The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a very important story for every high schooler to read. Although it does a little more then slightly hint at the racism in that time period, it also teaches readers. It shows racism in such a horrible light, that nobody could revert to such a thing. Our past isn’t always the nicest thing to look upon, but it’s still there. The difference is what we do in the future, and this novel teaches us that everyone is equal and shall be treated as
I think it is because of two basic reasons; firstly, as Tatum points out, one can relate better with peers of their own race because they too understand the difficulties of being a minority. I think she really made a great point, how can we expect a white person to understand the racism towards African Americans. Ms. Tatum gave an example regarding a 9th grade substitute teacher suggesting four-year colleges to all her white students and suggesting that a black adolescent male in her class go to a community college. It would be almost silly for that African American boy to sympathize with one of the white peers, not only would it be hard to relate to each other, it would be downright embarrassing. I actually think that the white teenager wouldn’t be able to see why the colored boy was hurt, they would just brush it off and give an explanation like “oh the teacher didn’t mean it like that”.
Sources: Maria Dugandzic. Against all odds: School offers hope, opportunity for young men. CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/25/bia.urban.prep/index.html The main argument the author wants to exhibit here is that although nowadays blacks have much poorer performance in the United States, there is still hope that they can make a difference if offered necessary opportunities. This news story makes me realize a question: what determines blacks’ bad academic performance, like D'Souza says in the end of racism?
“Some are blue jays, others are mockingbirds, never to be shut down.” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a winning novel. The novel’s racial slurs, profanity and very frank discussion of rape have led people to challenge its appropriateness in libraries and schools across the country. Despite the heated controversy this incredible book should continue to be mandatory reading in schools because of the significance of the themes of injustice and discrimination, moral development, and death of innocence that are embedded in the importance of the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird is set in the sleepy Alabama town of Maycomb, three years after the Great Depression. The story is narrated from the perspective of six-year-old Scout Finch, who lives with her older brother Jem and their widowed father Atticus, a middle-aged advantageous lawyer.
English 2 07 May 2013 False Impressions In the autobiography Hunger Of Memory, written by Richard Rodriguez the book recounts his personal experience of his education starting in childhood all the way to adulthood. Although Rodriguez has had much success as a student and as a writer, he always felt misplaced among is peers. Rodriguez argues to be successful students in the classroom that they need to sever their familial and cultural ties, especially if their home lives are very different from what they experience at school. Additionally, Rodriguez claims that our standards of beauty often determine our sense of worth in society. In reading the book I found fallacies that Rodriguez had in his writings, which included
Davonta Morrison February 14, 2013 English 105 Ms.Stuckey Generation Twist: The unseen exposure of young African American males The reason I was interested to write about this topic was because I was inspired to write about the unseen truths and stereotypes beyond on what the news may show or what you read in the newspapers. Ever since I was little, I saw young black men just like me who had so much potential but didn’t choose the right path that could have lead them to a successful life. For young black men in particular, the consequences of out-of-school suspensions, especially those given out by teachers and leaders in the schools surrounding our poorest neighborhoods, are absolutely dire: Every suspension puts them closer to the
Warm Teacher Jonathan Kozol is a great writer who writes about the life of impoverished children in society. He graduated from Harvard, one of the best universities in the United States, but he tried to teach in a segregated school in Boston. At this time, he began to know about the racism and corruption in public schools. This made him shocked, and this was a motive for him to learn more about the education of impoverished students. The Corla Hawkins story tells about impoverished students.
Kids of any age will try to convince their parents that they are sick so they don’t have to go to school for the day and hate school. “Little Rock Nine”, on the other hand, actually valued their education. They literally put their lives on the line to go to Central High School and learn. Sure some people sometimes travel three or more hours to get to school but to have to deal with a riot everyday and be criticized for how they look is just cruel. Kids these days have no idea how hard life was back then, even the African American student haven’t a clue to how harsh life was, not just in Central High School but their lives in general were always being tortured.
He opens his eyes and looks at the big picture instead of narrowing in on one small idea planted in ones brain that everybody else so ignorantly believes. African-Americans are no differant than us other than the shade of their skin. Still, the evils of human nature guide you to thinking something is wrong with them. Atticus Finch teaches his children from day one, that there is no human being on this earth that isnt equal to any other.In the beginning of the novel, Scout Finch starts her first day at school. She finds herself being taunted by students who call her father names for defending an African-American in court.
To Kill A Mockingbird “Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.” -John F. Kennedy. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is about the story of Jem and Scout Finch living in the 1930s. The kids are four years apart in age, and are just trying to figure out who they really are. Having a dad as a lawyer is hard enough, but when Atticus, the kids dad, is assigned to defend a black man, it exposes them to a world they didn’t know existed.