Empowering Education: Critical Teaching for Social Change By Ira Shor

"In a curriculum that encourages, student questioning, the teacher
must avoid, a unilateral transfer of knowledge. She or he helps students' develop
their intellectual and emotional powers to examine their learning
in school, their everyday experience, and the conditions in society. Empowered
students make meaning and act from reflection, instead of
memorizing facts and value, handed to them."
This defines what true learning can develop from. A traditional pedagogy requires students to sit, listen and take in information that is expected to form an impact on the student. When a student can challenge information and teaching in the right way and form connections with material in class they form a better understanding of the curriculum and it will stay with them for a lifetime.  

"School funding is another political dimension of education, because more money has always been invested in the education of upper-class
children and elite collegians than has been spent on students from
lower-income homes and in community colleges, Moreover. testing policies are political choices, whether to use student- centered, multicultural, and portfolio assessments or to use teacher-centered tests or
standardized exams in which women and minorities have traditionally scored lower than men and whites"
This quote from the texts reminds me of the beginning of class when we learned about the culture of power. I believe that the traditional pedagogy was created by the culture of power to help guarantee success for those specific individuals and hold back the other individuals who were not a part of that culture. As time went on, the creation of this culture was forgotten in the sense that it was intended and instead of trying to implement a new pedagogy we became ignorant to the very means that it was intended. To hold back the other cultures and make it harder for them to succeed in the academic and professional world. 

"The educator cannot start with knowledge already organized and proceeded to go out in doses. Anything which can be called a study whether arithmetic, history, geography, or one of the natural sciences must be derived from materials which at the outset fall within the scope of ordinary life experience.
When education is based in theory and practice upon experience, it goes without saying that the organized subject matter of the adult and the specialist cannot
provide the starting point. Nevertheless, it represents the goal toward
which education should continuously move."
This part from the text discusses the traditional pedagogy again and describes the relay of information to be unhelpful to the student when they cannot relate it to their own personal experience. When education holds relevance to the student it is instilled in them in a relatable way in which they value the information to real world practical relevance. 

Here is a video to speaker Donald Clark who describes that there has been more of a change in pedagogy in classrooms in the last 10 years than the last THOUSAND years. 

Albert Einstein

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. 

Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career. I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilised in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow-men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society. (Albert Einstein, 1949, On Education)

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

This author argues that the school system has had problems with determining the realm of achievement for certain individuals within the mathematical and linguistic areas.
It is said in the reading that students who are labeled as "low functioning" are ofter too harshly criticized as such.
Children with disabilities can learn and have a full and rich life. The challenge is not in educating them as much as it is in erasing the negative attitudes and connotations associated with the predetermined beliefs based around "low functioning" and disabled students.
Having more teachers like Shayne Robbins will further progress the achievements of students with disabilities.
In Shayne's class, she had students who were down syndrome and one of which Isaac Johnson who had a wonderful experience of an enriching learning environment through her teachings.
Isaac loved the book "Where the Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak and Shayne created an opportunity to delve into the book through learning with this in mind.
She allowed the students to create their own play surrounding this book and let Isaac be Max. Isaac always made a lot of noise in regard to this book and where other teachers would describe the noise as a distraction to circle time, his teacher described his noises as excited responses to the curriculum.
With teachers like this, we can advance opportunities for students and the silly attitudes that we have for people with disabilities being low functioning or not able to learn and enrich their lives.
Schools have taken a very narrow attitude in determining student intellect.
The belief of a "thoughtful mind" has been through successes in testing in areas of linguistics and mathematics.
When children score low in these areas they are rated by those scores in their capabilities.
When teaching methods are changed, these abilities may thrive and when predetermined marks become the consensus in determining a child's capabilities it is a disservice to the student.
Shayne disregarded the determined ability of the student by that of these tests and instead regarded these tests are a failed attempt at understanding the needs of the student and their other abilities. She took the time to get to know her students and based their curriculum around the individual.
Because she understood that education was not that of conformity and masses but on the individual person.
This to me is a successful teacher.
This video shows "disabled artists" who have created beautiful art pieces and show true innovation and ability.

