Monday, October 25, 2010

Brown v Board of Education and Wise video

    Last year I had to read Brown vs Board of education for my political science class and the different things we talked about in that class I found to be interesting.So, I learned a lot about these different cases like what I viewed on the website. I found it very sad that we had to set certain laws just so blacks could be treated equally. For example they chose to be "seperate but equal" but who was this really helping? In reality it wasnt equal. The whites had better schools while the blacks were placed into basements at schools. Like what happened in the case of "Sweat vs. Painter" This case is about a black man that applied for a white law school in Texas because they didn't have a law school for blacks set up. Instead of enrolling him into the school like every white student they set up a few rooms in the basements for them and had only three part time teachers. This was ruled unconstitutional. He was seperated but was it really equal?

     Wise's video shows me that after all this time their is still segregation all over the place. Looking at this video and reading the information on the website I have noticed that not much has changed over the years. We still have racism. Many people will argue that they didnt vote for Obama just because he was black or the other way around many people did vote for Obama because he was black.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

In the Service of what? (Quotes)

     I found this article to be difficult for me to read. I had trouble getting into the article. I did like a few points that the authors made in this article. In my service learning project" I have found it to be very rewarding and I am really enjoying this experience.

    "Educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing rich educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling".  I like this quote. The service learning program isn't just a great experience for the people going into the classroom it's also a great experience for the kids in the classroom. Everyone in the service learning program has the potential to make a difference in a childs life. The service learning program is a very helpful program. I feel like in my experience with the service learning program I am making a difference.

    "Others argue that educators may miss important opportunities if they disconnect the act of service from a critical examination ofthe setting in which it occurs". I agree! This program is a good oppurtunity to get hands on experience with different types of kids. It would be a shame to disconnect this service program.

    "The idea that educators should foster a volunteer ethic and encourage youths to give something back to their school or community currently receives widespread support" Being a part of this program shows the younger kids the importance of volunteering. Being able to help someone else is a great feeling. Being able to make a difference in someones life is an amazing feeling. This program gives you the opurtunity to have this experience.

In class I would like to talk more about the importance of the service learning project.

Here is some more information about the service learning project

  

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us (argument)

 This author Linda Christensen argues that watcing cartoons and disney movies teach children to be racist at an early age. "The impact of racism begins early. Even in our preschool years, we are exposed to misformation about people different from ourselves". Linda Christensen wants her students to realize the sterotypes in these kid movies and point out to them that kids start learning these things at an early age.
  "The young pretty ones only want to hook their man; the old pretty ones are mean because they are losing their looks." "Kenneth noticed that people of color and poor people are either absent or servants to the rich, white, pretty people"

   Linda Christensen argues that children are being exposed to these specific stereotypes at such a young age. That every beautiful girl with find her handsome prince and live happily ever after. These movies dont show what happens to the average looking person. Christensen that you should point out the specific stereotypes in these children movies. So, that you can become aware of them. Children may sometimes unconciously absorbing these particular sterotypes in these fairy tale movies.

  In class I would like to talk more about how we as teachers can help students realize that they don't have to be exactally like the people they see on tv.









   Aladin "a whole new world" I love this song and I love Aladin. I after reading this article I realized that looking at this cliping of a disney movie a young child might say to their self I wish I could be a beautiful princess and have a handsome prince sweep me off my feet. And this is what Linda Christensen talks about in her article.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Gayness Multicultural Education and Community by Dennis Carlson (extended comments)

  This article Gayness Multicultural Education and Community by Dennis Carlson was a difficult article for me to read. But as I was reading it I was reminded of the other day when I was watching the news with my parents about a young gay man who jumped off the George Washington Bridge because he couldn't handle being harassed anymore. Jess wrote about this in her blog so I decided to do the extended comment instead of pretty much repeating what she wrote. Jess writes "This man, named Tyler Clementi, was a freshmen at Rutgers State University of New Jersey, and, as you can read in this news article, he was pushed beyond the limit, and decided to end his life by jumping off the George Washington Bridge" When I heard about this on the news I was stunned. People need to grow up. As they were talking about this on the news they also brought up several other cases of kids killing themselves because they couldn't take being bullied anymore just because they were gay.
Jess wrote this: "I am extremely disgusted, to say the least, with what is going on in our world right now." I completely agree with her. People are so judgemental and it needs to stop.
  "Carlson argues that people, kids especially, need to become aware that there are differences in this world, and they need to be accepted. No matter how against something kids are, they need to somehow reprogram their brains and think otherwise. To do this, teachers and departments of schools need to stop being cowards, and they need to start teaching and acknowledging homosexuality in their curriculum. They need to know that it's okay to teach about these things, because it is present in the real world. It's when teachers decide to maneuver around the subject and ignore it, then students begin to think that maybe it is wrong, and maybe it shouldn't be accepted. And that's when gay student themselves are too afraid to stand up for themselves and live their lives openly as who they really are."
 I totally agree with Jess. This is a problem that can't be ignored just like race. We are taught about the different race problems but never once are we taught about homosexuality. This is a problem that just keeps getting swept under the rug and that's not right. This is a huge problem in our society and we need yo do something about it before another person takes their own life just because they cant take being bullied anymore just because they are gay.
  In class I would like to talk more about what we can do to work on solving this problem.