Return-Path: <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f4GIejf07818; Wed, 16 May 2001 14:40:45 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 14:40:45 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <001701c0de39$9e7454a0$d2c11a3f@cbking> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Catherine King" <cb.king@verizon.net> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:489] Re: Mev Miller's note X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2314.1300 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; Status: O Content-Length: 14584 Lines: 341 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0014_01C0DDFE.D18A3020 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To Mev Miller: Your post reflects in general a good part of the argument that Sonia Nieto (for one) has presented in her book "Affirming Diversity" (2000, New York: Longman). This is one of the=20 texts I use in my masters course for teacher education=20 called "The Diverse Classroom" at National University here in=20 California." =20 I have not yet read all of the posts about this topic, and will; but I did want to throw out this reference for those who are interested. This work's bibliography opens to a wealth of research arguing for an entire new view of education in the United States with regard to the import of how we have been approaching (1) children's families, (2) children's and families' cultures, and (3) language and dialects brought to the classroom by those who are "different." =20 Fundamentally, teachers and the institutions of education have=20 ignored the culture shock that children go through when they enter=20 school--especially if the school culture doesn't match their own as=20 it does with the "majority" student who suffers no such shock. =20 This difference sets up a plethora of tensions and "deficiency" notions which flow into the labeling, tracking, and basically set up the child for possible, if not probably, failure in school, not to mention the correlative negative tensions that are set up in the child's family and home culture. No one has to say anything--the whole thing is implicit with negative affects for the child. On the other hand, the "majority" child has variable positive influences of class, money, being White in a White-privileged world, male more than female, professional parents more than not, and most important, English-speaking. All of these subtle factors play up to a easy entrance exam to the culture in our schools. The worst affect on the majority child, especially if their entire school and neighborhood is mostly White-middle- class, what Nieto calls being raised up in a monoculture, is=20 that an unstated provincialism-cum-arrogance sets in, without anyone necessarily making overt statements, which leaves a=20 majority cloistered child unprepared to meet with global=20 realities, and can turn to a distancing paternalism, or covert or=20 even overt forms of bias, racism being the order of the day in=20 many United States' neighborhoods and schools. My own personal experience of California schools was in being barred from a "career day" set up for boys, and in being=20 raised by a single Mom who was always behind at the bank and who was ostracized from the "PTA." I was too young to understand either of the above, and just took it to mean I did not count, nor did my mother. =20 That was awhile back, but when you teach a course that=20 speaks to these inequities in schools, it tends to bring these=20 old events into rather sharp relief. =20 I was also a "cloistered, secularized White person" with no sense of my own history. Though I experienced no overt racism that I can remember, my complete separateness from Black people or any other culture growing up left me with a terrible tension in the presence of "others." It was going through a long process of studying works written by Black people=20 about what it means to grow up Black in a White culture (like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Belle Hooks, etc.) that steered me through my own "awakening" process about=20 my own attitude set up for me so many years ago, and not alleviated by a culture-aware school. The problem is real, it has been with us for a long time, and we are finally beginning to understand what needs to be done and to find ways to foster creative change. Teacher education is one=20 way. =20 But Nieto's gives a balanced argument that is of course more nuanced than the above, but I thought, in view of Mev Miller's note, I would throw this on the table for your consideration, with my thanks for his reflections. Regards to all, Catherine King =20 =20 ----- Original Message -----=20 From: RMALCUS@aol.com=20 To: Multiple recipients of list=20 Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2001 9:57 AM Subject: [NIFL-POVRACELIT:488] Re: Posted for Mev Miller I would like to just react a bit to our notions of dispositional = barriers. I=20 do not differ with anything that has been said about dispositional = barriers. =20 I would just like to add a dimension to dispositional barriers that = actually=20 might be more aligned with my understandings of Freire and his ideas = about=20 the sense of powerlessness among the "oppressed". I am an African = American,=20 and one who came into teaching as a result of having had been a very = poor=20 student, academically throughout grade school and most of high school. = Most=20 of my work has focused on African American learners. =20 In my experience, it has never been enough to "build a ball park and = they=20 will come" so-to-speak. Schools have represented the right hand of = the=20 dominant culture and as such have often been very effective in = destroying a=20 sense of confidence and hope in the minds of those learners who = because of =20 their skin color (brown, dark brown and red mostly) and/or class are=20 considered members of the majority group. Many learners have been = led to=20 believe that they ain't qualified to read and argue with text. =20 It has not been enough to provide them with the appropriate = literature,=20 because in their minds they do not have what it takes. There is a = dimension=20 of dispositional barriers that reflects learners' heartfelt = determination and=20 patience in spite of the difficulties. The participants in my study = were=20 less interested in the content of the materials they read or = interacted with=20 and more interested in maintaining a sense of determination to not = give in to=20 their self-doubts.=20 I hope that I haven't rambled here as I am often prone to do.=20 ------=_NextPart_000_0014_01C0DDFE.D18A3020 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content=3D"text/html; charset=3Diso-8859-1" = http-equiv=3DContent-Type> <META content=3D"MSHTML 5.00.2314.1000" name=3DGENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=3D#ffffff> <DIV>To Mev Miller:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Your post reflects in general a good part of the argument = that</DIV> <DIV>Sonia Nieto (for one) has presented in her book "Affirming</DIV> <DIV>Diversity" (2000, New York: Longman). This is one of the = </DIV> <DIV>texts I use in my masters course for teacher education </DIV> <DIV>called "The Diverse Classroom" at National University here in = </DIV> <DIV>California." </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have not yet read all of the posts about this topic, and = will;</DIV> <DIV>but I did want to throw out this reference for those who are</DIV> <DIV>interested. This work's bibliography opens to a wealth = of</DIV> <DIV>research arguing for an entire new view of education in = the</DIV> <DIV>United States with regard to the import of how we have been</DIV> <DIV>approaching (1) children's families, (2) children's and = families'</DIV> <DIV>cultures, and (3) language and dialects brought to the = classroom</DIV> <DIV>by those who are "different." </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Fundamentally, teachers and the institutions of education have = </DIV> <DIV>ignored the culture shock that children go through when they enter = </DIV> <DIV>school--especially if the school culture doesn't match their own as = </DIV> <DIV>it does with the "majority" student who suffers no such = shock. </DIV> <DIV>This difference sets up a plethora of tensions and = "deficiency"</DIV> <DIV>notions which flow into the labeling, tracking, and basically = set</DIV> <DIV>up the child for possible, if not probably, failure in school, not = to</DIV> <DIV>mention the correlative negative tensions that are set up in = the</DIV> <DIV>child's family and home culture. No one has to say=20 anything--the</DIV> <DIV>whole thing is implicit with negative affects for the child.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>On the other hand, the "majority" child has variable positive</DIV> <DIV>influences of class, money, being White in a White-privileged</DIV> <DIV>world, male more than female, professional parents more than</DIV> <DIV>not, and most important, English-speaking. All of = these=20 subtle</DIV> <DIV>factors play up to a easy entrance exam to the culture in our</DIV> <DIV>schools. The worst affect on the majority child, = especially=20 if</DIV> <DIV>their entire school and neighborhood is mostly White-middle-</DIV> <DIV>class, what Nieto calls being raised up in a monoculture, is = </DIV> <DIV>that an unstated provincialism-cum-arrogance sets in, without</DIV> <DIV>anyone necessarily making overt statements, which leaves a = </DIV> <DIV>majority cloistered child unprepared to meet with global </DIV> <DIV>realities, and can turn to a distancing paternalism, or covert = or=20 </DIV> <DIV>even overt forms of bias, racism being the order of the day in = </DIV> <DIV>many United States' neighborhoods and schools.