Education is Politics

In the article Education is Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment, Ida Shor discusses how educators must socially and mentally empower students by engaging them with current day knowledge. 

"To socialize students, education tries to teach them the shape of knowledge and current society, the meaning of past events, the possibilities for the future, and their place in the world they live in. In forming the students' conception of self and the world, teachers can present knowledge in several ways, as a celebration of the existing society, as a falsely neutral avoidance of problems rooted in the system, or as a critical inquiry into power and knowledge as they relate to student experience."

Shor wants schools to begin to inherit these ideas through their curriculum. The school system shapes the knowledge, behavior, and values of students. There is little critical thinking and discussion allowed to students and that is what is needed in the classroom. It is important for students to be able to be engaged in the classroom and feel that they have a voice instead of feeling silenced. This article reminds me a bit of the Silenced Dialogue and the rules of culture of power. Students feel belittled and frustrated knowing that they are being rushed to "learn" and have no opportunity to engage.

"They were convinced that if they could copy a friend's class notes, read the textbook, and talk to each other on the phone, they would get just as good an education as they got by coming to class."

 

I can certainly relate to the above quote, I've felt that way about many lecture courses I've taken while attending college. One of the only courses I've ever felt that there were politics and real socialization was my Schooling in a Democratic Society class. To be engaged is all that I ask for in a classroom so I can take in the lessons and keep that knowledge. 

I hope education continues to evolve into what students really need to be taught. It's good to know that it is happening, one classroom at a time. 

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

In this chapter of Christopher Kliewer's book, Kliewer argues about the issues that children with Down syndrome have to unfortunately face in our society and describes citizenship in school for children with Down syndrome. Students with disabilities (mental or physical) are usually segregated from the average classroom. It is unfair that society has embedded the idea of separation between people with disabilities and non-disabled people just because people with disabilities learn differently or at a different pace. Kliewer argues how children with down syndrome should be mixed in a classroom with non-disabled children. It is a great benefit to all children and should be enforced in the classroom. I believe people are afraid of change or maybe do not think there will be positive results. Reading this excerpt from the book made me think of the Ted talk video we watched in class, about the father who become a disability rights advocate after his son was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. The father shares his touching story and how he believes inclusive education can benefit all of us. 

These here are some quotes I liked from the reading. They give a good idea of the author's attitude on segregated classrooms.

"Educating all children together reconfigures the representation of Down syndrome from burden to citizenship."

"..the notion of Down syndrome often obscures our ability to recognize the child as a child."

"It's not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label, We're all here --- kids, teachers, parents, whoever, --- it's about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that's what learning is. Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail."

Social Justice Event

I attended the event From Belly Dancers to Burqas: Media Representations of Muslim Women. I had the great opportunity to listen to the very smart Afshan Jafar speak. Before Ms. Jafar even began to speak she had everyone in the room anonomously write on a piece of paper four words they believe what Muslim women are. Before she got into her lecture she read every single person's thoughts and the results were stereotypical and very interesting to hear. Some examples of the thoughts that were mostly written down are:
conservative
opressed
religious
covered up
restricted
controlled by/not equal to men
misunderstood/misrepresented
beautiful
Jafar said that every time she does this activity with a group, the group comes up with mostly all the same ideas of what they think Muslim women are. What I already knew, of course, is that we get these ideas from the media. The media portrays Muslim culture in so many ways because a lot of us do not understand it. Ms. Jafar then asked if we were all asked what Christian women are we would not know what to write because Christian women could be anything. That then made me realize that Muslim women are so generalized to these stereotypes and it really does not make much sense at all.

Jafar then showed us images and explained to us how Americans sneakily put negative and wrong ideas of Muslim culture in our heads. We were shown an image of princess Jasmine from the Disney movie Aladdin. Jafar then pointed out things about Jasmine's character and the movie that I have never noticed. Jasmine wears a belly dancing costume during the whole movie which is a stereotypical outfit for a Middle Eastern woman. Jasmine also has very Caucasian features compared to the movie's villain Jafar who had very stereotypical features, a large nose, thick brows. Afshan also informed us how the opening song for the movie Aladdin had awful lyrics that Disney had to change because they were truly offensive but the song they ended up with still portrayed Middle Eastern culture as barbaric.

