Affirmative Action

The social justice event that I attended was the speech given by Shirley Wilcher, she is an affirmative action specialist and has directed the American Association for Affirmative Action. The speech she gave was very easy to understand and connect with because it related to what we have read in class. Affirmative action provides equal opportunities to people of different races, sexual orientation, disability and many more. It takes place in multiple of settings around the world such as the work force, education including at college level.

      Shirley Wilcher talked about a variety of topics mostly racism. Affirmative action includes efforts to prevent discrimination by eliminating barriers to equal employment opportunity. The one thing that stuck out to me most in her lecture was about how her and her friends tried to get a cab driver and one pulled up then proceeded to drive away because of their race. This part of her speech reminded me of White Privilege by McIntosh, Privilege, Power and Difference by Johnson. I don’t get how anyone could treat someone differently just because of their race. I was always brought up, as it does not matter what anyone’s race is, as long as they treat you nice.

 Wilcher not only touched upon how this topic affects people of different, but also people in the LGBTQ communities. This reminded me of Speaking the Unspeakable in Forbidden Places by Allan et al. This article was about the LGBTQ issues in school and how the topic is not discussed in elementary schools. If the kids are taught about it at such a young age then these topics may not be as controversial as they are today. This is the reason some people may not be so accepting because they do not actually understand the topic of the LGBTQ community.

The connections I have made to this speech:

1. My friend, as we watched the video about Cameron Hewey, was bullied and made fun of by his peers and even people that did not go to his school because he is transgender. I have known him since middle school and how he acted when he was “Nicole” , I have seen him transform and what he has gown through, but I can also tell her is much happier as Cameron rather than Nicole. If people were taught about LGBTQ at a young age people may have not been as mean as they were to Cameron when transferring.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bexiIcHWEwI This video on college acceptance vs. racial discrimination. I made a connection with Wilcher’s speech and talking about how some students are not getting in because of their race.

3. https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=43428 This is an article on Stanford Alumni talking about a kid that said he would have never applied if their was not affirmative action in place. This relates to the reading and how Wilcher states we should not get rid of it because it will limit people of the minority.

Empowering Education

For this reading I really felt like that I could connect to it because it was about schooling and how many of the things that students face are what they told when they are younger and how it may stay with them. One quote I chose was; "Many students do not accept these limits, which is why teachers often face resistance in the classroom. Many teachers also refuse to be un­ democratic educators, which limits the extent to which the official syllabus and authority can be imposed on students, In this conflicted setting, the empowering educator transforms the teacher', unilateral authority,  the empowering educator transforms the teachers unilateral authority." This really stuck out to me because if one thing is said to a student it can stick with them their whole life and how much work you can do is threatened because you may feel discouraged. The second quote I chose reminded me of the freedom writers because Mrs. G helped them move away from what they were defined as and stop putting the, down. If she could've been with them right from the very start of their education their lives would have been so different because she doesn't put them down, unlike most of the other teachers and other guardians in their life."To help move students away from passivity and cynicism, a powerful signal has to be sent from the very start, a signal that learning is participatory, involving humor, hope, and curiosity." In highschool and sometimes even college you are not allowed to express your opinions because the teachers are to busy lecturing and teaching you what you have to know in order to move on. I liked the idea of the discussion we do in our class because it gives everyone a chance to voice their opinion without the teacher having something to say about it. This article talks about the idea of the Socratic circle and what the teacher sees during that time, mostly all pros.  http://marinagijzen.com/2014/02/14/less-teacher-talk-more-class-discussion/

Schooling Children with Down Syndrome

This article by Christopher Kliewer really stood out to me because I can connect with it so well. This author not only focuses on one classroom, but multiple of classrooms to show the different aspects of children with down syndrome. In high school I was in a class called Peer Pals, which is when you go in the class that is specifically for Special Needs students and one of them in the class had down syndrome, but was still incredibly smart. "She explained, He uses his imagination, he pretends-thats how we makes sense of things. He relates stuff to books we read, the things he does at home." Some things the kids learn, or even us, may not easy to learn, but it is easier if you connect or learn about something you are interested in. I have grown up with a kid that has down syndrome my whole life because my best friend growing up, her little brother has it. Still to do this day I know him and he will say random things that relate to what he has heard someone say or what he has seen. Another quote that really stood out to me was "School citizenship rejects the idea of a gap between normality and down syndrome. In the movement toward classroom membership, diversity is viewed as normal, relationships are of mutual benefit and belonging is a central societal theme." This quote really stood out to me because I believe that everyone should be treated and given the same amount of attention no matter what. Do not treat someone differently just because they are special needs.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOwDfnoek6E This is a video about a little girl that has Down Syndrome telling others not to limit her no matter what, everyone needs to the same basis to get through life successfully. Remember everyone is the same no matter what. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO857j0qCQo This is another video I found that is so heartbreaking about a teacher that was making fun of kids in her class that has special needs. I don't get how anyone especially a teacher could treat someone the way these teachers are.

