Now we have to choose between two groups of friends" (Prom). These children didn’t even ask the input of their classmates, they just decided to racially separate the proms. Looking back on this article I now can see the blatant racial discrimination. When I first viewed this article I was partially in denial that racism existed, since it was just such an awful concept. In this way I feel that I was very similar to Lois Stalvey in her novel The Education of a WASP.
I literally didn't even know things like that existed till I got to intermediate school. So much of my personality and ethics come from my parents. One of the most important things I think my parents did was to not force religion into my life. Moreover, they did not equate being a moral person with being a religious one. This way, when my religion began to wane at times I never once felt like that meant I could just be a bad person.
My experience was significantly different from Rodriguez’s. His life at home and at school is even almost exactly opposite of my own. My family played a key part in my life whereas his was almost nonexistent. I believe he took the wrong path. He completely ignored his family to just work obsessively in school, but took absolutely nothing away from it because he was only working to be recognized, not to learn.
But seeing a world of hate, and discrimination through the eyes of Klugar and Amara, it is almost impossible to separate the two. Amara’s link of religion to social class is shown through her recollection of her peers view of her based on theses factors alone. “At school, along with the other children from the housing project, we were called the “kids from Herbet,” which was a way of identifying our neighborhood as the Arab quarter” pg.48. The way her schoolmates write her off as just being another herbet kid, shows the superior attitude that must have been prevalent around them. Kluger’s religion and ethnicity shaped the entire course of her life as well.
African American adolescents sometimes ridicule their peers for behaving in ways they identify as characteristic of whites. A variety of behaviors may trigger this response: manner of speech and dress, choice of television shows or sports, and, most troubling, demonstrating a commitment to academic success by participating in class, studying hard, and enrolling in advanced classes. This phenomenon was given prominence in an article published in 1986 by ethnographers Signithia Fordham and John Ogbu, reporting a study of a predominantly black high school in Washington, D.C. Since then, the burden of "acting white" has emerged as one of the standard explanations for the black-white gap in test scores and academic achievement; gifted black 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.
Summary In the article Profoundly Multicultural Questions by Sonia M. Nieto she addresses the issue of students of multi-cultural backgrounds and the problems which they are facing in the school system. Nieto highlight the difference in the amount of money and technology available for children of different socioeconomic backgrounds, the marginalization of minority students and the struggles they face from educators and the school system. Abstract In his book Youth and Identity Erickson (1968) relates ego identity and self-esteem to racial identity. He further states that ambiguous messages about one’s race may place at person at risk for developing what he referred to as a “negative identity” (oka 199 pg.3) Minority children faces those issues everyday of their lives and then they are placed in class rooms where teachers don’t understand and appreciate their diversity. A teacher’s appreciation and acceptance for diversity will help them enable children to child gain a positive self-concept.
My wife is President of the PTA at Anderson and she tells me that many of the Hispanics will not participate in helping their school community. They bring their kids to school, talk to no one, and will not participate in any of the volunteer opportunities in the PTA. They are always invited to participate but none ever show up to help. Interestingly, when it comes to their children turning in the homework assignment on time, 99% of Hispanic children turn in their homework on time while only 60% of white children turn in their homework on time and a few not at all. I know this first hand because I volunteer in my daughters’ classroom.
The article 10 Quick ways to Analyze Children’s Books for Racism and Sexism (2000) is designed to show students and teachers how to tell if children’s books have signs of racism or sexism in them. It tells the reader 10 ways that you can check the book for racism or sexism. The main way to check is by looking into the relationships between the characters. Also, check how the characters
In the PBS Frontline documentary after the A Class Divided there is a segment where Jane conduct's the segregation demonstration for the employees of the Iowa department of corrections. I also was surprised and happy to find out that the documentary has been used often in businesses, schools, and other organizations. I think adults of different races or color would be happy to see that there is a way of teaching children and adults what it feels like to be discriminated against. The tactics Jane Elliot uses to create negative stereotypes and cause segregation are; 1.) A collar must be worn around the neck of the Inferior group.