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To start, here's the entry from the Oxford English Dictionary:
{dag}1. The process of nourishing or rearing a child or young person, an animal. Obs.
b. spec. [after Fr.] The rearing of silkworms; concr., a number of silkworms reared at one time.
2. The process of ‘bringing up’ (young persons); the manner in which a person has been ‘brought up’; with reference to social station, kind of manners and habits acquired, calling or employment prepared for, etc. Obs. exc. with notion of 3.
3. The systematic instruction, schooling or training given to the young in preparation for the work of life; by extension, similar instruction or training obtained in adult age. Also, the whole course of scholastic instruction which a person has received. Often with limiting words denoting the nature or the predominant subject of the instruction or kind of life for which it prepares, as classical, legal, medical, technical, commercial, art education.
b. The training of animals.
c. fig.
4. [From sense 3, influenced by sense 2 and sometimes by the quasi-etymological notion ‘drawing out’.] Culture or development of powers, formation of character, as contrasted with the imparting of mere knowledge or skill. Often with limiting word, as intellectual, moral, physical.
5. attrib. and Comb.
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03/25/2010, New York Times: "Obama Calls for Major Change in Education Law."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/education/14child.html?sq=education&st=cse&scp=2&pagewanted=all
Analysis: The Obama administration plans to create a balance between annual test requirements and the academic growth of each student. Administration officials have said that under the new proposals, "states would be required to intervene even in seemingly high-performing schools in affluent districts where test scores and other indicators identify groups of students who are languishing." Seemingly high-performing schools definitely have groups of students who are falling behind and being overshadowed and overlooked and it is a relief that the Obama administration has deemed this an issue that must be dealt with.
The proposed solution is to divide the nation’s public schools into groups of different performing levels to focus on widening achievement gaps. Although it seems to be a promising proposal to focus on improving “failing and struggling” schools, that according to graduation rates, will mainly consist of black and Latino students, may be discouraging for these certain individuals. Although this may not be intended, I believe segregation will inevitably occur, and by depriving students, especially younger children, of diversity in their classrooms, are we reinforcing the racial hierarchy and stereotypes that exist today?
Obama is attempting to tackle a variety of issues through the overhaul of No Child Left Behind. Not only is he measuring the achievement gaps between poor and affluent students, he sees the harmful effects of teaching to the test and realizes that the test and meeting requirements are not the most important aspects of a child’s education. Hopefully this will help broaden the curriculum to allow teachers to pass knowledge, not only about math and reading, but also about ethnic studies and the development of our cultures.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
03/26/2010, The Boston Globe: “Terrorism threat spurs new college programs”
ReplyDeletehttp://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/03/25/new_college_programs_focus_on_terrorism_threat/?page=full
Analysis: After September 11, a small international terrorism class at the University of Massachusetts Lowell set the path for a certificate program in Security Management and Homeland Security put in place in 2003. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, “jobs in public safety, security management, law enforcement, or homeland security… will grow faster than all other occupations in the next decade due to the threat of terrorism.” In a country where racism continues to be an elusive issue to tackle, diversity in these specific spaces is crucial to how the law will be implemented and enforced.
The chairwoman of the school’s criminal justice department explained the program as bolstering and supplementing what students have already been taught in homeland security studies. She supports the program by reasoning, “It’s relevant to criminal justice. For example, when police stop a car, they look for certain things. Now that they’re sensitized to terrorism and security issues, the way they do a routine search has changed.” The Department of Homeland Security and police officers both have the reputation of targeting people and particular groups. If police stop a car, depending on who that person is and what type of education they’ve received socially or in their family, the “certain things” they look for could be race and socioeconomic status. Now after a terrorist attack, the routine search has changed to target different groups and look for things associated with that group of people. Events such as September 11 create stereotypes that people who are unaware may easily fall into and accept as their own beliefs. This is all the more reason for classes offered in the Security Management and Homeland Security to address issues of race and socioeconomic status in dealing with and profiling “suspicious” people and activity.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete03/27/2010, The Atlantic: “The Case Against Bilingual Education,” May 1998
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/past/issues/98may/biling.htm
Analysis: Bilingual education became legally funded in 1968 when an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 intended to remove the language barrier to an equal education. The plan was to fully literate immigrant children, of specifically Mexican parents, to stay on the same track as English-speaking students in the classroom. Although bilingual programs were created with great intentions, in practice, many end up teaching in the native language rather than focusing on teaching children English in three years. Some experts may believe that a solid foundation in native-language literacy would best prepare students for learning in English, but it is unrealistic to assume that school-aged children will ever have a solid foundation, even in their own first language.