Promising Practices- Christopher Emdin

During this lecture, Christopher Emdin spoke to us after the workshops we attended.
He told us about the way the pedagogy in schools is not helping the youth of today.
He introduced his idea of hip hop education and called upon people in the audience to come in a circle and start a rap session. He would go on and start eloquently forming rhymes and words that went together and were detailed, flowed and were well articulated. He integrated words I had never heard before but the message was there.
He showed videos of classrooms from the beginning of education to current education and it had not changed at all.
The way that we teach children has been the same since we segregated schools.
it's no wonder that the urban youth doesn't feel compelled to learn- we separated them and told them a long time ago that they weren't allowed to be educated to a certain extent and now we want them to sit down, be quiet and listen to us?
Especially when we have two different ways of listening we cannot expect children to thrive in a schooling system that is rigid, dry and unrewarding.
Christoper said "post secondary education is racially determined" during his speech.
I think this speaks to the way the pedagogy is in school and how it doesn't speak to everyone not just the urban youth. But the big focus was on "hip hop education" and how we do not have a current system that speaks to kids.
This speech reminded me of three readings we have done in class.
The first one is "Why can't she can't she remember that" because the author Terry Miers talks about how implementing an important relevance with kids and characters help form an understanding of what and what not to value in life. If we teach kids young that people of color, men, women, and disabled individuals are all of equal importance for the advancement of our culture it would help the future teachers that are being read these stories to change the pedagogy of their future. By breaking the mold of an old stereotypical pedagogy we can create a new world, as the keynote speaker says.
Another reading this speech reminded me of was The Silenced Dialouge by Lisa Delpit.
She also talks about the importance of addressing the culture of power and the ignorant stereo types places in publications and stories. By reassesing value and importance we reassess and change education. By understanding that all students need to be taught their own way (we are not teaching one culture, we are teaching many) we can change the pedagogy to be more engaging, interesting, and speak to all individuals. 
The third reading that this speech reminded me of was by Ira Shor "Empowering Education: Critical Teaching for Social Change" who additionally talks about changing the current pedagogy. Students should not to be expected to be sponges for mass implemented state regulated information, but for information that will transform their way of thinking. If we teach children something that is true, they will value it and keep it with them forever. If we speak to the children who feel like they've been forgotten from the education system and it's labeling, standardized testing and boring lectures then we can spark a change in a pedagogy that does not currently excite students to their greatest ability.
"The mind is a terrible thing to waste"
This quote is derived from the advertising agency Young & Rubicam and goes back more than four decades. 
I believe the key note speakers point was that race is still a barrier and there is a system of segregation in schools still by catering to the culture of power.
Here is a ted talk by the keynote speaker.

Here is a link to a webpage about old ads about the mind being a terrible thing to waste : link.
Here is a video of someone labeling our current pedagogy as an ingrained DNA of teaching.

Here is a link to helping change the fundamental building blocks.

Literacy with an Attitude

This author argues that the difference in pedagogy between high performing learners and low performing learners is significantly different and that those students are treated differently in the classroom when they are separated by said biases. The reading suggests that the low performing students are declared as such in secondary school and the cycle of bad teaching continues. By tracking students with state tests and assessments and declaring them low performing, the pedagogy of the school system implements different methods of teaching in the school system by the separation of classes. The lower performing students will have teachers who spend most of the class time trying to regain control over their room than helping students learn and implementing new teaching methods to inspire them. The higher performing students are held to an obvious higher standard and it is suggested in this reading that the state assessments could be implemented to track these students and prepare them for jobs of power and further implementing the role of pedagogy we face today.
The title "Literacy with an Attitude" is described by the author as a result of what happens with students who meet the right teacher, pedagogy, and resources and gain the power of knowledge. This enlightenment gives us a new literacy from a student. The power of knowledge becomes something beautiful to a student who may have been tracked and stuck into a cookie cutter assessment. When they gain the right teacher and tools they become a new force- maybe a future teacher or political power who can break the strict and harmful tracking pedagogy that is implemented within the culture of schools.
Comments:
This reading reminded me of the movie we watched in class. Freedom Writers  was a wonderful example of how empowering students could make them feel so excited and energetic to learn new things and implement change.
If we could do this more and more I'm sure there would be a lot of good to come from this.
Here is a video from the real teacher, Erin Gruwell who does a Ted talk on implementing change.

