In this chapter entitled "What Can We Do?, Becoming Part of the Solution," Johnson states that social problems such as racism, discrimination, white privilege, oppression, violence, have prevailed in our society for a long time and that it is time to change the system. Johnson is aware of the fact that it is going to be a difficult task to change the system but that, not doing anything about it, is not going to solve the problems. He says on page 137 "The challenge we face is to change patterns of exclusion, rejection, privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence that are everywhere in this society and have existed for hundreds (or, in the case of gender, thousands) of years." According to Johnson, the issues mentioned above, still exist because millions of people, although aware of them, do not say or do anything about them. He says on page 137 " Their silence and invisibility allow the trouble to continue." For Johnson, to begin the changing process, people need to use explicit language while discussing concerns such as privilege and oppression. People must call things by their names in order to clearly identify the problems and start the healing process. We can read on page 138 "We can't just stop using words like racism, sexism, and privilege, however, because these are tools that focus our awareness on the problem and all the forms it takes. Once we can see and talk about what's going on, we can analyze how it works as a system."
Johnson thinks that privilege has its roots in social systems and not individuals and that being aware of one's privilege, can help solve the problem. He states on p. 139 "Just as privileged groups tend not to be aware of privilege, they also tend not to be aware of how it happens from on moment to the next. Developing that ongoing awareness is a key to becoming part of the solution." Some people know that they are members of the privileged groups but they don't want to think or do anything about it for fear of the outcomes. Indeed, a person belonging to the upper class, and enjoying all the privileges of this class, will have a hard time giving up all the benefits associated with their class. For example, I don't see a professor of university living in a beautiful neighborhood in Newport, RI, abandon his mansion and go live in Central Falls. Unless he or she experiences serious economic problems. One of my acquaintainces used to live in Providence, not to far from Broad Street. From what he once told me, there was a lot of drug dealing, prostitution, and robbing going on in this area, so they built a house in Lincoln, RI and moved. This person works as a manager at a bank in East Providence. He and his family have all they need to lead a decent life: a big and beautiful house, three cars, swimming pool, big yard, etc. Asking these people to give up their privileges and go back to their former apartment in Providence would be an insult to them.
Johson thinks that working to change people is not enough and that systems such as capitalism needs to be changed as well, because it creates different groups of people: the weathy and the poor, in other words, the privileged groups and the oppressed.
One of the solutions to the problems brought up in this chapter by Johnson, is to read books that deal with racism, sexism, sexual orientation; because doing so could help get a clear picture of what is going on in our society, and bring about changes in attitudes towards these issues. In fact, he says on p. 156 "Many people have already done a lot of work that you can learn from. There's no way to get through it all, but you don't have to in order to develop a clear sense of how to act in meaningful and informed ways. A good place to start is a basic text on race, class, and gender (these books increasingly include discussions of sexual orientation;...)
Another solution would be to work with other people who have the same concerns towards those issues. All the solutions Johnson proposes seem good and feasible but it is going to take a long time before change does take place. For, people are not going to change their mentality and attitudes overnight. Indeed, who really wants to give up their privilege? For change to occur, we also need good will. I said it before, with good will, one can move mountains.

Blog number 10

In this article entitled "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work," Jean Anyon argues that schools are performing different teaching styles based on the economic status of their students. Thus, in working class schools, children are told to follow rules, to take notes from books. No explanations are given to them about lessons. They're like robbots taking in machanically whatever they are told by their teachers. No reasoning and questioning are allowed on their part. Anyon states on page 4, " On the three occasions observed, the children were not called upon to set up experiments or to give explanations for facts or concepts. Rather, on each occasion the teacher told them in his own words what the book said. The children copied the teacher's sentences from the board."
In middle class schools, students are expected to follow rules as well. But here, they are allowed to make choices, especially when they are engaged in activities such as Math. "Math involves some choice: one may do two-digit division the long way or the short way." Here, children can explain their work to the teachers.
In the affluent professional school, emphasis is put on creativity on students part. Indeed, they are expected to express their ideas and apply them as long as they do so methodically. Anyon says on page 7 " The products of work in this class are often written stories, editorials and essays, or representations of ideas in mural, graph, or craft form. The product of work should not be like anybody else's and should show individuality."
In executive elite school, students have more control of their destiny, and they can challenge their teachers if they don't agree with their explanations, during lessons. Here, teachers appeal to students' intellect. As a result of her investigation, Anyon notices that "work is developing one's analytical intellectual powers. Children are continually asked to reason through a problem, to produce intellectual products that are both logically sound and of top academic quality."
In reading this article, it appears clearly that students don't have the same privileges, depending on their social classes. On one hand, we have children who are just there to follow blindly whatever they're told by their teachers. And on the other hand, they are children who are encouraged to express their ideas, to voice their feelings freely. This is not fair. In my humble opinion, school curriculum and teaching styles should be the same in all schools, in order to give students the same chances of success.

