Barney Frank defending Gay Rights

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson

Carlson is tackling a very serious issue in writing this article and it creates emotion on all people involved. Carlson is trying to make the point in this article that being "gay or lesbian" has not been accepted in the standard American culture and schools are a main factor in keeping a gay person from the same protections and opportunities as non-gays. There were several awesome quotes in this article that solidly supports Carlson's argument. I would like to start with one of the three perspectives that Carlson discusses on page 234 it states: "The notion of a community of difference and diversity-what I will call a democratic multicultural community." This quote is saying that communities can be defined by a large group of people from different backgrounds and different relationships. Being gay in our society does not mean you can not be an outstanding contributor to a community. Another quote that was really prejudiced towards the gay community was on page 237 it stated "Throughout this century, one of the primary means of ensuring that gayness was an invisible presence in the school was through the dismissal of teachers who were found out to be homosexuals." This type of discrimination is disturbing, no person should have to hide who they are to keep a professional occupation such as a teacher. There are many gay people in this world who are successful and should be celebrated for their accomplishments not harassed for what goes on in their bedroom. One final quote about the suppression of being gay was on page 238 when Carlson explains" to keep gayness in its place in the school community, verbal and physical intimidation of gay students and teachers has been sanctioned." For students, parents and school leaders to condone and promote the practices that Carlson mentions in this article is tough for me process. I could never judge a person on their sexual preference, I really think what goes on in some one's personal life is their business. If someone felt they needed to share that information with me it would not result in me verbally and physically assaulting them.

Blog 7:Aria by Rodriguez and Teaching Multilingual Children by Collier

This blog assignment is on the readings of Aria by Richard Rodriguez and Teaching Multilingual Children by Virginia Collier. Rodriguez tells a compelling story of learning the language of English as a child and his own personal anxiety with the language of "Los gringos." While attending school as a boy, the nuns that taught him in school went to confront his parents at home and encourage the family to speak English outside of the school. Rodriguez parents immediately conform to the teachers request and he makes it sound like it had an incredible impact on him. Rodriguez states " In an instant, they agreed to give up the language that had revealed and accentuated our family's closeness." It is obvious that at this young age the author had a great family connection with the speaking of his formal language and it sounds like he was desensitized to his family when English became the language used in his home. Another quote that illustrates what this American school had done to this author's family by requiring English be spoken in the home "There was a new quiet at home. The family's quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents." Depending on how many ESL students felt like this, it could be assumed that Hispanics were having trouble at school with English and trouble at home learning English. It was affecting relationships with teachers and relationships with parents. Rodriguez goes on to talk about assimilation(developing one's culture) and how it could strip one of it's individuality. This is a quote that shows the trouble with not recognizing another culture in classrooms: "After English became my primary language, I no longer knew what words to use in addressing my parents." I could not imagine not knowing how to communicate with my parents, it sounds like a hurtful experience and one I would not wish on anybody. I feel that if this is the majority of feeling towards teaching in our classrooms, then systems should be changed. Schooling should not tear families apart while adjusting to a new culture, this sounds like an American nightmare. The Collier piece was a little more optimistic in teaching kids a different language. Reading Collier brought me back to the Rodriquez piece and how his life learning experience could have changed had those nuns stayed away from his house that day and they incorporated some of her advice. Collier argues in her article about teaching kids ESL " The key is the true appreciation of the different linguistic and cultural values that students bring into the classroom." Teachers need to recognize a person of a different culture in our society and celebrate it, not try to brainwash this individual from who they are or where there from. Cultural diversity in what makes us a great nation, if everyone thinks the same, no one is thinking very much. Collier also gives 7 guidelines on how to teach ESL students and have a greater impact to better their lives. One of the guidelines I found would be helpful in erasing what happened to Rodriguez is guideline 3 which stated: "Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language." I found this to be interesting in teaching children who are learning English as a second language. It may eliminate all the problems that Richard Rodriguez had and give kids like him a good life in our culture and keep a strong family relationship at home with parents who might not speak the language. In reading the rest of the article by Collier,found it a bit difficult to keep up with the "code switching patterns" but the guidelines I found very useful. I think Collier's article sheds light on the problems of Richard Rodriguez's schooling as a ESL student. It was damaging to his family to have teachers dictate his home life and Collier gives solid guidelines on how to keep these students happy in both the classroom with the teacher and at home with their parents.

