- In "Toward a New Vision..." Patricia Hill-Collins theorizes, in references to building bridges to connect to one another and try and understand people that are not "like us," so to speak, that we must "share a common cause....Hear one another....and develop empathy for each other's point of view." In order to do this, we must first decide to be a part of a "coalition" that addresses the issue of race inequality. As an educator, how do you plan on uniting your students so that they can hear and empathize with one another, especially if there are a diverse group of learners in the classroom?
- Lareau begins her discussion of social institutions by describing that all people play a role in one or more of these "groups to which they belong." She continues by stating that we then begin to fall into the norms of this group, thereby making it more difficult to stray from what is socially acceptable in that institution. Thinking about your schooling experiences, in what ways were you playing the quintessential "role" of the institution of school as a student? Do you think that those roles have changed since you were a student in middle school or high school and how?
- According to Lareau's account of Swan School, a clear source of the school's contention lies in the support, or lack thereof, of the teachers and administrators by the parents. The teachers are insistent that some of the students' attitudes are reflective of their parents' lack of support or faith in their abilities. What may be some of the implications of this power struggle between teachers and parents affect the social structure and student performance at the school? How would you, as a teacher, handle feeling this lack of support from a large quantity of parents?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Discussion Questions-Week 4: Hill-Collins and Lareau
Group 3 Questions
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Group 6 Questions:
ReplyDelete1. Hill Collins uses the label “voyeurism” to describe instances in which the dominant group considers “the lives of people of color, of the poor, and of women interesting for their entertainment value,” and becomes “passive onlookers who do not relate to the less powerful, but who are interested in seeing how the ‘different’ live.” Additionally, she describes “academic colonialism” as an opportunity in which “more powerful groups see their subordinates as people they perceive as subordinates to them.” How would members of different social classes react to the justification of these terms? In what settings is “voyeurism” most glaring? What is the role of schools in changing these perceptions? What pedagogical interventions might schools adopt to develop safe spaces for dialogue and relationship building to occur?
2. I think we all aspire for schools to become “great equalizers” where students of diverse backgrounds come together to embrace each other’s similarities and differences and where teachers motivate, inspire, and lead. Lareau profiles two distinctly different educational environments in Lower Richmond and Swan School. What prevents that ideal educational goal from happening at both schools? If you knew nothing else about American education, how would you describe its structure? In describing Swan, Lareau asserts the notion of concerted cultivation. What does she mean by that? How does concerted cultivation impact social culture? How does it affect student development? If you explained the logic behind concerted cultivation to a student from the METCO program, how would he/she respond?
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ReplyDeleteHI LADIES =)
"Social Structure and Daily Life," of Lareau, immediately created numerous questions in my head about how to create equal opportunities, a level playing field, and a sense of community in my own classroom? Individuals are undoubtedly born into and “carry out their lives within a social structure” (15). It is eventually the individual who decides whether this social structure is where they will remain, whether they fit in, whether they will attempt to withdraw, or whether they have no choice but to remain. Schooling has a great deal to do with this decision considering there are many negative connotations from certain cultures about doing well and abiding by the school culture, especially in the Black culture.
Questions from this reading: Do children arrive in school already knowing how they will “fit-in” in a classroom? How do we as teachers create rules/guidelines in which all students feel as if they are on a level playing field and create a sense of motivation in the classroom? (This subject is touched upon in both readings)
The Patricia Collins article, "Toward a New Vision" made me want to discuss how interesting voyeurism and academic colonialism are, and how often these are used in a schooling setting? I experienced a teacher in high school who would constantly, “Ask[ed] Black students to perform on cue and provide a Black experience for their White classmates…” (458). To this day this was the worst teacher I had throughout my entire education due to his lack of empathy and his ignorance not only Black culture and their personal biographies, but to 95% of the students in his urban public high school.
“How can you hope to assess my character without knowing the details of the circumstances I face” (461)? The video Leigh posted on Cameron Russell gave a perfect showing of a white woman explaining and expressing how white her skin is and how influential it was throughout her young and adult life of being a model. Russell is the epitome of a woman who has begun to grasp the concept of empathy, a skill that all teachers need in their “tool belt.” We need to understand who our students are and where they come from. To tie this discussion in to a discussion from last week: we cannot merely state that "we don't see color" because this is doing a disservice to us as human beings and to the caring and teaching of our students.