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?