Becoming Something Different -- Fairbanks, Crooks and Arial

Becoming Something Different -- Fairbanks, Crooks and Arial

These authors argue that the pedagogy for an english speaking native is a very particular form of schooling and they followed six girls- the one in the story being Esme who had a difficult time adapting to the culture and schooling.
These authors followed Esme from sixth to eighth grade and documented her struggles as a student.
When she was actually helped in school it was under the wrong reasons.
For example, when she got extra help in school it was because she was identified as an underachiever or someone who was academically a low performer.  This was not to say that she was not smart but the perceptions she formed of herself was in direct relation to the school's approach in schooling her.
By labeling a student as a "low performer" because the pedagogy of the teacher does not translate to the culture of the student, they are hurting the student's perception and confidence in themselves.
Throughout school Esme formed social bonds and eventually started becoming a well performing student. She was eventually enrolled in an honors social studies and even helped other students in her class. She still however described herself as "kind of smart". The cultural norms that were within her family were described as limitations to completing high school and Esme voiced her concern and anxiety about being afforded to attend college. She says that she would not want her parents to be concerned with raising money for college and that it seemed out of her reach. Her parents were working class and had never been to college themselves- she would be the first of her family to enroll. Esme's wishes for herself ended at a high school education and becoming a working class individual as well due to the social strain of obtaining a college degree.
This reading made it apparent that these social conformities exist and that certain pedagogies label students as "low performing" when they should not be labeled at all. At times Esme voiced her frustrations in asking a question and it being answered in a way that did not make any sense to her.
There is no growth in this and during a whole year of schooling Esme did not understand her teacher and was placed to a lower level where she was led by the hand. When she finally understood the schooling at a lower level her frustrations became "the work was too easy" and she started helping others.

Comments: I believe that there is a larger change that should happen in the classroom with people who are assimilating to the English speaking culture. When this happens students should not be placed in a lower level labeled class but the education system should be implementing an area where they are taught in the right context.

This link lists many different methods in supporting ESL students.
Here is an excerpt from the page....

Social, Emotional and Developmental Needs

1. Cultural Awareness

All teachers should take a moment to self-reflect about their own understandings and questions in regard to cultural differences. Take the time to learn about different cultures, gestures, and traditions and celebrate these differences with all of the students in the classroom. Encourage all students to share their culture with classmates.

2. Empathize

Try to imagine how overwhelming it must feel to leave your home country and family members while trying to assimilate, learn, and socialize in a foreign language. Be aware that ESL students will be in culture shock and feel highly alienated for some time. Garner patience and understand that it will take time for ESL students to talk, as a silent period is highly expected. Smile and show support to your best ability.

3. Provide A Comfort Zone

Assess where the ESL student's abilities are in relation to basic survival skills and needs. Assign a friendly and welcoming buddy to assist with common school locations, requirements, and routines. If possible, keep an extra eye out during busy transition times to assure the student gets to the correct location. If possible, find someone in the school, another classmate, parent or volunteer that may speak the student's language. Connecting the student with someone who speaks his/her native language will provide a great deal of comfort.

4. Spotlight Respect For All Cultures

Reaffirm the message about being supportive of one another, kind, understanding and patient. Encourage everyone to openly talk about his or her personal culture, traditions, and languages. Have parties celebrating the different cultures in the class, sharing music, historical family photos, dances, games, food and traditions. Hold discussions about the history of America, immigration, and the value of diversity and differences. Encourage students to share their own stories of immigration, passed down from generation to generation.