Brown v Board of Education

 The video that I connected to was the Brown v Board of Education because of my tutoring experienced and what I have witnessed or heard of other kids in the class talk about. What I connected mostly with is when they were talking about how black; Latinos and African American students are less likely to get into a university than whites. They researched it and black students that graduate high school have a 1/5 the change of getting into a selective university than white students; and Latinos have 1/3. College acceptances should not be based on race, because the smartest kids could be of a different ethnicity and the kids of non-color could be the students that do no care about school and are only going because they are forced to go. The kids that may want to learn could be in the lowest performing school that has little resources and the teachers may not care. I see this in the school that I tutor at because most of the kids do really want to learn and some of the teachers just do not give them the time of day or the school provides them with little resources. In the video it talks about how new teachers and not good, untrained teachers are placed in schools that are known as “failure schools” doing this to the students will not further their education, if they even stay in school.

This picture shows the percentage of students Whites vs. Black going to each grade. It is sad to see the percentage of student that are not going to school either because of at home circumstances or they have been told that they are going to get no where in life. Some facts that were surprising to me that they mentioned in the video was that:

1. 70% of African American  students who are eligible based on their PSAT's scores for AP and not one of them has.

2. 1/5 of students in America's first language is not English

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-high-school-graduation-rates-by-race-ethnicity.html this link shows the states and the percentage of what race graduated. For instance in Rhode Island Schools 82% white, 67% hispanic and black, and 79% graduated high school.

In The Service Of What?

This article was easy for me to relate to because I have done so much community service between being in Girl Scouts as a kid and being in High School. In my high school you could not graduate without completing ten hours of community service within one year. For me this was easy because I have done babysitting, pennies for patients, happy baskets; which is for needy people in my town, coached soccer, went to Alabama for a mission trip, Special Olympics, and many more. As this article suggests, to write about your service learning I had to for one of my graduation requirements. I felt like this did nothing for me because I knew the principal was barely going to read it and I was writing it to waste my time because my high school does nothing with them except to see if you did it or not. For other kids it was a struggle to complete this task.  Its sickening how people can not donate 10 hours of there time; even if its spread out, to help someone in need or even to help a good cause.

http://happybasketsri.com/?page_id=8 This is one of the service learning I have completed. I couldn’t begin to count the number of hours I helped with this organization. I have been doing it since 7^th grade. It is a local organization that helps the less fortunate around thanksgiving and Christmas time. Groups of people fill up boxes with a bunch of food for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Also around Christmas time all the schools in my town collect toys and clothes and this organization wraps them for the less fortunate kids in my town. This year we have boxes of food and gifts to over 500 famillies in my town. This is one of the service learning projects I walk away knowing I made a families holiday a lot better.

The Myths That Bind Us

In the article Unlearning The Myths That Bind us it made me realize how society depicts that way we act around certain people and react in certain situations. In the beginning of the article it talks about how the students kept a journal to write down their ideas. Social media, the television, listening to the radio, and many more depict the way someone acts in society because they may be persuaded in a particular way because of what they heard or saw. What we do not realize is how true it is because if something is different then what you may see in a movie, example in the last article we read about Cinderella and gays. In the movie Cinderella it is a guy and a girl, but if a girl and a girl or a guy and a guy date it is “unacceptable” because that’s the way society has taught us through various of different ways. Another example could be is that in all of the Disney movies kids watch it is mainly white people in every movie except Pocahontas and yet some people in society wonder why someone could be so racists. No one thinks about how what kids do everyday depicts what he or she does and acts in society. Many people blame parents for being racist or such judgmental, but its not just that it’s also the way things are portrayed at us all throughout life, beginning at such a young age. http://eileenoevalwriting.weebly.com/disneys-gender-portrayal.html This article talks about the way Disney portrays some of its movies in either a good way or a bad way.