Blog Post #5

 Reflection:

When reading The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies by Christine Sleeter, I was reminded of my experience in school. I have realized in the past five years that my history education has been very white-washed. I agree with Sleeter that American education is very Euro-centered despite efforts for changes to be made. According to the author, the mainstream curricula "continue to disconnect racism in the past from racism today, and to frame perpetrators of racism as a few bad individuals rather than a system of oppression, and challenges to racism as actions of heroic individuals rather than organized struggle (2)." Something I have been thinking about since high school is how the only heroic figures we learned about from the civil rights movement were Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa parks. I question this because we did not learn about historical movements such as the Black Panthers or figures such as Malcom X. I think that this is censoring history. All of the civil rights movement should be taught in American history classes, even parts that people see as "controversial." The same thing goes for other topics that get sugar coated such as the genocide of Native Americans or the extreme horrors of slavery. 

pictured above is a poster promoting the Black Panther Party's "Free Breakfast for Children Program." This is an example of history left out of curriculum that should be taught. Did you know that this program was the first to provide hungry students with free lunches?

Linked below is an article explaining how MLK's legacy has been watered-down in classrooms. It makes another important point that MLK, while his legacy is taught in classrooms- a lot of important information is left out--changing the narrative.

https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/mlks-legacy-in-the-classroom-truncated-and-tidied-up/2018/04

Reflection/Questions/Comments:

My question for the class is: why do you think that schools teach lesson on MLK instead of Malcom X? Personally, I think that educators and curriculum designers are scared to teach about any form of protest that is not completely peaceful. They also want to only idolize "perfect" historical figures. Educators are sometimes afraid to add nuance to history. This might be my experience because I have had mostly white teachers in my K-12 education. Another example is how teachers of mine have glazed over or not even mentioned the fact that figures like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. I would like to see a more honest approach to America's past and present in History curriculum. 

Blog #4

"Shifting the Paradigm from Deficit Oriented Schools to Asset Based Models: Why Leaders Need to Promote an Asset Orientation in our Schools" by Renkly and Bertolini argues that schools should use an asset based model rather than a deficit based model to improve educational development. Traditional deficit based models focus on what students can't do. This tends to put the blame on students if they're struggling. For students, this correlates behavior with intelligence and self-worth. For these reasons, deficit based thinking does not support growth. Asset based models instead focus on what students CAN achieve. Focusing on students' strengths and competencies promotes growth and positive development. Renkly and Bertolini explain that "The asset model promotes the success of every student by sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning through collaboration, trust, and a personalized learning environment with high expectations for students (24).'" An asset based model helps students grow and enjoy their classroom environment.

Reflection:

I enjoyed reading this article. I like how short and sweet it is. Asset/deficit based models have given a name and clear explanation to a concept I already had floating around in my head. My question for the class is: Can you think of a time in your education where you've experienced asset based or deficit based teaching? I've had a lot of great teachers over the years and I'd say they generally used asset based models although I can't think of specific examples. 

Shifting the Paradigm

Blog #3

What Counts as Education Policy? by Jean Anyon in Quotes

Link to the article: What Counts as Education Policy?

Quote 1: 

"Job, wage, housing, tax, and transportation policies maintain minority poverty in urban neighborhoods, and thereby create environments that overwhelm the potential of educational policy to create systemic, sustained improvements in the schools (66)."

In this quote, Anyon explains why educational policy changes do not help student achievement in urban areas. She argues that no matter what policies are made to improve education, if students' environment outside of school is unfit, then they will lose potential. This quote is important because it is the main argument of the text. Anyon argues that educational policy has failed in urban areas because more significant public policy changes are needed. 

Quote 2:

"Education policy has not addressed the neighborhood poverty that surrounds and invades urban schools with low expectations and cynicism. Education policy has not addressed the unemployment and joblessness of families who will have few if any resources for the further education of their children, even if they excel in K–12 classes. And education policy — even in response to state financial challenges —has not addressed the political economy that largely determines low levels of city district funding (69-70)."

In this quote, Anyon explains why educational policy has failed urban schools. She is saying that poverty affects the morale of communities, which leads to low expectations and cynicism in adults and children; poor families can lack the necessary resources to improve their children's education or send them to college, and low levels of funding affect the quality of education more than any policy can. This quote is important because it supports her argument. Showing where educational policy falls short explains why public policy changes are needed.

Quote 3:

"To remove economic barriers to school quality and consequence, we can legislate a significantly higher living wage; we can create jobs in cities that offer career ladders and prepare low-income residents to fill them. And, like a number of European countries, we can tax wealthy families and corporations to pay for these and other investments. We should enforce federal anti-discrimination measures to integrate segregated housing and create public transit routes so low-income urban residents without cars are not denied access to jobs in the suburbs (83)."

In this quote, Anyon lists public policy changes that would bring money and resources to poor neighborhoods, therefore, improving education and raising levels of student achievement in affected areas. This quote is important because it is a call to action. Since Anyon is highlighting a problem, she has to provide a solution to make her argument worthwhile. 

Reflection:

I found this essay to be a bit frustrating because Jean Anyon has such a valid argument, but our government and education system will not adapt to her way of thinking. Honestly, while reading this essay, it felt depressing how obviously correct Anyon is because her argument should not even be a point that has to be made. Affluent neighborhoods have higher rates of student success because they are affluent (obviously!!). Instead of realizing the actual problem, the people in power blame teachers and students and implement policies that do nothing or even make teaching harder.