Equality 101

In addition to advanced composition, I also teach a lower-level composition class called Academic Writing (AW). Over the last year, we’ve worked together to revamp this course so that it better meets our students’ needs, which are different from the traditional first-year/freshman composition course called College Composition. The primary objective of Academic Writing is to effectively prepare students for the challenges and concepts of College Composition. One of the biggest challenges in teaching Academic Writing is differentiating instruction to work for all of the students. While there are only three sections of AW available at my institution (meaning that my officemate and I teach all of the available sections every semester), this course caters to many students of very different backgrounds: we have international students, mostly Middle Eastern, who have only begun learning English in the last five years; we have generation 1.5 students; we have first-generation college students; and we have more “typical” American students. Each of these groups has its own needs in the college composition classroom. But one need that these groups share is the need to develop a classroom community — not only because this makes learning and teaching more enjoyable, but because these classes are so diverse. Read the rest of this entry →

During my vacation with my boyfriend and a couple of our friends (to Maui! So fun!), we had a discussion about whether the US should name English as its official language (ironic considering that Hawaii names both English and Hawaiian as official languages). This is a debate fraught with political, emotional, and cultural turmoil, primarily because laws that proclaim English as the official language of a state or nation have far-reaching consequences, especially when it comes to education. Indeed, my conversation with my friends bordered on dramatic simply because we all have had vastly different experiences with people who speak other languages in our work and personal lives (it should be noted that we are all white native speakers).

Before this conversation, I hadn’t really questioned what I learned about the English-only/official English movement as an undergraduate, which is summed up rather nicely by this position statement by CCCC/NCTE:

The National Language Policy is a response to efforts to make English the “official” language of the United States. This policy recognizes the historical reality that, even though English has become the language of wider communication, we are a multilingual society. All people in a democratic society have the right to education, to employment, to social services, and to equal protection under the law. No one should be denied these or any civil rights because of linguistic differences. This policy would enable everyone to participate in the life of this multicultural nation by ensuring continued respect both for English, our common language, and for the many other languages that contribute to our rich cultural heritage. Read the rest of this entry →

Every year, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) evaluates US public school students in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades on a set of predetermined subjects. (Not all the subjects or all the grades are tested in any given year, although it’s not clear to me how they decide). The results are aggregated in what they call “the Nation’s Report Card,” and they post the report data on their website as well, so you can play around with it. The “Report Card” gives the national average on the tests, compares each of a bunch of test sites to that average, and then compares each test site to the average of its state. Each site’s page also includes a graph which compares the performance of students in different racial/ethnic groups at that site, and another chart comparing the average scores of kids at the site who qualified for the free lunch program and the average scores of the program’s participants nationally. Read the rest of this entry →

I do not live in Arizona.  In fact, I’ve never even been to Arizona.  When I was in undergrad, though, it seemed like Arizona would be an oasis for teachers.  There were superintendents and principals at job fairs that were offering contracts to teachers right then and there, without the strenuous interview process that teachers applying in the Chicago suburbs faced.  How easy it seemed to be to get a job teaching in the Phoenix area, and how wonderful the weather would be without the stifling humidity in the summer and the snow in the winter.  Now, however, I wonder if Arizona is the same sort of haven it used to be for budding graduates from teacher education programs.  So much is going on in that state that it’s hard to believe anyone would move there now, in this climate.

I am the eternal optimist, or, at least, I really do try to see the best in situations.  I have been told that Arizona legislators had reasons for passing SB1070.  I have been told that the state of Arizona is in such a bad economic situation that they had to do something.  I have been told all of these things, and more, but I can’t see any positive side to a law that creates such a culture of hatred and racism that people are comparing Arizona police to the Nazis.  And now, this law and the culture surrounding it has opened up avenues to effect the education of students in the state and, by extension, the country and the world.

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I had a student come into my acting class today and declare, “I was just the victim of racism.” This student is black, has an outstanding disposition towards race and a strong vision of his identity. He was not angry about it – more amused. I’ll recount his story as best I can.

