Other People's Children Cultural Conflict in the Classroom- Lucas McElroy

 Other People's Children

Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

By: Lisa Delpit

        Extended Comments- While reading Other People's Children by Lisa Delpit I decided to look into some of my other peers blogs on this text. I decided to comment on Brian Crawford's post, which talked about the argument that Delpit made during the text. I completely agree with Brian's view of the argument, as Delpit broke down the cultural conflict into different ways that the classroom education is only good for certain people. Delpit discusses that teachers must be able to respect and teach about all the different cultures, as prejudice, stereotypes, and assumptions often breed ineffective education. The majority of the educators in America are from the middle class and are white, when 40% of the students in America today are black. The people who are in control of education today, who decide what is in the curriculum are also majority white and from middle to upper class. The curriculum in America has not changed to keep up with what is happening in America today. 

            Comments- When I was reading "Other's People Children the first thing that came to my mind was the curriculum in America. In school, students only learn about how the United States has been affected in the past. Students have to go out of their way to learn about other countries and their history. For example, in High School it is required to take a U.S. History class but students have to sign up to take a class like World History, where you learn how the United States has caused conflict in lots of other countries throughout history. Having a parent who is an educator, I also know that the curriculum in America very rarely changes, as it is hard to do so. Students should know what the current news, not just things that happened 300 years ago. In the United States, education has always been a state function, which means that it is not legal for the Department of Education to supervise or change the curriculum. This means that the in each state every educator would have to agree on what needs to be added into the education system. This speaks volumes on the values that American educators have. Changing the curriculum requires making hard choices, as many teachers are not willing to budge on their individual specializations. 

           Hyperlink- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/why-schools-should-teach-the-curriculum-of-the-future-not-the-past/

Privilege Power and Difference 1-3

   Privilege Power and Difference

By: Alan Johnson

        I chose my topic to be based on quotes throughout the three chapters I read. There were a lot of quotes that stood out to me but I chose to hone in on three.  

        The first quote is "Can't we all just get along" (Johnson 1). This quote was said by Rodney King who was a victim of police brutality in Los Angeles California. During his court date he said these words that have stuck through history. It is a valid point to make. If everyone in the country just got along and did not take race, gender, or sexual orientation into account when meeting a person then our country would improve greatly. Unfortunately some children are taught at a young age that some people are better than others. Which is not true and sets the child up for failure in the future. Children need to be taught that you are not better than anyone else and need that to be sustained in their home life as well.

Rodney King in court where he stated the famous words "Can't we all just get along"

        The second quote I chose was, "No Matter what privileged group you belong to, if you want to understand the problem of privilege and difference, the first stumbling block is usually the idea of privilege itself" (Johnson 23). This quote could not be more true. Most people do not really have an idea of what privilege actually is. If more people can be educated on what privilege is then we can get into the problems of privilege.

Graphic on how people get head starts who have privilege

            My final quote is, "Men generally assume that when they go out in public, they won't be sexually harassed or assaulted, and if they are victimized, they won't be asked to explain what they were doing there" (Johnson 33). The privilege of men, especially out in public, is much more than that of women. For instance, like in the quote women are more commonly to be victims of sexual assault. Women should have the same privilege as men to go out in public and mind their own business without any fears of being a victim. A stat from rainn.org states that 1 in 6 women have experienced an attempted rape or sexual assault or actually been raped or sexually assaulted. Which is much more than that of men.

        Throughout the reading we were given examples of privilege. Most occurrences in privilege are directed at straight white males. Due to their lack of problems in every day life due to the privilege they inherit. How could we instead narrow down the "straight white male" generalization to a more proper term or phrase.

Link: https://www.rainn.org/statistics/victims-sexual-violence

First Post

                                        

Introduction to Me (Lucas McElroy)

                                     

                       Over break I spent time in the batting cages getting ready for the season.

 

For the last two years I have worked at my local grocery store in the produce department.

I also go to the gym a lot just to stay in shape and ready for baseball.

My whole life I have been a New England sports fan. Especially the Red Sox and Patriots, but I will also root for the Bruins and Celtics.