5. Community

If parents and/or guardians do not speak English, request an interpreter if possible for all school communication, including parties, conferences and special events. Invite parents to all school community functions to encourage and foster a sense of belonging. If possible, introduce other students and/or families who speak the same language as the ESL student. Sharing cultural commonalities will provide strong bonds for students, parents, and teachers.

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ESL Pedagogy, Methods, and Strategies

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6. Assess Student Informally

Assess ESL students on an informal basis when they first arrive to class, and ongoing during the school year. It is imperative to primarily check for understanding in regard to basic and social needs. Pay attention from the sideline to see if they know numbers, letters, and/or short English phrases. Continuously check for comprehension and growth informally, make notes, and never be afraid to raise the bar and challenge a bit.

7. Don't Discourage Native Language Use

With all good intentions, this is a common mistake teachers can make. ESL students who have a stronger foundation of their native language will have a shorter route to acquiring English. Don't discourage native language use, as this will result in negative feelings about the student's language, culture, and may cause delay in English language acquisition. Provide free time for the ESL student to read and write in their native language.

8. Use Manipulatives, Visuals, Games, Music and Hands-On Activities in the Classroom

According to William Glaser, we learn 80% of what we experience, and 95% of what we teach others. ESL students do exceptionally well when this theory is followed. Involve them in projects that will encourage them to talk as much as possible with their classmates. Some ideas for projects are the following: cooking (following easy directions), art (drawing, painting, sculpture), musical activities (music provides an amazing platform for learning), and acting (for example, charades).

9. Provide Various Opportunities For Talking and Consider Seat Placement

It is very important to consider seat placement in the classroom for the ESL student. All too often, ESL students are seated in the back of the classroom, which leads to a great lack of contribution, listening, and participation. Try and seat the ESL student close to the front, especially with other students who are inviting and enjoy conversation. Provide the most opportunities as possible for talking and listening to others in the class via group work. You will be surprised how much shorter the silent period will end.

10. Communicate with the ESL teacher

Maintain communication with the ESL teacher as much as possible. The sooner both teachers are working together, the quicker the student will learn English. Be open to the ESL teacher's suggestions, let him/her share in the modification of classwork, and invite the ESL teacher into your classroom. If there is a concern, a question, or if you simply need some advice, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Build this open communication bridge together, as both teachers are there to support and help the ESL student succeed.

Teaching After Brown v Board of Education

These speakers argue that the success rate of students with a different ethnicity vary drastically and that there are no real funding or implementations in helping to correct the gap post secondary education creates for the future of our generation. I agreed and disagreed with the speakers. Gloria mentioned that in the past it was feasible for a person to exit high school and go into the workforce or military and have it be financially stable in providing for a family or themselves. Now our culture and economic deficits require us all to achieve a post secondary education. With this being hard for the people in the culture of power I shudder to think what it is like to other people who do not have the opportunities provided to them that they so rightfully deserve. The "No child left behind" policy had to be pulled off the table because it was literally IMPOSSIBLE for anyone to achieve that notion. How sad is that? That a child will not be able to achieve an education because they are either unstimulated, unaccustomed or just from a low income family that cannot provide the child with the schooling they need to succeed. I agree that the pedagogy we have implemented in our culture is very wrong and very hard for anyone to achieve. We should be investing money in our teachers and boards of education to fire those who are NOT implementing change and hiring proactive people to take the place of those who continue to enforce our current flawed pedagogy. I agree with Gloria when she says that we need more people to teach us that are culturally different from the white student and that it would benefit everybody to show that those people should be respected and a model for changing the pedagogy and forming and implementing one that matched a different culture than just the culture of power. 

This blog is a GREAT source of insight into the problem with neoliberalism. 
Click for Blog Link Here!

