Another Final Post on Johnson

What can we do? That is the question that Allan Johnson poses in the final chapter of his book Privledge, Power, and Difference. What can we do to fix the differences of power that we have in this country that was supposed to be equal. I thought that when Dr. King said we had a dream that one day everyone would be treated the same he didn't think that after all this time nothing much has changed. Okay so slavery is gone. Okay we can all work, eat, go to school, church, and thousands of other things together but even though we can do all those things we couldn't do years before we are still not equal. We get the same opprountities right? Wrong. Example. College Football this season has seen its share of stories on the field but one has shocked me the most. Out of the 115 division 1 football schools do you know how many coaches of those teams are black? 6. Count them 6. Yeah that's the truth. What else gets me is what went on at the University of Michigan earlier this month as they began to look for a coach to replace Lloyd Carr who is retiring at the end of this season. They talked to Les Miles who coaches at LSU and because of that the newest rule in finding a coach is that you must at least interview an africian american person for the job whether you give the job to them or not. I think this is great because it's a step in the right direction. I think Johnson would be impressed with this also because it proves his point in how this can all be changed if our society can work as one.

Final talking points on Orenstein

After reading this article, one image continued to go through my head. Women. Why? Because this whole article was based on how this teacher seemed to have a obsession with the power of women. Her whole classroom screamed so many hidden messages. Her room was filled with pictures of famous women and women in general. Where were the men? We don't know. But it is saying something now only about her, but her personality, and even her possible teaching skills. Obviously she takes girls over guys that is just a given based on the style of her room. That can also potentially cause a huge problem in class too. Because it shows the kids that girls are better than guys are and shows that she isn't in favor of the everyone is equal saying. I think that her teaching style is awful and wrong and not right for the development of the kids' futures. I think that she should change her style of teaching and show the class that both guys and girls both can do great things with hard and not show dominance in one gender. it can really make things harder for the kids if they get the wrong attitude.

talking points #8 on Kliewer

After going through this article about Citizenship in school and how children are treated with down syndrome, i have a few feelings about this. After watching the movie on this last Tuesday, and seeing what children with this disease are treated like, it shows that these kids do not get citizenship in school. They are treated like crap. It is a shame that we live in a country that bases its beliefs on everyone being treated equally because of what Dr.king did so many years in the past. why is it just because they are challenged in so many ways that we have to send them to a part of the school that most of the students did not even know existed? What people don't see is how they would like to be treated like that if they were challenged the same way these kids are. It just is not fair. Sure these kids have some different features, and sure they have so many problems with so many things but why does that mean that we just have to push them away? People in schools are cruel and watching that video and reading this piece just proved that for me. Anyone and everyone should be embraced with open arms no matter what they are like. That in my mind is what this society lacks. We don't embrace each other because someone is different. We don't give anyone a chance. For all we know, they could become a good friend to us. We just do not know. But we will never find out unless we give them a chance.

Talking points #7 on Lawrence

After reading "One more river to Cross" by Charles Lawrence, I immediately thought back to a few weeks ago when we did indeed do the menstruation lesson from the medical textbook. It said on that sheet that this compares to Lawrence. I'm not sure it does. I do agree that language matters. What I do see is the connection between those. I believe the same. The only connection between the class connection and this connection is that language matters. I feel like I'm missing something. I thought that this was a very difficult reading, must harder than ones we have done before. I don't really know if I am getting everything. The only thing I could see through this is what I read on the paper that said that Language matters. I did believe that his argument was political because I felt that he was pointing fingers at the politics because they were not doing anything to help prevent this in the future. I think that he believes that more can be done to prevent this and in my mind I feel he is saying that people are paying enough attention to this in their societies. I think that after hearing more about this in class and hearing what other people thought about this I would be able to develop a much better opinion about this reading. I'm sure that this will soon makes more sense when I hear more talk about this article.

talking points #6 on Oakes

After reading "Why schools Need to take another route" by Jeannie Oakes i have to say i an rather confused. I really have no idea what this article was about. To be honest the only thing i could relate to the article was the comic that was on the second page that kind of helped me think about what she meant. The person is very short and the person in the "Education" booth was much to high for the person to reach. The quote at the bottom says "Privledged class, middle class, or born loser?" The person obviously cannot reach the person in the booth nor do i think that the person in the booth even knows that someone is there in the first place. What i think that means is since there are children that (using a part of the comic quote) are considered "born losers" it ius harder for them to learn in school when teachers just doubt their ability to succeed and in turn the self esteem is going to be like that as they continue on their way in their school career. This article was really difficult to understand so i cannot really elaborate on it anymore than i have because i really dont know what else to say.

talking points #5

well first off i didn't realize that a blog had to be done today until i got to class. i thought that the only thing that was due today was the midterm letter which now i know that that isn't true. the article by oakes and lipton was about the way things in classes are handed. during class today i said that if something within the class isnt fun and or something that can keep a student paying attention it makes it harder on the teacher because it the students have trouble paying attention. for example my class at west broadway had trouble paying attention last week because they were told they were going to have a party at the end of the day. every kid that was in there was all riled up and it made it very hard for me to teach my students because i know that all they were thinking about was that party. a teacher would have trouble because the students don't seem to care so why should they? they are getting paied to be there and the students arent listening which in turn could lead to them being affected.

