A Commitment to Start with the Crown

 

Talking Points

"Stop trying to cut corners. Stop running. Make a commitment and do the work equity calls us to do."

 This is something I feel like I struggle with.  I know I'm supposed to teach with rigor, and at grade level, but the majority of students in my classes are not at grade level, most are at least 3 levels below in terms of math and english, and that doesn't even take into account the newcomers who have only been in the country for a few months.  I try to keep things on grade level, but doing so takes an incredibly long time to get through content because I'm constantly trying to catch the students up on what they should know already.  I feel like I can either teach at grade level and get through a fraction of the material, or get through all of the material, but only in the most cursory manner.

"Even through high school, we have to know better for them.  When we make this clear to students, we reconnect with what brought us to education."

 I try to keep this in mind, I'm trying to help these kids be better versions of themselves whether they realize it or not.  I've even tried explaining this to my classes with varying results.  It does get frustrating though, it often seems like many of my students are actively trying not to succeed.  I understand that this is physiological as much as sociological, but it doesn't make it any easier.

"Life does not level down."

This is a powerful message, and in a very succinct package.  I might try using this in my classroom as it connects to videogame culture which most students are steeped in.

Argument Statement

Teachers and students often get stuck in ruts and become resistant to change vor myriad reasons.  This does not befit the role of an educator as we must always be striving to find the most effective way to serve our students.  As we change to meet the needs of our students and hold them to the standards we believe they can meet, we must keep those standards high lest we risk them falling into the pits we dig for them.

Second Language Acquisition

Talking Points:

“Matching the silence, I started hearing in public was a new quiet at home. The family's quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents.”

This was heartbreaking.  The parents, eager to have their children succeed, pushed them to assimilate.  Being children and in school they were able to far outpace their parents which ultimately created a cultural barrier within their own home.  It is noteworthy that their parents supported this, perhaps not knowing what the result would be on the family dynamic, they wanted to help their children integrate and even encouraged them to make a game out of practicing at home, participating with their kids as well.  I would imagine this had a tremendous effect on Rodriguez’s successful acquisition of English, and it makes me wonder how many of my MLLs lack this support at home.

 

"They do not seem to realize that there are two ways a person is individualized. So they do not realize that while one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality."

This is an interesting take.  Most stories I’ve read, watched, or heard regarding non-native students learning English in American schools lament the seeming loss of culture that results from assimilating into U.S. society.  While this is addressed in Rodriguez’s story, his view seems more positive, seeing the benefits of assimilation outweighing the loss of culture at home.  As I have not had to go through a similar experience in my education, I put a lot of weight in the experiences of those who have when it comes to advice regarding second language acquisition.

 

“Whenever speakers of two languages come in contact with each other, these three natural processes occur: code-switching, language influence, and word borrowing. Code-switching, the most creative and dynamic process of the three, is highly structured.”

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“Code-switching by students should be accepted, and not penalized.”

This is in line with what we learned in TESL 539, that code switching is an advanced form of language use and an indicator of proficiency.  Historically, the view in education theory has been that this should not be allowed, and that learning English as a second language in an English dominant society requires abandoning native languages in the classroom to provide immersion.  More recent research and theory has instead shown that allowing students to use their native language during second language acquisition is beneficial and aids them in gaining proficiency.

 

Argument Statement:

There are proponents for both full assimilation when learning English as a second language, and of multi-language instructional methods.  Both seem to have their success stories and their tales of failure.  What ultimately seems to be the deciding factors are motivation and ample support from family and faculty.

Towards Ending Ableism in Education

 Talking Points:

“This person, though empathetic and supportive, made it clear to Penny that she could not have the same dreams and aspirations for Joe that she had for her seven nondisabled children.”

As Lisa Delpit Describes in “Other Peoples Children,” there is a similar unwillingness to listen to the concerns of parents of and students with disabilities, assuming that they can conform to the status quo, which is, in certain cases, not even a possibility.  This mentality sets students with disabilities apart from other students and creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of achievement.  If expectations are lowered and academic rigor is not presented as a viable option, then children identified as disabled and placed in special programs cannot hope to achieve what their able peers have the chance to.  This is the same effect as granting privileged educational rewards to the students without disability while denying them to students with disabilities.  If the problem is ignored and swept under the rug by providing low hanging fruit curricula, then no progress is made and students with disabilities will continue to fall behind.

 

“From an ableist perspective, the devaluation of disability results in societal attitudes that uncritically assert that it is better for a child to walk than roll, speak than sign, read print than read Braille, spell independently than use a spell-check, and hang out with nondisabled kids as opposed to other disabled kids, etc.”

Because students with disabilities are a minority, they are not seen or interacted with as much as students without disabilities, and thus it is easy for students, teachers, administrators, and other members of the community to overlook the strengths and capabilities such students do have.  Like other forms of privilege, where the dominant culture is set as the norm, it makes achievements that much more difficult for those who lack the same privilege.  If we want to provide an equitable system of education to all students, it needs to happen in a setting where all students are afforded the same opportunities.  This means rewriting what is perceived as the norm and designing infrastructure, curricula, and teaching methods that can be applied to all students.  Providing resources that lift up students with various disabilities means that not only do they have a chance at success, but those resources are also available to all students who might benefit from the variety of educational techniques and technology.

 

“There is much that educators, parents, and advocates can do toward ending ableism in education. As is the case with racism and sexism, progress toward equity is dependent first and foremost on the acknowledgment that ableism exists in schools.”

This echoes observations noted by Armstrong & Wildman in “Colorblindness is the New Racism,” and Alan Johnson in “Privilege, Power, and Difference”; ignoring the problem only means it will persist.  Disabilities can make those who are able feel uncomfortable, and our instinct when faced with such things is to avoid or hide them.  In education, this means pushing students with disabilities through ‘softball’ programs to avoid actually dealing with their needs, leaving them ill-prepared to navigate the world on their own.  Setting up students with disabilities for failure means only the most dedicated and exceptional will succeed, and that is not a challenge that we place on students without disabilities.  Physical disabilities do not impede the development of the mind, and even students with cognitive disabilities can adapt with proper technique and specifically tailored aids.

 

Argument Statement:

Students with disabilities represent another level of privileges that are currently used to separate students physically, depending on the available facilities, and in achievement where both expectations and education quality do not rise to the standards received by students without disability.  If we hope to achieve an equitable public education system, these discrepancies need to be resolved.

Queering Our Schools

Talking Points

“How do we create classrooms and schools where each child, parent, and staff member’s unique, beautiful self is appreciated and nurtured?”

Something I’ve noticed in my classrooms is that my students seem to be fairly accepting of other classmates and students in the school who are LGBTQ+, but the same acceptance isn’t always afforded to teachers.  There is a long term sub in our school who is an openly trans woman and I’ve overheard some very disrespectful conversations regarding her that I’ve had to shut down.  I’ve not had to make similar corrections regarding trans and non-binary students.

“Despite the recent advances in LGBTQ rights, most schools aren’t safe for queer students.”

This is critical and follows the ideal of Maslow before Bloom, where students' needs need to be met before learning can be effectively implemented.  Safety is one of the lowest tiers of Maslow’s hierarchy, meaning it is one of the most important needs to be met.  If our LGBTQ+ students are not able to feel safe, they will not be able to effectively learn.  As we saw in the case studies from last session, trans students and staff were being made to feel less safe by their school administrators who attempted to put a spotlight on their personal gender identities when they wished to be who they were in their school communities.

“As the movement has developed past its early “gay liberation” beginnings, it has become more complex; teachers who felt comfortable talking about lesbians and gay men need to wrap their hearts and minds around transgender issues and challenges to the socially constructed gender binary.”

While it is true that there are more categories to be recognized in the LGBTQ+ community than just those identifying as gay, I don’t see how it greatly complicates the situation.  No one is asking the general population to know anyones preferred pronouns without prior information, we are just being asked to be considerate.  If you make a wrong assumption about someone, accept the correction and use the individual's preferred pronouns now that you have been made aware of it.  As Johnson noted in Privilege, Power, and Difference, and Armstrong and Wildman discussed in “Colorblindness is the New Racism,” ignoring the issue and taking offense when your own privilege is challenged does not lead to progress or equity, it reinforces the inequities that exist in society rather than extending privilege to all.

Argument Statement:

Despite progress, the acceptance of LGBTQ+ individuals in society in general, and in the education system specifically, has a long way to go to provide safe places for all queer students.

The Silenced Dialogue

Talking Points: 

“I tell you, I’m tired of arguing with those white people, because they won't listen…”

“No, they listen, but they don’t hear…”

“The more I try to explain, they just look and nod, just keep looking and nodding.  They don’t really hear me.”

Three examples of minority individuals trying to explain their experience to white people and not being heard.  These are examples of what happens when people in positions of privilege are unwilling to recognize or acknowledge their own privilege.  They assume everyone has their same experiences and ignore the evidence to the contrary when it is made glaringly obvious by those with different lived experiences.  It would seem to be that there is a great lack of empathy, or perhaps an unwillingness to shed ignorance for the sake of enlightenment.  A poor characteristic for those who are supposedly professional educators.

“To provide schooling for everyone’s children that reflects liberal, middle-class values and aspirations is to ensure the maintenance of the status quo, to ensure that power, the culture of power, remains in the hands of those who already have it.”

This statement is very reminiscent of the observations Jean Anyon made of school education strategies in the different socio-economic neighborhoods described by Finn in Literacy with an Attitude.  Public education institutions seem more successful at reinforcing the existing socio-economic divisions in our society rather than providing equitable education and opportunities to all children.

 “If such explicitness is not provided to students, what it feels like to people who are old enough to judge is that there are secrets being kept, that time is being wasted, that the teacher is abdicating his or her duty to teach.”

I found this interesting in light of the teaching policies that the Providence District is pushing on teachers.  Their goals are to have teachers spend less time on direct instruction and focus more on student lead and generated learning.  I wonder now if the students' reluctance to participate in this form of education is originating not from apathy, but a cultural incongruence between students and school.