Service Learning - Real Life Experience of Culture vs Viewing Culture Through Publications

This whole service learning reading got me thinking about how we view a story on the news and think to ourselves "that's so sad" but we cannot even begin to comprehend how much torment and horror some people experience because we get the information second hand. 
When service learning or learning of culture to culture comes from first hand experience- and those people who are experiencing have a small influence to voice and change the perception of such things- it brings about a new level of understanding and helping a different culture or community in need. 
Realization and acknowledging is the first step into creating change. 
This story really caught my attention.
It is about a woman who participated in the Women’s Rights and Community Development in Ghana, where her internship placement was at a Liberian refugee camp. She was a teaching assistant for a kindergarten class and an aide in a classroom of children with disabilities. She interviewed many people and encountered relayed information of, as she states, "the witnessing of brutal deaths of strangers and loved ones, the attempt to escape but discovering yourself on a sinking ship and to finally make it out alive only to find yourself all alone in foreign territory"
Story link is here: Maegan Kae Sunaz

In the Service of What?

These authors Kahne and Westheimer argue that service learning is more complicated than it may seem to certain students and it may take on a different level of importance for many as well. Most teachers and legislators advocate service learning as a part of the curriculum and policy makers have initiated The National and Community Service Act of 1990 and President Clinton's National Service Trust Act of 1993. The reading at one point discusses a teacher, Mr. Johnson, who required his students to involve themselves to participate in community service projects of their own choosing. One student worked in a center for babies whose mothers had high levels of crack cocaine in their bloodstream during pregnancy and another student devoted time to "help the elderly" in which she cleaned her grandmother's house for her. It seems that some students take service learning more seriously than others and that the question "In Service of What" applies to the different methods by which the required time to complete the goal of the service learning or the path that the student takes to achieve this are very varied and some display a lack of true passion or interest in learning how to truly be of service to one's community.
The reading also discusses the problem of service learning in the sense of the only thing a student takes away from it is feeling like they've completed a civic duty and taking pride in themselves and giving a pat on the back to their ego.
The student should focus more on trying to find where they relate to the person who is in need and how they got there to try and discover the underlying problems in the system that has failed them. An example of a story is given with students who devote time to a middle school in a "bad part of town". The students are warned by parents and others that it is dangerous and some parents even said that they did not want their students attending this service learning experience because they thought they would be in an environment that was full of violence, bad behavior and filth. When these students helped the middle school students in the "bad neighborhood", they found them to be friendly, attentive, and well behaved.
They also found the community to not be what was mentioned to them before attending the project. They saw it in a more positive light by experiencing it first hand. This is also an integral part of a service learning experience, to first associate yourself with another person in need in the goal of acknowledging assimilation and to then build off a negative societal connotation and abolish a myth and form your own opinion based on experience.

The following video shows a service learning project where students involved themselves in a community in Detroit where they helped give children "something to do" at a park. One resident of the area who has been there since 1950 said they would benefit from more events like this where the children could play and have fun. Directly helping a whole community in this way is an extremely wonderful thing to do- to experience the community and the people directly and immerse yourself in the culture and helping out children, teens and adults smile and enjoy life.

Media Presentation Project

Linda Christensen- Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us

In this reading, Linda Christensen argues that children grown up with predisposed information within the texts of children's literature, the cartoons within the TV shows they watch and any other form of information that is thrown at them VIA the media. The truth is, even before this class I was aware of the media's power and infiltration to the human psyche. I knew that for most women watching TV commercials that the goal would be to look ageless and skinny and they could conquer the world. After this class I see more directly what Christensen is talking about in regards to children's literature and the prevalence of certain cultures being in power over other ones as depicted in stories. The values mentioned in Cinderella's story are not good ones- A rework of the story to celebrate an African American background for the character remade into Cinder Elly was good at incorporating Cinder Elly's braided hair and native adornments- but as far as changing the values of the main character from winning a man and becoming more well dressed and rich- that was non existent. Our culture has a problem with instilling false values into the minds of children- it has a problem not addressing all of the people within our world and focusing too much on the idea of women being beautiful, fat people being goofy or buffoons, people of different races and culture not holding important significance in the stories. There is a huge problem with children's literature, cartoon shows and role models that children seek after. Christensen's piece discusses all of this and also how students were allowed to have published works expressing the problems they believed prevalent in the culture of media and impact on youths. The following link shows Christensen's new book and a video describing her work.
Teaching for Joy

Alan et al- Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places: addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the primary school.

