Sunday, March 27, 2016

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.

5 comments:

  1. Kelsey, I think the quotes you included in your blog are extremely significant. The third quote that you included infuriates me!!!!!! The fact that there are principles out there who do not care about actually helping students learn. This one in particular just cared about teachers coming to work and teaching their lessons, but neglects to acknowledge the importance of making sure students are obtaining the skills and information.

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  2. I really enjoyed how you connected this reading to Delpit and McIntosh. I found myself making connections to the other readings as well. I also agree with the fact that the money is sometimes more important than the students in some people's eyes. Nice job :)

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  3. You chose really good quotes to talk about. I especially like the last one you included about the children getting "dumber" each year. Children don't get dumber as the years go by; the teachers just begin to care less. Great job describing the main ideas.

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  4. Kelsey, great job with your blog post, as I seen you used very similar quotes. Great interpretation of quotes from the text and bringing them to light with connections made to other readings. Your picture also says a lot more than is there.

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  5. I completely agree with your points to share. I had trouble with this until I read others posts. Also, great picture. It really is eye opening when you read "We blame society but we are society."

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