Carlson

Nicole Pickering

Gayness, Multicultural, Education and Community

Dennis Carlson

1. ''Being yourself' celebrates individualism and the autonomy of individuals to construct  their own lives according to their own values and achieve goals they set for themselves- a  deep fundamental value in American culture."

     1. Everyone needs to be thereselves in life. The sad thing is that not everybody is. Many people want to be like others whether it is how the other person is acting, dressing, speaking, etc. A lot of people need to hide in a corner because they are afraid to express who they really are. Expressing who you really are is what is important.

     2. Being yourself can be hard. People tend to judge and that is what makes matters worse. Take school for example. I remember being in school and seeing people always get picked on because of what they were doing, how they acted, or even how the dressed. There is so much unnecessary drama.

     3. As life goes on you will always have that unnecessary drama. You will always have some people that judge others. But as life goes on, it will get easier. People just need to accept the fact that no one is perfect. What they have to do is express who they are and they need to be themselves. Your life depends on how you act. So if you act like someone you are not, your life will not turn out the way you want it to be.

2. "A number of postmodern theorists have made the point that the public school  curriculum is becoming less important and relevant to young people as they have access to broad array of information, discourses, and cultural 'texts' outside of school."

     1. The media affects people everywhere. Because of the media people's ideas change, thoughts change, and appearances change too. I'm beginning to believe that the media is taking over education and learning. People are getting things off the internet and instead of doing their schoolwork, they go to websites and get the information and learn things that way. A child learns so much in school. They meet new people, learn about their peers, and they accept people for who they are. But with the media getting involved, things end up turning into a bad situation. Kids no longer need to be taught in school about homosexuality, race, or gender because the media is having a bad influence on it and kids tend to listen to the media more often.

3. "Since homosexuals were therefore ineffective as teachers, Waller encouraged administration to be on the lookout for "latent homosexuals" when they are hiring teachers."

     1. This quote made me a little upset because being a teacher should not be based on sexuality. It should not be based on anything for that matter. No one should be judged on sexuality, race, gender, etc.

     2. Being someone different does not affect how someone teaches kids. The only thing that should matter is how the teacher is teaching the material that should be learned. If they are not doing it correctly or appropriately then there should be something recognized and done about it. But sexuality should definitely not make a difference in teaching. 

     3. I understand where this quote comes from though. Some parents may not want their children asking them why there teacher does this, is this, or things like that. It takes time for children to actually understand what is going on. It takes awhile for them to comprehend the meaning of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is a big deal when it is taken the wrong way. No one should be judged on who they are and who they want to be. People need to accept the fact that not everyone is the same. It does not hurt anyone to be different. People definitely need to be more open about things like this. If everyone accepted others for who they are and no one was a judgmental person, maybe things could be different in the world today.

Christensen

Nicole Pickering
Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us
Linda Christensen

1) Many students don't want to believe that they have been manipulated by children's media or advertising. No one wants to admit that they've been "handled" by the media.
     1. Many people want to believe that the media has no power over them and that they are making their own choices. But people don't even realize that they are being "handled" by the media. For example, the media provides society with images of girls and their set roles in life, and people tend to wish to look like said girls. A lot of people's self images have been formed because of being exposed by TV and many do not even realize it. Another example is how Disney movies affect children. Little kids watch these movies and think that they are going to have a "fairy-tale life". It is difficult for children to interpret the real meaning of life.

2) They noticed the absence of mothers, the wickedness of stepmothers.
     1. This quote is 100% true. In a lot of movies either the mother has passed away, is never present, and a rude stepmother fills in her place. But why? In a lot of Disney movies, like Cinderella, Aladdin, and Pocahontas, for example, mothers are always absent. Some people may believe that the reason for this is because it shows that a happy family doesn't have to consist of a mother, father, and a child and that a family can be one parent and a child, such as in Pocahontas, or one parents and many siblings, such as in The Little Mermaid. Many children are noticing things like this today. And they tend to question people as to why it is like that.

3) Children's cartoons, movies, and literature are perhaps the most influential genre "read".
     1. I completely agree with this statement. Young people tend to watch these movies over and over again and they read stories over and over again. Children often watch these movies with their mother or father. The mother and father are also the ones who read the stories to their kids. Children feel safe when they are watching or reading with their parents or an older sibling. Stereotypes can take place very easily by watching/reading these kinds of movies/stories. It makes it easier for people to critique them too. The impact of racism also develops earlier. Children are misinformed with information of people different from themselves. So they tend to keep that information stored in the back of their mind and when they get into a certain situation they remember what they saw in the movie or read in a story and automatically think of something wrong.

