Soo i was watching The Ellen DeGeneres Show , and this totally reminded me of what our class has been talking about. On Valentines day a 15-year-old boy was murdered by a classmate. The boy who was killed was homosexual. He had asked a boy to be his Valentine and the boy killed him. It was so horrible that a boy wanted to be his Valentine that he killed him. I couldn't believe it!

Homosexuallity is stereotyped as something terrible and bad starting at such a young age. It really is sad to think about. I couldn't imagine hiding my sexuality just so someone wouldn't kill me. =(

Talking Point # 3

"Gayness, Multiculturalism and Community"

Context/Premise:

Gay
Lesbian
Straight
School
Invisible
Separate
Normal
Abnormal
Oppression
Homophobia
Democratic
Public
Silence

Argument:

Carlson argues that reinforcement in the classroom about the respect towards gender and sexuality is crucial for the change in the outside world towards the issue.


Evidence:

"Public schools in particular have often promoted such "normalizing" conceptualizations of community that are based on defining a cultural center or "norm" and positioning class, gender, race, and sexual Others at the margins."

~Carlson is saying that public schools teach children right off the bat that the “norm” in this world is to be straight. Such things as teachers expecting all children to have one mom and one dad could through off someone’s judgment.

"I want to suggest that public schools may play an important role in helping build a new democratic, multicultural community, one in which sexual identity is recognized..."

"For the time being, at least, this means that the public schools are caught in a dilemma over gayness, unable to please anyone, and unable to act without inviting attack from one side or the other."
~School systems don’t know what to do. Whatever they choose to do, someone will be unhappy.

Talking Point #2

Aria
Richard Rodriquez

Context/Premise:

• Children
• Parents
• School
• Languages
• Home life
• Struggles/Difficulties
• English
• Silence
• Private
• Public

Argument:

Rodriguez argues that children feel safe with the language they grow up speaking. Being forced to learn a new language changes their individuality when they completely stop using the one they have known for their whole lives.

Evidence:
“Unsmiling, ever watchful, my teachers noted my silence”
Rodriguez tells about how he didn’t like talking in class. His family mainly spoke Spanish at home so he didn’t talk in school. (“Did I somehow suspect that once I learned public language my pleasing family life would be changed?”) He was pushing off learning English because he knew that this would change his lifestyle.

“…the clash of two worlds, the faces and voices of school intruding upon the familiar setting of home.”
This was when his teachers came to talk to his parents about speaking in English because Rodriquez was so quiet. This must have been so hard for him to see that his family, his safe place, would now start talking the language he had put off.

“They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.”


Other Stuff:

I do believe that English should be learned for people living in America. However, I think Rodriquez is right when he says “Had they been taught a second language like Spanish or French, they could have regarded it simply as that: another public language.” Children that are born and raised speaking Spanish are dramatically changed when their private language is replaced with English (the public language.) I would be a different person if my school and home life changed to a different language.

He also talks about his father and how he knew that even his dad didn’t like talking in English and was much more enthusiastic when he talked in Spanish. “In Spanish, he expressed ideas and feelings he rarely revealed in English.” It’s hard enough to notice a change in yourself never mind the notice of change in your parents.

Talking Point # 1

Context/Premise:

poor,parents,children,people of color,unhealthy,lack of medical ,drugs,
treatment,violence,death,homeless,jobless,hunger


Argument:

Goldburg and Kozol argue that the environment children live and grow up in will affect their education. Children living in hunger, violent, disease stricken areas will not recieve the proper education.

Evidence:

Goldburg:
"There are a number of ways that the American education system has broken down over the years. Far too many of today's schools are violent and far too many are filled with kids who don't care much about learning."
The importance of an education is not seen in these children's eyes, nor is it being enforced.

Kozol:
"What is it like for children to grow up here? What do they think the world has done to them? Do they believe that they are being shunned or hidden by society? If so, do they think that they deserve this?"
It must be so difficult to grow up where they are. They probably think being poor is their fault. Children always find a way to make themselves responsible.

Kozol:
"With children having to deal with things like homicide, which is clearly beyond their maturity level, it is no wonder how that affects their emotional stability."
They have to grow up faster than they should.


Other Stuff:

I think Kozol went all out. He went to New York just to have evidence of what he was trying to tell his readers. He really caught my attention right off the bat when he said "only seven of 800 children do not qualify for free school lunches. Five of those seven, get reduced-price lunches." I knew the problem was bad, but i didn't think it was this bad.

Also, when Kozol is talking with Cliffie, the little boy tells a story about how he once witnessed a boy get shot in the head and die. The young boys next thought was about a cookie. It wasn't even a big deal to him, and that is scary.

The areas children are growing up in are both dangerous and unhealthy.