School Context Assignment

Doing my service learning project in an urban community, also the community I grew up in, felt comfortable and exciting to me. I am comfortable with the community and I know from working in this community that the demographics are mostly Hispanic. The name of the school I am working with for my service learning project is Margaret I. Robertson School in the Central Falls School District. In doing my research for the demographic information of this school (research website provided by Dr. Bogad) I found data on a number of characteristics that represent the entire student body. I will begin with the ethnicity of the school: Hispanic 64% , 19% White and 17% Black. The classroom I am helping in has a breakdown of 12 Hispanic, 2 Portuguese, 1 Creole and 1 White child. Here is just a little background on the way I was thinking during my first visit. I had to be buzzed into the school because the door is locked during school hours. This is definitely something different than I experienced when I was going to grade school in Central Falls. I immediately had the attitude that if they needed security, it must be a tough school to attend. I also became aware that all of the teachers and staff in this school, that I came in contact with, were white. I thought this was an interesting sight knowing what we have read in class. I will start by talking about the space in the classroom. It is set up with desks more towards the center of the room in groups of four, with the four kids facing each other. The perimeter of the room has computers, bookcases, windows and a blackboard. The walls are decorated with work done by the students and several world maps. In analyzing the set up of the room, I would say by grouping the kids in this manner the teacher is promoting work by collaboration. The teacher may also be valuing that relationships being formed with the students and this is a way of making them feel more comfortable to attend school. Maps are a good learning tool and are spread throughout the classroom, this may be showing value to the different places in the world that the kids are all from. Also when parents enter the room it shows that maybe the place they came from is recognized and taught about in the classrooms of American schools making them feel good about their kids education in the United States. There is a bookcase filled with Spanish written books, which I think is a nice way of the school trying to recognize the students ethnicity and good community awareness. Curriculum and Pedagogy in this classroom, in my opinion, was very similar to what I learned in school. I think when we discuss the culture of power this is one of the problems in our diverse society today. The teacher hands out work sheets of math and literature and works the kids until they have completed the handout. Delpit talks about mandated testing for all students and how curriculum and teaching strategies are based strictly on raising test scores in urban communities. I see the teacher in this classroom definitely following the federal mandate and worrying about just getting the scores up. It is a little unfair of me to say this because I have not spent much time in this classroom but from my short time there it seems she is following the "status quo." I think the class I am helping has definite evidence of diversity in its space and structure but may be lacking in climate and curriculum from the analysis I have provided. The demographics of this school has affected me in one way and made me notice how much poverty is actually represented. Almost 90% of the kids in the entire school are eligible for a free lunch. When I was going to school in Central Falls , we were all able to brown bag a lunch and know what Mom packed us was something we were going to enjoy. These kids are at the mercy of the school and it saddens me that 9 out of 10 kids are at a poverty level that they need to be served breakfast and lunch by the school district. I was told these are the only meals some of these kids will get. This has definitely influenced my experience and it is my hope that when I start to teach I can help all cultures have a quality life in this sometimes unfair place.

Relation to Kozol and Culture of Power

Blog 6 McIntosh and Muwakkil

The name of the text for this blog is: White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. I want to start by saying that this article was a little more difficult than some of the previous, I will try to explain what I believe McIntosh means in her writing. McIntosh is arguing that white privilege is known to whites in a subconscious manner and when studied and introduced to people of privilege they believe it is nonsense so they won't have to deal with it. I think she speaks of this on page 6 when she states "To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions. The silence and denials surrounding privilege are the key political tool here." S.C.W.A.A.M.P immediately comes to mind here as the big elephant in the room that no one will address. What also helped me understand the article was the 26 conditions of "white privilege" that McIntosh wrote about. I find empathy to be one of my greatest qualities and from reading her list it is amazing how many of the conditions of white privilege I take for granted. It would be extremely difficult for me to put myself in someone else's shoes for all of these conditions. Number 14 was especially eye opening for me because I have witnessed this situation before. Number 14 states: " I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race." I have heard this said by white America and the person of color on the receiving end takes this as a compliment not knowing it is viewed as a struggle of their race. I found the part of earned strength and unearned power a little bit tough to follow but I think her mission is to educate the SCWAAMP on why systematic change in our culture is needed. I found her views on the subject eye-opening and informative. McIntosh definitely challenges the way of thinking I am accustomed too. And if people in the "white privilege class" need any more evidence of how oppressive our culture is they should read the article by Salim Muwakkil. I think the poll that was conducted was a genius way to open up the eyes of those with white power. The part of the article that made me believe in white bias was the paragraph about whites and blacks in the job market. In Milwaukee, a study showed that "white applicants with prison records were still more likely to be hired than black men without them." In my opinion this is consciously being racist and using power to hold a person of color from getting ahead in our country and goes against the fundamental right of being an American. If it is true that we would prefer to have more white criminals in the job market than black non-criminals, this country is worse off than I though before I took this class.

Jonathan Kozol: Amazing Grace -Blog #5

What? This article that Kozol writes about is a view of people living well below the poverty line in the borough of South Bronx, NYC. Kozol is writing this piece about the kids and families of a community that really lack basic needs such as: food, shelter, security and basic services such as schooling and health care. A few of the key words Kozol uses in this piece that stuck out to me were:dangerous, destitute, HIV, AIDS, evil, welfare, drugs, and prostitutes. Kozol describes a hell on earth situation in this part of NYC for any unlucky soul who happens to reside their. So What? Kozol describes the Mott Haven neighborhood in his writing and walks around with a child named Cliffie. Children in this neighborhood according to Kozol are" the poorest and in the most abandoned places." As a reader of this article I am sick to find out that such a place could exist in the United States of America. I think Kozol wrote this piece to magnify the hurt and pain suffered by children at a young age. These kids and families are being abused by the same government I support as a citizen. I think Kozol is saying that if no one recognizes the problems in Mott Haven, the privileged in America will continue to grow while holding back a demographic of blacks and Latinos. Family after family are dying in a vicious cycle in Mott Haven because NYC will not help them. Now What? I think Kozol makes a great point in this article when he is told that the government of NYC dumps all the sick and poor people in that one neighborhood. I think these people need to be put where good health care and services are available so they can start to reverse the cycle of poverty and sickness. Also, the only way the kids have any chance of succeeding in life would to be in a healthy environment. Kozol proves that family after family in Mott Haven die off with little hope of escaping in sight.