Group 3: Different Backgrounds and Arizona's Bills

When thinking about our own teaching, do you think in order for teachers to learn about all students’ different background and teach with an open mind that they need to take a graduate or college level course on the topic? Or do you think we need to educate ourselves or learn from our students or a combination of both? Many times I think teachers want to be open and include all cultures and backgrounds into their classroom and lesson but how do we learn to do this effectively or is it something that cannot be learned?

In Patrick Camangians article titled Subverting the Mater (‘) Syllabus, Camangian says “By mystifying reality, schooling is able to promote the idea that if you are compliant enough and study hard in school, then you can “achieve,” you will not get “left behind,” and you can “race to the top.” Everything will be all right for you. You will not be poor, you will have a nice job; and you will be better than those “other” people you left behind in “that” community.”

I think most teachers want to encourage their students to do well and look forward to a promising future but are there a way to do this with out “mystifying reality”? If so, how can we encourage and instill hope in our students with out being unreasonable and unrealistic?

What do you think about the Bills Arizona has passed? The government makes decision about what is important for educators to teach when they themselves are not in the classroom and don’t see what students need? I think it is important to educate our students on the history of the U.S. and not jus the white version but the history of slavery and immigration in this country. I think that it is important to have an open forum for students to discuss what has happened and what their current feelings are now on the history and how it affects them. How can we make students feel comfortable talking about tough topics that have happened din our countries history? 

Group 5: Immigration, Education, and the Politics of Inclusion

1.     In “Subverting the Master(‘s) Syllabus,” Patrick Camangian states “By mystifying reality, schooling is able to promote the idea that if you are compliant enough and study hard in school, then you can “achieve,” you will not get “left behind,” and you can “race to the top.” Everything will be all right for you. You will not be poor, you will have a nice job; and you will be better than those “other” people you left behind in “that” community.”

How do you encourage students to succeed and work to the best of their abilities without seeming colonialist or succumbing to the promotion of the idealistic American dream?

2.     Patrick Camangian in “Subverting the Master(‘s) Syllabus” has shown how to translate personal experience into an American or World History class or an English classroom.  How can we adapt curriculum requirements set by state requirements in other classes to address personal experience and history?

3.      With such a heated debate about racism and legislation promoting segregation outside the classroom, how do we handle such issues inside the classroom?  How should we as teachers deal and balance opinions of students, parents, other teachers, administrative staff, and our own?  How do we do all of this without posing a detriment to the students’ education and future?

4.     In light of the Arizona state legislation in regards to ethnicity and of federal legislation in regards to Black Codes, why is xenophobia and racism still in existence despite claims of equal rights and opportunity?  How does this translate to the American dream?

5.  The Arizona state legislature backs their stance with claims of preventing ethnic hate.  Is this a solid defense, or is this just a thinly veiled excuse?  How do you teach ethnic studies without pitting one group against another and thus proving the state representatives wrong?

Image From:

http://thegrio.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/ethnic-studies-in-arizona.jpg?w=487

Wealth Inequality in America

I wanted to share this youtube video on the reality of 'Wealth Inequality in America'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QPKKQnijnsM

Exercise those muscles of analysis

Here's a screen shot of a headline in Chicago about school closings. Can you do better than the headline of "Not Fair" with analysis of schooling, privatization, and race in America? Yes you can.

Can you imagine Edward Norton being stopped and frisked in the UWS?

Hello All,

This essay is one of the best I've ever read that eviscerates efficiently the ways that (like Jay Smooth schooled us) being called racist is a no go, and yet, we witness and sometimes perpetuate clearly racist practices.

Read on about Forest Whitaker being accused of shoplifting, and being frisked in the Columbia area of NYC - what does this tell us about the larger contexts. It's going viral in many social media circles, and it's an excellent example of an 'event' that is then filtered through research and sociological analysis.

Things (and people!) that are frightening.

Hello all,

Needless to say our discussions in class have spilled over to my break, my ride home quickly turned into an hour long conversation about women in the media with my mom. I think she was surprised as I went on and on...

I found this article on my facebook feed last week and to me, while the article itself is shocking and awful, it reveals one of my biggest points on the whole Seth MacFarlane situation. At the end of it all, Mr. MacFarlane is a comedian, who makes his living entertaining, and in truth offending people. I do not trust a single decision in my life to him, or any other comedian for that matter. While perhaps the Oscars was not the right stage for this kind of casual talk about women, I would say congress is certainly not the place for this kind of ignorance. Elected politicians like the one quoted in this article are people that we, as American citizens, do trust to make choices to protect and serve us. I would have liked to have seen this situation receive the kind of vitriolic reactions that the Oscars had.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/nh-lawmaker-says-some-people-might-like-being

Read and think about this- why do we focus so much on "celebrity" opinion, rather than the people who make our laws?

Hope break is treating you all well!

Maggie M.

Intersectionality, or What about the black transgendered penguins?

Although the structure of our syllabus has us 'tackling' different nodes of identity, we are all living in combinations of identities all at once. More simply put, you aren't just your gender one moment and then your race another. This also means that we have to be vigilant about paying attention to how privilege and oppression come in different combinations and position us differently. For example, to have consciousness about oppression as a woman of color doesn't mean that I 'get' what it feels like to be gay or transgender in this society. It is impossible for me to talk about race without talking about gender, but I also know that (stemming from our class discussion) I never have to sweat which bathroom I'm going to use. It's a nonissue, which means that I enjoy the huge privilege of having my gender identity rewarded; I have relative privilege there and encounter discrimination in other ways. This is what is important about intersectionality: understanding that our positions in society are an amalgamation of different aspects. This is a key concept to our course, so I've included lots of resources here.

First, a criticism of the lack of response from white feminists on the tweet about Quevenzhané Wallis. This is a great piece that should spur along thinking from the "gender" class on what the response to this tweet tells us about societal ability to respond to intersectional microaggressions.


Second, a string of links to hear the person with a mic right now speaking the most incisive truth about the socialization of men and women. Junot Diaz. If you haven't read The is how you lose her, do so. In the back of your mind (or maybe the front!), note that many other women, several who are mentors of Diaz, have been making these same points for quite some time, but he is getting the airplay on it. Worth noting and still listening to what he has to say.

Here's an NPR interview where Diaz discusses how, for most men, actually recognizing that women are full human beings is, well, it's a step. Have a listen:


Another NPR interview, this time based in Boston. Noteworthy here is how gracefully yet honestly Diaz handles the  question of his personal experiences of racism in Boston.


A quick-read interview where the point is how our relationships (of course) have on full display larger ideologies about race, class and gender. Put another way, who is seen to be cute/fly/insert-your-terminology-here does not exist in a vacuum devoid of racism/white privilege, patriarchy, and heteronormativity.

A provocative essay from Mia McKenzie (a fantastic writer who is also a stunning social critic) she published shortly after President Obama expressed his support for same-sex couples. There are many smart essays on this site about intersectionality and institutionalized privilege.

And finally, a wonderful reminder of how the best way to think, reflect, talk, and act to interrupt some pretty vicious patterns of violence in society is with humanity and connection (and maybe cake)

d