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My own personal experience of California schools was in being</DIV> <DIV>barred from a "career day" set up for boys, and in being </DIV> <DIV>raised by a single Mom who was always behind at the bank</DIV> <DIV>and who was ostracized from the "PTA." I was too young = to</DIV> <DIV>understand either of the above, and just took it to mean I = did</DIV> <DIV>not count, nor did my mother. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>That was awhile back, but when you teach a course that </DIV> <DIV>speaks to these inequities in schools, it tends to bring these = </DIV> <DIV>old events into rather sharp relief. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I was also a "cloistered, secularized White person" with no</DIV> <DIV>sense of my own history. Though I experienced no overt</DIV> <DIV>racism that I can remember, my complete separateness from</DIV> <DIV>Black people or any other culture growing up left me with a</DIV> <DIV>terrible tension in the presence of "others." It was going=20 through</DIV> <DIV>a long process of studying works written by Black people </DIV> <DIV>about what it means to grow up Black in a White culture</DIV> <DIV>(like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Belle Hooks, etc.) that</DIV> <DIV>steered me through my own "awakening" process about </DIV> <DIV>my own attitude set up for me so many years ago, and not</DIV> <DIV>alleviated by a culture-aware school. The problem is = real,</DIV> <DIV>it has been with us for a long time, and we are finally</DIV> <DIV>beginning to understand what needs to be done and to</DIV> <DIV>find ways to foster creative change. Teacher = education is=20 one </DIV> <DIV>way. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>But Nieto's gives a balanced argument that is of course more</DIV> <DIV>nuanced than the above, but I thought, in view of Mev = Miller's</DIV> <DIV>note, I would throw this on the table for your consideration,</DIV> <DIV>with my thanks for his reflections.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Regards to all,</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Catherine King</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE=20 style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: = 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px"> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV> <DIV=20 style=3D"BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: = black"><B>From:</B>=20 <A href=3D"mailto:RMALCUS@aol.com" = title=3DRMALCUS@aol.com>RMALCUS@aol.com</A>=20 </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A=20 href=3D"mailto:nifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov"=20 title=3Dnifl-povracelit@literacy.nifl.gov>Multiple recipients of = list</A> </DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, May 16, 2001 = 9:57=20 AM</DIV> <DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [NIFL-POVRACELIT:488] = Re: Posted=20 for Mev Miller</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=3Darial,helvetica><FONT size=3D2>I would = like to just=20 react a bit to our notions of dispositional barriers. I <BR>do = not=20 differ with anything that has been said about dispositional barriers. = =20 <BR>I would just like to add a dimension to dispositional barriers = that=20 actually <BR>might be more aligned with my understandings of Freire = and his=20 ideas about <BR>the sense of powerlessness among the "oppressed". = I am=20 an African American, <BR>and one who came into teaching as a result of = having=20 had been a very poor <BR>student, academically throughout grade school = and=20 most of high school. Most <BR>of my work has focused on African = American=20 learners. <BR><BR>In my experience, it has never been enough to = "build=20 a ball park and they <BR>will come" so-to-speak. Schools = have=20 represented the right hand of the <BR>dominant culture and as such = have often=20 been very effective in destroying a <BR>sense of confidence and hope = in the=20 minds of those learners who because of <BR>their skin = color=20 (brown, dark brown and red mostly) and/or class are <BR>considered = members of=20 the majority group. Many learners have been led to = <BR>believe=20 that they ain't qualified to read and argue with text. <BR>It = has not=20 been enough to provide them with the appropriate literature, = <BR>because in=20 their minds they do not have what it takes. There is a = dimension=20 <BR>of dispositional barriers that reflects learners' heartfelt = determination=20 and <BR>patience in spite of the difficulties. The participants = in my=20 study were <BR>less interested in the content of the materials they = read or=20 interacted with <BR>and more interested in maintaining a sense of=20 determination to not give in to <BR>their self-doubts. <BR><BR>I = hope=20 that I haven't rambled here as I am often prone to do.=20 <BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML> ------=_NextPart_000_0014_01C0DDFE.D18A3020--
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