Ira Shor ...Arguments

Who?

Ira Shor , the author of the book entitled Empowering Education, examines the current education system in the United States. The book was written in 1992, yet almost twenty years later it seems the points made are still prevalent to today’s current educational state. Similar to Delpit and Rodrigguez,  other authors works we have examined in class,  Shor suspects that the outcome of a student’s education, and overall success depends on a number of prompts, yet one in particular. That one being, precisely associated with how a student interacts as a citizen within a society is relates to how that student views the power and provleged culture that surrounds them,

A professor at the City University of New York, where he teaches composition and rhetoric, Shor grew up in the South Bronx area of NY. From interviews with fans, and sometimes critics Shor has expressed that  "coming from a working class area had a powerful influence on his thinking, politics and feelings”. Maybe that will explain his sort of negative attitudes I am about to discuss towards the school systems below.

What?

Throughout his first chapter of the book Shor introduces the readers to adopt the idea he believes, which is that "education is politics". He believes that even though teachers may feel that the current curriculum is politically neutral , it is not at all.  HE goes on to further explain that no curriculum can ever be neutral , because of the simple fact that all forms of education are political no matter what the teachers can do.

Why?

Why does shore feel this way? He feels that the contents in which educators come to a decision in making what will be included and excluded within the curriculum alone are huge political choices they are making for their students. That teacher, Shore explains, plays such an extremely vital part in being the mediator between the relationships of students and outside authorities, and even formal knowledge. So, by teachers not allowing the relationship to build between those internal and external factors of their students outside world, they are only hindering their students’ abilities to fully capitalize on their goals for the future.

Shore also points out the fact that students are pretty much encouraged not to raise questions towards the “status quo”, which is a huge issue. The reason being that naturally for the most part everybody is a curious being. It may drive parents or older siblings crazy when somebody younger than them continuously asks the question “why?”, but it just comes to show you that as humans we are curious and always eager to learn the answers. In a curriculum that does not encourage this type of questioning for its students, the teacher according to Shor is not allowing the action of unilateral transfer of knowledge. ..So why do students need a unilateral transfer of knowledge in order to be successful in the class room and outside of it?  In this case the unilateral transport of knowledge would either be from the teacher explaining to the student the answer to their question , or the teacher allowing outside influences who have also question he status quo aid in helping the students mold their own ideas on particular topics---unilateral transfer--from the expert to the less experienced.. Encouraging students to question is essential for critical knowledge transfer… Makes sense!

When?

When educators are aware that the empowerment of education is critical for self and social change this will begin to work for the betterment of our nation as a whole.  By understanding and bringing in a need for openness educators are able to teach their students about self centered empowerment as well as more advanced knowledge as well. When a student feels that their voice is heard, and they have the right to question why things are working a certain way, or why things in the past were done particular ways, they themselves begin to believe that their voice is important. Those dreams don’t just die, because they accept that no matter what they do won’t be heard, and “this is just the way things are and always have been.”

Now what??

“A door to empowerment Participation.” Shore argues that a classroom (like Zekes in the previous blog I spoke about), that is open to participatory openness “free and democratic” is probably the first main change that needs to occur.  With an environment where students feel comfortable to not be judged, and question things they have questions about, this also brings up shores next now what point. The point that educators need to make their curriculum encompass all types of emotions, not just the happy ones. “The denial of positive feelings begins in traditional curriculum, not in critical programs oriented for empowerment.”pg 26. Essentially the point that Shor is trying to convey in this material I feel is, something needs to be done with this very square curriculum that is being taught to Americas youth. They are simply having unquestioned knowledge poured into their heads, and they are taught to just accept it for what it is, and accept the fact that the power culture has already done all of the “ bigger and better things” before they got to it. There is no more room for students to dream, and aspire, but rather they are to sit there and pass their standardized tests and move on to the next grade. Education needs to provide incentives, incentives for its students to want to strive towards their best, question what they desire, and attain their toughest goals.

Overall….Nice read, I really liked this piece.

Gerri August...Connections

In Gerri Augusts’’ study we read titled, Making Room for One Another, she analyzes the everyday life from a “democratic” kindergarten classroom in Rhode Island.  The main reason for this study August explains was to examine the “discourse experiences of children from non-dominant family structures [in a] democratic educational environment in which broad issues of difference were recognized and honored”.

