Kozol - Amazing Grace

 

Central Focus:

    - Children with disadvantages

    - Challenges due to poverty, violence, inadequate housing, and a failing education system.

    - Children are systematically denied the resources and opportunities needed to thrive, further perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

Key Issues:

    - Living conditions

        - Constant leaks

        - Infestations

        - Lack of basic amenities like heat and hot water

    - Inadequate education

        - Overcrowded and underfunded schools struggle to provide quality education

    - Exposure to violence and drugs

        - Gang violence

        - Drug abuse

        - Crime 

            *impacting children's safety and well-being

    - Limited healthcare access

        - Scarce proper healthcare leaving children vulnerable to preventable illnesses and health complications

    - Invisible and neglect

        - Society largely ignores the neglect of these children

Themes

    - Injustice and inequality

    - Resilience and hope

    - Importance of education

    - Moral responsibility

Delpit, The Culture of Power and Lake Role Play

Delpit, The Culture of Power 5 points

1. Issues of power are enacted in classroom.

    - Students have no control over the teacher

        - What the teacher teaches

        - How they "hold" their classroom (appearance): seating charts

 

        - Teachers own bias or favoritism

    - Teachers have little to no control over administrators

        - Curriculum is instituted by the school administration/school department

            - If teachers stray from curriculum 

    - School has such an innate, built in hierarchy, it’s very hard to picture or come up with a way of how to change the power structure. 

From the text: “Children from middle-class homes tend to do better in school than those from non-middle-class homes because the culture of the school is based on the culture of the upper and middle classes - of those in power” (page 25)

2. There are codes or rules for participating in power; that is culture of power.

    - There’s privilege and hierarchy in participating in power. There is Structure to power, such as, speaking ability, dressing ability, and writing ability. If you don’t meet the exact criteria you’re less likely to gain power.

Quote from text:  “The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power. This means that success in institutions - schools, workplaces, and so on - is predicated upon acquisition of the culture of those who are in power.” pg.25 

3. The rules of the culture of power are a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power.

    - Those who have power are the ones that dictate how our culture functions

    - They reason behind this logic is money = power

        - “The upper and middle class sent their children to school with all accoutrements of the culture of power” but other kinds of cultures who are also in those schools are predicted to have a harder time succeeding

        - “Those with power are frequently least aware - or at least willing to acknowledge - its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its existence.”

4. If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquiring power easier.

    - We have to teach the rules and codes of power and help students value and preserve their home culture at the same time 

    - We should not assume someone knows the culture of power, explaining it directly makes it easier to understand

    - With Wind-Wolf, if he knew “explicitly” the rules of the classroom, he may have a better experience in school. If someone told him exactly what was expected in the COP, things might have gone smoother.

Quote from the text: “Members of any culture transmit information implicitly to co-members.”

5. Those with power are frequently least aware - or least willing to acknowledge - its existence. Those less power are often most aware of its existences.

    - Because one is unaware or unwilling to acknowledge their privilege they unknowingly act in ways that reaffirm just how privileged they are to those who don't have it  
        - Often I see those with more privilege come to my home and look around and say it's cute in a condescending way. I personally have done it myself and caught myself and apologized.
    - Nonwhite educators are being left out of the conversation concerning how to best educate children of color

        - In elementary school, I had no nonwhite educators and maybe a few children of color. When I went into middle school it was a completely different environment and I felt bad for the nonwhite teachers because there weren't that many nonwhite teachers and there was a great minority at my school.

Johnson - Privilege, Power, and Difference & S.C.W.A.A.M.P.

 

Alan Johnson - Privilege, Power, and Difference & S.C.W.A.A.M.P.“

Privilege, Power, and Difference

"We live in a society that attaches privilege to being white and male and heterosexual regardless of your social class. And if people in privileged groups don't include themselves in the solution, the default is to leave it to the lower and working classes to do it on their own. But these groups can't do it on their own, because they don't have the power to change entrenched systems of privilege by themselves." (Johnson 10).

Changing the social "norms" cannot be the burden of only those apart of the minority. Those who have power need to help those who lack power in order to make change.

"We can't talk about it if we can't use the words." (Johnson 11).

"So instead of talking about the racism and sexism that plague people's lives, people talk about "diversity" and "tolerance" and "appreciating difference". Those are good things to talk about, but they're not the same as the isms and the trouble they're connected to." (Johnson 12).

By avoiding or sugarcoating terms such as racism, sexism, oppression, and male privilege, it reduces the importance of the issues and also limits people from achieving the justice and change they constantly strive for.

"People don't want to look because they don't want to know what it has to do with them and how doing something about it might change not only the world, but themselves." (Johnson 12).

People with power or privilege often do not want to help those without power or privilege because it could change how others perceive them, they do not like change, and/or they are scared to change power structures.

Use the link below to access the article "Privilege, Power, and Difference" by Alan Johnson:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uMSd-j8Uqvm3T0HW0EdUoUUpXNSvE2zZ/view?pli=1

S.C.W.A.A.M.P.

In our society, the following ideas are value in our society. The S stands for straightness. Straightness involves traditional values and gender rules. Often those that are not straight have a lack of support when "coming out" and hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community are committed. The C stands for christianity. Christianity involves how important the Bible and scriptures are valued in our society. Some examples are christian holidays being put on a pedestal, laws against LGBTQ+ people. marriage rights on who can or cannot be married. The W stands for whiteness. Whiteness involves how those with a different skin tone aren't valued as much in our society. Often people of color's accomplishments are overlooked and are discriminated against. The first A stands for americanness. Americanness involves having pride for country and how hard citizenship is to get. Green cards have a very extensive process and as an American, one must do the pledge of allegiance and are expected to stand for the flag. The second A stands for able bodiedness. This involves having less job opportunities, being assumed as "less capable", and having excessive attention for minor problems but lack of attention for bigger problems. The M stands for maleness. Maleness involves men being assumed in higher roles such as doctors, lawyers, and judges. Men are also often not held accountable for their actions. Women are often questioned first such as "what were you wearing, were you leading him on, or how much were you drinking?" Finally, the P stands for property ownership. This means that having more money equals more opportunities, such as better education. Also, more expensive products influence impressions, for example, cars, outfits, and electronics.

Points To Share

Each person is going to have a bias on individual topics. It is important to keep an open mind, listen to others, not jump on people's words, and give time to truly think about your responses. Not every male is going to believe that being a male comes with privilege and not every person that is white is going to discriminate. Those with power and privilege just need to remember that their power and privilege can be useful for those who lack power and privilege.

About me

Above: Above is a picture of me playing lacrosse 

for my club lacrosse team. I have been 

playing lacrosse since I was little and 

now I am a student athlete on the 

women's lacrosse team here at 

Rhode Island College.

Above: My mom and I are extremely close and 

             decided to go to Nantucket for a girls

             trip to see some old friends of hers.

Above: My family took a trip to Marco Island, Florida 

in December. My brother all the way to the 

left has autism so this trip was very much out 

of his comfort zone. This trip was so fun and 

helped my siblings and I grow closer.

Above: My puppies are my entire world. 

             The one on the left is Ana and 

             the one on the right is Lily. They 

             are both rescues from the south.

Above: My entire family had the opportunity to celebrate my  grandfathers 90th birthday. He couldn't stop smiling.