Skip to main content

Sleeter/ Precious Knowledge

   

 After reading "The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies A Research Review" By Christine Sleeter, I choose three quotes that stood out to me. 

Quote #1: "Whites continue to receive the most attention and appear in the widest variety of roles, dominating story lines and lists of accomplishments"(Sleeter, 2). 

    I chose this quote because I recall from my own expereince in school that my classes didn't really teach about other ethnicities and the focus was primarily on the history of white people. For example, I remember only taking one history class that focoused on world history and instead of learning about all of the great things other countries accomplished, we learned mostly about the bad things that happened. I also notice this being the case in the film industry, characters in films often have steriotypical roles such as the white character being the lead and the good guy while the African American character tends to be seen as the criminal or bad guy.


Quote #2: When textbook authors bury the history of American racism within a larger narrative of inevitable American progress, students perceive race relations as a linear trajectory of improvement rather than a messy and continual struggle over power that encompasses both progress and, in the case of the decades after Reconstruction, significant steps backward in terms of racial justice" (Sleeter, 3).

    I chose this quote because we are taught about the past issues of slavery and segregation but not about how those issues are still occuring in today's world. Segregation is still very real, just more disguised now like in cities and towns where white people live in the nicer suburban areas and minorities live in the poorer urban areas segregating schools by doing this. Students should be taught about the past events but in a way that highlights history repeating itself and how many things from the past our still very much around in today's world. 


Quote #3: "White adults generally do not recognize the extent to which traditional mainstream curricula marginalize perspectives of communities of color and teach students of color to distrust or not take school knowledge seriously"(Sleeter, 4).

    I chose this quote because in order to educate students on our countries history and the history of the world, the information needs to be accurate to the events that happened. Students are not being given the proper resources to be educated on these topics in school and instead have to reach out to other resources such as older family, their community, and more to find out more about their history. Why is a diverse curriculum not being implemented and why isn't more being done to fix this?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Troublemakers

       In the preface and introduction of  Troublemakers , it talks about how schools often prioritize control rather than giving students freedom. Instead of valuing every individual, students are taught that some lives matter more than others. What we really need is to teach respect for all lives. Children shouldn't be punished or silenced for expressing themselves, as is often the case when they are reprimanded for not following the rules. Students miss out on valueable learning time when they are sent out of the classroom.      Troublemakers  is about four students who are labeled as “troublemakers” by their teachers, Instead of punishing these students, the Shalaby argues that we should listen to them, as they have valuable lessons to share. Teachers are trained to silence disruptive students. During my younger years of school, I was a very hyper and talkative child who was often reprimanded by my teachers for being disruptive. I also st...
2 comments
Read more

Introduction

Hi! My name is Ashley Loiselle and I am a Junior at Rhode Island College. I am majoring in Early Childhood Education. I plan to open my own daycare in the future with my best friend. I completed my freshman year of college at the University of Rhode Island and decided to transfer for my sophmore year to RIC. Not only did I change schools, I also changed majors. Originally I thought the medical field was something I wanted to do but after working with young children the past few years, I know that is what I would like to do in the future. I love hanging out with my friends and spending time with my family. I like to go on hikes, bake and cook, and am a big movie watcher. 
Post a Comment
Read more