This piece of work is very strong. It was very easy to read and understand too. Cartoons have a long lasting effect on people and they can also have a very convincing effect. The effect is not always bad, but it is not always good either. Movies provide children with racism, an absence of mothers, and stereotypes. They may not realize it the first time they watch the movie or read a story, but once they watch/read it over and over again something will eventually hit them. People have to accept the fact that sometimes the media is taking control of them because of all the information that they are providing.

Terry Meier

Nicole Pickering
Why Can't She Remember That?
Terry Meier

1. Despite their diverse backgrounds, all children bring to school rich linguistic abilities acquired through social interaction in their homes and communities.
     1) I completely agree with this quote. I do believe that each and every child in a classroom has different backgrounds and abilities and when they bring those abilities to school, other students will most likely learn about them. This could have to do with languages, cultures, rituals, stories, cultural beliefs, etc. Depending on what background this child is from, they could either learn faster or slower than other children. They also could talk more or less than others. Another thing that diverse backgrounds has shown to effect children is how they behave. Students in class could react differently to a teachers' question or statement depending on how they get treated at home.

2. Children who don't have many early book reading experiences learn their cultural lessons through interactions with family and other community members, from oral stores, and from other observations of other people's behaviors.
     1) Each child learns differently. Some may learn things slow, some fast, and some at an average pace. Children learn a lot from their family and from seeing people's behaviors around the world. If something happens a lot, children tend not to forget what happened and they then pick up on it and begin to do whatever it was themselves. For example, parents or grandparents usually have a lot of stories to tell. So, when they tell their children or grandchildren these stories and they become interested, they start to learn something. Children are good at having a memory of things. So if someone was telling a story and they had a little dance to go along with it, there will be a greater chance the child will remember the story.

3. If books are not compelling to children, then no amount of time spent on rhyming games, phonemic awareness exercises, or any other kind of literacy activity will result in their becoming proficient and empowered readers.
     1) I completely agree with this statement. It is very important for a child to understand what they are reading. If a child does not know how to read then he/she will not be able to move forward in school. It is very important to have a child connect with the text they are being provided with. If a child is able to make a connection then they understand what is really going on. Children can read books that they can relate to their own lives, a friend's life, a relative's life, etc. You also need to know how to teach reading behaviors explicitly.  I think it is true that more children would be able to participate more in talking about the books if teachers asked open ended questions. Lastly, you have to help make the book come alive. Every person loves to read a good book.


From reading this text I learned a lot. Children really do need the most attention when they are at such a young age. If they are not provided with excitement then they will not want to do anything. They have to learn how to read and write when they are so young and it is not that easy to do when you are not having fun. Children love to have fun and if teachers can make it so learning and fun go together then it will be that much easier for the children to understand and connect to anything that they learn.

McIntosh

Nicole Pickering
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack  
Peggy McIntosh

1) "They may say they will work to improve women’s status, in the society, the
university, or the curriculum, but they can’t or won’t support the idea of lessening men".
     1. I believe this means that men realize what status they hold in society and they know how much power they have. Men want to hold onto that power and never lose it. I think that if they lose that power they will feel like they lost a whole part of them. They are used to being the higher power to women. They are used to having control. Some men will help women get to their level of power, but there will always be that 1% more power that the male will have. If men's power were ever to lessen, men would do revolt against it to prevent it from happening. Some men may not even realize how privileged they are. They may not realize they are holding back the underprivileged.


2) "I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to
recognize male privilege".
     1. White privilege and male privilege is an everyday thing. It is so common in the world, people are used to it and that is why is it so easy not to recognize it. People just tend to ignore it. This happens to people every single day and by now people do not even realize that there is a difference in racism and privilege. Since whites and males have had most of the control and power for so long, people do not feel the need to fight back. Everyone is so used to what goes on in the world, some do not even realize that what is going on is racism. The same thing goes for male privilege. Males have had control for so long now. Women are so used to it, they have not really decided to take a stand.

3) “As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege which puts me at an advantage.”
1. This quote helped me realize the difference between white privilege and racism. It helped me understand that many people in the world know what racism is because it is pretty much an every day thing. What people do not understand is white privilege. White people are not taught about white privilege. People just tend to ignore white privilege and recognize racism.


From reading this piece I learned a lot about white privilege, male privilege, and racism. I learned that racism is one of the most recognized things in the world today. Privilege is tended to be ignored. This was an easy piece to read, which was good.