 

Argument Statement:

As long as the reins of education policy are held by the culture in power, there will continue to be a conflict between students of non-dominant cultures and the educational institutions that are supposed to serve their needs.

Literacy with an Attitude

 This was a rough read.  I'm absolutely witnessing the exact same types of behavior and practices in my school as Anyon describes in her observations of working class schools.  That these patterns are so pervasive and reinforced, whether intentionally or subconsciously, is the antithesis of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It reads more like an instruction manual for building a feudal caste system.

Talking Points:

Another fifth grade teacher who was asked she had students endlessly copy notes from the blackboard in social studies replied, "Because the children in this school don't know anything about the U.S., so you can't teach them much."  Another teacher said, "you can't teach these kids anything.  Their parents don't care about them, and they're not interested."

I can say that this is definitely how it feels most of the time in my classroom.  I'm trying to teach the material in the curriculum, which is grade level, but all I get from about 90% of the students is resistance.  They will not do the reading or the writing unless I'm standing next to them watching.  This is exacerbated by the fact that roughly 25% of the student in each of my classes either speak no, or very little, English.  Everytime I turn my attention to help an individual EL, the rest of the class takes the opportunity to stop working.  The few students who do have a good work ethic and classroom behavior suffer since all these other instances of resistance means progress through the curriculum slows to a crawl.  I'm at a loss at the moment of what to do.  The district and administration have all number of policies and practices in place that are supposed to help elevate the students academics, and address things like more rigorous types of learning, critical thinking, experiential learning, etc.  These all seem like techniques that should bring the school more in line with a middle class or affluent professional education.  However, these practices have no effect if the majority of students refuse to engage, and the district continues to put us in over crowded classrooms without the specialized supports many of our students need, and continues to slash an already insufficient budget.  I feel like the teachers and building admin are trying to help, but we keep getting more and more criteria that we as teachers are supposed to accomplish that it impedes our ability to actually teach effectively.  Trying to fix the problem at the secondary education stage is not going to work, especially if we are required to meet grade level standards when the majority of students entering 9th grade are below grade level in skill, practice, and mindset.  The only way for children in working class schools to catch up is by starting at day one at the elementary or even pre-K stage.  This, however will be fruitless without the cooperation and interest of parents and families, who if are working class probably have more pressing matters of survival to worry about.

"In the two working class school classrooms combined, the children's average IQ was above 100 and eight children had IQs above 125."

This is another phenomenon that I have noticed.  While I don't have the IQ scores to back up my observations, the majority of my students are quite intelligent, they are also, unfortunately, either unfathomably ignorant, apathetic, or both.  This extends to their study skills and ability to engage with complex thought processes.  Assigning tasks that don't have clear-cut and defined tasks are either disregarded or induce paralysis.  I'm sure that the vast majority of my students have the intelligence to complete any task I give them, but their skills are so atrophied that they don't, won't, or can't use the tools necessary to be successful.

"In the past twenty years numbers have grown at the top and bottom.  The number in the middle has declined.  Those at the top have gotten a whole lot richer.  Those in the middle are in about the same place economically, and those at the bottom have gotten a whole lot poorer." 

While this information is not news to me, and in the intervening 25 years these numbers have continued to drift in the same directions, it is still incredibly alarming.  It's also very reminiscent of the points made by Johnson in "Privilege, Power, and Difference," and by Armstrong and Wildman in "Colorblindness is the New Racism."  Specifically, those in positions of privilege or power can ignore the plight of those without, and have no incentives to change a system where they are the primary beneficiaries.  However, unlike most other forms of privilege discussed, which could be argued are in better situations than they might have been historically (in general most people think racism and sexism are bad; non binary, trans, and non hetero groups still face a lot of hate but are more accepted than in the past, etc.), socioeconomic divides have continued to get worse and worse.  The haves keep getting more and more, while the have-nots keep getting less and less.  Looking to history, most civilizations that develop such imbalances in wealth do not persist for long, and they generally don't end peacefully.  I genuinely fear for the future of this country, which while I don't think has ever been objectively great, it certainly can be argued was the greatest nation that existed at certain times.  I don't think now is one of those times, and if we continue to devalue the largest portion of the population, there could come a time when they decide to take the reigns of power.  And the way that we are currently educating this swath of the population doesn't lend much confidence to the prospect of whatever comes next being any better than what we have now.

Colorblindness is the New Racism

 Talking points:

"Yet the possessor of the knapsack of privilege could reliably depend on the advantages they provide, even though she or he remained unaware of them."

"People generally possess good will and truly want to see an end to discrimination.  But discrimination cannot end absent an understanding of the privilege dynamic that enables discrimination to continue."

"The idea that students of law should ignore its human and societal origins erases perspective with potentially debilitating results."

Argument Statement:

People in the position of privilege are able to ignore the effects of systemic hierarchical privilege due to the nature of their own privilege.  A problem ignored is one that cannot be addressed or fixed.  Colorblindness reinforces the neglect of the very real and still current problem of racial inequity by those with white privilege without providing any qualitative or quantitative improvement to the situation of subjugated non-white races.

Connections:

The themes presented in this text were verry much in line with those presented by Dr. Johnson in his book, Privilege, Power, and Difference.