This author argues the issues with the act of introducing the LGBT community to Primary schools as "taboo". The paper consisted of an analysis of what happens in the classroom when different characters and ideas are introduced through children's books or the personal experiences of their teachers. It suggested that in classrooms we have an undertone of assumption with a heterosexual world. It also speaks of the boundaries of "safe zones" in public schools. It is mentioned that homosexual or heterosexual teachers feel more comfortable expressing themselves and their personal lifestyles in the faculty lounge where student and parent's ears are not present. Once these individuals exit the area their speech becomes more hushed on the controversial matters. It addresses the fear that by introducing something not every parent is comfortable with the repercussions will be back-lashed responses. For example, a father in this reading said something along the lines of "I'm afraid my son will become a fairy". It is also mentioned in this reading Section 283 which is related to the Local Gov't Act of 1988 This amendment stated that an authority figure "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained schools of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". Needless to say this amendment was repealed in 2000 but the fact that it ever existed in the first place proves that a standard set by society can set decades of prejudices in motion. A classroom experiment was preformed with a teacher named Kate who asked the class to perform a task where they addressed the derogatory terms for people of different race and sexual orientation with terms that would make those people prideful of their differences. One boy in her class called it "minging" which is a British slang for "something unsavory or distasteful". Many students responded with relating stories of knowing and accepting family members who were gay. This exercise proved successful by not only addressing the different sexual orientations as an obvious norm but promoting acceptance of it. The following link shows a real life issue of integrating the LGBT community into a school system in Chicago in 2009 with the proposal of a gay-friendly school and the model being pulled to be redesigned to be an even better model in which a zero tolerance mindset would be implemented. Here is the link!

"Why Can't She Remember That?" by Terry Meier

This author Terry Meier argues that the importance of instilling the love for books at the pre school and kindergarten level is immensely relevant to their later successes in the world of education. She explains that in her personal experience many children of color or bilingual learners who have not grown up with many book reading experiences have not had the importance of books instilled into them. When a child has an experience of book reading they are already more engaged because they have read these books and seen the direct real world relationships that mimic the lessons in them. When we constantly teach children about books in which characters of color are not introduced or relate able, they will not form a connection to the story or understand it’s relevance and importance. The reading suggests that teachers should not just ask questions that have obvious answers. This teaching tactic does just one thing- to make the child an “information giver” and make sure that the child is “listening”. The most important part of a child’s education is to make sure that the child is not just listening but they are getting some form of relation to the story, characters, or the relation from the story to their world specifically. This will help the child see the book as a source of value to the vast information that will allow them to understand the world around them. Meier gives examples by using puppets and branching out the lesson to more than just reading a book. It is important that the capacity of learning is beyond just reading text. Many ways include but are not limited to: using a puppet to answer the obvious or "silly" questions, choosing books that may be the old tell tale story but reworking the name and race of the characters so other children will see themselves in the stories, and making sure that if the majority of the class is a different race that the material given to the students will reflect and resonate with them all. 

Questions to ask:

I want to know what were important stories of your childhood and if everyone related to those stories or remembered being read to as a child. I want to ask my classmates what stories stuck with them and taught them a life lesson- if any. My story would probably be "Ma, You're Driving Me Crazy!" - the cover of the book was a little girl with red messy hair and freckles. I have included a photo of the cover in this blog post (top left) and a link to an adorable little girl engaged by the book: HERE.  I would like my classmates to respond to this blog with a link to a book they remember and why it resonated- if any examples arise from this question.

