of the older cartoons. When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds."
2. " Popeye shows oozes with horrible message from passive Olive Oyl to the hero"man" Popeye. This cartoon portrays ethnic groups as stupid. It is political also teaching children that Americans are the best and conquer all others."
3. "Women's roles in fairy tales distort reality. Tinker Bell inspects her tiny body in a mirror only to find that her minute hips are simply huge, she shows us how to turn the mirror into an enemy... And this scenario is repeated in girls' locker rooms all over the world."

Questions/ Comments/Points to Share:

I believe what Christensen is saying is totally true. When you think about is toys and the media portray many types of stereotypes. For Example Barbie is a white female who is thin and has blond hair, how come they can't make a Barbie who is overweight or who is African American? Another aspect is why not have an African American Princess in Disney movies. The cartoons should present a more positive message to children.

If they would make these changes to the media and toys people would not feel so bad when watching Television and playing with these toys. African American children would feel like they fit in better in the society.

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson

Premise:

• Gay, Lesbians, homosexual, queer (Others)
• Not being viewed the same way as others
• AIDS being disease given by homosexuals
• Not fitting in
• Feeling ashamed to stand up for yourself
• Escape from a normalizing community

Author's Argument:

Carlson argues that he is a gay white male who comes from a working-class background and that he is not ashamed of being gay. Carlson doesn't care about anyone else he tries to make himself as unique as possible.

Evidence

1. "I am not merely a gay person, but rather a gay, white, male with a particular working-class background and middle-class status occupation."
2. "As an individual, my identity is multifaceted and this means that i am freer to "make myself" as a unique subjectivity."
3. " I am inextricably involved in multiple cultural struggles rather than merely one."

Questions/Comments/Point to Share

I thought that this reading was a little difficult in understanding some point that Carlson were trying to make. But I think I got the gist of it, what he was trying to say is that the community makes homosexuals different even though they are not. We live in a superficial world were it's not okay to be different than everyone else. I also think that Carlson is happy being a gay white male and he could care less if anyone cares. We need to treat others as we would like others to treat us.

This relates to the other text that we read because the other text talks about silencing people and it might not be the same way but people of power are silencing people who are not like them and I find this unfair. People who are different should not stay quiet they should stand up for what they believe in.

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

Premise:

• Parents conversing with their children in their primary language
• Children feeling uncomfortable in their classroom (in School)
• Difference between public and private languages
• Learning a new language in the home
• Adults learning a brand new language for the benefit of their children
• Silence between father and children
• Ashamed of primary language
• Forgetting or losing their primary language
• Remembering their primary language

Author's Argument:

Rodriguez argues that just because a new language needs to be learned for education and survival purposes that doesn't mean that you need to forget the first language that you learned (private language). While he had learned Spanish as his first language, Rodriguez needed to learn English in order to do well in school and to survive in the real world. While learning English the family decided to also learn English for the benefit of their children. When the family was learning English Rodriguez was loosing ties to hie father because would not speak English he would just stay silent.

Evidence:

1. "Supporters of bilingual education today imply that students like me miss a great deal by not being taught in their family's language. What they seem not to recognize is that, as a socially disadvantage child, I considered Spanish to be a private language."
2. "Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically a private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home."
3. "The silence at home, however was finally more than literal silence. Fewer words passed between parent and child, but more profound was the silence that resulted from my inattention to sounds."

Questions/Comments/Points to Share

What I mad of this is that Richard Rodriguez was taught Spanish as his first language and when he went to school he didn't know any English. His teacher told his parents that he should learn English and that they should speak it in the homes. While his parents were learning English for their children a bond between him and his father was breaking. Now he was only speaking English he was forgetting about his roots, his first language Spanish. Then after a period of time some one came up to him speaking in Spanish and he remembered how it felt to speak that language. This article was east to read I enjoyed it very much I also like how he told the story I made me feel like this was happening to me. What I wanted to know was the bond between him and his father recovered did he continue to speak hie native language of Spanish?

Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace After I read Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol , I felt ashamed about what was going on in New York. When I was reading this article it informed me about these harsh conditions that people of minority were living in. Kozol tells us that in Mott Haven there are many cocaine addicts who sells cocaine there. He also mentions that many children who live in Mott Haven knows someone who is a crack addict which I find that really sad. He also tells us that people murder other people for no reason, this place is unsafe for families and young children. Young children can't even enjoy their childhood because they have to worry about their sick family or even worry about getting killed by just simply sitting outside. Another point that Kozol talks about that upsets me is that people live in boared up houses for their safety and that in the summer it gets very hot in the houses and people have two choices they can either suffer inside the house or they can go outside putting themselves in danger and in the winter they have no heat they have to keep themselves warm by using heating blankets. After I finished this article I felt so bad for these people they are good people who are misfortunate, I wish something can be done for them.

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