During the passing period, he was walking through the hall with a comb in his hair – the handle of the comb was molded in the Black Power fist. Just outside his classroom, a dean asked him to remove the pick, which he did after telling the dean it wasn’t a pick, it was a comb. His teacher asked “what was that about?” The student told her the story, to which she responded “Maybe you should stop whining.” The student responded, “I’m not whining, I’m simply explaining what happened. We obviously grew up in different situations if you classify that as whining.” The teacher said, “You don’t know me,” to which the student responded, “You don’t know me.” The teacher then sent the student to the office.

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On my way to work Monday morning I was surfing through the radio stations to find something that would motivate me to start the week before Spring Break (a terribly difficult week for most teachers).   I heard this on National Public Radio (NPR):

Duncan To Step Up Civil Rights Enforcement

Some of the statistics cited in this report are staggering, but by no means surprising to most educators:

African-American students are six times less likely to be college and career-ready in biology than their white counterparts, or four times less likely to be college-ready in Algebra. We see districts where only 3 percent of high school English language learners are performing at grade level in math and in English.

In addition the issue of immigration rights can get woven into this discussion as well:

Latinos, on the other hand, pose a very different set of civil rights challenges. Tom Saenz of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund says in some states, Latinos can’t even register for school without proof of their immigration status.

In a nutshell, this is why we at Equality101 do what we do.  We are striving for equal educational opportunities for all, and thankfully, we’re not the only ones.

I began teaching 10 years ago. For the New York City Department of Education. I taught social studies and English at a small, alternative school (code for low test scores) for at-risk teens who had dropped out or were kicked out of their original high schools. It was a second chance for them. A step before a G.E.D. or before dropping out altogether. They came in with baggage. Tremendous baggage. Some of them homeless. Some of them abused. Some of them neglected. Most of them depressed. It was an experience I will never forget. It was also totally exhausting.

Recently, I was going through some old files and I came upon a big packet from Youth Portraits:

Young People Recently Released from Rikers Tell Their Own Stories

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In an article from a few years back, “Your Right to An Equal Education,” the ACLU notes that, “getting an education isn’t just about books and grades – we’re also learning how to participate fully in the life of this nation.”   We always talk in our country of how students are “tomorrow’s leaders,” and as teachers our goals are to get them to realize their fullest potential.  Ideally, we try to create competent future citizens who are intelligent, open-minded, and driven to create a better world.  Ideally.

The ACLU also points out that, “even though some kids may complain about having to go to school, the right to an equal educational opportunity is one of the most valuable rights you have.”  From Brown v. Board to Title IX, we have made great strides in creating equal educational opportunities for all Americans, regardless of race, sex, orientation, etc., although many will argue that we still have a great ways to go to consider things truly ‘equal’. If this is one of our greatest rights in this country, which thousands have fought to have equal access to for all these years, why are our students not taking full advantage of this guarantee?  More importantly, how do we illustrate to our students the importance of their education?

Kids “complain about having to go to school” – in a nutshell this probably describes 90% of high school students at any given time during the school year.  I try to remind my students daily that it is their right to be at school, and that it is also a privilege in the eyes of many children in other countries.  As educators we stress what an education can do for a student’s future, why knowledge is important, and (hopefully) why they should take this right so seriously.  My students always hear me say that if something is not right, stand up and say something (but please, no physical fights in the cafeteria!).  If something does not seem fair (beyond the fact that we DO have to take the test and YES it is fair because they were given fair warning of it…) then work to make it more just.  I urge them to not sit back and let others do the work for them.  Some of it is obviously teenagers being teenagers.  Many of my students lack the ability to see their future, but high school is an opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them.

