Sunday, March 27, 2011

Tim Wise/ Brown Vs. Board of education extended off of Danielle's Blog

I really thought that Danielle wrote about the connections between the videos, the article, and the website really well. i actually had thought of many similar points when i was watching the videos myself, which is why i chose to extend off of her blog. She first goes into talking about how racism is still exists in todays world. Then she begins talking about the videos and how Tim Wise said "Barack Obama is a light skinned African American, this possibly giving a comfort factor to white voters. He is worried that if he was darker, or if future candidates to come are darker that this will make white people uncomfortable with letting themselves give the candidate the deserved vote."  Now after hearing this it clearly shows how racism still very much exists in todays society, and it's awful to think about it but Americans need to be more aware of that fact that it does still exist. Wise also mentions later on that white people are oblivious to things. That if we want to find out the issues we need to go to the people who are being directly effected by it, which i totally agree with. 


She then goes into talking about how in order for black people to share the same privileges as white people they need to be extraordinary people. for example she talks about Obama and says that black people must be be exceptional at their task. In Obama's case he was. He was accepted by the public for his intelligence and sophistication. However she also brings about another point Wise uses. He said to take George Bush for example. He was president of the united states for eight years and most people would say that he's an idiot. Now if George Bush had been black there was no way he would have been elected. There is a perfect example of how racism still exists in the current society. Danielle then uses a quote by Wise to sum it all up, which i thought was great. 


"The proof of racial equity will be the day that people of color can be as mediocre as white folks and still get hired."


This is such a good quote because it's so true. it's terrible to think about but it shows just how much rasicsm is still a big part of society. how is it fair that because someone is white that they are allowed to be mediocre ad still be considered better than someone who is black? that doesn't make any sense to me. it's just plain unfair. why should people of color have to work ten times as hard to gain the respect of society when a white person who doesn't work at all automatically gets it? In no way is that fair. 


She then goes into talking about the stereotypes Wise mentioned in his video, which were pretty amazing.
6 out of 10 people said...
1.black people are precieved as less intelligent
2.black people are less patriotic
3.black people are less hard working than white people
4.75% of white people say that black people want to live on welfare


she then goes into talking about how this proves racism still exist today. i totally agree with her. these statistics are crazy. 
In her last few paragraphs she talk about Bob Herbert's article and shows how it relates to the Brown vs. board of education from 1954. She used two great quotes which i thought really stuck out to me in the article as well. 
1."If you really want to improve the education of poor children, you have to get them away from learning environments that are smothered by poverty. This is being done in some places, with impressive results. An important study conducted by the Century Foundation in Montgomery County, Md., showed that low-income students who happened to be enrolled in affluent elementary schools did much better than similarly low-income students in higher-poverty schools in the county." 
This quote pretty much says it all. It's not kids race that is effecting their learning. it's the environment that they are in. now this is a problem they we should invest in fixing. there is always so much talk about education and how important it is. look at providence right now, with all of the teachers being fired. Maybe we should focus a little more on what Herbert says and fix the environment first, because based on this article it seems that this could greatly improve education for these children. Like Danielle says everything goes back to the brown vs. board of education case years ago. they argued "separate but equal", however it wasn't equal at all. it caused segregation and racism. another great point that i thought she made was that it's similar now with student stuck in poverty schools, and without integration the student will only suffer. this is a great point and i totally agree with her. we need to work on doing a better job of this. her last quote was,
2. "Studies have shown that it is not the race of the students that is significant, but rather the improved all-around environment of schools with better teachers, fewer classroom disruptions, pupils who are more engaged academically, parents who are more involved, and so on. The poorer students benefit from the more affluent environment." 
now if this is the case we need to work on improving these environments, because we spend so much money on everything else in society. well lets focus on fixing the problem rather than blaming it on something. i agree with Herbert's argument. 

I chose Danielle's blog because i thought she made some really good points and i personally thought a lot of the same things while i was watching and reading these assignments. Personally this has opened by eyes a little more to what's going on around me. i have to admit i am one of those people who Wise says is oblivious to thing around them.


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Sunday, March 20, 2011

In the service of what? by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer Reflection

Personally i really liked the article. I think that it's a really good idea to have service learning involved in schools. The article talks about a few different types of service learning projects. Honestly i didn't even realize how many different things would qualify as service learning. Personally i think that this is such a positive thing. However i don't know if i would have said that in high school, but i think it would have been a really good experience. When i was in elementary school we kind of did something similar to a service learning experience. When i was in fourth grade we would go to the 1st grade classrooms to help them learn how to read. i remember being really nervous the first time. i wasn't sure how it was going to be. i remember being so nervous about how it would go. Overall it went really well. The little kids loved us because we were the "big kids" of the school. but it turned out to be really fun and i think it was a good experience to have. However before VIPS that was the only other thing similar to service learning that I have done. But i think that we should have done something like this in high school because i think that it's such a good experience to have. i know i say this now, but i probably wouldn't have said the same in high school. but i agree with Kahne and Westheimer that it's a good experience and gives you a lot more confidence. personally i being involved with VIP's i have learned so much already and i have only been there a couple of times. but being involved with the kids now and teaching all different ethnicities of student will be so helpful for me when i start teaching a class of my own. To me i think service learning is a really important experience. there are so many different way that kids can get involved in service learning projects. i actually found a  website that gives you links to help you set up different types of service learning projects. i think it would be a good idea for high schools to require some sort of service learning project in order for kids to graduate. i know most high school kids would resent the idea, but i think it gives kids a good experience. and maybe someone does something like our service learning project and find out they love it. you never know! i just thinks it's a good experience to have! i can't speak for everyone, but my experiences have only been beneficial. I'm not saying they are all wicked exciting and easy going, but they defiantly effect my in a positive way.


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I just wanted to talk in class if people had experienced Service learning project before this class? If they did how did they get involved in them?

Sunday, March 6, 2011

"unlearning the myths that blind us" -Christensen reflection

so after reading this article i did a lot of thinking. however i still can't really say whether or not i agree or diagree with the article. i guess i would say i do and i don't agree. personally i grew up with cartoons and i wouldnt say that i am close minded and all these cartoons showed me racism, sexism, and etc. but i just find it hard to believe that kids will pick up on all this stuff. kids our age couldn't even pick up on it until a teacher sat them down and told them to really concentrate on what to look for. in todays cartoons they found it more difficult than in older cartoons. does that mean it's getting better? i just feel like when i was little i wasn't watching cartoons analyzing them the way this study portrays them. however i do agree with how society influences people a lot in certain ways. people are greatly influenced by the media about what they should wear and how their bodies should look like. once again i agree and disagree. ya there are all kinds of famous brands like nike, timberlands and that stuff but people have all different types of styles. it's all what the person likes. however people will still argue that it's because of society. no one will ever win or lose that battle because maybe it is society, maybe it isnt. most people will say it doesn't have to do with society. i would say i doesn't that it's all based on what a person likes.  overall i didnt really like this article i just feel like it yes it does make sense, but do you really think that kids think the same way as us?

that would most likely bring me to the question i would raise in class. do kids really think the same as us? yes they are really smart but are cartoon really effecting them in the depth that this article says they do? think about it did u watch cartoons as a kid? most likely you did. but did you think of these things before someone mentioned this to you? or are you only realizing it now that someone brought about the topic of racism, sexism, and etc in cartoons?


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Are they really that bad? I would just like to hear what everyone thinks about this subject. I can see their point, but i don't think kids really think that deeply. I mean did you guys before we talked about it? I also looked at this website about Aladdin which talks about racism and such. I just don't believe that people really thought about all this in creating the movie but maybe they did.