While there for almost a year, August examines one student in particular, which actually is why she chose the classroom she did. His name is Cody. Adopted, Cody is the son of two wonderful loving and supportive moms. While Cody’s mothers are aware that their son will basically be studied to see how he deals with his unique family structure compared to that of his class mates, he is not. As August believes she will probably see a lot of resistance from Cody letting his class mates see what his home life it like, she actually finds out a lot more while in the class room.  As august observed the classroom dynamics, she was able to really get into the minds of the young children that she was observing. She learned how important it was for a teacher to play a “democratic” role, and how their presence, and opinions on everything can make all the difference in the world of how their students observe certain things. For example, Zeke ( the teacher being observed), had the ability to tell his students that even if he wore pajamas to school, he hopes they would notice the difference, but he hopes they would support him and accept him for what he chose to wear that day. ..Such a simple things to say to students, but to me so powerful. It really shows an outsider not usually in a classroom setting just how impressionable Americas youth truly are, only showing the desperate need for well educated, open minded, caring teachers.

Though in a democratic classroom setting Cody, is still resistant to show his “differences” to his class room and as a surprise to Gerri August, and myself his insecurities in sharing his home life actually stemmed from being adopted not because he has two moms.  This was very surprising especially because of the fact that Zekes classroom was a democratic one.  It basically was a classroom created for a free of criticism educational environment where Zekes main objective was to recognize diversity, and teach his students how to accept and honor each others diversifies.  Broad issues of difference were recognized and honored.  It surprises me that, that environment did not make Cody feel completely comfortable to share his background, but the book  “Tango Makes Three,” did Cody finally feel he was safe to share his life outside of that class room.  This just comes to show I believe though, that books, movies, etc are so vital in improving children’s self esteem and knowledge.   

I would like to connect this study by Gerri August fist to Lisa Delpit's writings, “Other People’s Children” that we have read.  In Lisa Delpit's piece she speaks about the “power culture” which I believe is still obviously occurring in Zekes class room, though Zeke has tried to make it as accepting and democratic as he can for every student that “culture of power” still exists. IT exists in the home lives of the students, and it is nobody’s choosing in the class room what so ever at such young ages the students are. Here, while reading it seems that the students all come from a diverse ethnic background, so though the “power culture” here is not due to one ethnicity being more powerful than the other, it exists because of the dynamic of the students parent’s family structures. There is one student out of a classroom of about twenty other students who comes from a different family background, and he is aware of this. Even at a young age he is able to see that difference, and therefore he is not confident in sharing his home life with his class mates, because he does not want to be looked at as different from the rest. Delpit writes that since this power of culture is going to exist inevitably, the only way those not in that power culture can overcome it is to accept it and move forward, which Cody eventually does after being exposed to a book telling him it was ok for being different.

Another author I would like to relate this piece with is the work of Johnson. In Johnson’s writings he talks about how we must address the issues of racism and non acceptance of diversity. Again he wants us like Delpit, to be aware that the power culture is there, and we should not be afraid to address the problems because it is the only way issues will be solved.  Here, Gerri August tells us about Zeke the teacher. She tells us how he constantly encourages his students to recognize differences, yet accept and honor them.  While in the class room August wrote about how there could have been many “awkward” moments that occurred and easily blown over by Zeke in order to not cause any more awkwardness, but he didn’t. He actually addresses every single question students had on diversity, and tries to teach them the correct way to handle certain situations, and how to act in an accepting manner to all. Though many teachers might be uncomfortable with addressing the students in their classroom on diversity issues, Zeke has done exactly what Johnson says we need to do to end the problem.

Check out this cute video I found, when doing some poking around on what kind of educational videos teachers can show to their students in the class room!

Rodriguez & Collier Talking Points---Extended Comments Format

--FACTS—“By the year 2000, more than 30 percent of the U.S. population will have a racial- or ethnic-minority background (Office of Ethnic Minority Affairs, 1995). If the children of those families were evenly distributed across the nation's classrooms, a hypothetical class of 30 children would have 10 students from racial- or ethnic-minority groups; of these 10, six children would belong to families for whom English is not the home language, and two to four children would have limited English proficiency (National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning, n.d.).”