The Silenced Dialougue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children

This author Lisa Delpit argues that the white liberal education system is the uniform structure that teaches a certain formula which is only successful for a particular group of students. She describes a scenario of two different types of lifestyles for two different children and how it translates to learning and succeeding in a classroom setting. Delpit describes one boy being told to get in the tub and another child being posed a question closer to to tune of "are you ready for bed?." She says that these two different ways of being a parent create an authoritative form of direction showing them a passive way of being instructed and a direct way. She claims that this causes the child under the more direct influence of being told what to do as a problem when the liberal form of education that is typically in charge usually asks students to complete tasks or assignments passively. The minority groups do not understand that this is a direction and not a question because it is not how they learned to respect an adult or follow instruction. Delpit also describes the apparent issue of the linguistics of the educational structure by having "one way of reading and writing". She says that students must be taught this way to understand it completely and when they don't it's the fault of the education system and not the student- she says most teachers do not take responsibility for this and they ignore the student who needs help instead of taking initiative and trying to fix the problem at hand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzBbZRtPuUs

Jonathan Kozol - Amazing Grace - Argument

Jonathan Kozol argues that the conditions of the individuals he reports on is detremental to the community and the lives of children. The author paints the picture of a little seven year old boy named Cliffie who has a child like wonder to him although he has seen the detrimental effects of an area stricken by poverty, drug use, disease and prostitution. The same area was seen through the eyes of Alice Washington, an older woman, who experienced a segregated and low poverty life. Eventually she arrived where she resides in the South Bronx where you may have to wait 3 days in a hospital waiting room. The author's main point circles around the unfair determination in which SSI is provided to people and how they declare if you are "sick enough" to receive benefits. Ms. Washington had cancer and three surgeries resulted from it; she tested positive for HIV and became sick enough to not hold down food or even eat at all. SSI did not deem her sick enough to receive help. Kozol meets with Lawrence Mean, a professor of political science at New York University who says "if poor people behaved rationally they would seldom be poor for long in the first place." But the story depicted by the author in regards to Ms. Washington does not describe her as irrational, it describes her as a destitute mother and woman who has not had the benefit of a blessed life through no fault of her own but the failure of the system of government that doesn't provide to people who need it. Cliffie's story is seen through the eyes of a child who has matured beyond his seven years of age by the destruction he has witnessed around him. He smiles at a tree named for lives lost and takes the author to a waste incinerator where he reports the limbs and body parts of other departed people who are burned away. The smell of the incinerator matches the words the boy relays. The sadness of the maturity and happiness of the boy in such a hard situation is apparent and relates to another argument the author states as a main concern for many people in the community- Why are so many children bearing witness to this horrible condition of existence?

The healthcare of the community is minimal to none- with three options to hospitals in the surrounding area one of them is so bad that a nurse at Harlem carries a card in her wallet asking not to be taken to Harlem in a state of emergency. With these conditions in any community there is no growth or room for improvement. The more it is ignored the more we see the next generation graduating to the same dreary fate. Some hold onto hope like Cliffie who is not too young to be victim but lucky enough to have avoided a personal experience but will likely loose his hopeful demeanor with his own demise one day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnLkT-PQZZ4

About Me

My name is Amanda and I started attending RIC last Spring after transferring from CCRI with my Associates in Fine Arts. I was originally going to aim for a BFA but decided having a BS in Art Education would be much more applicable and rewarding to a future career. Art was never a love for me until I was introduced to it through my high school teacher and ever since that senior year in high school I found an outlet that never left me. The inspiration of what my teacher awoke in me made me want to be that same model for someone else. This class has been an eye- opener to the struggles of education that children face and I feel that learning about it will help give teachers new ways to restructure a classroom. I benefit from the in class discussions and readings we have and hope to learn more!