According to a theory presented by the director emeritus of the Intercultural Development Research Association and an associate professor of educational administration at the University of Texas, “Mexican-American children in the United states are so different from “majority” children that they must be given bilingual and bicultural instruction in order to achieve academic success.” I do not understand how educators were convinced of the validity of this statement, but I also could not understand how people believed white and black men were so biologically different that one group was meant to be enslaved and the other the master. By separating non-English-speaking children as needing special attention, we are suppressing the immigrant group from learning at the same pace as citizens. This begins a vicious cycle where if children are placed in English as Second Language (ESL) classes at a young age, they may continue to supplement their education with this program and have a handicap when applying and studying in college if they get in. I believe we need to advocate improving the education provided for immigrant children, but current bilingual programs do not seem to be the best solution.
3/28/2010:
ReplyDeleteMarch 4th Protest/Day of Action image for posters and flyers: "Protect your EDUCATION!--Edcuation is a Human Right--Resist, Mobilize, Transform--March 4, 2010"
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4275662202_9c942427fb.jpg
Analysis: The usage of the keyword "education" in a form of protest like this attempt, to me, is a direct effort to decolonize the hierarchical structure that has long dominated our available education system. It is a call for resistance to the people to fight for what education should mean for the people and to fight for the promise of it as a right that should be accessible to all. Thus, in this contex, it is a entire decolonial project within itself. Whether we succeed in achieving the goals of this cause is a long standing struggle, but the fact that education is placed in the context as a human right issue is an effort to decolonize what education means and decolonize the stratified structure that has long been running it through dominance of money and power--and thus intricately linked to race and class and the inclusion and exclusion of different groups.
3/28/2010:
ReplyDeleteThe New York Times: (Article) Education: "Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html
Analysis: This article, appearing in the New York Times under the category of "Education" reports on how the Texas Board of "Education" approved a revised social studies curriculum that will blatantly favor conservative views of history and economics in new textbooks. These new revisions will emphasize the superiority of American capitalism, bring Republican political arguments into positive light, and questions historical divisions between the church and state, amongst other conservative changes to the standards of "education". This decision was made possible because the board of "education" there consisted of only Republicans voting 10 to 5 for the changes. Furthermore, it is disturbing to know that the extremely conservative board members have influence in much larger scales than just Texas because Texas is one of the largest text-book buyers in the nation. Thus, their influence comes from the possession of wealth and investment in a profit-driven capitalist system, breeding power and influence on such decisions from their wealth, instead of influence branching from sustantial real knowledge of the people's history and struggles and from a deeper understanding of how education can benefit later generations or how it can detrimentally affect the population if taught from a conservative dominant narrative only. To me, this board of "education" consisting of conservatives has the wealth, privilege, and power to revise the information presented to the nation in order to sway it toward what benefits their positions, and thus they abuse their wealth and power to further colonize education. They are not working as a collective whole to figure out what education the people really need to empower themselves and what builds a good foundation for socially conscious youths--they are not working toward decolonization of the humanities--rather they are colonizing education through privileges of wealth and power and to secure the perpetuation of this system.
According to the Oxford Dictionary listed above, one of the definition of "education" is: "The process of nourishing or rearing a child or young person, an animal." Another states: "Culture or development of powers, formation of character, as contrasted with the imparting of mere knowledge or skill. Often with limiting word, as intellectual, moral, physical." With these definitions, it is safe to say "education", even a public one, is a kind of social rearing and ingraining of knowledge. Thus, how we frame the information we teach our youths will mold them into the people they later will become as a society in whole. So what this board of "education" needs to do before making such overwhelmingly influential decisions is to question, am I (as a privileged decision maker with power and wealth) providing a well-rounded, multi-perspective, and multicultural education to my later generations to mold them into more open-minded, socially conscious, and compassionate individuals of society who will think not just about how they themselves can individually climb this social ladder in this dog-eat-dog capistalist world, but rather can step into the collective and care about community and other struggling brothers and sisters of different race and groups all around this nation and this world? And of course, I'm assuming they are probably not asking themselves these kinds of questions before revising what kind of information they will standardize as "education" and then force down the throats of our later youths to induce the regurgitation of this information again and again in a perpetual colonized system.
