Diversity, Difference, and Privilege Continued...

The following quotes were taken from The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol.


“The names of the children and their tasks were posted on the wall, an ordinary thing to see in classrooms everywhere. But in this case there was a novel twist: All the jobs the kids were given were described as management positions! They were intended to teach values of responsibility for…jobs” Chapter 4, Page 90-91.
I think it is important for children to have specific jobs in a classroom setting. It teaches students to work together as a community and also as a team. Teachers that use job charts are helping to teach children responsibly, which I think is very important. Learning responsibility helps children grow as individuals because they are learning to take accountability for ones actions. I realize that teaching responsibility will one day help in their careers, but I never thought about using the term management positions. Using the term management gives students an earlier idea about the different positions there are in the workforce. At young ages these educators are teaching their students that hard work will place you higher in the working field.


“It’s a medical school, another child, named Tamika, told me when I asked her why she had applied there. I wanted to be a baby doctor she explained….Tamika went from Robeson to another of those industry-embedded schools, a 97 percent black and Hispanic school called Health Opportunities in which only one in five ninth graders ever reached twelfth grade and from which Tamika dropped out in eleventh grade.” Chapter 4, Page 101.
This quote made me really think about the high dropout rate in schools. I feel like because Tamika and her fellow classmates were required to choose a career at an early age, it might have burnt them out before they even started. I think it’s important for teenagers in high school to start thinking about their future, but any age before that is too early. I remember being a child and going through different phases of wanting to be an artist, to a veterinarian, to an actress. I believe it is important for kids to be kids. We should not pressure them to start thinking seriously what they want to be for the rest of their lives too early or they will get burnt out. Burnt out meaning they will get bored or the opposite be to intense in their schooling before they even start the career, which will result in dropping out like Tamika did.


“Students, she explained, were required to decide on a career path at the end of freshman year and once you do this, your entire program is determined by that choice. Technically, she said, a student could select a college education as a career path, but this option, she reported wasn’t marketed to many students at the school as forcefully as they were the job-related programs.” Chapter 4, Page 102.
This quote really frustrates me! I think that it is so important that college be an option for students, especially in today’s world. I cannot believe that college was not a path that was not marketed more. Was it because this school was located in a poorer community? Even if this is so, there are scholarships and financial aid to help people. I think it is important for every person to have some kind of degree whether it is from a college or a tech program ect. Why would teachers not support the path of college in this school system? Did they think it was not a good option for these teens?

The following quotes were taken from the book American Education, by Joel Spring.


“The refusal of the San Francisco school district to provide special help learning, English to Chinese immigrant children with limited English ability. The Court ruled that for limited-English-speaking students, schools must provide aid in learning in English so that they could participate in learning in English-speaking classrooms.” Chapter 4, Page 107-108.
It is baffling to me, that one time in American History, that school systems in the United States denied aids to immigrants that were trying to learn English. This confuses me because I thought that the government required schools to teach immigrants English because they wanted them to conform into American society, but yet they denied it. Not until the courts made it a rule that all limited-English-speaking students be provided with an aid to learn English. Why did the schools deny it in the first place? How did they expect students to learn English without an aid?



“A major problem for schools is finding teachers who are trained to teach students who have limited English proficiency (LEP).” Chapter 4, Page 109.
I can see where this can be a problem for schools. Teachers are not required to learn different languages for our jobs. If a student were to walk in my classroom and only know the French language, I would be puzzled on what to do, because I do not know any French. I’m not sure if making a requirement for teachers would solve this problem. A possible solution would be hiring aids that spoke the same language as the students learn the English language. But I am not sure what the best solution would be for this problem.



“After the conquest of Northern Mexico, state governments tried to use their school systems to replace the speaking of Spanish with English. In 1856, two years after the Texas legislature established public schools, a law was passed requiring the teaching of English as a subject.” Chapter 4, Page 89.
After reading this quote, I did not realize how far back the controversy of teaching and speaking
English went. I do not think it was right for American courts to change school systems in Mexico. The schools were not even located in the United States. This particular requirement I feel is taking away from the Mexican culture, because we are taking away their native language in their own country. However, I believe even today it is important for any immigrant from any ethnic group, whether they are from Europe, Latin America, or any another country, should all learn to speak English if living in the United States. I believe this because English is our national language, to have success in our society immigrants need to understand others and have a basic knowledge of how to speak our native language. I would expect the opposite too, if an American were to move to Mexico, they too would be expected to learn Spanish.