I think one thing that really resonated with me throughout this class was the fact that education has historically been used as a tool for maintaining class order and that education has not really transformed much (in essence). Schools still look to elevate the majority group and those in the minority group they view as "gifted, skilled" or exceptions from their population, while tracking the "lesser" population into service/agricultural industries. This reality affirms that in America, (equal) education has never been a right afforded to all and is, historically, a privilege. Today, despite public education being mandated, education still functions as a privilege within the perception of a right: everyone can have the "right" to education but only some will have the privilege to access good education, and even more good facilities for access. I think until we stop believing that education is a privilege within a perceived right, equal education will not exist.
Brie mentioned in class that Vermont once redistributed money in the state so that all students would be allocated the same funds for the education and I think this is one step in the right direction for really equalizing education in terms of funding (teacher/faculty preparation/ curricula is a whole other).
7/19
One thing I focused on in today's discussion was the idea of cultural reform and how that deeply impacts students and their learning. Maria mentioned the case of American Indians and their struggle with academic achievement in standard American education. Dana did a great job speaking to the historical violence and mistreatment of natives in American and how that is directly seen in today's classroom. I also wanted to note that part of cultural reform (as I gathered it) is the inclusion and value of cultural substance in academic classrooms and curriculum. In terms of American Indians, they lack that precise cultural value in the classroom. Most people, including natives, have no public figures who look, speak, act, and think like them to look up to. Instead they have romanticized histories that perpetuate antiquated ideologies. In fact the most prominent and well known public images of American Indians are team mascots and food/product labels (normalized (invisible) violence).
And American Indian students are not only in isolated schools on reservations, many reside in urban public schools, including BPS. Part of cultural reform includes valuing successful natives like Momaday, Silko, Alexie, etc. in the classroom. This is similar to using images of Dr. King, Pres. Obama, even Oprah in urban schools.
On top of this, I think it is also very important to include minority-minorities' histories in curriculum as part of multicultural education, despite the demographic make-up of a classroom. I know of teachers who teach predominantly black students and use only cultural knowledge that pertains to black history and culture. This creates the same void and ignorance that standard white-American education does. If we go on by what we may think our classroom looks like (reiterating the idea of perception) we miss the mark and many times will exclude students we literally can't see (perceive).
Cultural reform is negligent if it only includes the inclusion of those easily recognized majority-minority groups, but I suspect those who propose cultural reform are already aware of this.
sorry this wasn't just a reflection!
Well Done Francini.
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