Combined reflection 7/21 and 7/26

I really appreciated our discussion on classicism because it brought to our attention issues in school outside of the scope of race. I agree there are many problems with racism in America, but I also think we are moving much more towards a society that segregates completely based on class. This is a major point of contention for me because there are so many forms of oppression being forced upon people of low socio-economic status. Not only is there a smaller amount of un-related capital available, but adequate services are being denied all across the country. Talking specifically about nutrition, so many of our medical problems are tied to a lack of quality food for people who live in poorer areas. Food deserts, promotion of cheap fast food and processed food, lack of education around farming and what good nutrition looks like, and a poor system of transporting and growing healthy food near those poor neighborhoods. Not only are these people miseducated, but they are going to school hungry and not operating on the same level as people with more econmic means; these factors contribute to school success.


7/26
Talking about segregation in school and seperate but equal raised a lot of questions for me. In America, what are the goals of our education system? Do we have a certain kind of society we want and therefore need to train children to function in, or do we want it to be more fluid? When we seperate people of different needs, what are we denying them from interacting with people who are different from them? Which is more valuable, learning from people who are different than you, or learning in the way that it is most relevant to you as an individual. In our group discussion we brought up a great point: you should not be taking all these theories we are learning about and applying to different groups of learners so seriously that you label the students in your room. Johnny is not a "black, inner-city, boy with adhd. Instead, we as teachers should use our knowledge as a toolbelt and apply them to Johnny after getting to know him as a person. It is dangerous for us to be learning about all these misconceptions about different groups of people and working towards fixing the gaps by teaching them differently; part of that needs to happen but we also need to keep in mind our classrooms are filled with individuals who may not fit the category we are placing them in. I am a boy, but I did not learn the same way the boys in the Newkirk article learned and I loved reading books and have no skill in math or science. There will be many children like me who you cannot assume things about their learning or personalilty.