I wanted to begin my blog with those predictions from the year 1995, because they did become true.  We as Americans living here must embrace the different cultures that are amongst us, and truly believe that we can only benefit from this. I am using Stacey’s blog because I think it is interesting that she points out the fact that Rodriguez speaks in his writings on more a personal level, and Collier speaks from the voice and thoughts of an educator of the Spanish language, and she has brought up many similar points that  I thought when reading these two pieces.

As Stacey wrote in her blog about how “He (Rodriguez) felt uncomfortable using the "public language" so he remained silent as he just waited for the bell to ring” I also read that and felt extremely sorry for him. It was a point when reading Aria for me that I felt most connected to the author. I felt his pain as a child sitting in the class rooms and not knowing what is going on and only being prompted to move, not because he understood what was going on but because of a buzzing alarm sound. I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for him, and to think how his teachers never noticed is absolutely insane to me.

Additionally when Stacey blogs about how Collier speaks about techniques teachers can adopt in order to be “flexible and creative”, all while being a supporter and always there to keep students on task for learning, she (Stacey) says it becomes clear to hear that she is a dedicated teacher. I also felt this way when reading Colliers writings. I feel that she has the necessary tools and also comprehension of diversity each of her students is bringing to her, and I applaud her in trying to put her tools out there to teach more educators to do a better job so no more Children have stories similar to that of Rodriguez’s. In the end which I feel Collier gets, which is why she is successful at what she does, comprehension of diversity begins with oneself. We all must gather an unguarded and truthful look at ourselves before we are able to truly address our own hidden partialities, and be open to progress beyond them to create an all-encompassing environment. “Diversity is about learning from others who are not the same, about dignity and respect for all, and about creating workplace environments and practices that encourage learning from others and capture the advantage of diverse perspectives.”[1][1] With the amount of immense diversities amid us today everybody should be aware of the opportunities of knowledge that lay before them, and use that to their advantage no matter what area of life it concerns.

            Here Rodriguez is attempting to hoist levels of awareness to teachers and Americans on this comprehension.  He along with Collier wants educators to know just how difficult it is to come into a whole new foreign country and learn all new ways of life. Again, as Stacy wrote, “Rodriguez understands teachers are just trying to their jobs, it’s the norm, it’s their responsibility to make sure that we survive in the world”, Stacey I believe here is trying to say that there should not be that look on educators. There should not be that negative connotation that students are of less “power” in American culture than the student, and especially a minority student, and I agree. I feel that until that glass is shattered and full embracement of diversity and multicultural is looked at as a gain for everybody involved in all situations the unfortunate story of Rodriguez listening for that bell will go on for more children here in America as minorities today.

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Meyer Talking Points -Hyperlinks Format

Elizabeth J. Meyer, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. She is the author of two books: Gender, Bullying, and Harassment: Strategies to End Sexism and Homophobia in Schools and Gender and Sexual Diversity in Schools.  She has been a classroom teacher, and also involved in "grassroots education" and equity work in the U.S. and Canada for the past 15 years. She is passionate about finding a solution to end the inequalities within the school systems, and is constantly trying to end all gendered harrasements that unfortunatly have been occruing more and more recently today.

In the article Meyer preformed a study where she interviewed six teachers from the same school district but all in different school type settings of Canada. During the study an in depth analysis of teacher’s responses to gendered harassment within their schools is explored. The teachers who participated in the study basically helped Meyer to nail down the huge problem into two major influential categories, which are the combinations of internal and external influences. Both of these barriers according to Mayer can act as barriers of motivators for intervention of the issues presented constantly on gendered harassment.

According to Meyers gendered harassment is defined as any behavior, verbal, physical, or psychological, that policies the boundaries of traditional heterosexual gender norms and includes (hetero) sexual harassment, homophobic harassment, and harassment for gender non-conformity. Also, according to recent study reports teachers today are less likely to intervene in cases of this sort of harassment within their school, rather than any other form of bullying. So why is that? Throughout the article Meyers interviews teachers through a series of open ended questions, and asks them why they feel that recent studies have proved that last statement to be correct. 

From identifying the external influences being the schools culture based on the institutional and social influences teachers responses as to why they are least likely to correct gendered harassment is simply because they feel they are not supported from the institutional rules like they should be on the issue. One teacher states that discipline for calling another student a "faggot" had to be pushed very hard by them to get that student in trouble, yet that teacher knows if that student had used a racial slur against another student discipline would be taken immediately. Here, on one hand it is like the school system is half way there to getting it right, to teaching our youth how they should act and treat their peers. They know it is wrong to use racial slurs, and that compared to 40 years ago is fantastic and it is about time we are enforcing that. Yet, it’s like you administrators knew enough to stop that, why can’t they see that gendered harassment is also a malice in their schools, and put an iron fist down on that issue as well? The answer according to Meyer will begin when teachers feel they have the administrative power backing them, which will influence a new better kind of culture for the school.

