community study writing

BLOG 1

The article focuses on the significance of public schools in the society. The article argues that public schools were established to serve the educational needs of the citizens and not to satisfy individual interests. However, it emerges that the parents and students are not asked what they want to gain in a given school. The article points out that to ensure that the public interests are served by the public schools, the federal, local and state politicians, community organizations and other interest groups determine the educational goals and the methods and content of instruction. Such content includes the political, social and economic aspects that define the national and global operations. 

The political component taught in public schools includes the historical aspects, patriotism and including religious studies. It is critical for students to learn about the history of their state or country that include the governing figures and parties. Patriotism is a fundamental part that influences politics; hence, students need to develop an in-depth understanding of what it entails as well as the approach to fulfilling it. The main focus has been to mold students who can understand the dynamics surrounding politics and religious beliefs. On the social account, schooling is a gate to reducing crimes and harmful behaviors that could affect the economic development of the country. The article demonstrates that the economic aspect of schooling is creating a skilled worker force in the U.S economy. 

The article illustrates the gradual growth and transformation in the schooling system in the U.S for centuries. The goals of schooling have changed over the years considering that new methods of instruction are being applied. More emphasis has been given to public schooling as opposed to homeschooling.

BLOG 2

Culture is a broad term that means different things to different individuals in different perspectives. In some occasions, it is related to only the individuals with formal education and fortunate social status as said by Kleinman, A. (2011). Currently, it is generally acknowledged that culture is more than what a privileged group of individuals may do in their spare time; however, there still exists diverse and inconsistent notions of its meaning in everyday life. Several attributes have however been provided to understand culture, which define culture in the following aspects:

Culture is dynamic. It does not exist outside of human beings, meaning that cultures are not fixed relics, sluggish behaviors or sterile principles. Culture is multifaceted. Closely linked to the dynamic character of culture is that cultural identifications are compound, diverse, varied and heterogeneous. This implies that for one thing, it is not possible to conflate it with just customs or race. Culture is fixed in Context. This means that culture is consistently influenced by the surroundings in which it exists. Culture Is Influenced by Social, Economic, and Political Factors. Closely related to that culture is bound to a specific context is that it is significantly influenced by politics, history as well as the economic circumstances in which is exists as said by Kleinman, A. (2011). Culture Is Created and Socially Constructed. Often, culture is perceived as a product –in-place and as something handed down that ought to be kept in the manner it is. This gives a static view of culture as well as an implication that culture is already finished and it is constantly evolving as people alter it. Culture Is Learned.From the understanding that culture is created and socially created, it is factual that it is learned, and neither passed through individuals genes nor inherited. Culture Is Dialectical.Kleinman, A. (2011) indicated that in most cases, culture is thought of as an absurd web of consistent and equally helpful values and behaviors, however nothing could be further from reality. Generally, a culture is neither good nor bad but rather represents values that have emerged as a result of historical and social circumstances and requirements.

Schools are analyzed as the repository of Standard English, which assumed to be the suitable means of communication for advancement in academics. However, the experiences of students are not the same in school. The manner in which they perceive school is greatly influenced by their social class, race, gender, family make ups as well as other social disparities. Distinctions are seen in several aspects like; the traditional family tree and poverty as said by Kleinman, A. (2011). For instance, learners from poor families are often absent from school, sports and other after school activities. In addition, the traditional science fair draws a clear distinction among learners of different social classes.

Traditionally, race and ethnicity definition is related to both biological and social factors respectively. A person’s physical characteristic like skin and bone structure define race whereas cultural factors like nationality and local culture characterize ethnicity. In more broad terms, Race is a term used to refer to groups of individuals with different and similar biological characteristics considered by culture to be socially important, implying that people treat others in a different way because of them. On the other hand, ethnicity is a term used to refer to shared cultural practices, points of view and differences that set a particular group of people separate from another or other groups as said by Kleinman, A. (2012).  Ethnicity is also said to be a mutual cultural tradition. The various ethnic groups are commonly distinguished by ancestry, a sense of history, language, religion and all types of dress. The disparities in ethnicity are learned, not inherited.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is the measure of the control of the social environment over people, families, societies and learning institutions. It is related to the concept of social class in several ways, implying that;

· It has financial stability as a classification foundation

· It is important for a child’s optimal growth and a grown up’s life satisfaction.

· It has economic disparities as principal influence.

Its concept considers other influences, for instance, the change for social or economic advancement, policy influence, resources availability and status of the primary profession.