3/28/2010:
ReplyDeleteSan Francisco Examiner: (Article) Local: "Ethnic studies seen as smart move despite deficit"
(Quote from article with keyword: "Advocates also said ethnic studies courses are proven to 'steer youth away from truancy and the juvenile justice system by making their educational experience more personal and relevant.'"
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Ethnic-studies-seen-as-smart-move-despite-deficit-85167247.html
Analysis: This is one of the most critical projects that I believe is the most effective in decolonizing our minds, the humans, and humanities. It is the decolonization of our society through education--which is the foundation of rearing people and instilling values and knowledge. By moving away from teaching just from the lens and frames of Euro-centric history and beliefs, to include the histories and realities of multicultural groups is really what our history is about. It is what our youths should be learning because it is the truth to not exclude Native American struggles, African American history, Asian American voices, Mexican American and other Hispanic American stories, etc. Ethnic Studies taught in the lower education cirriculum shouldn't just be a suggestion, I so firmly believe that it IS the FOUNDATION of a multi-angled reality that will not only ground youths in their own history, something relevant to their families' struggles and to their own conditions, it will empower them to not reject themselves and most of all not reject one another as people who are part of this struggle with them too. It will make them think more critically in multi-angled way, piecing together the different stories, histories, and realities, versus understanding just one dominant story that dictates and overpowers all. I strongly believe it would help mold future generations into more socially conscious and sensitive folks, able to relate and empathize on deeper levels and to question privileges in society and question this stratified hierarchy that most people today just want to climb without questioning the forces behind it. Thus, news of a pilot Ethnic Studies program like this in the lower grades--something fought long and hard for by teachers, parents, staff, and community members who are aware of the need for such a more truthful education--really keeps me hopeful. I really believe reframing the way we teach education to young kids, starting as early as kindergarten, needs to happen to move away from this colonized mindset and colonized form of education system. Everyone, and especially every teacher and board of "education" people need to be aware of the affects of such a colonized system and the need to revise it to make it more inclusive, multi-perspective, and true. Only then will it really be possible to take this decolonizing project to its fruitation and actually have possitive widespread affects in decolonizing our minds and later generations' minds...who really are the future of our nation and part of this world's future.
3/28/2010:
ReplyDeleteEthnic Studies 100: Quote from Professor Greg Choy's lecture on August Wilson's "Fences":
"Because we all know, education is the path to liberation."
Analysis: In referring to "education as the path to liberation" that we all know and accept as true, Professor Choy positions this keyword as a door to equal opportunities and social mobility. According to online dictionary, on of the difinitions of liberation is "the act or fact of gaining equal rights or full social or economic opportunities for a particular group." So if "education" leads to liberation, then education should not be a privilege reserved for certain groups, but rather it is a fundamental social and economical human right, and if this keyword is denied to any group in such a context, then the rights to resistance and protest cannot be denied. Education as a social mobility tool and a mental liberation tool can help decolonize the humans/ities if it is consciously taught not from a dominant perspective as well as works everyday to be accessible to all. However, if education is kept restricted to only privileged groups of certain race, class, or gender (which throughout history it has been), then education can be yet another tool exploited to stratify and oppress different groups by including and excluding who is "educated" and who is not. This structure then places these stratified categories on the social economic ladder where privileges, wealth, and power will be perpetually kept to certain groups. If we want education to be the path of liberation for our society, we have to work everyday to make it accessible to all groups and to question and decolonize the knowledge taught in "education".
3/28/2010:
ReplyDeleteThe White House webpage: Education: "Progress; Guiding Principles; Focus on Early Childhood Education; Reform and Invest in K-12 Education; Restore America's Leadership in Higher Education"
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education
Analysis: The keyword "education" in this context serves as a set of goals that the White House and the Obama Administration seek to fulfill and reform to help the public. This webpage, under the section "Education", lays out Obama's aspirations, intentions, and projects to confront issues surrounding this keyword in our nation. The Obama administration emphasizes providing a "world-class" education and writes, "Providing a high-quality education for all children is critical to America’s economic future. Our nation’s economic competitiveness and the path to the American Dream depend on providing every child with an education that will enable them to succeed in a global economy that is predicated on knowledge and innovation. President Obama is committed to providing every child access to a complete and competitive education, from cradle through career." And although I agree on the understanding that education is a key factor in the nation's economic future and competitiveness in the world economy, etc., etc., I am critical of these education projects as being mainly motivated by economic competitiveness on a global scale to mainain America's top status. I wished that such an admistration with a socially conscious president like Obama would emphasize more on the importance of education as working toward a decolonial mindset where equality is not so out of the picture and where community engagement and collective consciousness and deeper understanding of different histories and cultures is just as important to building our nation and society as economic stability and global competition. Because if we are just building our generations to be practical money making individuals to help bring economic prosperity to the nation and economic stability to our lives, life would be nicer and easier, yes...but without a social consciousness emphasized in education, then the colonial mindset that often dictates our minds and social/political landscape will never change.