As for what internal influences are, Meyer explains these to be personal identities of the teachers, which act as motivators or even de-motivators in how teachers react to discriminatory behavior. Teachers who actually cared deeply to stop the problem make connections with their own personal discriminations and bullying they themselves encountered. Here, Meyers explained that victimization has emerged from educators as a “significant impetus for educator activism and intervention". Sadly but true one knows that when people aren’t or have never been a victim of bullying, they do not stick up for the victims because they cannot relate to them.

While reading the interview excerpts and how Meyer believes this problem can be solved, I very much agree with her. I do think this issue needs to be tackled not by just one teacher, yet I think new policies and rules should be written regarding any form of sexual gendered bullying. It is something that is happening way too much today and it should simply not be here at all. Every person is entitled to how they act, who they are sexually attracted to, how they dress, who they hang around with etc. I do not understand how anybody can take it amongst themselves to be the “right, or cool" one because they look dress or are attracted to a certain sexuality. It is a sad thing that has occurred over many years, and it needs to stop. With recent bullying occurring so much and it accruing amongst children of our school systems this has lead to an unfortunate high rate of suicide rates because the victims have been tortured that much.  Below is a picture of a young man named Justin. Justin was a talented musician from a school

District where seven students within the district in Minnesota committed suicide. Yet, leaders of that area  say  they stand by their current policies which states that staff must remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation 'in the course of their professional duties.' But 'professional duties' often include everything from breaking up fights to consoling students. “This clearly is not working here in this District and teachers just like the ones in Meyers articles don't have clear guidance about how they are to respond during certain situations involving gendered harassment.  These students are alone, and are not even protected by their teachers, because their teachers aren’t protected this is a horrible snowball effect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOMPpTkTCsA

.Listen to his beautiful music...this made me cry

"Most of the teachers and principals, and maybe even now the superintendent, they mean well — they want to intervene,”.... "But the teachers still don't know what they can and can't do." In this article by the associated press, author David Crary discusses the recent non-attempts school administrators have been taking to try and fix this problem throughout their schools. Gay-rights supporters especially in this article insist that any effective anti-bullying program must include specific components addressing harassment of gay youth. Yet on the other hand religious groups are opposing such policies are to be put into schools because they say it is an "manipulative tactic to sway young people's views of homosexuality." REDICULOUS!!!! So let’s have kids kill themselves because God wants that to happen right?? MORONS!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39593311/ns/us_news-life/t/suicide-surge-schools-confront-anti-gay-bullying/

In the article titled get that freak: homophobia and transphobia in high schools, the author addresses the hidden curriculum of bullying occurring from gendered harassment from issues such as homophobia and transphobia in schools. She speaks of the recent prevalence of homophobic and transphobic bullying and the specific experiences from some students within high schools and how this bullying has effected them.  From physical harassment top students resisting all forms of the harassment, Haskell illustrates how things can become more in a positive lights one day.

So again since I have never worked in a school as an administrator or a teacher, I cannot speak from experience with this issue. So... I searched a guide which Administrators could use if they were interested in changing the culture that Meyers spoke about in her article. Throughout this guide if anybody is interested it shows administrators how to foster a culture that is non tolerant of any form of gender harassment, and what they should be doing in order to achieve just that. Being that I have never seen how this would happen in a school if an administrator decided to do just this, I could see this article as being very helpful in aiding in the process to stop this unforutnality .administrators Guide

Karp/ Not Waiting for Superman (questions)

In response to the film "Waiting for superman " Rethinking Schools editor  long time policy, and private institution  advocate, Stan Karp addressed all of the untruths about the recently produced film. In his argument, “Who’s Bashing Teachers and Public Schools, and What Can We Do about It?,”  he basically informs his listeners and readers alike on the real problem causers that currently face public education.  Throughout Karps argument he constantly reiterates the fact that the real problem is not the teachers within the school, ( who are constantly being harassed), but there are numerous factors that come into play and are the culprits when looking tat the big picture. Factors such as political forces, inequality, corporate/foundation/political alliances etc. all play huge roles.  Karp explains his worries of the recent criticisms as, "It’s whether the right to a free public education for all children is going to survive as fundamental democratic promise in our society, and whether the schools and districts needed to provide that are going to survive as public institutions, collectively owned and democratically managed, however imperfectly, by all of us as citizens, or be privatized and commercialized by the corporate interests that increasingly dominate all aspects of our society." Afraid of "corporately charged" charter schools for example Karp is squeeming at the fact that education, the best "free" right a person living in America has the right to receive is going to no longer exist in the future.


