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!

"One More River to Cross"

Charles Lawrence

Context:

• segregation
• people of color
• white
• privileged
• schools
• label
• seperate "but equal"
• Brown vs Board of eduacation
• power

Argument:

Lawrence argues that in the courts decision regarding Brown vs. Board, they did not recognize (or chose not to recognize) the true nature behind segregation as a deeply rooted issue that is not easily destroyed.

Quotes:

"If one views the Brown case narrowly, as a case intended to desegregate the nation's schools, history has proven it a clear failure."

"Segregation's only purpose is to label or define blacks as inferior and thus exclude them from full and equal participation in society."

"Equality of education is not enough, there can be no equality under a segregated system. The American negro is not a dominant minority; therefore he must fight for complete elimination of segregation as his ultimate goal."

Tracking:Why Schools Need to Take Another Route

JEANNIE OAKES

Context/Premise:

• schools
• students
• classrooms
• high-ability
• low-ability
• learning opportunities
• differences
• alternatives

Argument:

Oakes argues that the tracking system in schools is only affective in high-abilty classrooms. Students placed in lower-ability classes are not recieving the same learning opportunities.

Evidence:

"Sterotyped as "less-able" and have fewer opportunities to learn."

"Students who are placed in high-ability groups have access to far riched schooling experiences than other students."

"Students who need more time get less, those who have the most difficulty learning seem to have fewer of the best teachers."

Other Stuff:

I don't know if i agree or disagree with the idea of tracking. Being placed in a room filled with students who are educationally on the same page as you seems right. Being in a class where students are of different abilities could hold back the higher-abled students and loose the lower-abled ones.

On the other hand, mixing everyone together could help the low-abled students stay on track. Studies have show that "as children interact with their environment, they acquire cognitive abilities", and that higher-abled students do just as well in mixed classes.

In The Service Of What?

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

Context/ Premise:
-politics
-community service
-service learning
- schools&classrooms
-education
-support&effort
-giving&caring
-feelings

Argument:
Kahne and Westheimer argue that learning about and actually participating in community service should be brought into school systems for students to experience first hand. This could be as simple has not even coming in contact with the people, just a good changing feeling for the students. From hands on participating, students can take in more then just giving a helping hand.

Evidence:
"In addition to helping those they serve, such service learning activities seek to promite students' self-esteem, to develop higher-order thinking skills, to make use of multiple abilities, and to provide authentic learning experiences--- all goals of current curriciulum reform efforts."

"Service learning can advance other priorities, such as the acquisition of vocational skills."

"..both the motivation and joy that come from giving and the importance of altrusim."

"The most broadly supported goal for service learning activities is to convey to students the importance of charity."