Blog #4

 In todays blog I a reading the article "Still Separate, Still Unequal: Teaching about school segregation and educational inequality". I decided to do the quotes option as I feel it will best help me describe the article, and teach others about it. 

My first quote is "'No one is really talking about school segregation anymore,'" Elise C. Boddie and Dennis D. Parker wrote in this 2018 Op-Ed essay. 'Thats a shame because an abundance of research shows the integration is still one of the most effective tools that we have for achieving racial equity.'" If research is proving that integration is a very effective tool, why isn't it being talked about more? We have tools to fix this issue, and yet things are not being put into action. I feel people need to stop ignoring the problem. 

My second quote is "School segregation and educational inequality may be a sensitive and uncomfortable topic for students and teachers, regardless of their race, ethnicity or economic status." I feel that sometimes it's good to step outside of boundaries to educate children on important facts like this. Unless the child is absolutely not wanting to talk about the situation, I think it should be talked about to spread awareness. 

The third quote I chose is "School districts that predominantly serve students of color received $23 billion less in funding than mostly white school districts in the Untied States in 2916, despite serving the same number of students." This to me is just shocking, why should there be different amount of funding to different schools. All children deserve the same treatment from schools, and colored students are not getting it. 

Link to Mondays async work: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UmiwDpAOK9Marzr4EwQmy7mawYWrgXEHy9iyK8tif8I/edit 

Blog Number 3

 The reading I read this week was "Amazing Grace" by Jonathan Kozol. I have picked three quotes fro this text to talk about they're relevance and meanings. 

My first quote is "Depression is common among children in Mott Haven. Many cry a great deal but cannot explain exactly why. Fear and anxiety are common. Many cannot sleep. Asthma is the most common illness among children here. Many have to struggle to take in a good deep breath." This quote stood out to me because I feel for these kids. Most of the kids in Mott Haven have serious problems that need help to get better, and it seems they do not have the support here that they need to feel better. I can also personally relate, as a child growing up, I had major anxiety, so I know how it feels to physically want help, and I can't imagine not being able to get it properly. 

The next quote, is a quote said from a father in the text. "'You just cover up...and hope you wake up the next morning,' says a father of four children, one of them an infant one month old, as they prepare to climb into their sleeping bags in hats and coats on a December night." I cannot imagine how this father is feeling. Most of us are very lucky and privileged to be able to sleep in a nice warm bed. These children do not get to experience that, they have to wear their winter clothes to bed, which is not even a bed.  

The last quote is "A small and wiry women wearing blue jeans and a baseball cap, a former cocaine addict who now helps addicted women and their children, she tells me that more than 3,000 homeless families have been relocated by the city in this neighborhood during the past few years..." While reading through this section of the reading, all I could think about is how amazing this woman is, she took her pain and used it again her addiction. She knew she had to change, and now she's even helping others change. 

I chose this picture because its showing that not every economy is equal. 

Point to be shared in class: The whole time reading this, all I could think about is how no one truly knows what others are going through and the life styles of other people. You never know if a child doesn't have access to good health, or a bed, or a warm home. You should always be thankful for what you have. 

Blog Number 2

The article read this week was "The Silenced Dialogue" by Lisa Delpit. And for this reading I chose to do the extended comments option for this blog. I am using Carolines blog as the center o my own. 

Caroline starts her post strong by explaining what she noticed and thought right away. Caroline explains that she feels what teachers don't want to listen to what black teachers and students have to say about improving certain things. Caroline adds a quote that really does speak to me... "I jut try to shut them out so I can hold my temper". Caroline makes a good point after this quote by saying how she would think that all of the staff and faculty would want to come together and do what is right fir the children. I agree so much with what Caroline is saying, I feel school system should be looked at as a safe space for children, it is not about what color skin someone had but it is about the learning environment for the children. Personally, as someone who had wanted to become a teacher ever since I was younger, this sits deep with me because some staff and teachers do not look at it as it is a place where ALL children, no matter the skin color, should all learn the same, and that is sad to me. Caroline goes on to take about the 5 aspects of "culture of power". The first one Caroline mentioned is "Issues of power are enacted in the classroom", the point of thesis that the teachers in a classroom have the power over the children, school is preparing students for real world jobs. Caroline explains how the type of job a person has determines their economic status, which in hands can determine the amount of power that person has. The second aspect she mentions is "There are codes and rules for participating in powered how there is a culture of power". It is explained in her blog that the codes and rules mentioned are relating to linguistic forms, communicative strategies, and presentation of self. The third aspect that is mentioned is "the rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of culture of those who have power". Caroline explains how success and institutions like school and work is predicted upon acquisition of the culture of those who have power. She goes on to say add that children in a middle class tend to do better in school than children from a lower class, I agree I feel like schools sometimes tend to focus on the uppercases doing better, as they see they might "go further in life with certain jobs". Not that teachers mean to do this, but I feel it should be fixed. The last aspect Caroline talks about is "those with power are frequently less aware or least-willing to acknowledge its existence". So, in this case this means that the white teachers and instructors do not receive themselves to have power over the black teachers, though the black teachers and instructors may disagree because they are looking at it through a different perspective of course! 

I think Caroline did very well in this assignment, I feel she explained each aspect very well, and added lots of examples to each of them. She also ended the blog very well by adding how these aspects of power are issues in culture that need to be fixed. 

Blog Number 1

 The reading I read this week was "Privilege Power and Difference" by Alan Johnson. This week I chose to pick three quotes from the text to talk about their meanings and relevance towards the text. 

The first quote I chose was "No matter what privileged group you belong to, if you want to understand the problem of privilege and difference, the first stumbling block is usually the idea of privileged itself." When most people hear the word "privileged" they don't really take the time to think about it deeply. They automatically loo at it as "gender" or "racial" privileged. Some people really don't understand the full meaning of privileged. The reason why this quote is so relevant in this text is because it is getting the readers attention, getting them to really open their eyes. While reading this, the reader can quickly find out that they are about to learn the true meaning of the word "privledged". 

The next quote that I have chosen was "Whites are less likely than blacks to be arrested, once arrested, they are less likely to be convicted and, once convicted, less likely to go to prison, regardless of the crime or circumstances. Whites, for example, constitute 90 percent of those who use illegal drugs, but less than half of those in prison on drug-use charges are white." This quote stands out to me not only because it has a very valid point, but also because it shows actual numbers to better further the point that is being made. I feel that this quote is an eye opener to the readers, and shows the lack of equality we have in the jail systems. 

The last quote I chose from the reading was "In one way or another, privilege shows up in the daily details of peoples lives in almost every social setting." This quote relates to some of the people I used to go to high school with, so I feel it is an eye opener not only for me, but for other readers too. People at my old high school would use what they had, to show it off. If some people had more money and more privileges than other individuals, they would make sure to show it off. 

This picture shows that there should be equality, no matter your age, size, or color of your skin. 

Point that can be shared in class: I noticed that there was a part in the reading that said that males often deny the exsitence of male privilege because most of them do not feel happy or fulfilled in their own lives, many believe that you cannot be privileged and "miserable" at the same time. 

Intro Blog

 My name is Coral and I am 18 years old. I am majoring in elementary education and minoring in special education at Rhode Island College. I am from Coventry, Rhode Island. I went to Coventry High School and I was in the education studies career program. I work at Famous Pizza in West Warwick on the weekends. My hobbies are hanging out with friends, being with my family, and hanging out with the girls in my sorority. I am in the Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and RIC. In my extra free time I like to go to the gym or just chill. 

This is my big Maddy, from my sorority. 

      These are my roommates          

This is Abby and Caroline, two of my best friends, we have known each other since elementary school.