Questions...


1.As I am not an educator, nor have I ever taken education courses, I am a product of a public schooling system and I think that I have done perfectly fine for myself with that education provided to me. My question is, If we don't use standardized tests, how will we know how students and programs are doing? This may be extremely naive but whenever I have became aware that there is a problem occurring, I try to figure out the best possible solution to fix it. This is one drastic alternative I understand and I also understand the argument of regiment and trying to blame the problem on one area, but if this is tested along with other factors that may play a role what is so wrong with that?


2. Why do you think  Davis Guggenheim, the producer of Waiting for Superman payed no attention to  charter schools that are run by incompetent leaders or corporations mainly concerned to make money? Do you think that this is a way many charter schools are ran? Why do you think that became so, since they did not originally intend to be that way?


3.Due to some cases of drastic racial inequalities, do you believe that charter schools within higher income white class populations should step up to help out the less fortunate schools, or do you think it is too big of a problem to fix at the state government level? If so how do you think that process should occur?




4. Sadly but true, education is always the the first budget to be cut from the Federal level in the time of any fiscal crisis. Actually, currently in Rhode Island the Department of Corrections is operating on a higher budget than our public schooling systems. When hearing news such as this what would you tell teachers to do in order for them to "grab the bull by the horn" to fix this despicable truth?


5. Teachers and their unions are constantly being portrayed as being the only ones that cause the problems with the public school systems we have, when truly it is also the fault of administrators,  parents, politics, and money holders who haven't been doing their part as well. So, why do you believe teachers are always blamed first? Do you think there are levels of blame that can be set on each of the parties I listed as the problem causers?

Interesting article, I would like to actually hear these questions answered maybe we can get him to come into our little class next week... haha one can only dream :)

Kozol Talking Points (Quotes Format)

After reading this article I am choosing to pick three quotes from this text that literally almost made me cry right on the spot as I read Kozols writings. The first quote I would like to post is as follows, "Dear Mr. Kozol...We do not have the things you have. You have clean things. We do not have. You have a clean bathroom. We do not. You have parks and we do not have parks."...Spoken words of innocence from an eight year old girl from the Bronx this quote I will remember for the rest of my life. This is something that will stay with me and hopefully everybody who reads it forever. I think this hits close so close to home for me because I have a sister around the age of this young author. I know I want the very best for my sister, and I would be upset if she does not get everything she deserves out of life. Thinking of this young child as my sister it makes me sick that she notices and has these worries at such a young age. Taken for granted, not from a selfish way, but from a naive mind state my sister would never even have to think if her bathrooms were clean, or her things in her school were dirty, because frankly that's just the way they are all of the time. Unfortunately Aliyah** does not get this and it makes me sick. This goes along with the whole theme Kozol is basically trying to express throughout this piece, that inequality between segregated schools is very apparent. It is a sad fact that these students of color who come from typically lower incomes families must suffer in such a way that they cannot even go to a school where they feel safe, and and ultimately free to focus on their learning.

Another quote I have picked as a strong piece from this article is, ..." But the fact that fact of economic ups and downs from year to year, or from one decade from the next, could not convincingly explain the permanent short changing, of the cities students ( NY), which took place routinely in good economic times or bad. " Here, Kozol is explaining the constant sugar coating ( as Delpit would call it), that government officials, and those in the high powered privileged class tend to blame the imbalance of the school systems on. They blame it on reasons such as budget crisis, or economic standings, yet why are white children's schools not effected nearly as much? Yes, one can argue that education no matter where the school is located, or its population of its students nationalities, always takes a hard blow from government budget cuts, but it is never as much as the disturbing factors that Kozol points out throughout this article. These children are left with an $8,000 third grade education compared to their white counterparts which is a $13,000 education. They are left with ceilings falling in, in their classrooms when they have asthma ( which is probably caused from the state of their schools), and no doctors to even assist them if their bodies go into attack. One can go on endlessly and this happens no matter if there is a fiscal crisis or not and this is absolutely unnecessary.