03/28/2010, The Clarion Ledger: “Mississippi schools seek waivers for bigger classes”
ReplyDeletehttp://www.clarionledger.com/article/20100326/NEWS/3260353/1001/newsfrnt/Larger-school-classes-sought
Analysis: The budget cuts have hit home for everyone. One way Mississippi school districts are dealing with limited funding is to exceed class sizes and the student to teach ratio. According to the article, “some have raised concerns about whether standards are being lowered,” and rightly so. By increasing class sizes, not only are we making the role of the educator more challenging, but we are decreasing the quality of the education provided.
Higher education is also in risk of losing the quality of instruction because GSIs, like teachers, are unable to give individual attention to the students. The huge responsibility bestowed upon the teachers to educate their students adequately is not matched with the authority needed. Although instructors may believe that with budget cuts, instruction is bound to be impacted, I believe that effective implementation of funds into programs that directly contribute to the academic development of students can combat the lack of funding schools across the board are dealing with.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
2/25/10 Professor Gilian Hart on a lecture about Antonio Gramsci quotes Gramsci, "Don't let your schooling get in the way of your education" -Gramsci
ReplyDeleteGramsci Reader
Analysis: When professor Hart was doing this segment of the course on Gramsci and she delivered this quote it really appealed to me; it is also open to immense interpretation. The impression I got from this quote by Gramsci was one of cautionary advise. One never really thinks of school as an ill-doer but always as an ally, a guide for steering the naive into safe places of common sense and complicity. The problem with education however is that it conditions its pupils, its oftentimes blind followers to reflect and reproduce the same ideals and ideologies that its government needs and depends on in order to remain in control. To convince the masses that the actions of government are done to, at some point, in some way bring about benefits for the masses themselves is too keep the masses under control and compliant with government exploits. Gramsci, problematizes schooling as potentially obstructive to education by comprising biases in many forms. Gramsci cautions to his readers to remain aware of forms and practices of government and any beaucratic system where impositions of their ideals and the limits often imposed in terms of censorship and economic liberalism maintain its power structure.
Additionally, Gramsci raises another critical issue that further changes the way we view education- as a bigger umberella term not interchangeable with school(ing) but somewhat separate from it. Schooling, according to one interpretation of Gramsci, is a smaller fraction of an overall education. Education is so much more than academia and canonized books. It's being aware and conscious- to be empowered and enabled to think critically as oppose to robotic human storages of colonized and planned out knowledge.
3/4/10 "Save My Education-Save Public Education! Keep the Doors Open!" Image/sticker from the California Faculty Association
ReplyDeletewww.calfac.org
Analysis: the interpretations of this text seem less metaphorical and more literal. If public and higher education are not protected, then institutions of higher education especially, will be literally closed to a great majority of many populations, national and international alike as colleges and universities are the sites of foreign students cross cultural exchanges. Aside from the international student issue, the problem that will occur in the united states should public and higher education suffer is almost immeasurable. Those students of color, such as myself, that come from lower income families and backgrounds, facing already disproportionate obstacles and challenges to remain in institutions of higher education will witness such opportunity dissapate instantly. If there are no provisional funds to allow lower income students to attend college than poverty will perpetuate in the naiton along racial lines. Populations of minority, less affluent groups will not be able to access insanely expensive educational institutions and instead will be limited to labor and service sector jobs which do not provide families the sufficient means to afford higher as survival would be the priority.This will go on for generations of minority and working class families until government restructure such a system. But should the system remain faulty, generations of minoritis to follow will create a deeply segregated and nation as those with wealth will continue to be the only section of the nations to access higher education and thus better jobs with better income.
3/4/10 poster of strike "We're on strike! Forever! Mass statewide school Walkout- Reclaim the Commons!"
