Journal 5

As a future educator, I believe that the relationship between students, parents and teachers is incredibly important.  Growing up, I used to find it embarrassing when my parents would come to my elementary or middle school for the annual meeting with my teacher.  They would talk to my teacher as if they cared or they knew the teacher better than I did!  I mean, I had to take the class, my parents did not.  Looking back, I realize that I am grateful for the relationship my parents were trying to build with me and my education.  They wanted to know what I was learning and how I was doing in class.  There have been a couple of moments that my parents have contacted my teacher for various reasons and as a result, there were hardly ever any misunderstandings.  Communication can be so powerful between the parents and school.

In the articles that I read, Finding Ways In: Community-Based Perspectives on Southeast Asian Family Involvement with Schools in a New England State and Beyond the Bake Sale: A Community Based Relational Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools, many things stuck out to me.  It was hard enough growing up and going to school being a white female, born and raised in the U.S. and speaking the language.  I cannot even imagine being an immigrant and/or refugee that has no extensive knowledge of the language and customs of a different country.  Yet this is what many parents and children have to face in the former article.  They are expected to go to school, understand what is going on and the parents as well.  What is very important is to be able to establish the parent-teacher-student relationship because it creates an educational bond that can help in so many ways: the student is not afraid to go to the teacher for help, the parent feels comfortable enough to contact and communicate with the teacher, etc.

In the latter article, parent involvement in schools is something that most people do envision as “the bake sale”.  From my elementary school days, I remember my parents helping out with the oh-so-original bake sale and going to the PTO meetings.  Since I was in band, my parents also helped with that aspect of my education as well as volunteering to accompany the teachers and students on field trips.  I am grateful that my parents have always gone beyond the bake sale with my education, even now!  I think that it is more than helping out the school, it is also showing your child that you really care and are invested in their education and interests.  My parents did not have to do anything extra for me, but by attending all of my concerts and helping out at many school and extracurricular functions, I was proud that I was their student.  Not only did my parents come to know many of the teachers throughout my education, but they also got a clearer picture of what was happening at school by being involved themselves.  It was not foreign territory for them but rather a place that they recognize.  They always let me have my space but never passed up on a great opportunity to help the students or teachers.  As a result, communication was easy within the parent-teacher-student relationship.  If there is something like a language barrier, it is still important for the parents to be able to talk with the teacher more than once so it is comfortable for communication.  It not only benefits the parents but the students as well.

Journal 4

The Fine and McClelland article Sexual Education and Desire: Still Missing after All These Years was a very interesting read. First of all, the fact that the government had decided that the major focus on sex education should be on abstinence only is ludicrous. That concept might have worked better decades ago when it was commonly understood that at least women would try to save sex until marriage.  In this day and age, it is impossible to assume or expect that everyone, males and females, will both wait to have sex until marriage when there is such a crushing influence to have sex all around them.  Sexuality is prevalent in the media therefore influencing the actions and ideas of many people growing up with this sort of exposure.  What should be happening instead is to teach everyone about contraceptives and abstinence as well.  It is not smart to assume that everyone can and will stay abstinent until marriage because, in the end, some will not ever marry!  Are they supposed to not have sex then?  It is then expected that everyone will get married and that everyone has the same beliefs in marriage.  Sex education should be a general form of information given about everything that can happen with no bias towards one preference or the other.

Thinking of two of my friends from high school, I could relate through them to the Anderson article Lesbian and Gay Adolescents: Social and Developmental Considerations. It was interesting to read that gay men noticed and/or accepted their homosexuality a few years, generally speaking, before lesbians.  It seems that everyone places females as ahead in growth and development physically but in sexual preference, homosexual males are usually the first to discover and accept it.  Two of my friends from high school both came out in their late teens.  I always had a hunch that they both might be gay because of how they sometimes let their preferences slip out.  Throughout high school, both of them dated girls and put up a front because they did not want anyone to know.  It was not like they were trying to change themselves, but they did not want to have to deal with the emotional “baggage” that usually went with coming out in high school.  They wanted to be accepted and not have to worry everyday if someone was going to bully them.  I can’t blame them.  I think most straight people take for granted not being bullied about sexual preference in terms of gender.  The media, as always, is a big influence and being a macho-woman-loving-man seems to be “preferred”.  But then there are movies, TV shows, etc. that put a more positive light on being gay or lesbian.  My friends came out in their late teens before one of my girl friends came out during college.  I had never noticed the correlation before because I honestly would think that it is harder for a man to come out being gay than a woman coming out as a lesbian.

The article On Being “Hardcore” is something that I have heard about multiple times in discussions.  It seems that stereotypes are prevalent in the arguments and how certain ethnic groups are supposed to act a certain way because that is how they are portrayed.  African Americans are easily judged to be from a rough background as well as Latinos, etc.  The media portrays this many times but youth growing up sometimes feel the need to copy it because that is what is popular in the movies, etc.  Especially in the article about the robbery, it makes it seem that the kids did that just because they wanted to and it was expected of them.  What the media doesn’t portray is what is really going on with the youth and just sees their actions and consequences but turns a blind eye to the trigger.

Journal 3

In a Different Voice by Carol Gilligan was a very interesting read.  In class and in the readings, we have been noting all aspects and situations of minorities mainly by racial and ethnic identity.  What people can sometimes forget is that women are often seen as minorities as well. Equality for both minorities and women have, at some points in time and culture, been hard to come by.

