Brown vs. Board

Extended comments: Jess's blog

Jess's blog really stood out to me on the Brown vs. Board education so I want to continue with her thoughts. The connection she made with Wise and Johnson stood out to me the most. Jess quoted Johnson with "a trouble we can't talk about is a trouble we can't do anything about" If it wasn’t for the Brown vs. Board of education and the NAACP we might still be in the predicament of colored segregation. It takes a lot more bravery and effort to put action towards this than to just casually discuss it with someone. If you can't bring something up you won’t be able to fix the problem at hand and without having supporters your case will surely lose. After a long battle the case was finally dismissed and ruled in the favor that children on color should not be segregated in school systems.

Here are the questions and answers Jess provided:

Have you experienced any evidence of Kozol's/Herbert's articles in your service learning school? 

I definitely have experienced this in my school. The school I work at is so run down and most of the children get free lunch and snacks provided by the school. When I look at the difference between the school that the children I babysit for and then the children at my school it is completely different. Although the kids I babysit for pay tuition which i find extremely unnecessary for a 4 and 6 year old there are such a variety of things offered for them than there is for the children at the school I work with.

Do you think there is still racism? Are things any better at all?

I absolutely think there is still racism but it is more "hush hush" now than ever. People will use other excuses like the lack of money or education someone has but we all know they say it because they are from a different racial background.

What shocked you in regards to this assignment?

I can't say that anything really shocked me with this assignment but it's sad that the world was so close minded back then. I definitely believe it got better but there will always be racism as long as it’s being taught.

Miscallaneous

I was contemplating writing this post for over a week but I decided to do it.

Early last week was my second cousin's 40th birthday. She's more like an aunt to me because of the age difference but she is indeed a cousin. Her birthday is so special to me and my family because she has Spina Bifida. She was told that her living past the age of 16 would be a miracle and she completely exceeding the limits she was given. It has been 10 years since I last saw her because she had moved to Nevada to beat the drastic weather changes which I think has helped immensely. For those of you who don't know much about Spina Bifida here is a link to help better explain. My cousin is paralyzed from the waste down and when her nervous system shuts down it causes her to get more infections than someone without this defect. The past couple of years have been hard because more and more parts of her body want to shut down but she has fought through them and today is as healthy as she can be. Everything can change in an instant though, one moment she could be fine and the next day she could be lying in a hospital bed. It's scary and seeing and knowing what she has gone through has made me a braver person.

There was one story I was told that has always stuck with me and it made me think of it the other day when we were discussing the piece about Down syndrome. My cousin Denise ( one who has Spina Bifida) and her sister Veronica who does not were out at a store one day. When they got up to the cash register the cashier had asked Veronica if my cousin would like a lollipop with a big smile on her face. Veronica looks at her as serious as she could and goes " Why don't you ask her? She's not deaf. " The cashier had completely assumed that my cousin was mentally challenged just because she was in a wheel chair. Although I wish this was the only idiotic story that has happened this was quite the norm when they went out. It shows that a lot of people only look at her as the woman in a wheel chair but not the woman who is smart, witty, and completely capable of having a job and a life of her own.

Shor Education in Politics

Connections:

This reading reminded me a lot of Delpit's view and how she agrues that there are many different techniques on how to handle the children in your classroom. Shor would agree that not all classrooms should be taught in the same way because you need to find your own connection with them.

This reading also reminded me of Johnson and how we feel the need to "belong" to a certain group and meet certain standards to feel accept. The elephant in the room as Johnson would say would be the curriculum standards that all teacher need to abide by this "teacher bible" for it to be acceptable in a classroom.


Shor brings up some really good points about how politics get in the way of teaching children. Sometimes the word teaching gets lost in translation when you have to follow such strict rules from the Board of Education and the school system you work in. In order to be a successful teacher you have to find a way to work some fun into your classrooms but still teach by the book as well. It's a hard task to do but it is completely possible!


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