Spring Chapter 3 page 62
“Plessy v. Ferguson highlights the principle that race is a social and legal construction.”
We talked in class once about what is “white” and “black” and why we chose those names. There is really no such thing as a white person or a black person, it’s just some names society came up with and we still use them to this day. What did make Homer Plessy a “black” man in the eyes of the court when a majority of him came from “white” ancestry? Is it because he has some “black” in him and that automatically makes a person “black”? How does that make even make any sense whatsoever? It just goes to show that society can come up with anything and everyone else will, unfortunately, follow whether they realize it or not.
Spring Chapter 10 page 279
“Another concern is teachers’ activity outside the school. A controversial issue is whether a teacher’s membership in a radical political organization is grounds for dismissal or denial of employment.”
When becoming a teacher, a person is considered a professional and should carry themselves that way especially in public. If a teacher joins a certain organization, I don’t think they should be fired because of said organization. I suppose it really depends on the organization itself and what in entails, but I feel as though it would have to be something quite intense or “bad” for a teacher to be fired because of an organization. I couldn’t imagine working so hard throughout my life to get a teaching degree/masters, spend a few years teaching, then all of a sudden be let go because of a group I had joined.
Kozol Chapter 9 page 220
“Knowing that Indianapolis is one of the most politically conservative communities in the United States, I asked Dr. Pritchett if it would endanger his position if I quoted him by name. “This is my last year in Indianapolis,” he said. “I don’t know where I’ll be working next. But I could care less what anyone might say. If we who are working in these schools don’t advocate for children, then who will?””
This quote definitely speaks the truth. Students from elementary school through high school speak their minds all the time, but it doesn’t voice concern until the second a teacher or principal or anyone actually working in the school system speaks. Yet, when they do speak, they’re “wrong” and basically shunned for speaking their mind and this is clear by the way Kozol is asking Dr. Pritchett if it’s okay if he quotes him by name. It’s so sad that people are looked down upon when trying to speak for the children; the children are our future, wouldn’t people want what’s best for them? What’s best for THEM, not what’s best for BUSINESS.
Kozol Chapter 9 page 222
“How can one even dream of racial integration, I am asked, in a district in which 75 to more than 85 percent of students are black or Hispanic and most middle-class white parents do not send their children to the public schools, or not beyond their elementary grades.”
This is something that I feel is going to take a really long time and clearly, has been taking a really long time. It seems like something so simply, putting a bunch of different children in one school, yet it’s quite the opposite. I feel like a big part of this has to do with the parents because they mainly have control where their children go to school, the children just go where they’re put. Children really don’t care who they go to school with starting from day one. Of course, it gets harder as they grow older is they’re in a predominantly urban area and move to the suburbs and vice versa. A lot of it has to do with people being closed mind and being stereotypical and it’s really starting to get old. If we keep doing what we’re doing, things are only going to get worse.
Kozol Chapter 10 page 239
“”I’m still not completely at ease among white people,” he went on. “When you walk into the centers of white dominance, no matter what you’ve done in life, you feel like an outsider. But what my high school education did successfully was to teach me to function effectively in that environment. I don’t think I could possibly have done this if I had not had that kind of education.”
No matter what your race or culture is, if a person is around people that are not exactly like themselves they feel uncomfortable. It shouldn’t be like that at all, but that’s the way society has it play out. People are self-conscious or nervous around other people that aren’t like themselves. Everyone, for the most part, can still function and will still do what they need to do, but no one is 100% comfortable, rarely.
In response to your last quote, it is true that most people are not comfortable around other people. Some people always feel uncomfortable being around others who they don't know. However, I think it is worse for people who are not considered part of the privileged class, like the speaker of the quote you used. I think it may have more of an affect on them because their level of not belonging goes deeper than worrying about what someone thinks of you. It involves how they must act in the white male's presence, includes all of the racial stereotypes that flow through someone's mind consciously or unconsciously, etc. I think that is so important for issues like that to be brought into the open and fixed within the classroom at a young age because the younger someone is the easier they are to mold and the more they are open to learning. It worked as best as it could for this person above, but it the problem was not fully solved for him because it was not solved for everyone around him making him feel that way. What do you think should be done to change this?
ReplyDeleteKara,
ReplyDeleteI feel as though the people who are making him feel uncomfortable aren't intentionally doing so. It also might be a possibility that they are subconsciously looking down on him? I think that this is something that's going to take a long time to "change" because that's basically saying that no one will be racist anymore in a sense. If he feels uncomfortable when walking in a room, he feels like the other people are looking at him differently. People always judge, unfortunately, that's how they are; whether they say things out loud or they keep them in their head. It's sad that people have to feel uncomfortable like that, but I honestly wouldn't even know how to go about changing that. Do you think this is how an African American student might feel in a suburban school?