Teaching multilingual children

In this article, Virginia Collier admits that teaching ESL to multilingual students is not an easy task. She states on page 222 "Things become even more complicated when we enter increasingly multilingual classrooms. Being a bilingual teacher seems to multiply the complications of teaching." But at the same time, Collier is optimistic about teaching ESL, and offers some guidelines in order, as she puts it, to "better understand how teaching English to second-language learners can become an enriching experience when appreciating students' different languages and life situations." Collier maintains on page 227, that bilingual teachers must not teach a second language in a way that will eliminate the first language, but rather use the first language, in other words, the native dialect, to help acquire the second language which is English. She says on page 227 "Teach the standard form of English and students' home language together with an appreciation of dialect differences to create an environment of language recognition in the classroom." In so doing, immigrant children would not be at a disadventage, in our society. In my opinion, one of the reasons why this nation is so great and powerful in the world, is because of the cultural diversity of its people. I will tell a little story, hoping that it is relevant to today's topic: bilingual education. For those who don't know, there is a very important community of French Canadians in the city of Woonsocket. So chances are, you may hear people speak Canadian french in places like hospitals, schools, restaurants, bars, fitness centers, etc. Thus, one day I went to a restaurant with a friend of mine. As we were eating, I could hear two people, seated at a table not too far from ours, conversing loudly. One of them was speaking English and the other one, French. It was interesting in so much as they seemed to understand each other very well. I started wondering how could two people, speaking two different languages understand one another without translation? My friend who speaks only English, pointed out the fact that one of these people probably spoke both French and English. Otherwise, the conversation wouldn't be possible. I agreed.

"Aria" by Richard Rodriguez

In his article "Aria," Richard Rodriguez maintains that bilingual children should speak English as a public language, for schooling purposes, but that they also need to speak their family's language. In this case, Spanish. When he was younger, Rodriguez struggled in school learning English, and was so afraid of it that he refused to speak in the classroom. He states on page 34, "I'd mumble, not really meaning to answer. The nun would persist, 'Richard, stand up. Don't look at the floor...Speak to the entire class, not just to me!' But I couldn't believe that the English language was mine to use...I resisted the teacher's demands...Silent, waiting for the bell to sound, I remained dazed, diffident, afraid." The teachers, or should I say the nuns were getting so irritated about young Rodriguez not speaking English in class that they went to talk with his parents, to encourage him and his siblings to practise English at home. And they were successful in their endeavors to have Rodriguez speak the public language. So the whole family started communicating in English at home, and Rodriguez seemed to deplore this situation. Because as he put it, speaking Spanish brought a "special feeling of closeness in the family." Now that English was spoken at home, there was no desire for the writer and his siblings to go home after school. He says on page 36, "Gone was the desperate, urgent, intense feeling of being at home... We remained a loving family, but one greatly changed... Neither my older brother nor sister rushed home after school anymore. Nor did I." There was not enough communication between the parents and the children anymore.
So not speaking enough Spanish at home had a negative impact not only on Rodriguez and his siblings but also on his parents, especially his mother. The author says on page 37, "She grew restless, seemed troubled and anxious at the scarcity of words exchanged in the house. It was she who would question me about my day when I came home from school." About his father he states " Though his English improved somewhat, he retired into silence."
In order to show how important Spanish is to him, Rodriguez says that every time he heard it spoken in public, he would remember the "golden age of my yuth...Hearing a Spanish- speaking family walking behind me, I turned to look. I smiled for an instant," etc."
Rodriguez blames educators who think that, assimilation into public society is a bad thing for bilingual children. For him, assimilation is, on the contrary, beneficial for those children in the sense that it confers them dual 'individuality': private and public.

