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.

Blog 4 "Relation to the culture of Power"

I have had some life expieience with the way Deplit describes the "culture of power." I come from a middle-class family but grew up in an urban community with a number of classmates and friends from all different cultures. Central Falls was made up of mostly Latino's when I was growing up and a number of my friends were a different color. I attended Catholic schools until I arrived at college and always felt that teachers had power over the students without predjudice. My father was personnel director for two different cities and always was surrounded by politicians. During his working years there were many functions and holidays that I spent with many of these people where I saw them in action. Delpit describes one of the rules as " a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power," during my encounters with these powerful people I (unknowingly) learned of this culture power that Delpit writes about and it probably has something to do with my attaining middle class level as an adult. Perhaps my expieriences with such powerful people allowed me to learn the culture of power and gain an edge on some of my friends from Central Falls who came from lower class families. Dr. Bogad we talked about having culture as far as job interviews and being able to secure good jobs, I think my parents taught me most of this knowlegde from the relationships they formed with politicians. Delpit raises an interesting argument because most of my friends were unable to secure middle class jobs and I was! Perhaps the "Culture of Power" is more prevalent than I first thought.

Blog on Lisa Delpit

Blog number 3 was based on a writing by Lisa Delpit titled Other People's Children. From reading the Depit article it is clear to me that she has a serious issue with the way most classrooms are run in our country. Delpit argues that "mandates" in education curriculum and concentrating solely on how high test scores should be is a major flaw in schooling today. Delpit also touches on the issue of race and how some teachers, perhaps ones who have white children, are not using explicit teaching methods when research shows lower class and kids of color benefit from this teaching style. Here are a few passages I found helped me in understanding the article: In the introduction I found this line really insightful: "We in education have allowed politicians to push us to act as if the most important goal of our work is to raise test scores." This quote makes me feel like we are all under the control of a twisted bureaucratic society that wants us to educate are youth like robots. I think Delpit is saying we have to buck the trend and teach kids the importance of being a good member of society first so a child test scores can come second. Delpit is not minimizing education in this article, she is just saying being a good human being should take precedent. I agree with her 100 percent. This next passage is one I am not sure I understand but I am very interested in the subject matter: "I believe that the actual practice of good teachers of all colors typically incorporates a range of pedagogical orientations." This statement is right before Delpit explains her "culture of power" aspects. In my opinion this quote is saying that if teachers collaborated in their teaching experiences and shared success stories from whatever race they were teaching, it could benefit a child becoming educated in our society. Encouraging teachers of all races to share resources would allow a child a more complete educational experience as opposed to some federal mandated test score. This last quote was on page 29 and I picked it because it reminded me of the Johnson article. "Several black teachers have said to me recently that as much as they'd like to believe otherwise, they cannot help but conclude that many of the progressive educational strategies imposed by liberals upon black and poor children could only be based on a desire to ensure that the liberals' children get sole access to the dwindling pool of American jobs." Delpit includes this article maybe to raise the argument that the middle-class is more white dominant. I am not a teacher but I don't believe that we, as a society, are fixing the school system in are subconscious to bullet proof the middle class from blacks and minorities. I believe social problems have more to do with a lack of education than a conspiracy by white liberals does. I think some blacks would agree that a majority of black kids who do not make it from the lower class have come from broken homes and have had no proper caring or nurturing. Delpit raises a great argument on how to educate all people. The way a person perceives power was also very intriguing and made sense for most of the reading. I agree with Delpit in the fact educating should be a hell of a lot more than a test score. On the issue of power, I believe that if you want to succeed in life get a solid education and have good manners and you will never have a problem. It has worked for me!!!!!!

Johnson and S.C.W.A.A.M.P. Blog

The name of the author was Allan G. Johnson for the piece titled Privilege, Power and Difference. In this piece Johnson argues that we, as a society, are responsible for all the injustice that happens to the lower class in our country. Johnson goes on to say that with scientific research and theory we could potentially close the gap between classes and distribute privilege and power on a more equal basis if we follow a "framework" based on his theory. Here are a few quotes from Johnson's article that I will reflect on: Chapter 2 Page 10 "We live in a society that attaches privilege to being white and male and heterosexual regardless of your social class." This quote is really difficult for me to process. Johnson basically has pigeon holed a white, heterosexual male as having power and privilege in our country. He obviously has not visited the trailer parks in Alabama. This part of the article showed me that Johnson is speaking of his experiences and maybe speaking of his own personal feelings. In my opinion a poor white heterosexual male will have to work and educate himself in order to reach a level of privilege in this day and age. If you are born poor I believe all races and genders have the same amount of opportunities to become successful. Quote 2: "The mere fact that something is new or strange isn't enough to make us afraid of it." I thought this was a good line in trying to show the reader that no matter who you come in contact with, you cannot pass judgement on a person until a person gives you a specific reason. I also think Johnson is trying to convince the reader to not be pre-determined in judging others. Quote 3: Chapter 2 page 13 "The bottom line is that a trouble we can't talk about is a trouble we can't do anything about." This quote helped me understand the author's position for the entire article. If we as a society could discuss issues of racism, sexism and classism it could help, in the authors opinion, society lose some of these destructive behaviors. A few last comments about Johnson's article, in my opinon I think he wrote a very pessimistic account of how this society works in our time. I will give one example but there were many in this article. In chapter 2 on page 8 he speaks of a colored colleague that "can't go for a walk alone at night without thinking about her safety" Johnson is saying this of a black woman and I feel he may have put words in her mouth. Is he a mindreader? If a man lived in a dangerous neighborhood he would also think about safety quite a bit. I think he tries to potray a larger disparity in races and gender than what there really is. Dr. Bogad discussed SCWAAMP and in my opinion the people tapping on the glass have at least cracked it and maybe even shattered it in some of the categories.