What Can We Do?

Johnson

Context/Premise:

power

exclusion

rejection

problems

privilege

understanding

support

society

Argument:

Johnson argues that the more knowledgeable we are about the issues concerning privilege, the better the chances are for change.

Evidence:

"It simply means acknowledging an obligation to make a contribution to finding a way out of the trouble we're all in and to finding constructive ways out of the trouble we're all in and to finding constructive ways to act on that obligation."

"..step off the path of least resistance that encourages you to defend and deny."

"Dare to make people feel uncomfortable, beginning with yourself."

"Whenever we openly choose a different path, however, we make it possible for others to see both the path of least resistance they're following and the possibility of choosing something else"

"The problem of privilege and oppression is deep and wide, and to work with it we have to be able to see clearly so that we can talk about it in useful ways."

Class went really well. Everyone from my group was there, and feel good about the project.

School Girls

Peggy Orenstein

Context:
schools
girls/women
boys
curriculum
self-esteem
inequalities
life

Argument:
Orenstein argues that in classrooms that have both girls and boys, there is a hidden criteria or curriculum which affects how each gender views themselves. Boys tend to view equality as a negative thing, while girls have low self-esteem and think negatively about themselves.

Evidence:
"...boys perceive equality as loss"

"It disturbed me that although girls were willing to see men as heroes, non of the boys would see women that way"

"the hidden curriculum is all the things teachers don't say"

"because i include women, i'm seen as extreme"

"At that time i wondered how the boys,... would ever learn to see the girls as equal"


Other Stuff:
I thought Orensteins piece was pretty easy to read. I never thought of the curriculum as having messages that could have affected me! I like how all of the articles we read are about things i never thought of or knew before reading them. I remember being in 7th grade and doing a project about heroes and all the girls chose women and men and all the boys chose men. I never thought of it as anything until reading this.

Whites Swin in Racial Preferences

Context/Premise:
race
privilege
affirmative action
racial preferences
generation/history
fair/unfair
equal/unequal
whites vs blacks

Argument:
Wise argues that most privileged whites look at racial preferences as unfair due to the long history involving white power. Wise argues that "It has skewed our laws and shaped our public policy and helped create the glaring inequalities with which we still live."

Quotes:
Bush thinks that "school's policies were examples of unfair racial preferences."

"Privilege to us, is like water to the fish: invisible precisely because we cannot imagine life without it."

"..white preferece remains hidden because it is more subtle , more ingrained, and isn't called white preference, even if that's the effect."

"the privlege that allows one to not have to think about race on a daily basis; to not have one's intelligence questioned by best-selling books; to not have to worry about being viewed as a "out a place" when drving, shopping, buying a home, or for that mattter; attending the University of Michigan."

Other Stuff:
Before reading this, i was agreeing with Bush. I didn't see how it was fair to give people advancements because of the color of their skin but i wasn't looking at the whole picture and how whites were privleged because of their color. I was confused when i left class last week and now understand what the University of Michigan is doing, and support them. Whites have racial preferences that are not named that simply because we are white. The article really helped me understand what we were talking about in class!