School context assignment

On this day, May 22 2008, I went to Robert Manley Middle School for a classroom visit. The school is located in Providence, RI. Upon arrival at the school at 12:15 pm, I was struck by the amount of trash around the building. I reported immediately to the main office where I introduced myself to two secretaries and told them the purpose of my visit. One of them called Mr. Doc, a sixth grade teacher, on the phone. They handed me a visitor badge, and a few minutes later, I was in his classroom. Mr. Doc and I talked briefly.
There were fourteen students present; four of whom were girls. They were noisy. From what Mr. Doc told me, the students were supposed to be doing some assignment: Reading-comprehension. But some were walking around, while others were talking loudly among themselves. One student was lying on the floor, making all kinds of noises, another one was lying on a table, in the back of the classroom, listening to what looked to me like an I-pod. In short, nobody was doing the assignment, except for one boy, who was sitting quietly at his desk, busy working. Nobody was listening to the teacher's instructions. Some students even left the classroom without asking for permission. Some would slam the door on their way out. When the teacher wrote their names on a board so he could call their parents and tell them about their behaviors, some would go and erase their names. I was in this classroom from 12:20 to 2:30 pm. And the teacher spent the entire time disciplining the students instead of actually teaching them. The teacher seemed very professional, and was trying to do his job the best he could. I asked him whether he was a special education teacher, and he answered no, and said that he could use some help from a teacher's aid. I asked him if he wanted me to work with a particular student and he stated that I could walk around the classroom and see if there were students who needed help. So I did as he said. I approached the most boisterous student in the classroom. He was banging his desk. I asked him if he needed some help with the assignment? He ignored me and kept hitting the desk with his two hands. I told him to stop the noise because other students were trying to concentrate on the exercise. At that moment, he got up and went to play with the air conditioner, in the back of the classroom. Mr. Doc saw him and put him on a time-out in one corner of the classroom. From there, X made more noises. Mr. Doc picked up the phone and said that he was going to call his mother. At this point, X stopped the behavior. Later on, Mr. Doc informed me that the student was on medications, but that he refuses to take them. A few minutes later, I was able to work with this student, and he did finish the exercise.
The classroom was set up this way: all the students'desks were facing the blackboard. But the teacher told me that some times they can move them around, depending on the activities they are engaged in. There was a 32" TV and a projector next to the blackboard. There were a CD player, and a computer on the teacher's desk, and a printer in one corner of the classroom. There were pictures of some American heroes and athletes on the walls. More pictures that students drew. There were some essays taped on the walls as well. Book cases and containers full of books could be seen in the back of the classroom. Some of the books were about Spanish Americans, Asian Americans and African Americans. In my opinion, this is intended to celebrate the ethnic diversity in this school. In fact, 61% of the students are Hispanic, 22% are African Americans, 10% are Asians, 6% are Whites and 1% are Native Americans. The total population of students receiving ESL/bilingual education services in this school represents 17%.
In this particular classroom that I would visit twice a week, the teacher worked with all the students. No one was marginalized. Mr. Doc teaches English and in my opinion, he has the materials or tools he needs to perform his job properly; that is to say: books, dictionaries, movies, books on CD, blackboards, projector, and a printer. The students are allowed to use the dictionaries to look up words, any time they want to.
As far as pedagogy is concerned, I learned that after the students read a book, the teacher will some times play a movie related to the story they read about so the students could better understand it. The books on CD that i mentioned before, is another teaching style in this classroom, and some students seemed to be enjoying this technology. The students are working on project right now. They made up some groups, to work on a play that they are going to show next week.
From the way the students interacted with the teacher, I am under the impression that they see him as a friend, and not as an authority. Most of them were not respectful toward him and this was illustrated by the way they left the classroom without asking for permission. They will get in his face and start yelling as if he were a child. In her article "Other people's children", Delpit would like teachers to be explicit with students in their teaching. Watching Mr. Doc teach, I don't think there is anybody out there, more explicit than him. Indeed, he said things as he saw them. The students did not seem to get it right then, but maybe they would some day.

Racial bias / White privilege blog

In his article"Data show racial bias persists in America," Muwakkil argues that racism still exists in the American society, even if some people think the opposite. He says in paragraph 2 "That canard has trickled down into mainstream society, and many white Americans now believe that race no longer affects personal prospects of success or failure." Muwakkil bases his assertion on studies conducted by private agencies to show the prevalence of racial disparities in the United States. According to some of these agencies, people of color are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting a job, in comparison with white people. Muwakkil states in paragraph 6"The study found that applicants with white-sounding names were 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with a black-sounding ones. What's more, higher quality resumes provided little advantage for black applicants."This quotation clearly indicates how people of color are denied employment opportunities due to the color of their skin. One can allude to the culture of power in this article, when white applicants with prison records "were still more likely to be hired than black men without them." It is as if our society or should I say, people with power encourage morally wrong behaviors. What kind of examples are they setting for our children? This country is great and beautiful because of the ethnic and cultural diversity of its people. It would be greater if our society were color-blind. Of course it is going to take a long time and good will to change people's mentalities and attitudes; but we will get there some day, because according to the founders of this nation, "All men are created equal." Therefore they should be treated the same way.