What worries me is that I am already, seven months into my first year of teaching, starting to feel like a broken record.  The apathetic attitude which many of my students take really concerns me.  Where are the passionate students who are volunteers, who have school pride, and who take pride in their work?  When my students are prompted with journal entries such as “what would happen if suddenly you were not allowed to get a driver’s license?”  “What if suddenly you couldn’t come to this school any more because of the color of your skin?”  Or simply, “write about a cause you are passionate about.”  Their responses are often: “oh well, it would suck, but whatever” or “I don’t have any.”  Many of my students seem to think that there is nothing they can do to change any situation (including their own).  They don’t seem to feel powerless; rather they simply do not care.  They appear to reject the American Dream that anyone in this country is capable of doing great things.  And yes, we all know the American Dream is a bit of a fallacy and that it sometimes takes a combination of hard work and luck/situation to reach the top, but nothing will happen if you never try.

To be fair, this is not just a trend I see in students, but in society as a whole.  Have we become an apathetic society overall?  Regardless, my students still need to be prepared for a world in which people exercise their rights and fight for what they are passionate about.  A former President of Illinois Wesleyan University named Minor Myers once said “find your passion.”  An empowering female commencement speaker (and former IWU alumni) named Demetria Kalodimos said “never stop questioning.”  We get it, but I’m worried my students aren’t.  I don’t care if they get excited about English, I care if they get excited about something.

People, I’m not here to herd cattle.

Works Cited:

“Your Right to An Equal Education.” American Civil Liberties Union. (2003).

<http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice_womens-rights/your-right-equality-education>

Our department has recently been forced to take a deep, dark look into the bowels of our English courses.  I say forced because the process has (so far) not been a pleasant one.  We are picking new textbooks (fighting ensues), aligning curriculum to new state standards (bickering ensues), and sequencing everything so that everyone is teaching the same thing at the same time – all under the watchful eye of our new K-12 ELA Curriculum Coordinator.  Gag me.  It mostly feels like the death of what little freedom and creativity I thought I had, but one potentially good outcome of this whole process has been the opportunity to address our curriculum, and make changes!  Huzzah!  Or, so I thought…

English majors and teachers should all be familiar with the phrase “dead white guys.”  (Kathy actually mentions this in her post Diversity, Reverse Discrimination, and the Authors We Read – you should check it out!)  I have been fighting tooth and nail to inject a little “life” into our reading selections before they become the set curriculum.  As Kathy noted, many of us who call ourselves feminists, and indeed many of us who graduated from Illinois Wesleyan have an appreciation of the necessity of diverse readings and authors in the classroom.  I have won battles to include Sherman Alexie, Maya Angelou, and Amy Tan, but lost over Sylvia Plath, Sandra Cisneros, J.D. Salinger (who we all know recently passed away…and was white).  Battles won and lost are irrelevant though when the frightening (to me at least) truth comes out: nobody else really seems to care about this.  I agree with Kathy that some of my favorite authors are dead and white (Shakespeare!), but I find that it is still important to include a variety of authors to give students perspective and to attempt to appeal to all of them at some point.  Skewing heavily either way would seem to be problematic.

Additionally, part of our “new” curriculum is also going to include a free reading component.  Students will be given a list of books to choose from and will read at least one per quarter on their own and do some sort of report on that book (our kids really need to get reading).  I am prepared to write the same justification papers in support of including different materials that make students think outside the box and realize the literature is alive and relevant.  Unfortunately, I may be the only one.

If anyone has any advice or any good written justifications for certain works, I would welcome both.

Last week, I came across this article discussing recent reports that (cis)women outnumber and out-graduate (cis)men in colleges and universities. That women are largely ahead of the curve in college is not exactly news; however, this is:

In recent years, several college leaders have admitted that their institutions give a boost to male applicants to maintain gender balance on campus.

Wow. Unexpected! Or is it?

Leaders of such institutions, the editorial notes, are responding to students’ interests in having relatively equal numbers of men and women on campus. However, as the dean of admissions at Kenyon College puts so well, “What messages are we sending young women that they must . . . be even more accomplished than men to gain admission to the nation’s top colleges?” Why are good women students being turned away so that more mediocre men students can attend college? Read the rest of this entry →