Talking Point 9: Seeing Color (pg 158-160)

I found this totally wrong, "We must only look at behavior, and since a black child will be more prominent in a white classroom, we must bend over backward to see no color, hear no color, speak no color," and, "We showed respect be completely ignoring black people as black people. Color blindness was the essence of the creed." That was so wrong! Especially the first quote, it's like ignoring them and still basing them on their skin color. Who would think like that? If you wanted to think of them as an equal, then treat them as an equal and don't worry about the color of their skin. Don't act blind and pretend they are not there and try to mix them in. It bothers me to think that someone would think of someone that way. I'm glad the teacher, Paley, did not ignore them and try. Unlike other teachers who thinks that they are doing the right things, but are only blinded to help themselves than the students that needs them the most. I'm glad that in the present time, minds have changed and mostly all races are thought as equal, because if not, I don't think I'd sit by helpless, I'd want to get up and give a hand. Everyone deserves a life where they can be happy and understood and not looked down upon by everyone because of someone who has the power to convince them that what happens is because of a certain race and appearance. That is not the righteousness of life.

Talking Point 8: Teaching Standard English (pg 154-157)

"Cash money," that's what stuck out to me. It was something Jesse Jackson had said. If your English is good, then you'll also get a great career and life. If you used the English language that you normally use at home, like slang, you won't get anywhere with your life. Your essays won't be as good, resumes, petitions, etc. That is why they teach English in your school, to help you improve your English. They also teach you other English dialects, which could help you when you talk to someone with an accent and talks differently than you do. Sometimes what you call slang is how they truly talk. Though when trying to help someone with their English you must also keep their feelings in your mind. "Students must be taught to hold their own voices sacred, to ignore the teachers who have made them feel wrong or bad or stupid." Which means, despite the teacher making them feel like they sound wrong or dumb, they should still love the way they speak. Though a teacher should help their students with respect and not make them feel down. It is a teacher's job to teach, but it is also their job to consider and know how their students are feeling.

Talking Point 7: What Do We Say... (pg 95-96)

The passage I found most important is when she said boys were most likely to be called names than girls and I feel that that is true. "Boys are far more likely to be the object of homophobic name-calling than girls, perhaps sex roles for boys remain, to some extent, more rigidly defined." When a guy acts differently than the usually boy groups in his school, and does girly-type things, they will automatically make fun of him. Since he doesn't do things that they do, he would most likely be a victim to bullies and name-calling. As for girls, it's usually not that bad. Like in the present time, some girls dresses like a guy and/or play sports like a guy. Of course, no one really suspects anything, but when it's a boy doing things girls do, it's automatically suspected. That's just wrong though, because people have their own interests and no one can exactly be the same. He may be gay, but it'd be nice if people can accept him for who he is than what they expect him to be. Causing them to look down on him. If they do want to be equal then they should start by treating gays/lesbians/bisexuals the same way as anyone else. They would be able to understand him/her more and who knows, they may end up always having a great time with him/her.

Talking point 6: Playing with Gender (pg 36-40)

Here in this story, it discusses how boys try to imitate a pregnant woman, while as boys cannot be pregnant. Basically they just act different than how they usually do because of what they experience in reality, like how the boy's mother was pregnant, therefore making him want to play the leading role as a pregnant lady. The author didn't think that this was right, but I don't think she should make a big deal of it. I mean, it was a play and I'm sure the boy knows that even he cannot be pregnant. I do not think it is weird for a boy to think about pregnancy, but if he thinks he can get pregnant, then that is another case. I thought this quote was funny, " Instead, they let go of being human and became sea horses, which allowed them to stay male and keep doing the maternal work that's associated with being female." Meaning, since they cannot be pregnant as a male, they'll be sea horses because male sea horses can get pregnant. Though she also mentioned they knew they cannot get pregnant, but it bothers her so much that she has to explain about being a man and woman. Which I find amusing. Another event is when a boy and a neighboring friend was playing family. He was the mom who fed her, changed her, etc and she was the baby. Of course all the adults stopped this from happening because it's wrong and I suppose I can agree. It may lead to wrong things to happen in the future. It's best to stop thoughts like these while they are developing then when they grow older and it's too late.

