Cited: Miller, James S. Acting Out Culture: Reading And Writing. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.
Cited: Miller, James S. Acting Out Culture: Reading And Writing. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.
Where we come from is a huge part of shaping the development of our character and personality. In reading Lasch’s chapter, “Racial Politics in New York,” it reminded me of Peggy McIntosh’s hypothetical line of social justice. In sum, she argues that race, along with many other factors (race, class, gender, religion, sexuality), can serve as determinate of what side of the line you are on. Whites tend to be on the top with privilege and blacks on the bottom with disadvantage. Thus, one could conclude that two different developments of character and personality arise. Due to the environment that whites are in, they possess qualities of success, opportunity, and good education. Whereas blacks, due to the environments they are exposed to are qualities of crime, violence, and poor education. Therefore, I could argue that although Sleeper is correct when he argues that New York should stress the problem of class divisions as opposed to racial divisions, I believe those class divisions result from racial inequality. However, within that state, although there is social inequality, Lasch would defend that we must commit to being respecting, self-reliant, and responsible, or else we truly have no chance in equalizing or advancing our democratic society. With a heavy emphasis on inequality comes to the challenge of how to approach education and what should be taught in the classroom. Lasch argues that with the…
This chapter follows Dalton through his first academic experiences where he is introduced to the concept of race through personal experiences. In his first classroom experience his mother was given the choice of enrolling him in a predominantly Black, Puerto Rican, or Chinese class. He describes the fact that his mother was given the choice of which class he should join be stating, "The choices our race gave us were made quite explicit- by a government institution, no less."…
In “A Model for High Schools” by David S. Broder, the author discusses the prejudice that many students face throughout their lives and within the education system. In particular, Broder discusses high school dropouts as they take part in debates over the sections of the writings of Plato and Malcolm X and states, “The oddity is that these teenagers were all high school dropouts, kids with attitude problems, behavioral problems, drug or alcohol problems, kids whose teachers and families had often marked them off as hopeless losers” (Broder, para. 2). Here, Broder accentuates the prejudice that high school drop outs face throughout their education from their teachers and families alike. To those around them, these students are nothing more than…
Kearney, Jim. Class Lecture. American Literature and Composition. Marquette University High School in Milwaukee, WI. 10 December 2009.…
Cited: Lamott, Anne. “Overture: lily Pads.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. 7th ed. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2007.…
Critical Race Studies is useful in making the connections on how the different systems come in to play in affecting this population. The matter CRS is a useful tool in examining illegal immigration is that with the lenses of it individuals are able to examine more in depth how this group gets discriminated and it is factors. CRS uses voices of color which allows individuals narratives to be heard that otherwise would not be. Moreover, it allows for individuals to get the full story not the single story that they get from the society and media. Like the Adichie video The Danger of a Single Story, she only knew the stories that she had heard from others but had never ventured into hearing the stories from the actual individuals that she would…
In the article, Cooperative Learning The Power to Transform Race Relations by Dr. Spencer Kagan it talks about the study Dr. Kagan performed with 2,000 students. The teachers were split into two groups, one group would teach in traditional methods way and the second group would use cooperative learning. “When taught with traditional methods in which students do not work with others, in the first few years of school, students are color-blind. That is, they choose their friends, even best friends, without regarding race” (Kagan, 2006, p. 53). I observe this all the time in my placements. When I was in the pre-school or kindergarten, the race or ethnicity did not matter to the students. However, in the second and third grade the students are more…
Cited: Brooks, Gwendolyn. "We Real Cool." Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. 793. Print.…
In the story “The Necklace,” Mathilde is a lower class woman who has a fine house, kind husband, and enough to make one happy. However, she is not content with her life and continually wants more: “She had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved; she felt that she was made for them. She longed so eagerly to charm, to be desired, to be wildly attractive and sought after” (Maupassant 1). The American Dream reminds people not to settle. When people like Mathilde are unhappy with a good life situation, they expect too much from the American Dream, taking the idea of not settling almost too far. It is impossible to be satisfied when the desire for more is always in your sights. For almost all Americans, this flaw has become a part of their identity, as it coincides with the American Dream. LeAlan and Lloyd notice this flaw as well, though they see it from a slightly different perspective. When LeAlan talks about the privileged suburban kids and struggling ghetto kids, relating to how their identities differ because of their upbringings, he says, “But then sometimes the suburban kid doesn’t have to work and gets everything he wants. That’s why you see a lot more suicides in the suburban area-because the kid doesn’t have to work for nothing and he just goes crazy” (Jones and Newman 43). This quote holds truth, people with different backgrounds and experiences may have opposing identities and views on the American Dream. Yet in disagreement, whether a suburban kid or a ghetto kid, as LeAlan calls them, has an easy or hard upbringing, they will all have to work in order to reach their goals. In the case of both texts, once these goals are reached, especially for those who did not need to work as hard to reach them, an unsatisfied part of their identity will ask for more.…
For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that structure and direct it” (Desmond and Emirbayer 43) has really had an impact on me.…
- to find myself enrolled in a Maryland public school. The school’s teachers and counselors collaborated to get to the pathology of my academic challenges. I was reborn. I was more than another black boy from a disadvantaged background or the Lower 9th Ward. I was Christian. I was no longer invisible. This was my first introduction to democracy - to having an identity. This is when I learned that my academic progress may have been stunned by Attention Deficit Disorder. Eager for growth, looking for a positive outcome, I was willing to accept anything that rationalize my lackluster grades. Anything that justified my existence; anything that signified a greater purpose in life. I graduated from high school, but I was rejected from every single college I applied to with the exception of one. In my mind, college was the thing that validated something that eluded me until I opened that letter - relative worth. Yet the majority of the kids I grew up with - still displaced - finishing high school in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, and Lord knows where else weren’t going to college. Like me, they were combating the inherited ignorance such as “College isn’t for everyone.” The other shock-jock phrases would include “Some people are simply good with their hands” and “The military is a good option.” It’s not that these statements are false as much as they are remnants of…
Racism (or Racist): An attitude, action, or practice of an individual or institution, backed by societal power, that undermines human and legal rights or economic opportunities of people because of specific physical characteristics, such as skin color. (Derman-Spark, 2010).…
"I can't help it, that I am Black." "Why can't people except me the way I am?" "Do you want me to go hang myself?" Surprised that someone would say this things still in this century, well don't be because race will always be there. These are the things that were said by a floor mate of mine name Shelly. She is so nice but she is always upset because this guy name Mike makes remarks about her and she can't say or do anything to change how he feels. She got drunk last night and she said everything that was on her mind to Mike and all he did was walk away. The reason I told you about Shelly because she is only one of those many people who go through torcher from other people. I thought that what Mike was doing to Shelly was unfair because she and her family has worked so hard to be where they are today. To my knowledge, Shelly's parents are probably middle class and are fitting in the society. On the other hand, Mike's parents are in high class level and I think that is why he is the way he is towards Blacks. He once told me that he has never lived in the same area as a Black family.…
Does being born connected to a certain race, class and culture define you as a person and the way you should or shouldn’t live your life. Does being in a certain class make you have class? In the paper I plan to give examples of how race, class and culture affected the African American culture.…
Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, teacher Jane Elliott knew she had to do something. Riceville, Iowa, the town in which she lived, was entirely homogeneous and, as a result, she realized that her students had no firsthand experience with discrimination. A Class Divided illustrates Elliott's spirited experiment and the life-altering impact it had on her students.…