a few more to say

A few more things about today lesson that I was thinking about during the rest of my day. First off McDonald's commercials use very skinny people as their models to eat their food. They are portraying that if you eat McDonald's you will not become obese. We all know that it isn't true. Obviously it aids in a person becoming obese if you eat it too much. Secondly, there is a new song that is out by Wyclef Jean, Akon, and Lil' Wayne called Sweetest Girl. I am going to add the song to the end of this post, so please listen/watch it if you haven't seen it before. You will soon see why I feel that it is appropriate for our lesson right now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PxBGHjABnU

Talking Point #4 on Christensen

After completing "Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us" I have a few different feelings about what I read. First off, he started off talking about how cartoons are portrayed people in many ways. He says that most use "hidden meanings" and younger people don't realize that because they don't understand. He uses many examples like Popeye, the Ninja Turtles, and Duck Tales. Now since I use to watch all three of those cartoons when I was a kid, and not once did I ever consider any of them to be "offensive". I was well educated considering I would turn it on here and there even when I was in middle school.
Now after reading this, I feel a tad different about all three of those cartoons. I do indeed realize that Duck Tales did indeed focus on nothing much money. Popeye did make it seem like fighting was alright. Ninja Turtles do indeed show that fighting is alright. I think that Christensen is exactly right when he says that cartoons portray many things to the younger children. We need to make sure that things like that are taken out of cartoons because if some children begin to catch onto these hidden messages, they could begin to use that as a way of their own lives. I believe that it could lead to something dangerous. I believe that cartoons using hidden messages within their shows need to notice all that and rid that of all of their shows for the sake of every young person in this world.

Talking Points #3 on Carlson

After reading "Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community" by Dennis Carlson he talks about how a Homosexual is portrayed within the community and argues that portraying a person like that is wrong. It seems like he believes that portraying someone like that is against not only himself but God. Being only a sophomore in college, I do indeed know what being portrayed like that was like because there was quite a few homosexuals in my school and they were always the center or jokes, comments, and ridicule. He talks about how "throughout much of this century, the dominant idea of community in America was represented by what I call the normalizing community." I think that what he means is that most people in society live life using a "normal" system. I think that since someone is homosexual they are not considered to be normal because people consider them to be different than they are. Since I believe that it is wrong to look at someone differently because of a lifestyle choice that they have made I feel that people should learn to consider everyone to be equal. I mean think about this, Blacks were considered "different" at one point, so why can't we see a gay person and consider them to be one of us just like we did in the past with blacks when Martin Luther King told us that everyone was created equally. I believe that this is his argument during this whole piece.

Talking Points #2 on Richard Rodriguez

Why is this story called Tongue Tied? This story is called that because Richard Rodriguez feels in a way violated because he wasn't addressed in Spanish like he would have liked to be when he was in school. He felt that since he was Hispanic that he would have felt more comfortable if he were addressed in his native tongue. I feel that he makes a great point because I know that if I were to go into a different atmosphere and had to speak a language that is not comfortable for me I think that I would feel the same way as he does. I find it to be a bit odd that at his very own dinner table they would practice their English and not speak in Spanish. I feel that school is a different place than at home. Home is where you should be able to not worry about a language barrier and should be a place where you don't have to worry about fitting in just because you don't speak the "common" language. I agree with him when he states that "he hears bilingual educators say that children lose a degree of individuality by becoming assimilated into public society." I feel that if an person cannot express themselves then they are being discriminated. I have to say that I absolutely agree with this piece because I believe that everyone should be able to express themselves the way that is most comfortable. Everyone lives in this country together and everyone should be able to work with each other in order to have a most comfortable society.

Talking Points on Johnathan Kozol

The article that I read for this talking points was "Amazing Grace" by Johnathan Kozol.

• The article is about Kozol going to the heart of New York City and seeing the "ghetto" and taking a walk through the city with a kid named Cliffie. They walk through various parts of the city and walk through streets that include seeing a park where Cliffie tells Kozol that he sees a bear in a bush where he watched a child get shot in the head and die. Kozol then talks to other people about the hardship that is the heart of New York City.

Kozol talks the most about how much hardship goes on within the city of New York especially parts like Harlem and the South Bronx.

He backs those points up within the text when he goes with Cliffie on the walk when he talks about what they saw on the walk.

• They see the bear that is in the bush from the kid that Cliffie saw get shot in the head.
• Kozol talks about how some families in the winter are so cold the city must provide them with sleeping bags and how they would sleep at night with jackets and hats on.He also talks to the women who talks about how hot it can be on some days. He sees her on a 94 degree day when she says that the heat takes a lot out of her and she rarely has the strength to get up and open a window but is afraid to do so at the fear of theb heat being worse outside.
• Reverand Overall talks about most streets have prostitutes roaming the streets as well as many houses who have lots of people with the AIDS virus.

I thought that this read was not only very interesting but also very scary. The fact that so many people in that area had AIDS scared me but i thought that it was very interesting that Kozol got to go on a walk through the streets where he saw everything that Cliffie saw. I thought it was a very descriptive piece and I really enjoyed it. I recommend this to any person who would enjoy something like that. Cliffie was a lot of fun to read about but I felt really bad that a person that was said to be so nice as he is, has to deal with a hardship like the one he deals with every morning when he wakes up.

Hola World

Hello world,

My name is Steve Cambio. I'm 19 Years old and in my sophmore year at RIC. I have been playing soccer for 15 years now and I enjoy it a lot. So far my semester is going well. I have taken a lot of challanging courses, but I'll find a way to get through them. When I am not in class I am either hanging out with friends, working, or doing something to pass the time. I look forward to meeting everyone in the class.

Steve