race

"Teachers are in an ideal position... to attempt to get all of the issues on the table in order to initiate true dialogue. This can only be done, however, by seeking out those whose perspectives may differ most, be learning to give their words complete attention, by understanding one's own power, even if that power stems merely from being in the majority..."

this quote by Lisa Delpit really caught my attention and psyched me up for the chapter. I have often said that teachers have such a huge impression on children especially in middle and high school just when they are beginning to understand who they are and where they stand in our society. In many cases we as educators spend more awake hours with our children then any other person, including the parent. So therefore we must concentrate fully on what opinions we share with our students and the topics we discuss.

I was so interested in this chapter because coming from a conservative high school education i sometimes felt that teachers left their own personal views guide their teaching and their interactions with their students. Yet I had one teacher, who was very liberal, that the first day of school she flat out told us her politics, who she was voting for in the democratic primary and he views on the world. Even though she declared her politics, every student regardless of where they sat on the political spectrum appreciated her and looked up to her. She made an effort to always show both sides, to point out holes in someone else's argument whether she agreed with them or not and more than anything she made her classroom a safe place to talk about anything. As a future educator, she is the model for the sort of teacher I want to be. Yet I always find myself asking if it is a good idea to blatantly share my political views with my students.

It amazed me in a school that was so centered on being multicultural could not actively talk about race. Their classroom was what society looked like and they spent so much time insuring that there would be black and latino students that succeed by didn't think about talking about racial implications.

Gay youth

The take-away point I got from the article on homosexual adolescents is that they need someone in their corner battling for them. Or at least someone who is open and willing to listen and reserve judgment. This is the perfect time for teachers to step in. As we have discussed before this is a time where students look more to their teachers and don't necessarily see their teacher as the enemy.

I had a teacher in high school that worked so hard to combat things that were mentioned in the article. We had a Day of Silence where students could choose not to speak for a day to symbolize the silence that LGBT individuals feel in our society. She tried to bring in a gay litigator to show exactly what the text said gay adolescents are lacking, "another difficulty that gay and lesbian teenagers have in dealing with their homosexuality in adaptive ways in the abscence of postivtive role models. Gay and lesbian teens do not see the same diversity of adults with whom to identify as heterosexual adolscents do," (340). It's hard because I know not everyone agrees with homosexuality but these students need real help. In high school, we also had a White Ribbon day symbolizing that LGBT teens have the highest suicide rate of any teenage group. So this is more than just people's position on what some consider a moral matter; in many cases this is between life and death.

The interesting thing about the Stacy Lee article is the locally we aren’t seeing Asian Americans as so silent. With the recent immigration of many Hmong people there has been a lot of local opposition to it, especially in more rural communities. A lot of this has to do with schools in small communities that have never really encountered ELL students are now suddenly faced with ELL students and a lot of budget constraints.

I have seen personally seen the effects of the stereotype of Asian Americans as the smart kid. Last year the Valedictorian at South Division High School was Hmong. Yet while he was giving his speech at graduation, people were heckling him on stage and were telling him “to learn English or get off the stage.” This poor kid was being held down by both stereotypes of Asian-Americans, that he was smart and that he had also just gotten off the boat.