Jafar also showed us a very famous national geographic photograph of Muslim girl. The photographer was on an assignment at a refugee camp and happened to snap a photo of a beautiful girl with piercing eyes. The photo ended up being on the cover of national geographic. Jafar mentioned how the photographer did not even bother to get the girls or name or even speak to her. It's crazy to think how people act because of preconceived notions of a culture.

Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route

This article falls into the topics of the consequences of tracking, the uneven opportunities in classrooms, other alternatives to tracking, curriculum, and student evaluation. 
Tracking is the practice of putting students of the same age and ability in groups to be taught together. In the article, one of the consequences of tracking is having students of higher ability exceed faster than regular students. It is not fair that tracking mostly supports students of high ability while others fall behind. The author, Jeannie Oakes, gives an example by saying how students in high ability English courses have the opportunity to read modern literature, do research and learn vocabulary that will benefit them for college. While the other students just learn the bare minimum. 
Oakes then talks about how in low-ability classes teachers treat students differently than teachers in classes with students of high-ability. In low-ability and average classrooms, teachers expect low achievements from students and are less encouraging. To help change the negative affects of tracking, Oakes mentions an alternative to help students achieve in the classroom. She says that teachers might have to change the topics students are required to learn. Topics that they know will benefit them in life.
I do not believe tracking is all that bad. I do believe a great amount of teachers are not doing their jobs as educators in having their students learn in a way that will truly benefit them. I do believe that classes should help students prepare themselves for real life experiences. Teachers should include students aspirations in their curriculum so that students can focus more and actually enjoy what they are learning. If teachers give all students an equal opportunity and make them all feel equally important, I believe students will do better in school.

Becoming Something Different

In this article, a Latina girl named Esme Martinez is followed and examined for six years of school. She is observed from sixth to eleventh grade. Over the years Esme's perspectives of academics, family and friends shift as she grows and changes. This article's main purpose is to show how ESL/ELL students are overlooked in the school system and how most ESL/ELL students are not being motivated to excel. Our ESL/ELL youth are disadvantaged and deprived from their right to push themselves to learn and it is a shame. Due to this issue, ELL's are not being proficient in school.
There's a part in the article where Esme is struggling with reading while in the seventh grade so her school schedule gets changed and she is put in a special reading class. Esme likes the class and it puts her right on track. When Esme starts eighth grade, she becomes agitated because she is once again put in a low-level reading class. It is said in the article that ELL students are disproportionately placed in special education programs. Esme felt as though her reading class was too easy for her since she always finished her work first. But Esme used her knowledge to help other students in the class and that made her satisfied. I do think her teacher should have noticed Esme doing so well and should have placed her in a class where she could have been challenged.
When Esme gets to high school she is put in three honors classes. She has trouble in algebra and fails it so she is put in a lower level math class. Esme also struggles in her biology class with a 70 average and talks to a counselor about it. Esme tells the counselor she believes she can do better if she works harder but the counselor decides to take her out of her honors classes and give her regular classes. "The school’s actions perpetuated her positioning as struggling in an “all or nothing” way that failed to recognize her academic strengths, a process further compounded by her enrollment in a remedial reading class that even her teacher believed was inappropriate." Esme's first year in high school put her in a place where she lost the drive to do her best.
The little support and persistence shown to ELL students is one of the reasons why ELL students score low on standardized tests.
I searched on google ELL statistics and found this photo I posted below. I thought it very much relates to ESL and ELL students and how far they go with their education.

Between Barack and a Hard Place

Tim Wise is such a brilliant person and educator and I cannot believe I didn't know about him until I watched his lecture on his book Between Barack and a Hard Place. His open mindset and strong opinion are exactly what people need to hear. In the video, Tim Wise makes funny and understandable statements about how white people unknowingly discriminate. Tim brings up how the white people, who are afraid of the topic of racism, like to say that they have plenty of close relationships with people of color (even though they really don't). Tim then says just because a person has a good relationship with a certain person, it does not mean they do not have different views on that person's race in general.
Tim also talks about his experiences as a kid and being one of the only white kids in his elementary school. He mentions how he witnessed that the school system disciplined students of color more harshly than white people. That part of his lecture reminded me of the silenced dialogue because his stories and facts are what the rules of the culture of power are based on.
After watching his video I wanted to know a bit more about Tim Wise so I googled him and found that he has his own website where he blogs about whatever issues he feels he wants to share about. I've read several of his blogs and will definitely continue to read them. Everything he says I can agree with. It is like he expresses the feelings that I cannot find the best words to express on issues of race.
Here is the link to his website:
http://www.timwise.org/