The third quote I would like to post is " Very few people who are not involved in inner city schools have any real idea of the extremes to which the mercantile distortion of which the purposes and characters of education have been taken or how unbashedly proponents of these practices are willing to defend them. " This quote is so true!!! I myself grew up in a predominately white schooling system, and like my younger sister who I spoke about earlier in this post, had no idea and still to this day have no idea of the massiveness of this issue. This is severity to the Max. This is something that needs to be stopped, and not forgotten. This is something that everybody no matter who you are or where you are from you should be aware. Children are children, no matter what ethnicity social class, or income level they come from they should all have the same opportunities as Kozol is trying to express in this article. We are living in a time of change, and I know this may sound a little cheesy but I am dead serious, I am so motivated form this article that I am making a copy and sending it around my entire office. This is something that I as the "powerful" class can no longer speak about, but I feel it is my job to help these children ...My new " little sisters and brothers" who deserve the best no matter what!

Background History on Kozol

***If anybody is more interested on Kozol's entire book, I have located it here on amazon. KozolsBook

Delpit Talking Points...(Argument Format)

I would first like to begin this post by saying that I am extremely glad this was not the first piece of reading we had for this course. I say this simply because I know myself, and I most likely would have felt very attacked by Lisa Delipts writings on racism. Yet, we WERE warned, and WERE told to remember the precious authors words (Johnson's) writings on how not to feel attacked because nobody should be singled out for such a massive problem. So, doctor Bogad, good call on keeping us mindful of those facts!

 

Throughout this article, Delpit argues about a vital, yet normally avoided subject pertaining to the high number of power imbalances in US classrooms. Though it is an extremely touchy subject that often goes unsaid for, because nobody wants to feel uncomfortable, or step on antibody's toes, Delpit attacks the issue in a direct and successful manner to her readers. Focusing on real life excerpts of conversations between students, parents, teachers, etc., Delpit has examined a world of assumptions that nobody like to admit. Such assumptions that are sad, yet so true such as teachers in most American societies, assuming the abilities, enthusiasms, and overall image of lower-income families, and children of different racers. Formed are stereotypes which Delpit explains throughout this article, are one of the main reasons that fosters such ignorance.

Divided into three main parts, this article addresses major issues throughout it, such as the main theme being the power imbalances throughout the US and the cultural differences that cause this to occur. Delpit does not simple blame the reasons for this power struggle on racism . According to her, it occurs because of the pure unwillingness, especially those with power and privilege, to understand, just as Johnson speaks about in his writings. Obviously, one of our most frequent places, and most important places for our children in America to be is inside of a classroom.. There, in addition to home teachings, children are taught most of the necessities and lessons in which they will apply to their everyday lives and how they conduct their ways of thinking in many subject areas. Therefore, educators are one of the most important aspects of the future of America. Unfortunately though, this persistent power struggle between diversities is particularly evident in our classrooms. It is so high that it occurs at a subconscious level, where teachers do not even know that they are doing wrong for their students, because it was the way that they were taught as well.

Throughout Delpits writings about "transforming the main-stream" it may seem like she is attacking the white middle-class society, yet she is truly focusing on the parts of society that do not notice a problem is occurring. Through visiting occurrences such as pretending that the histories of peoples being oppressed, as if they never occurred, is a way Delpit describes that a nonrecognition occurs, which ultimately "ensures racial prejudice still occurs" because the problem is just always sugar coated. Here I agree most with the author.

Being a white female in America, I never want to speak about the oppression of different minority groups because it is uncomfortable for me to address the issue, yet by me failing to such issues, I am sugar coating the past as well. I am not constantly reminded that those oppressed "got a slow start" in the race of life metaphor, which we spoke about in class.

By addressing this past, Delpit is most evidently correct, and it is the only way for our country to prevail over such wrongdoings. Two quotes I would like to end this post with are "recognize and overcome the power of differenital, the stereotypes, and the other barriers which prevent us from seeing each other. Those efforts must drive our teach education, our curriculum development, our instructional strategies, and every aspect of the educational enterprise".....and by Paulo Freire "Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless, means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral."