Citizenship in School: Re-conceptualizing Down Syndrome
Christopher Kliewer
Quotes:
1. "Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full, rich life. The challenge is to erase negatives attitudes about people with developmental disabilities, get rid of the stereotypes and break the barriers for people with disabilities."
I completely agree with this quote and honestly is makes me angry. It makes me angry because I know that these stereotypes will never change no matter how hard we try. Stereotypes are passed down from generation to generation and not only about mentally disabled people. This goes for all of the other readings we were assigned because the main issue in all of them revolve around the stereotypes made whether it's white privileged, social status, or handicapped people.
2. "Dialogue cannot occur...between those who deny others the right to speak their word and those whose right to speak has been denied them. Those who have been denied their primordial right to speak their word must first reclaim this right...Dialogue imposes itself as the way by which [people] achieve significance as human beings."
I really loved this quote. There is nothing more important then the freedom of speech. No one can form their own identity if they are not able to speak. However, if people are refused the right to speak like some mentally disabled, then it may seem as if they are trapped within themselves and cannot form their own being.
3. "If you came into the room and were told there was a retarded child in the class, a child with special needs, I don't think you would pick Lee out. The kids really agree that he's as capable as they are. Intellectually the same."
It amazes me that people automatically assume that because someone has special needs that they will stand out like a sore thumb. They are still human beings, except they require a little bit extra TLC and maybe they have more difficulty learning. This doesn't mean that they aren't human and don't deserve the same chances that we do. Also...I hate when people call other retarded...it is extremely offensive to them. People with special needs have feelings also!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Talking Points #8
Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work
Jean Anyon
Quotes:
1. "Jean Anyon obsereved five elementary schools over the course of a fall school year and concluded that fifth-graders of different economic backgrounds are already being prepared to occupy particular rungs on the social ladder. In a sense, some whole schools are on the vocational trach, while others are geared to produce future doctors.
It is a crazy thought that by fifth grade, we already have begun to choose the path of the rest of our lives. But I do remember always knowing that I would go to college after high school so I could get a job that I wanted. I never even questioned any other options besides going to college. In my house, it wasn't an option, it was where you would go after high school and that's exactly what I did.
2. "...have argued that students in different social-class backgrounds are rewarded for classroom behaviors that correspond to personality traits allegedly rewarded in the different occupational strata-- the working classes for docility and obedience, the managerial classes for initiative and personal assertiveness."
Students are taught how to act from a young age based on demographics. This is wrong. They should be taught how to act based on good morals. When they grow up, maybe in high school, when they have a better understanding of themselves, they should know what different professions look for.
3. "The teachers rarely ecplain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance."
This is exactly what teachers are doing wrong. I feel as thought students will care and want to learn if they can relate to the material and know why it is important that they know what is being taught. Relating materials to each other and to their own lives may help them care and have initiative to learn.
Jean Anyon
Quotes:
1. "Jean Anyon obsereved five elementary schools over the course of a fall school year and concluded that fifth-graders of different economic backgrounds are already being prepared to occupy particular rungs on the social ladder. In a sense, some whole schools are on the vocational trach, while others are geared to produce future doctors.
It is a crazy thought that by fifth grade, we already have begun to choose the path of the rest of our lives. But I do remember always knowing that I would go to college after high school so I could get a job that I wanted. I never even questioned any other options besides going to college. In my house, it wasn't an option, it was where you would go after high school and that's exactly what I did.
2. "...have argued that students in different social-class backgrounds are rewarded for classroom behaviors that correspond to personality traits allegedly rewarded in the different occupational strata-- the working classes for docility and obedience, the managerial classes for initiative and personal assertiveness."
Students are taught how to act from a young age based on demographics. This is wrong. They should be taught how to act based on good morals. When they grow up, maybe in high school, when they have a better understanding of themselves, they should know what different professions look for.
3. "The teachers rarely ecplain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance."
This is exactly what teachers are doing wrong. I feel as thought students will care and want to learn if they can relate to the material and know why it is important that they know what is being taught. Relating materials to each other and to their own lives may help them care and have initiative to learn.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Talking Points #6
A Particularly Cheap White Wine
Tim Wise
Quotes:
1. "President of the College Republicans at Boston University, announces that race-based scholarships for people of color are the worst form of bigotry confronting America today." He is completely right. Picking blacks to get a special scholarship or any race for that matter, is unfair. We are all human and we should all get an equal opportunity for scholarships. It should not be by color, income, class, etc.
2. "First, although white students often think that so-called minority scholarships are a substantial drain on financial aid resources that would otherwise be available to them, nothing could be further from the truth." In my opinion, it has nothing to do with limiting my financial aid, but has everything to do with being equal. Like the above quote, people need to be given an equal opportunity to succeed. When we are all treated differently and unfairly, that is when problems arise.
3. "Of course, on an even more basic level, to complain about so-called unfair preferences for students of color, be it in terms of scholarships or affirmative action policies in admissions, is to ignore the many ways in which the nation's educational system provides unfair advantages to whites, from beginning to end... since attending a low-poverty school generally means having more resources available for direct instruction." I understand that black students may have less than whites in terms of resources. However, if we all work hard, we all can achieve what we want and strive to reach our goals.
For example, our president is black. He is one of the most powerful people in the world, but he had to work for what he has, just like any president of any culture. I feel as though saying that blacks just don't have an opportunity is unfair. There are good and bad people of all different races. Some people strive to succeed and others don't. Your work ethic will determine how well you do in life..not the color of your skin.
Tim Wise
Quotes:
1. "President of the College Republicans at Boston University, announces that race-based scholarships for people of color are the worst form of bigotry confronting America today." He is completely right. Picking blacks to get a special scholarship or any race for that matter, is unfair. We are all human and we should all get an equal opportunity for scholarships. It should not be by color, income, class, etc.
2. "First, although white students often think that so-called minority scholarships are a substantial drain on financial aid resources that would otherwise be available to them, nothing could be further from the truth." In my opinion, it has nothing to do with limiting my financial aid, but has everything to do with being equal. Like the above quote, people need to be given an equal opportunity to succeed. When we are all treated differently and unfairly, that is when problems arise.
3. "Of course, on an even more basic level, to complain about so-called unfair preferences for students of color, be it in terms of scholarships or affirmative action policies in admissions, is to ignore the many ways in which the nation's educational system provides unfair advantages to whites, from beginning to end... since attending a low-poverty school generally means having more resources available for direct instruction." I understand that black students may have less than whites in terms of resources. However, if we all work hard, we all can achieve what we want and strive to reach our goals.
For example, our president is black. He is one of the most powerful people in the world, but he had to work for what he has, just like any president of any culture. I feel as though saying that blacks just don't have an opportunity is unfair. There are good and bad people of all different races. Some people strive to succeed and others don't. Your work ethic will determine how well you do in life..not the color of your skin.
Talking Points #5
In the Service of What?
Kahne and Westheimer
Quotes
1. "In his inaugural address, President John Kennedy challenged the nation with his well-known appeal: "...ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."" I think that we should be asking "what can we do for each other" instead. Our country was built on the principles of democracy, so we are the country and we should all be one big community. We need to work together to fix the problems instead of working against each other, creating more. Service learning is a start of a way that we can help each other.
2. "What kind of society does service learning lead students to work toward?" Service learning is leading us to a society where people care about each other and show it by reaching out a helping hand.
3. "For example, one student worked in a center for babies whose mothers had high levels of crack cocaine in their bloodstreams during their pregnancy." This quote absolutely sickens me to think that people do this to their children before they are even born. I wanted to be a nurse before I entered into the teaching career. I had heard stories about things like this, but never witnessed it. I hope I never have to either...it really bugs me that people do not think before they do things and it affects many people.
Every action we do will affect at least another person in some way or another. Service learning is a positive enforcement that will keep people out of trouble and keep them headed in the right direction. I feel as though doing it at a young age feels pointless because I was there, in high school, and thought the same thing. However, much like the other articles we read, children learn by example and if they are brought up doing good deeds and service learning, they will be more likely to help out in the future.
Kahne and Westheimer
Quotes
1. "In his inaugural address, President John Kennedy challenged the nation with his well-known appeal: "...ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."" I think that we should be asking "what can we do for each other" instead. Our country was built on the principles of democracy, so we are the country and we should all be one big community. We need to work together to fix the problems instead of working against each other, creating more. Service learning is a start of a way that we can help each other.
2. "What kind of society does service learning lead students to work toward?" Service learning is leading us to a society where people care about each other and show it by reaching out a helping hand.
3. "For example, one student worked in a center for babies whose mothers had high levels of crack cocaine in their bloodstreams during their pregnancy." This quote absolutely sickens me to think that people do this to their children before they are even born. I wanted to be a nurse before I entered into the teaching career. I had heard stories about things like this, but never witnessed it. I hope I never have to either...it really bugs me that people do not think before they do things and it affects many people.
Every action we do will affect at least another person in some way or another. Service learning is a positive enforcement that will keep people out of trouble and keep them headed in the right direction. I feel as though doing it at a young age feels pointless because I was there, in high school, and thought the same thing. However, much like the other articles we read, children learn by example and if they are brought up doing good deeds and service learning, they will be more likely to help out in the future.
FNED 346-11 Class Overview
Extra Post #2
From the beginning of class, the one goal my teacher had was to make our class feel more like a community. We were always asked to be prepared for class discussions that were run strictly by us with no input from the teacher. I can see now, that these discussions we had, we allowing us to work together to come up with similar goals and ideas. We worked together and by doing this, we became more and more close each class.
Another goal of all of the readings we were given, was to be able to connect our volunteer work with these readings. I was able to understand why we read the articles we were assigned and I could see the readings first hand in the classroom that I volunteered in. I was able to make connections between all of the reading with what I observed in the class and I enjoyed being able to do this. I connected the volunteering to the readings just like I feel I connected to the students.
At first, I honestly did not understand the point in having us read all of the articles we were assigned. After doing the work and volunteering it became quite clear to me. The things we were introduced to in these readings and during our class discussions were real life problems. They did not seem like it when I compared it to my elementary school but in the Providence schools, it is more noticeable. As a teacher "in the making" it is important that we are aware of all of these real life problems and have practice so when the time comes, we know what to do about it.
On Monday, there was a scary moment in class, where something went wrong with someone in class. Without details, we had to all work together as a team to get her in a better place and make sure she was okay. Our class, that was once filled with strangers, worked together as a whole...a group of friends, and worked well under pressure to make sure everything was taken care of. We all pitched in and worked as a team. I feel as though after that scary moment, seeing how well we pitched in and worked together, I can say we truly are a community and more like friends. Some of us even became emotional over the incident when we were all strangers to each other a couple of months ago. We are definitely a lot closer than we were during the first few weeks of school and I will always remember this class and how Dr. Stevos brought us all together.
From the beginning of class, the one goal my teacher had was to make our class feel more like a community. We were always asked to be prepared for class discussions that were run strictly by us with no input from the teacher. I can see now, that these discussions we had, we allowing us to work together to come up with similar goals and ideas. We worked together and by doing this, we became more and more close each class.
Another goal of all of the readings we were given, was to be able to connect our volunteer work with these readings. I was able to understand why we read the articles we were assigned and I could see the readings first hand in the classroom that I volunteered in. I was able to make connections between all of the reading with what I observed in the class and I enjoyed being able to do this. I connected the volunteering to the readings just like I feel I connected to the students.
At first, I honestly did not understand the point in having us read all of the articles we were assigned. After doing the work and volunteering it became quite clear to me. The things we were introduced to in these readings and during our class discussions were real life problems. They did not seem like it when I compared it to my elementary school but in the Providence schools, it is more noticeable. As a teacher "in the making" it is important that we are aware of all of these real life problems and have practice so when the time comes, we know what to do about it.
On Monday, there was a scary moment in class, where something went wrong with someone in class. Without details, we had to all work together as a team to get her in a better place and make sure she was okay. Our class, that was once filled with strangers, worked together as a whole...a group of friends, and worked well under pressure to make sure everything was taken care of. We all pitched in and worked as a team. I feel as though after that scary moment, seeing how well we pitched in and worked together, I can say we truly are a community and more like friends. Some of us even became emotional over the incident when we were all strangers to each other a couple of months ago. We are definitely a lot closer than we were during the first few weeks of school and I will always remember this class and how Dr. Stevos brought us all together.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Talking Points #1
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Peggy McIntosh
Quotes:
1. "Through work to bring materials from Women's Studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed that men's unwillingness to grant that they are over privileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. They may say they will work to improve women's status, in the society, the university, or the curriculum, but they can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's." Every one is privileged or under privileged in some ways. Men are privileged and are turned to for a lot of things. This quite reminds me of my own experience. At my old job, my boss would send a male to help me set up stuff or do something when I didn't even ask for the help. He assumed that because I am a female I couldn't do it on my own without the help of a male.
2. "I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege...White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." This is a very interesting way to look at this subject matter. A lot of the time we will say we do not have any privilege over others and as a white, over a black, but we do. If we were on the other side and felt under privileged, I'm sure we would see just how much whites are more privileged than blacks for really bad reasons.
3. "4. I can go shopping along most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed." I am pretty much addicted to shopping and I have never thought about this. I can go into stores without having this thought that I am being stared at and having a stereotype used against me. My old boss would always follow everyone that wasn't white and any person that was younger than 30. He used this stereotype all of the time in his store and would follow people he didn't trust and I never really thought about it until now.
White privilege is existent whether or not we like to admit it. The person with the power will usually be the stereotypical heterosexual, white, male. As a white female, I can notice how I am both privileged and under privileged. I do agree with Peggy McIntosh that white people are privileged, I just never really noticed it...maybe I didn't want to admit it because I feel that we should all be treated equally. I know that I feel awful when someone judges me about something because I am a female, so I can understand how blacks feel when people use stereotypes against them. The stereotypes that have been around forever is what's preventing all humans to be treated equally. Just because I can't carry 500 pounds doesn't mean I can only carry 10 pounds because I am a female. And just because someone has dark skin, does not mean they need to be followed around a store and not trusted.
Peggy McIntosh
Quotes:
1. "Through work to bring materials from Women's Studies into the rest of the curriculum, I have often noticed that men's unwillingness to grant that they are over privileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. They may say they will work to improve women's status, in the society, the university, or the curriculum, but they can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's." Every one is privileged or under privileged in some ways. Men are privileged and are turned to for a lot of things. This quite reminds me of my own experience. At my old job, my boss would send a male to help me set up stuff or do something when I didn't even ask for the help. He assumed that because I am a female I couldn't do it on my own without the help of a male.
2. "I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege...White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks." This is a very interesting way to look at this subject matter. A lot of the time we will say we do not have any privilege over others and as a white, over a black, but we do. If we were on the other side and felt under privileged, I'm sure we would see just how much whites are more privileged than blacks for really bad reasons.
3. "4. I can go shopping along most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed." I am pretty much addicted to shopping and I have never thought about this. I can go into stores without having this thought that I am being stared at and having a stereotype used against me. My old boss would always follow everyone that wasn't white and any person that was younger than 30. He used this stereotype all of the time in his store and would follow people he didn't trust and I never really thought about it until now.
White privilege is existent whether or not we like to admit it. The person with the power will usually be the stereotypical heterosexual, white, male. As a white female, I can notice how I am both privileged and under privileged. I do agree with Peggy McIntosh that white people are privileged, I just never really noticed it...maybe I didn't want to admit it because I feel that we should all be treated equally. I know that I feel awful when someone judges me about something because I am a female, so I can understand how blacks feel when people use stereotypes against them. The stereotypes that have been around forever is what's preventing all humans to be treated equally. Just because I can't carry 500 pounds doesn't mean I can only carry 10 pounds because I am a female. And just because someone has dark skin, does not mean they need to be followed around a store and not trusted.
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