In the reading, the author makes distinguishing points about how men and women view morality. There were studies with boys and girls on how they view morality and how they deal with it.  What was found was that males viewed morality logically and used reasoning to come to terms with certain aspects of morality.  Females, on the other hand, were more “sensitive” to morality and used personal experiences or relationships.  This was deemed unsuitable to the male character and was therefore proclaimed a weaker approach to the subject of morality.

It seems that since the beginning of recorded history, it is the male that is seen as dominant over the female.  Even if there was a female power figure, it did not happen without some sort of opposition.  How males approach ideas and situations has long been seen as the “right” way with the female perspective not being favored.  Therefore, it seems that whatever males do is what is widely accepted as the correct way.  This can be attributed to all subject matters, in that females are weaker and to be viewed as different.

In all of my history classes, I always learned about women suffering for some form of equal rights whether it be to vote or to hold some form of power.  This is not unlike the situation of minorities in the racial/ethnic sense.  Women have long been seen as the weaker human specimen and have not been able to hold equal rights with men.  The same goes for minorities.  Even today in a country that prides itself on “equality” is it extremely rampant that not everyone is created exactly equal.  People still hold onto stereotypes about minorities that impacts the way they view them and the same goes for women and men.  While it seems that white men have been more privileged, according to the U.S. history books, there is equality issues even among them.

By viewing people certain ways by grouping them into categories, it is a never ending battle for equality.  Men can have similar and different qualities to women just as minorities can be relatable to people around them.  What is equality (in the U.S.)?  Is it a term defined by men or specifically white men?  What is “equality” to other cultures?  There is not one single answer and that viewpoint, in my opinion, should be accepted.

Journal - Week 2

This was a fascinating read.  It exemplified all of what we assume about immigrants but more of what we don't realize.  What I tend to think of as an immigrant is someone that is Latino or Asian because they are usually a minority wherever I have lived.  And usually I assume that they all come as a family and are here in the U.S. because they wanted a better job, lifestyle, etc.  I am guilty of thinking of people from other cultures and places so lightheartedly and not realizing that there could be a reason that they came over here.  It is sad to think that there are child immigrants that come without their entire families and have to be separated in order to survive and live in a better place.  To not know the culture and the language of a new country is frightening to say the least.  As an adult, it is a scary thought to me.  To a child, it must be a nightmare.

As a child, my mother only spoke French.  She lived in the U.S. but the French culture is strong where she grew up and people mainly only spoke that language.  It was kind of a reverse situation: instead of my mother having to interpret, my grandmother had to do the talking for my mother when conversing with someone who only spoke English.  It is not that my grandparents didn't speak English with her, it was just the culture she was submersed in spoke French.  When my mother was growing up, she grew up different places overseas because my grandfather was in the navy.  She lived in Greece and Italy during her teenage years.  She experienced culture shock from not living in a place as comfortable as the U.S. Greece during the 1970s was going through a rough time and as a U.S. military family, the people of the country were not so welcoming to them.  Not only did my mother have to go through that, but she had to adapt to a totally different way of life; how people greeted each other, what was proper in conversation, what they typically ate for each meal, etc.  It was the same way there as it was in Italy.

Going back to the U.S. after quite some time in Europe took a little getting used to for my mother.  But she remembered what it was like when she was little.  Therefore, it was nothing too difficult to become re accustomed to.  I just think of the children coming from different places in the world and having to immigrate there on their own.  It takes a brave face and a lot of courage to be able to learn a different way of life and trying to fit in to something so strange from what they have previously known.

Journal – Week 1

After reading the articles assigned, I realized that what the authors had stated about race and “privilege” is absolutely true and apparent in all society. In McIntosh’s “White Privilege”, she states that white people grow up learning about racism and how it is supposedly geared primarily towards people of color.  That is what a lot of people believe about racism: it only affects non-whites.  However, white is also a race.  Just like the author states that men have a “natural” privilege over women, so do whites over non-whites, especially in a place such as the United States. 

As a white girl growing up in the South, it does not seem very apparent that this is so.  Around me there were other people of color in the same classroom as me, sitting with me at the lunch table and playing with me during recess.  Nothing seemed strange.  But after reading about Type 1 teachers and how they sometimes are “colorblind” and want to accept all children because underneath their skin they are all the same, they don’t realize that they still single out students.  Reflecting back on my primary school education and what went on in the classroom, this is very evident.  When I lived in the South, I remember some of my teachers paying particular attention to colored students in my class. To the classmates, we knew that the colored students were different, but so were we different from them.  We did not yet understand “white privilege” and therefore did not know that it was happening.  The teachers, all of them white, would take particular care to always use a colored student in a positive example during a lesson.  They had to make sure that they felt included. 

An example of those happenings in the classroom become more evident in other events in life.  Just how the author gives examples of race not effecting being pulled over by a cop, being granted a job/promotion, etc. it is evident that we all are judgmental in some way whether we realize it or not.  Stereotypes exist for every culture and unfortunately, that follows people around in situations.  White people have stereotypes as do blacks, Asians, etc.  When it comes to conversing or being interactive with a person of another race, it is hard to be completely neutral.  This is not necessarily negative or one person’s fault but rather an example of how different cultures are viewed in general.   

As a teacher, it is easier to be best steeped in your own culture and be comfortable with it when teaching students.  A teacher that is comfortable with their own ethnicity is better equipped to handle a classroom full of students from different backgrounds.  In a way, it enables them to be more open to other cultures and to be able to communicate better.  During class, it should not be evident that the teacher is uncomfortable with students of varying backgrounds because it then gets in the way of the students’ learning and understanding and should not be the main focus. We live in a culturally rich world and it is important that individuals at least be acquainted with their culture in order to appreciate the culture of others.