Monday, February 25, 2008

Talking Point 3

Talking Point #3
Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson

Premise:
• Homosexuality
• Categorization
• Discrimination
• “Normalizing Community”
• Stereotypes
• “culture of power”
• False norms in a society
• New ideas on what community should be
• Marginalization
• Hiding of gay features in schools
• Stopping of latent homosexualism
• Alienation of gays in schools
• Conversations of homosexuality avoided in schools
• Ridiculous myths about homosexuals

Author’s Argument:
Carlson argues that there needs to be a new outlook as to how society should be normalized, in a sense that people have to come to the conclusion that today’s society is vastly different than a generation ago, so it is pertinent to make changes that will not lead to malicious marginalization and degradation of homosexuals.

Evidence:
1. “In what follows, I not only want to point to some of the ways gay people and “gayness” have been “kept in their place” in the school community; more importantly I want to argue that these practices are increasingly hard to sustain.”
2. Carlson discusses a second discourse on community in America as being associated with new right and neo-conservatism. This essentially states that during a romanticized lost American community authority was respected and everyone knew their places and society was homogenous. It also holds that there will be a use of oppressive tactics to keep “Others” in their places
3. Employing of homosexual teachers who were thought to be lecherous and present a danger to students is also an art that will die soon because homosexuals who want to become teachers will fight for their rights now and increasingly making practices of old hard to sustain.

Questions/Comments/Points to Share:
This article by Dennis Carlson is an eye-opening piece that shows how horrible practices of marginalizing different sexes is something that should and will eventually disappear; unfortunately it still exists. The article overall for me was an easy read I did not have any trouble understanding the message that Carlson was trying to convey and I feel that he is completely right in his assertions. It relates to other texts we have read such as Delpit and the culture of power dictating how certain marginalized groups are viewed and treated. Overall, Carlson takes a controversial topic and points to the importance of respecting all people and by normalizing society it should in no way include discrimination of homosexuals; however, this is still the case, but it will be as he says tougher to sustain in the future.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Talking Point 2

“Aria” by Richard Rodriguez

Premise:
• Bilingualism
• Disadvantaged Children
• Feelings of Being an Outsider
• Changing of culture
• Familial pressures
• Dominant white culture
• Teachers pronouncing students as “deficient learners”
• Breaking of families
• Public vs. Private Individuality
• Hearing sounds in language
• Intimacy ruined by culture of power

Author’s Argument:
Richard Rodriguez argues that educators are oblivious to the fact that by forcing bilingual students to obtain and master the language of ‘the culture of power’ ultimately leads to a diminishing of private individuality (family lives and speech) by trying to assimilate them into the dominant culture.

Evidence:
1. When the nun asked Richard to speak in front of the entire class, and not to just address her, showed that he needed to obtain a better grasp of English, and this put pressure on him to practice English in his Spanish speaking home.
2. His parents then assumed the role of teachers outside of school advocating the use of English to help their children have a chance of being part of the dominant majority; ultimately this caused the family to not speak as much and reduced conversation between family members.
3. As the children became more confident with English they talked to more people outside of their own family driving a wedge between themselves and their parents, and indeed the teachers’ insistence that Rodriguez’s parents teach them English led to an intrusion in his family’s private individuality, but it was given up to achieve public individuality: a fair tradeoff?

Questions/Comments/Point to Share:
I believe this article showed a great perspective of how trying to assimilate into a dominant culture can have both benefits and downfalls. The insistence of Richard’s teachers that he practice English in his home caused this perpetual tension between he and his parents causing them to not converse as lucidly, or as much as before. The article was an easy read for me and showed a great example of how knowing the dominant language is more important than knowing any other language. I feel that it relates to other texts we have read such as Johnson saying how this type of situation needs to be explicitly dealt with in society. This could also relate to Delpit as well because it is sort of silencing the dialogue of a family and Delpit would agree that this type of action is completely wrong.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Talking Point 1

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

Premise:
• Women’s Status
• White supremacy
• People of color as inferior
• Invisible power of whites
• Privilege of being male
• Skin-color privilege
• Elusive nature of whiteness
• Fugitive nature of whiteness
• Obliviousness of Whites
• Unearned power due to being white/male
• Earned strength due to sex/whiteness/male
• Sexual orientation of straight gives unearned power
• “Myth of meritocracy”
• Perquisites of being white in America
• Will any action be taken with white power to change the system?

Author’s Argument:
Peggy McIntosh argues that white males in America are oblivious to the fact that their skin color and gender gives them both privilege and dominance in American society.

Evidence:
1. “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as male are taught not to recognize male privilege.”
2. “I have met very few men who truly distressed about systemic, unearned male advantage and conferred dominance.”
3. “It seems to me that obliviousness about white advantage, like obliviousness about male advantage, is kept strongly inculturated in the United States so as to maintain the myth of meritocracy, the myth that democratic choice is equally available to all.”

Questions/Comments/Point To Share:
I felt this article to be a statement made to white males instructing them to take action and realize that they have so much power in society due to the fact that they are white and male. McIntosh did a good job talking about unearned advantage and dominance in society due to these factors and I felt that she was quite explicit in conveying her ideas to the reader. I felt that the article could be read easily and smoothly and gets the point across to the reader in an explicit manner. It relates to other texts such as Johnson because he said that people need to talk explicitly about racism and sexism so that progress can be made to eliminating the persistent problem that is engrained in American society.

Data Show Racial Bias Persists in America

Premise:
• Racism is still present
• Whites still ignorant of effects of race and opportunity
• Prejudiced social policies engrained in American society
• Discrimination of jobs due to race
• Drugs and people of color
• More people of color in prison systems
• Analysis shows racial bias

Author’ Argument:
Salim Muwakkil argues that by using analysis it can lucidly be seen that racial bias is largely persistent in the United States hindering people of color’s chances of attaining certain job opportunities and causing stereotypical views of people of color as drug dealers and users in America.

Evidence:
1. Using a job application as a means of analysis and putting white names and people of color’s names on the application the study found that “applicants with white sounding names were 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with black-sounding ones.” Most notably the people of color had better credentials than the whites.
2. White males who had prison records were more likely to be hired than black men without them.
3. “Blacks constitute about 13 percent of America’s drug users, but make up to 58 percent of those sent to prison for drug possession.”

Questions/Comments/Point to Share:
This article was quite eye-opening in revealing some of the statistics of white and people of color having opportunities when applying for jobs. Muwakkil did a good job noting that people feel that racism is disappearing when in actuality it still persists to this day. The article was an easy read, yet it was highly informative regarding white and people of color’s statistics for imprisonment. It also relates Johnson’s reading because I feel that Muwakkil is trying to overtly show that racism is a topic that needs to be discussed correlating to the argument presented by Johnson.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Matt: Who I am

Hello There,
I am Matt Rodrigues. I am a sophomore at Rhode Island College and I am currently a Secondary Education History major. My semester so far has been rather strenuous and nerve-racking. I hope that the semester will ease down a bit as time progresses. I tend to be a very punctual person and like doing well in school. Outside of school, I work and I hang out with my friends in my spare time. Some activities I enjoy are basketball, weight lifting, swimming, ultimate frisbee, and meeting new people.

http://mrodrigues1.blogspot.com