Talking Point 5 (pg 28-32)

    The passage I found most interesting was when the children were saying how the president should help the homeless and poverty. I mean whenever I was a child, I always thought the same thing. I grew up thinking that I wanted to make a change and help everyone who was suffering in the world. The injustice that I felt was going around made me so upset that I grew up with a serious attitude. Though I always had many things to say, I’d bottle it up inside me and I’d be too shy to speak up. I’m slowly changing now and I have more confident. “Clinton said he’d take care of the homeless people if he got elected and look what he’s done,” said a second student. “Nothing” (page 30). This is what all presidents do. They tell us stuff we want to hear and stuff that they’ll do and provide us. Though once they are elected, nothing happens. I could agree with what this student said, because it is true.

Talking Point 4 (pg 20-24)

    The questions I have for this article is, did her children, or students change after she has tried to change their point of view on different people? Are they still the same? How did you discipline them when the questions became difficult? I am sure I have plenty of other questions to ask, but I wanted to say something that I agree with on this article, or topic. I agree that we should teach children equality while they are still young and would be gullible to believe in something with a great backed up reason behind it. Nowadays, people take racism as a joke and not many people get offended by the jokes either. Though is that really the case? I’m sure there are kids out there who are still offended and have fears of being different. In the story, she quoted, “We Respect Ourselves and Others,” (page 23) this quote is basically telling us that not only do we have to respect ourselves and people similar to us, but to also respect people who are different, whom we would never get a second thought that we would actually get along with that person. People in my high school are usually straight to criticize without giving a second thought about the feelings of the person they may be hurting. It is a depressing scene. “We must provide each of our children a world where they are truly valued.” (page 24) I really like this quote. It not only goes to one child, but to all. Every child from different ethnic backgrounds are suppose to feel like they are valued, especially from their parents.

Talking point 3 (pg 15-18)

I like the idea of a multicultural education. The passage I found most important was when she was answering a question on how a teacher could teach a multicultural education. "You don't have to fill your head with little details about what other cultural groups eat and dance. You need to take a look at your culture, what your idea of normal is, and realize it is quite limited and is in fact just a reflecting a particular experience." (Page 17). I really liked her answer on that. It is true that when we think of our own culture and another culture, we think that what they do is very different from what we do. Though what they do is really not as different if you really thought about it. Maybe what we do and another culture do can be similar, but just done in a different kind of way, or technique. People have different styles of creating something, but it's no different from still creating a product. It will still come out the same. The fact that a multicultural education is just not based on appearance, but the acts of the individual student, is what I like, because nowadays what people see is what the tend to judge on. Though to call on the student, hear the answer and judge them then, is what I call a great education. We all have different perspectives.

Talking Point 2

The new questions I have after reading this article is, why would she even point out racism and sexism to the kids? They are at an age where they should be carefree and not worry about things like that. They probably wouldn't have thought much about it if no one had said anything. It has been bothering me that they bring it up so much to children. I understand that you want them to grow up knowing the troubles of the world, but if you teach them to always be criticizing something that they would usually overlook, then they will grow up thinking about that every time they start a new book. I am against racism, because I truly feel that everyone should be looked upon as an equal. The only thing different about people to me, is our personality. No one lives the same, no one truly acts the same, and no one can really think the same. Though teaching this to elementary kids is wrong, if it was middle school students, or even high school students, then I would understand. "But if a child can be shown how to detect racism and sexism in a book, the child can proceed to transfer the perception to wider areas." (Page 10). They are thinking about teaching child to look for racism and sexism in books that they read. To be honest, I think that would pretty amazing, but I still disagree with them having a child learn how to detect it at such a young age. I mean it is good, but they'll be living with it all their life, reading many books and thinking, that's racist, that's sexist. I don't think children should worry about things like that. Maybe when they are older, then sure, but at that age, I'm against it.

Talking points 1

In the article written by, Linda Christensen, I found it surprising when she brought up sexism in the cartoons. I have actually never thought about it, but after reading this, I remembered quite a few cartoons that did have some disturbing illustrations. For example, Roger’s Rabbit, Jessica has a beautiful figure, and many girls nowadays would want her figure. “Turning off the cartoons doesn’t stop the sexism and rascism.”(page 7) Meaning, after seeing the image of Jessica, even after banning them from watching the cartoon, they will still try to imitate the look they have in their heads. Along with sexism, there is racism. Where she claims that, “Kenneth noticed  that people of color and poor people are either absent or servants to the rich, white, pretty people.”(page 5) Even after being desegregated, in the cartoons, it still portrays segregation as colored people are still lowly people in the cartoons and poor people are still looked down upon the rich. I feel that we should be looked upon as equal in cartoons too, not just in reality. “There should be more woman of color who play the leads in these white-on-white wedding cake tales,”(page 6). I totally agree with her. As it would make more people feel equal to other races than feel intimidated by a race that they would think is more superior.