The Problem We All Live With
Brown v. Board Education
Arguments


Educational achievement of poor black Hispanic public school students is sadly not considered by the political giants, according to Bob Herbert in his March 21, 2011 article in the New York Times.

Based on my thoughts about the two broadcast, I will say the expectations for student achievement are lower with lower parental involvement and unfortunately, these are the schools which has a great majority of Black and Hispanic students.  It is proven by evidence, that poor kids of minority backgrounds do better academically when they attend school with their more rich, middle class peers.  After the Brown versus Board of Education school desegregation ruling, the country is still trying to justify the separate by equal school concept.http://arthistory.about.com/od/famous_paintings/ss/The-Problem-We-All-Live-With-By-Norman-Rockwell.htm

An important study in Maryland showed that low income students who went to affluent elementary schools did far better than low income students in higher poverty schools in one country.  Studies have shown that it is not the race of students but rather the improved environment of schools with better teachers, fewer classroom disruptions, students more engaged academically and more parental involvements.

It is always about the uncomfortable issue of race.  What is most important is racial integration.  Chana  Joffe did not know the meaning of "white kid wasted".  Kiana also did not know of and a New Yorker in a city of four million white people, who never even had one white friend, she was curious about white kid.  She decided to go to college in Upstate New York on a one woman integration program.


Chana notes that there are only few places in the country that have seriously committed to school integration over a long time.

SERVICE LEARNING





By Kahne / Westheimer



Quotes
In the 1960's President Kennedy in his inaugural address challenged the country with his well appeal - "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can for your country".  This is the beginning of service to the country.  Educators and Legislators say that service learning can improve the community and make the classroom interesting whereby rich educational experiences for all students can be provided.  Service learning makes students active participants in projects that have an impact to the needs of the community and further the academic goals of students.http://citl.indiana.edu/programs/serviceLearning/

In addition to those they help, such service learning can promote self esteem , develop higher order thinking skills, make use of multiple abilities and provide good learning experiences.

The two service learning cases which were proposed by Mr. Johnson states , "Serving those in need" and "Homeless Here and There" by Ms. Adams.  Mr. Johnson had his students take part in community service of their choice,  In which, one student worked in a baby center where babies, while their mothers were pregnant and had high levels of crack cocaine in their blood streams.  Another student distributed survival kits for the homeless.

Ms. Adams class examined the social, economic, legal, and political causes of homelessness in the world and the local school community.  Mr. Johnson's students were not asked to articulate the understanding of the conditions that brought about the loss of a family's home or to a pregnant mother's decision to turn to crack cocaine.  Ms. Adam's class, however started by analyzing the causes of homelessness and ways to prevent them.

The current discussion of service learning emphasizes charity, not change.  As I conclude, there are three domains of service learning which are the Moral, Political and the Intellectual.

MYTHS THAT BIND US
By: Christensen
Connections

All too often, cartoons, the media and other books have given the youth "secret education.".  Exposing the myths can give us a good idea of the stereotypes of who is the hero or heroine, the beautiful one, and who the servants are.

In some of the cartoons, people of color or poor people are either absent or servants to the rich white pretty people.  Overweight people, as Tyler point out, were portrayed as buffoons in every episode after episode. 

Mira attacked the racism with the Native American culture citing in Looney Tunes depicting the race as inferior human beings.  She said, the characters are stereotypical to the greatest degree, carrying tomahawks, painting their faces and sending smoke signals as their only means of communication.

Kenya even scolded parents in an essay "A Black Cinderella Give Me a Break"  She wrote "Have you ever seen a Black person, an Asian or a Hispanic in a cartoon.  She ended her piece: Women who aren't White begin to feel left out because they never get to play the princess.http://sterlingresistance.blogspot.com/2013/02/unlearning-myths-that-bind-us-reflection.html

Mary Carter Smith's delightfully retells Cinderella, Cindy Ellie look like an African Princess with her dazzling dress of pink African laces, a hundred shining braids which had beads of pure gold at the bottom.  And her arms were covered with golden bracelets and on each ear hung five small diamonds earrings.  But both Cinderella and Cindy Ellie had one focus - a man, so happiness for a girl or woman is look for a man.

LGBT
By August

Extended Comments

In this our modern era when there are issues about LGBT people, others have harassed or abused them causing some young lives lost through suicides.  Classrooms of this era should lay the foundations for an inclusive and safe society: a just community where common interests and individual differences coexist according to August.  Any adult interested in creating safe spaces for LGBT youth needs to consider the impact of schooling on the social and psychological development of young people.

As a community, we must discuss and describe how some educators reinforce lGBT exclusionary attitudes and beliefs that find expression in everyday acts of discrimination against LGBT people.  August states that heterosexism is one of those unexamined avenues of privilege.  Assumptions that everyone is heterosexual shape most classroom interactions whether academic or social.  August goes on to say that educations and all adults must forge new paths or widen existing ones to make room for all youth.

Tammy Aaberg spoke about the challenge to all adults in the aftermath of her 15 year old son's suicide.  The son was bullied because of his sexual orientation.  I personally think that lGBT students need advocacy and protection, not neutrality, according to August.https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights

Other students might see negative representations of the LGBT community in the health or biology classroom, where they learn about HIV/AIDS as a gay related disease.  History classrooms are no different, even though the themes of oppression and the struggle for civil rights are routinely examined.  There are constitutional protections waged by African Americans, women and the disabled.

If we officially acknowledge the roles of LGBT individuals in the development of this country's harmful stereotypes that have contributed to recent suicide attributed to antigay bullying.