Brown vs Board of Education

"Separate is not Equal"

 

I feel that both the website, article and interview with Tim Wise have the same message incorporated in them, yes there has been tremendous change in this country when it comes to racism, however there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. Brown vs the Board of education is the Supreme Court case that claimed that Separate was not equal and gave people of all races the right to an equal education in the same schools. Although this was a very big step in heading toward the right direction for Racial America there was still so much racism going on in the country. Tim Wise argues that although we have a black President today, there is still racism going on in this country. In the interview wise says

"The proof of racial equity will be that day that people of color can be as mediocre as white folks and still get hired" This really stood out to me because it is completely true. Exceptions are made for white people that would most likely not be made for those of color. I feel that Wise's main point is that yes we do have a black President, and Obama is a very smart, articulate man who happened to graduate from Harvard, but if he had graduated from a different college and had a different style and wasn't as articulate, would be still have became president. What Wise said about meritocracy is completely true, in order to be a Black President in the US Obama had to be the complete opposite of Mediocre, as opposed to some white Presidents we have had. I think the main point in this weeks piece is that although we have come a long way when is comes to racism and segregation, we still have a long way to go.

 

Talking point: The new York times Article made me think a lot about my Service learning, did anybody else feel the same?

"Educators know that it is very difficult to get consistently good results in schools characterized by high concentrations of poverty. The best teachers tend to avoid such schools. Expectations regarding student achievement are frequently much lower, and there are lower levels of parental involvement. These, of course, are the very schools in which so many black and Hispanic children are enrolled." one more point id like to make is that this particular quote, or quotes from the article reminded me of the movie Freedom Writers because this white teacher was put into a poor school with segregation and many students of color that just didn't care about having an education, and she was told by many people to give up on them and that she cant make them want an education but she never gave up and in the end she ended up getting through to them and helping them and bettering their education.

 

"In the Service of What?" - Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

I love this quote from JFK and the fact that the article started out with it, if we could all think like this there would be a lot more change happening in the country.

 

 "Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students." (pg 2) 

This quote is basically saying that students who participate in service learning projects are bettering the lives of others by helping them as well as bettering their education by getting a real life experience of what they are being taught in the classroom. I agree with this quote completely, since I have been doing my service learning I have been able to connect so much more with the readings and discussions that we have in class and I always find myself thinking back on the things I have learned in class while I am at the school. also I have been working one on one with a particular child and I really feel that I am making a difference in his learning, it is such a rewarding feeling to know that I am helping him and possibly bettering his future.



"This experience and others like it, quite common in the literature of service learning, emphasize charity more than change. The experience was structured to promote giving rather than to provide the kind of understanding needed for the development of caring relationships. As a result, the student's description of the event lacked the perspective and input of those she was helping." (pg 7)

This was said after a student wrote about her experience feeding the elderly on Thanksgiving. After reading this I realized that often times when people give to the less fortunate they focus on how it makes them feel, rather than how they are making the people in need feel. Often times you will hear people talk about wanting to help out in a soup kitchen, but most of the time they do it to make themselves feel better not because they actually want to make a difference in somebody else's life. most people will go and serve the people food and make small talk with them for the time being and then leave happy because they did something nice for another person, but after that they will not think about it again, they don't think about how those people are doing a week from then. I think this is why there is not as much change in the world because people do things for others to make themselves feel like a better person.


 "The experiential and interpersonal components of service learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of "otherness" that often separates students-particularly privileged students-from those in need." (pg 8)
This made me thin of  McIntosh and racism this was said after children for a more privileged school went and performed for other children at a less privileged school, before going to the school they were scared and thought the students were going to be rude and mean, and then after going to the school they realized that the students at that school were not much different than them. they only believed bad things about children from that neighborhood because of what their parents told them. the service learning helped to diminish the differences between the two schools and actually brought them together. The parents of these children without even realizing it were being racist and in tainting their children's minds with racist thoughts, the service learning helped to change that.

Talking Point: do you feel that you are making a difference in the children's lives while doing the service learning project?