ReplyDeleteAnalysis: I know this piece may seem redundant to the last one I posted but I feel like this strike entails so many different interests and concepts that it may be very difficult to find the common thread from students to laborers to faculty. Another thing that really captured my eye from this piece is that it states "reclaim the commons". Instantly what comes to mind is the enclosure acts that happend under serf systems once monarchs in great britain came to power; and this classic historical event is in no way special to that part of the globe. This quote on this piece transports the reader back in time to where the community worked together and government enabled communities until the it encroached on common lands and spaces only to parcel out smaller bits of land to be toiled by laborers, once community memebers, for exploitive purposes.
Thus, education needs to be viewed as a common space, not owned by and controlled by the government but by the people. The people are its maintainers and creaters- and education is a part of all groups of people who should bear the responsibility of its health and access to each and every member of the community; as education for all would mean the benefit for all. Just as all community members would share in the work of common lands meant that all would share in more fruits of the land production.
Another thing that caught my attention in this piece is that there is no mention of the words college and university as it would be selfish to think that colleges/universities should be prioritized in terms of fund protection becuause they are not free unlike public elementary and high schools. The fact that this piece states statewide school walkout recongnizes the significant importance of the educational and intellectual preparation that primary and secondary public education provide, enabling students to have a chance and be considered for college. If students don't have the sufficient and qualitative fundamental education provided by pre college schooling then they will never be able to get accepted or even considerd to be accepted to attend college by higher institutions of learning.
04/11/2010,
ReplyDeleteMilford Daily News: “To close the achievement gap, start with early learning”
http://www.milforddailynews.com/opinion/x905413314/Belson-To-close-the-achievement-gap-start-with-early-learning
Analysis: Achievement gaps between low, middle, and high socio-economic students as well as black and white students start young. A strong foundation must be laid to build a strong future on and one way we can do that is by prioritizing early childhood education and setting our goals long-term. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found that “large numbers of fourth graders do not yet read well.” If this skill is not honed in the earlier grades, many children who are not proficient readers will consistently struggle in their later grades and lose motivation to continue with their learning.
Nobel laureate James Heckman observes, “Because skills are accumulated starting early and over time, investing in young children is an investment in future productivity.” I believe that by prioritizing the quality of early education, we are prioritizing education in general and overall. By decreasing the achievement gaps and increasing access in earlier education, we would be preparing a larger and more diverse group of future college students to enter higher education. By building our children’s future, we will invest and eventually pave the way for our future as well.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
04/11/2010,
ReplyDeleteNew York Times: “Many Muslims Turn to Home Schooling”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/26muslim.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Analysis: Many Muslim families have pulled their children out of public school and have turned to home schooling as the solution to preserve and build their Muslim identity and protect their children. Muslim families have worried that their children will be mocked for their religion, traditional clothing, and be corrupted by the other children through drugs and various social ills.
Although the intentions of families who home school their children may believe that they can teach their children without the outside influences of other children and their prejudices, by isolating these children, we are not only depriving them of alternative perspectives and making their own choices, but they are being silenced in their classrooms. Without Muslim students in public schools, we are losing a perspective many students around them may not understand and may not learn to tolerate or explore. These students will only learn as far as their parents can teach them and will not be able to learn from their peers, one of the most valuable opportunities provided by the classroom.
“Many parents, however, would rather their children learn in a less difficult environment,” but I believe that this environment will allow children to challenge themselves, their comfort zones, and learn to adapt to their surroundings. Not every environment they enter will be built for them by their parents and if children grow up with only one perspective, they may not be tolerant to others as well. I do not agree with parents who worry that children will not excel due to low scores on standardized testing for local schools because I know that education does not stop in the classroom, but is also supplemented and built in the home. Instead of isolating children and depriving their peers of a valuable perspective, Muslim students can retain their culture through educating their fellow students and can learn from them as well.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
04/11/2010,
ReplyDeleteAbout Alternative Family Education (AFE)
http://www.afe.santacruz.k12.ca.us/website/about/about_afe.html
Analysis: The general description and mission statement for Alternative Family Education seems like the ideal program for a well-rounded education for children that is being carefully watched and monitored. As an independent home school “provided for kindergarten through twelfth grade students and families who prefer an individualized approach to education, combined with the support of school district resources,” parents hold the direct responsibility for instruction and curriculum.