White Privilege: In this essay, McIntosh states that white privilege puts minority groups at a disadvantage and she makes a list of those privileges. I'd like to discuss two of them. She says: 4. "I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed." When a black person goes shopping at a store, chances are he or she will be monitored closely to make sure they don't steal anything. Or some store clerk will approach them and ask if they need help. One of my friends who is black, told me that one day, he went to Stop and Shop to buy some batteries for his camera. As he was looking for the items, he got a call on his cell phone. He picked up the phone and talked to the person on the other line. When he was done, he put the phone back in his pocket. Right at that moment, someone who apparently worked at the store approached him and asked him to take out whatever he just put in his pocket. My friend refused to comply and told the store worker that it was his cell phone and nothing else. Since my friend wouldn't do as he was told, the store manager was called. It turned out that it was really his cell phone that my friend put in his pocket. This really shows the lack of trust that some white folks have towards black people. But I can't blame this white store clerk because statistics indicate that people of color are more likely to engage in shoplifting than
white people.
The next white privilege I would like to comment on is: 2. "If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area that I can afford and in which I would want to live." I'm sure one of McIntosh's African-American coworkers, friends or acquaintances must have told her about their experiences in relation to housing. Indeed, it's not always easy for a person of color to either rent an apartment or buy a house. I will share this story about my family. Before my son was born in February 1998, my wife and I started looking for a bigger apartment. We did find a few of them in some decent neighborhoods, in Lincoln and Cumberland. We filled out some applications, and did background and credit checks and went to interviews. After that the landlords promised to call us back, but they never did. When we finally reached them on the phone, they would tell us that someone else got the apartment. And some of them will suggest to go look around Providence. Why necessarily Providence? Is it because a lot of people from various ethnic groups live there? Why would a landlord or real estate agent choose where someone should live? Anyway, my wife and I have no criminal records and as far as I know, we can afford an apartment worth at least $1000. So the problem was elsewhere.

Amazing Grace blog

In his article "Amazing Grace", Jonathan Kozol introduces us to the terrible conditions people of color live in, in South Bronx, New York City. Precisely in Mott Haven. According to the pastor of St. Ann's Church "More than 95 percent of these people are poor, the poorest of the poor, poor by any standard I can think of."The author depicts the neighborhood as a vicious circle where children and adults are killed by diseases such AIDS and asthma, and guns. In reading the article, It seems like these people are caught up in a situation from which they cannot escape. Indeed, most of them have no jobs, no money, so how can they afford to move to better areas where they can raise their children. All they seem to know is do drugs and prostitute themselves. As if they want to commit suicide. I'm saying this because lots of people in Mott Haven got infected with the AIDS virus, and some died from drug overdose.
Passage of interest:
"Crack-cocaine addiction and the intravenous use of heroin, which children I have met here call "the needle drug," are woven into the texture of existence in Mott Haven. Nearly 4000 heroins injectors, many of whom are HIV-infected, live here."
These people are so poor that during winter, the city of New York has to help them keep warm by providing them with electric blankets and space heaters and sometimes sleeping bags.
People are murdered in this neighborhood like animals, and it looks like there is no hope of the situation getting better in the future, because children and adults get killed on a regular basis. On page 5, the author writes "In 1991, 84 people , more than half of whom were 21 or younger, were murdered in the precinct. A year later ten people were shot dead...., where many of the children I have come to know reside. On Valentine's Day of 1993, three more children and three adults were shot dead on the living room floor of an apartment...."
Faced with misery, hardships, the only thing that people in this area cling to is their church, called St. Ann, where they go to get food and comfort.
Mott Haven is considered as the "deadliest precinct" of the city of New York. How in God's name can anybody raise their children in such a dangerous area? I'm sure it's not with pleasure that people live here. It's just that they cannot afford to move to safer, better neighborhoods. And the city is not helping by installing a waste incinerator and garbage dump in the area. Because like Cliffie's mother says on page 10 "The point is that they put a lot of things into our neighborhood that no one wants,... The waste incinerator is just one more lovely way of showing their affection....There is trashy things all over." The situation is so desperate that David, a resident of this part of the city doubts about God's power and if he really exists. He says"I wonder how powerful God is. He must be wise and powerful to make the animals and trees and give man organs and a brain to build complex machineries, but He is not powerful enough to stop the evil on the earth, to change the hearts of the people." And David goes on by blaming rich people for not helping the poor ones better their lives.
My opinion is that anybody has the opportunity to succeed in our society, or at least make their lives better, provided they give themselves the means to do so. Just play by the rules and work hard and you can make it. The following are some suggestions: get an education to land a decent job, create a business like Chris Garner, the character that actor Will Smith played in the movie:"The pursuit of Happiness." In fact, the movie tells the story of a black man who was poor and became wealthy over time, by working really hard. Or play some sport and become a star like Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods, etc. I agree with political science professor Lawrence Mead, when he states "If poor people behaved rationally, they would seldom be poor for long in the first place."