Literacy with an Attitude

Patrick Finn
Quotes

"We all participate in this social system as if it were natural, the way things were meant to be." 

Here Finn is relating to Delpit and the rules and codes of power. He is saying that we all do something that is natural because we were taught that is the way they are supposed to be. We do not go against these social norms we have because we do not want to be looked at as a “rule breaker”. This is related to Delpit because she says that there is a set of rules that everyone knows and follows without questioning why we have them.

"When rich children get empowering education nothing changes.  But when working-class children get empowering education you get literacy with an attitude." 

Empowering education “leads to powerful literacy” which will then lead to power and authority. When rich children receive this education nothing changes because they are all ready in power with being higher in the social class. When working-class children get this education they take as much as they can in and explore it.  As Finn describes it “literacy with an attitude” is the working-class children taking this empowering education opportunity and learning what it truly is about. 

"Teachers made derogatory remarks regarding the students. A principal was reported to have said to a new teacher 'Just do your best. If they learn to add and subtract, that's a bonus. If not, don't worry about it.' A second grade teacher said the children were 'getting dumber every year'”. 

This quote is demonstrating how schools do not care for the students education and that they are just there for the money. To have a principal saying not to worry is unbelievable because they should be the ones aiding the teachers in the direction to get the students to learn. Instead the teachers are disrespecting the students and where they come from. If they are from a lower-class they deserve the same education has a higher class student. Every child has a dream they want to fulfill and teachers should be the guide to reaching it. 

Points to share:

In this read I feel like I could connect to Delipt and the “rules and codes of power” , along with McIntosh’s “white privilege”. I really struggled at first with the reading but when I looked at other post I could follow along better.

The American Life 562/563

THE AMERICAN LIFE EPISODES 562 AND 563
"Separate and Unequal" by: Bob Herbert 
Extended comments

This week I chose to use Kate’s post as the center of my post.

Kate started her blog off with a few vocabulary words and their definitions, I believe that this is a great way to start off a blog because it showed that you learned some new words to use in conversations and that you had to do a little research on the topic and its meaning. 

The first quote she used was "One mother asked why residents did not get to vote on letting in Normandy kids..." -562 

I agree with her that when I heard this piece I was reminded of Kozol and his institution/individual acts. The example she uses about Mott have and comparing it to the radio broadcast I agree have the same issue, the lower class did not have a say in if they wanted something or not. The idea of segregation is still around, there are people who think they have the more rights and power than someone else. 

The next quote she used was "...how crazy white kids are or how much freedom they get to be crazy." -563

This quote reminded me of SCHWAAMP, and how in today’s culture we value whiteness. Like Kate said, we associate having a good time to being white such as “white wasted”. The example of how the students of the college flashed their butts at the opposing team to taunt the is a perfect fit for how being white is valued. No one questioned the act because they were white, if they were of a different race there would of been a fight. 

Points to share:

I agree with Kate about how the two radio shows and the article by Bob Herbert having a lot of great connections to the text we have done in class. I can also relate to there being a lot of Johnson in the radio shows, such as how “we wont talk about it (race)”, and how Kiana wasn’t afraid to question the white privilege and say the words. She stepped up and asked questions along to admitting to feelings and talking about things.

In The Service Of What?

Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer
Reflection

While reading Kahne and Westheimer’s piece I was able to connect it to Kristof’s article and when he talks about Rick Goff. The quote “educators and legislators alike maintain that service learning can improve the community and invigorate the classroom, providing educational experiences for students at all levels of schooling.” demonstrates what we as students participating in service learning projects should be doing while we take part in this. When it comes to the different types of help the article did a great job of giving examples to demonstrate the two types. I believe each type of help had its benefits, but I think Mr. Johnson’s class had more of a benefit over Ms. Adam’s class. Mr. Johnson’s class was able to pick where they wanted to do their service learning and be able to explore the different lifestyles than they are accustomed to. 
Service learning is a way for students or an individual to give back and help their community. This is an opportunity where someone gets to explore outside of what they are used to, figure more out about themselves, and learn about those who are less fortunate than themselves. This opportunity can be an eye opener for many people if they are unaware of what is going on around them. 
What really caught my attention is when Kahne and Westheimer talk about how doing service learning we can “promote students' self-esteem,...develop higher-order thinking skills,...make use of multiple abilities, and...provide authentic learning experiences.” This was an attention grabber because I never really took a second to think about how the service learning I am doing can truly impact a student. 

Points to share: 

I think it is a great idea for students to have to do a service learning project in high school. This is the time when students will be able to understand what is going on and be more mature to walk into different settings. Yes, it can be a huge pain and another added task but it can really open someones eyes and make them see the bigger issues out there.