My question is will these students be prepared for the fast-paced learning environment of college and the university requirements and standards that have not been tailored individually for each student? I believe that AFE’s vision and the abilities they wish to cultivate should be incorporated into public schooling to allow every student to develop a habit of self-reflection, a desire to contribute to the local community, to and to act upon our passions, yet still be able to keep up with their peers. These are tools we hope to provide our children in addition to knowledge in various subjects and the ability to learn at a pace that may not be their own, but to adapt to their surroundings.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
04/11/2010,
ReplyDeleteEducation Week: “Conservatives Hail Fla. Teacher Bill as Model”
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/04/09/345221flxgreducation_ap.html?tkn=ZVMFuJATmCKTTp/YbTmu8j1AzKcdMBnSbLeq&cmp=clp-edweek
Analysis: Legislation was introduced that would make it easier to fire Florida teachers and link their pay to student test scores. Conservative academics and politicians, and most Republicans supported this bill that was opposed by teachers, their unions, and Democrats. By linking teachers’ pay with students’ test scores, not only would this further encourage teaching to the test, it would narrow every teacher’s freedom within the profession.
“The bill’s advocates argued it would help attract and keep the best teachers by paying them more while getting rid of the bad ones,” but this would define a “good teacher” by a student’s test score on standardized tests, that is constantly challenged as the best way to measure a student’s knowledge and skills. This bill not only reinforces the flaws of the No Child Left Behind Act, but also strikes fear into teachers who not only want to educate their students with subject matter, but how to learn from and interact with their peers, and exercise creativity and their imagination in all they do. Anyone can teach to the test and follow standards and rules, but it takes a passionate educator to coach and mentor their students, track their development, and care about their progress. This is not the answer to improving public education.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
04/11/2010,
ReplyDeleteDetroit Free Press: “State opens door for more online schools”
http://www.freep.com/article/20100412/NEWS05/4120322/State-opens-door-for-more-online-schools
Analysis: Although I do not know all the details, I would disagree with the statement that “Many Michigan teens are thriving in online high school classes.” From what I remember, my friends and peers who took high school classes online always had problems asking questions, turning in assignments, receiving the individual attention of the teacher and a detailed explanation of the curriculum. I especially disagree with the belief that “elementary school students are capable of online learning.” The classroom is not all about the teacher and the student and the subjects that are being taught in class, but learning to relate to your peers and learn from them and adapting to your social environment. Online classes do not provide a social environment, but develops a relationship between the student and a computer screen. Although the advocates of online education may argue that “kids are able to work at their own pace,” even their pace must be monitored and facilitated by a teacher who may be able to motivate them and push them along at a faster, healthier pace to continue to keep up with their fellow students their age. Finally, not everyone has a computer. To make online education accessible to all students, every student must own a computer, know how to use it to its full ability, and create a consistent student-teacher relationship, which I believe can not be replaced by anything, but the real deal.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
04/11/2010,
ReplyDeleteLos Angeles Times: “L.A. County to launch scaled-down effort to combat gang violence”
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gang-program12-2010apr12,0,1784485.story
Analysis: Not all education takes place in a school classroom. A 15-month pilot program targeting 100 youths under custody of the Probation Department from four different areas will attempt to keep them from gang activity and violence. I am glad that the Regional Gang Violence Reduction Initiative has decided to take a multi-agency approach because to change a lifestyle, more than one factor is involved. Not only must you teach youth about law enforcement, but you must train them to find work, obtain aid when needed and get involved in healthy methods of expression and activity such as sports, arts and crafts, and poetry or theater. Programs include those involving the social services department in educating youth about how to find aid such as cash and food stamps as well as where to find medication for all sorts of ailments and illnesses.
This type of education prepares you for life. Gang members learn from each other and although a gang may function as a family, those involved probably have not learned how to be a positive contributor to society and follow the rules according to the law. By monitoring each youth for at least six months, county officials “hope to learn from these programs as a way to bring systemic change to how the county handles probationers and their families.” This will be a challenge because their has already been a foundation of education laid down before this program was created, but to provide a better alternative to a brighter future that will not end in violence and to teach youth the value of a normal life would be the key method and goal. I would ultimately like to see other youth involved in gang to learn from their peers who have changed their lifestyles and become positive contributors to society and to the lives of those around them.
[Posted by Yoori Chung]
4/12/10: (Demotivational Poster): "Professionalism: We are an all volunteer Army and have the highest education rate of any army on Earth. Despite this, sometimes a soldier is just going to be a dumb ass."
