Blog 8: Quotes on Richard Rodriguez's "Aria" and "Teaching Bilinguals"

Some valuable quotes from the reading and video:

1). “At last, seven years old, I came to believe what had been technically true since my birth: I was an American citizen.” (pg 36)- Rodriquez states this after he had finally learned how to speak/understand the English language from the school attempts of a bilinguals education. Rodriguez's saying helps highlight the irony in his statement, that despite being born in the country it was only by getting rid of his native tongue and another piece of culture that he was able to adapt to that new culture. It was ironic that the only way for him to finally feel a part of being an American was to get rid of the close personal connection that he had with his culture and have to abandon those ties that he had which he later explained felt like a loss of closeness of family.

2). "And their lives are enriched when they are able to use all their languages critically, intentionally, flexibly, and creatively...that use of language is called translanguaging." - The Bilingual education video segments continuously refer to the term translanguaging creating methods within a classroom to help prioritize that concept. By encouraging students to use their bilingualism within a classroom and providing them spaces where they're able to embrace learning that new language without having to abandon their culture in the way Rodriguez described in "Aria". The "Teaching Bilinguals" used translanguaging as a way to learn the new language and create new connections without having to abandon all other connections as well.

3). “..suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.”- This quote helps convey the message that Rodriguez attempts to convey throughout the reading about the conflict of the intimacy vs. public when it comes to his transition to bilingualism and American culture. While Rodriguez's transition to learn the language allowed him to blend better and create this "new" American identity he had to abandon the individuality that his culture provided by neglecting his first language. The quote illustrates the negative effects that assimilation for bilingual education can have on students when the students are made to feel like their first language is an inconvenience to overcome and has to be changed to feel that sense of belonging within an American classroom.

After this reading and videos, I leave with the question of how to correct our bilingual education system within America. How can we try to implement practices within classrooms that, unlike the Bedford Hills classroom, are more like Rodriguez's class? Where do we start to begin to restructure that? Additionally, it makes me wonder how bilingual education was considered a process to convert people into English speakers rather than a tool that can allow others to appreciate their and others' cultures and be able to relate to a wider variety of people. What Is Translanguaging and How Is It Used in the Classroom? takes a closer look to what translanguaging really is and breaks it down into an easy to understand style.

Video Analysis: “Teach Us All”, “Classroom Tour”, and “Precious Knowledge”

 

Blog 7: Reflection on Finn's "A Distinctly Un-American Idea"

 Finn's "A Distinctly Un-American Idea" made me reflect on my own schooling career in my hometown public school circuit. I came from a middle class school system where everything that was taught to me came from a book. Everything that was in the book was not to be questioned as it was just the way that it was taught. The people who taught me were mostly teachers who went to that same school when they were my age. The buildings were the same and the way we learned had only been improved by the edition of the textbooks we learning out of. Education was logical, analytical, and matter of fact. I stayed away from creativity because it had little to do with what I was learning in the classroom.

My education was what I could make of it. Instructed by my teachers that it was the way I would find success in life I was encouraged to put my nose down in a book and work until I was able to achieve my goals and go to a good college. My parents who went to the same schools as me when they were kids had the same education style enforced these values within my life so that I would idealize my education as a tool for me to be able to achieve whatever I wanted in my life because education is the "great equalizer" within our society. I found great achievement with that mindset.

When we talked in class about our schooling experiences it became aware to me that maybe that my education created this role for me in my life. My schooling had created my priorities in my life and I sit in my college classroom learning about the new approaches and ideals I find myself reluctant to accept these new creative ways of education. They are unfamiliar to me and they are not what I was raised with. However after our discussion I realize it is my school that has made me like this. I abhor creative approaches and have always found myself more fond of lectures rather than formulating personal opinions. The placement I am in now is similar to the ones my parents were in before me and its the same from my peers. Our schooling creates a cycle that has been created for us since the day we were born into our families. 

So now what, how do we break these cycles? I think the first step of doing this comes by questioning the whole system itself and observing the compliant behaviors to how we got ourselves here. How can we create change in a system that were born to play a predestined role? I think it starts with questioning everything. Seven Solutions for Education Inequality provides some ways we can start to shift the tide from a lower/working class perspective.

Blog (5) 6: Argument on "How Structural Racism Works" by Tricia Rose

 Throughout her talk, Tricia Rose argues how structural racism and the colorblind ideology cannot exist within our society. Rose talks about structural racism as the measurement of acts of discrimination that usually create white advantages and disadvantages for people of color. She goes on to compare it to colorblind ideology and how it's the belief that ignorance will create a solution to racial inequality but in actuality, it takes away all measurements that structural racism utilizes to understand the spectrum of racial discrimination. Rose goes on to explain the HSRW Project and how it impacts the structures of mass media, housing, wealth/jobs, education, and criminal justice. All of these are heavily impacted by the systemic racism that exists within the gaps that our society creates through years of discrimination. Rose goes on to that racism is aided by the culturalization that criminalizes people of color, worsening the impact of structural racism that exists.

    The main point Rose wants us to take away is that colorblind ideology is not viable. Society cannot be left to its own devices to fix a system that they inherited broken. People can’t fix something that they choose not to see because it doesn’t impact them. It makes them uncomfortable knowing that they contribute to structural racism. Structural racism needs to be addressed for what it is and how it creates lasting impacts within our society. I think that structural racism needs to be blatantly addressed for what it is, just as the Fair Housing Act of 1968 exposed how not a single dollar was withheld from known organizations that participated in unequal housing. We need to hold ourselves accountable and accept that there is a problem within our society. We need to get comfortable with the idea of being comfortable and create an environment that makes it ok for us to call each other out for our contributions to ignorance. By making excuses for ourselves we turn against and fail each other because we can’t handle the concept that we are wrong but at the end of the day, we are! We all make mistakes and we are all ignorant so the question I leave with is how can we learn to accept our ignorance and grow from it when we are in a society that is so reluctant to accept we live in a structurally racist society. The Structural Racism Remedies Repository goes further in depth about the pillars from the HSRW project Rose talked about and expanded upon other structures where structural racism exists.