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.motivatedphotos.com/?id=797
Analysis: This poster with this photo and slogan claims that the white male soldier is part of an army that comes from a nation with the "highest education rate of any army on Earth". The usage of the word "education" in this context connotates the highly privilege accessiblity of education in this nation in comparison to the rest of the world. This accessibility thus latently implies the wealth and power that allows this form of wide access to something so desireable such as education, which the rest of the world falls short--therefore proving that the nation his army is part of is one of power and wealth as well. Note the tattoo on his chest of the flag of the United States in the shape of a cross--affiliating him with one of the number one world powers and affiliating him with the religion of Christianity which dominants this nation, in often patriarchal ways as well. The architeture in the background possibly implies a military site in a foreign country with a very distinct style of buildings. Furthermore, this slogan about education implies that since he is receiving such an accessible, elite world-class education, it should shape him and his actions a certain way, possibly making him book-smart, street-smart, and perhaps even socially conscious. However, this white soldier stands butt-naked, smiling dumbly, and points a huge rifle of a weapon down in the direction of his penis and covering his manhood--metaphorically implying a violent patriarchal privilege, especially that of a white male from a country of wealth and power through the image of a huge weapon. He contridicts this latent violence with a dumb smile and by holding up a peace sign. This photo is very problematic in many ways, and perhaps the slogan of the poster could be read as an attempt to make fun of and thus critique this image, critique this soldier mentality of violent militarism and privilege from a powerful nation, and critique this lack of social consciousness and deeper understanding of war and the reasons and consequences of it such charged violence.
4/12/10: (W.E.B. Du Bois): The Souls of Black Folk: "Of Our Spiritual Strivings"
ReplyDeleteQuote with word "education":
"Lo! we are diseased and dying, cried the dark hosts; we cannot write, our voting is vain; what need of education, since we must always cook and serve?...Nevertheless, out of the evil came something good,--the more careful adjustment of education to real life, the clearer perception of the Negroes' social responsibilities, and the sobering realization of the meaning of progress" (Du Bois 13).
Analysis: One major ideal Black Americans seized post slavery that Du Bois fleshes out is education, becuase it has been barred from them for so long and has been used as a way to oppress their knowledge, mobility, and status, they soon learn the power of it. Voting was the practice to earn and voice rights, but education and book learning was the tool to true transformations and mobility of the people. Du Bois eloquently describes how out of a forced “ignorance” resulted from decades of social, political, and educational oppression, bred the human curiosity for knowledge, the understanding of education’s power and possibilities, and the strength to resist the continuation of this oppressive ignorance. In his writing, Du Bois proves the power of education and of knowledge as empowering to a people, while the lack there of and the with-holding of education from one group toward another is one of the main ways of oppression and keeping a people down. Education has power in not only encouraging critical reflection of oneself, one’s position in society, and society itself, it also validates one’s history, one’s culture, one’s pains, one’s struggles, and one’s dreams by contextualizing them. Learning and understanding conditions, histories, knowledge, privileges and lack there of, induce one to question. And questioning builds the foundations for the power to critique, and thus challenge. It then carves space for the imagining and seeking of new solutions for realities that exist in unjust and corrupted ways. Education of the books close to the realities of real life conditions, thus, is the most effective and powerful in allowing a people to understand, resist, and transform spaces and systems as well help them fight for rights and social mobility.
4/12/10: (ED.gov--U.S. Department of Education): "The Well-Rounded Curriculum: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum"
ReplyDeleteQuote:
"In America, we do not reserve arts education for privileged students or the elite. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds, students who are English language learners, and students with disabilities often do not get the enrichment experiences of affluent students anywhere except at school. President Obama recalls that when he was a child 'you always had an art teacher and a music teacher. Even in the poorest school districts, everyone had access to music and other arts.'
Today, sadly, that is no longer the case. And that is one reason why I believe education is the civil rights issue of our generation--and why arts education remains so critical to leveling the playing field of opportunity. Robert Maynard Hutchins, the former president of the University of Chicago, put it well when he said that 'the best education for the best is the best education for all.'"
Link: http://www2.ed.gov/news/speeches/2010/04/04092010.html
Analysis: The word "education" in this context is being employed to explain the breadth of human experiences and approaches that should be included and captured in learning and knowledge. Secretary Arne Duncan, the Obama administration, and Barack Obama and Michelle Obama themselves seem to be pushing for the return to the inclusion and appreciation of the liberal arts and humanities. How all-inclusive these subjects of humanities will be taught is an even more difficult struggle because perhaps these expanded cirriculum will hopefully include music, art, drama, and literature, etc, but they might very well be very Eurocentric as they have always been taught--such as classical music, Renaissance art, Shakespearan drama, and European and white American literature. But a step toward including these liberal arts instead of continuing to shrink the cirriculum to prioritize just math, hard science, and English would be a notable step already. Then I hope the next step is to make these liberal arts more "liberal", more multi-cultural, and more inclusive...and yes, more valued to the education system's understanding of it's contribution to human expression, creation, imagination, and thus often times critique and resistance.
4/12/10: (DREDF) Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund: Advocating for disability civil rights since 1979
ReplyDeleteLink: http://www.dredf.org/
Analysis: This organization and website is soley dedicated to the advocacy of the disabled and disability rights. It began since the 1979, a bit after the civil rights movement ignited, but in conjunction with it. Efforts of education and advocacy like this would be considered an effort toward decolonization as it brings in the concepts of abled/disabled of a person and questions of power over the "powerless" or less abled. It also defends for the rights of a disabled person as a whole person and not any less important or less deserving than an "abled", unhandicapped individual. Efforts like this also fight for the special attention and privileges required by disabled people, that would be unjust to ignore. Thus, disability rights education is a form of education that the entire general public should be informed of and sensitive to as well as receptive to.
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ReplyDelete4/12/10: (The New York Times): Education: "Wisconsin: Schools Warned Against Sex Education"
ReplyDeleteQuote:
"State lawmakers who wrote the bill, pushed through this year by Democrats, said the warnings were incorrect, irresponsible and political. 'He’s trying to make it sound as if teaching a comprehensive sex education curriculum is somehow illegal,' said Tamara Grigsby, a Democratic state representative."
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/08/education/08brfs-SCHOOLSWARNE_BRF.html?ref=education
Analysis:
The attempt to prevent and even go as far as "criminalizing" the teaching of sex education, to me, is a problematic effort to push for conservative values at the risk of endangering the population's and mainly youths' bodies. As far as knowledge and history knows it, sexual intercourse and sexual activities are very natural processes of the human body, human development, and human experience. It is naive to think that with-holding accessible education about sexual protection will keep youths from sexual intercourse. This is a conservative way of silencing knowledge of providing understanding and options to our later generations. Then when youths do get pregnant, isn't it hypocritical to cry against abortion and other alternative options as morally wrong when these were usually the same advocates who wanted to with-hold preventative sex education on contraceptives in the first place? I think that any education as important as this--what to do with your body and how to protect it from being hurt while still having the agency to choose how to love it and enjoy it--is so important to be accessible to everyone when the age is right. With-holding this kind of education, just like any education that benefits the population and the people, is a form of oppressive silencing and blocking of knowledge. People should be informed and then allowed to have the agency to choose what they want to do with their bodies and lives when the education has been thoroughly presented. To me, blocking this knowledge would be the crime--crime of conservative oppression--in this case.
Borak Obama's commitment to Education
ReplyDeletewww.borakobam.com/issues/education
This website at Organizing for America- is suppose to be Borak Obama's committment to focusing and improving America's education system. It has three specific points it designates as important pillars of addressing most critically. Quickly, those points are: 1) Improve k-12 schools, get more teachers and help schools that are below rank 2)Expand access to higher educaiton- expand pell grants for example and make higher ed more affordable 3)Make sure children are prepared for kindergarten. A quote also says "ensuring once again that American children lead the world once again in creativity and achievement." I thought this webpage was very interesting because it makes such vastly promises in a time of devastating and dire decline. Everything it seems is one the decline from employment to standards- for get standards what about priorities- to education. This is why this webpage and its claims struck such a deep chord in the pit of my stomach- because of its claims to give back what us students, nationwide, have been begging, pleading, crying and working for- our access to a just and fair education. This webpage is a promise, so far that is all it is. There are no so-far-this-is-how-we-attained-or-are-attaining-our-goals. So far it is just a promise and it hold the hearts of students and those who care for a fair and accessible education in its hands. To fail with such a promise, one that holds all our futures in its hands is very dangerous and whats more is that Mr President Obama and his associates STILL need to deliver on these promises. As students enter and leave all grades from grade school to college, education and its accessibility is fading away. Our schools and education are becoming dilapidated, its funding is vanishing in seconds and college students struggle without enough aid until they can graduate broke and jobless perhaps or they drop out without a degree. This webpage, with its honorable intentions, is dangerous to hearts and minds who hope and fight and wait everyday for the solutions and deliverance of these promises.