Difference in socioeconomic status poses several challenges to students. Majority of low socioeconomic status face emotional and societal insecurity.  Unfortunately, Kleinman, A. (2012) indicated that students from improvised families tend to be prone to higher prevalence to adverse factors such as teen motherhood, depression and inadequate medical attention, all of which result to less compassion towards infant and afterward, poor academic performance and conduct on the child’s part as said by Kleinman, A. (2012). Generally, this difference in SES brings about emotional and social challenges including; irritation, impulsivity, gaps in courtesy and social elegances, a more restricted choice of behavioral responses and a reduced amount of compassion for other peoples hardships.

References

Kleinman, A. (2011). Concepts and a model for the comparison of medical systems as cultural systems. Social Science & Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology, 12, 85-93. http://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/42958_2_The_Cultural_Context.pdf

Kleinman, A. (2012). Patients and healers in the context of culture: An exploration of the borderland between anthropology, medicine, and psychiatry (Vol. 3). Univ of California Press.http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/culture-conflict

BLOG 3

Immigration

Immigration related anguish has many faces. Many issues arise when people are forced to leave their place of origin. In migration cases, the ones often overlooked are the citizen children of illegal immigrants. Debate over comprehensive immigration reform has overlooked these citizen children. Parents usually migrate from their countries due to corruption, poverty and persecution. In today’s political economic system, issues with the immigration system can occur and the parents end up being denied the ability to remain as permanent residents and forced to leave.

In the case of Elena’s father being deported, this brought about many changes in Elena’s family’s lives. Elena, a jovial, hardworking enthusiastic girl experienced emotional trauma after her father was deported. She no longer had that enthusiasm or the happiness she once had when her father was around. Usually, children who go through separation from their parents face emotional distress, interruptions in schooling and also economic hardships due to the loss of the family breadwinner such as access to benefits such as food stamps and also healthcare can be jeopardized. At times, behavioral problems can arise at when the child is at school which is mainly caused by depression and also anger. (Migration Policy Institute, 2015)

Deportations usually create a large number of single mothers who are struggling to make to take care and support their children after the deportations of their husbands. Also, children and their parents live in constant fear of being separated because they know deportations are happening and they live in fear that they could be next. Because of this fear of deportation, these children usually will associate police with immigration officials. Hence, these citizen children grow up their whole lives afraid of the police.

Immigration agencies should consider the impacts of separating children from their families before performing this act. It goes beyond legal responsibilities because ethics also requires one to think as a human being.

Registration of immigrant students to schools

Immigration children face another issue of being denied access to education. Some schools prevent these children from accessing registration. However due to the laws that were enacted, all immigration children whether they are discriminated or not entitled to education in public schools. Therefore immigrant children should be able to register in public schools to avoid violation of their civil rights. Before passing of the laws of immigrant families to access education, many of them living in the United States without legal status were blocked from registering for school and assessing the educational services they need. Public schools now have obligations of not denying admission to children during enrollment or at any other time on the basis of undocumented status. They can’t treat a student differently to determine residency. They can’t engage in any practices to prevent the right of access to school. Public schools can’t make the children or parents to disclose or document their immigration status. (State of New Jersey Department of Education)

Students facing Deportation

In many schools, children fear being in class and in general even attending schoolbecause they fear being discovered and deported. Many students face deportation once a teacher comes to find out that they are illegal immigrants and end up reporting them. The government’s decision to assist these students was an exceptional one. The threat of deportation has been so real to many students that word of Obama's action led to immediate celebrations in cities like Los Angeles with many who will benefit from the policy. (State of New Jersey Department of Education)

Language

            Another issue that poses a problem to the immigrant students is language barrier. In the film ‘speaking in tongues”, In a nation  where majority of the states declare English as the official language, the film turns the issue on its head and explores how bilingualism can be a national resource. We see four students involved in an educational experiment designed to make them bilingual and biliterate, Durrell a 2nd grader at Starr King Elementary where his classmates are already reading and writing in Mandarin. 7th grader at Alice Fong Yu Alternative School, Kelly Wong reads and writes both Cantonese and Mandarin. Jason has great grades in middle school, testing above grade level in both English and Spanish. Julian is a sophomore at Lowell High School taking the highest level of Chinese offered in the school district. Their stories all reveal the potential strength of a multilingual America. This film questions rote debates about immigration, and what it means to be American in the 21st century.

            In a state like California, it passed “English Only” law, but I think it needs to be changed. I understand and agree with that “to live in United States, a person must be able to speak English.” It is important to provide English environment at school, but we need more than that. The Spanish population is growing, and other foreigner distribution rate is growing too. Only providing ESL classes are not enough to help ELL students. Young age ELL are better at learning new language, but Students who moved to United States at high school age will suffer from learning English and adapting American Culture.  We’ve learned from the last topic about bilingual immersion Schools. If I am a parent, I would love to send my kid to Bilingual immersion school before age 13 rather than make them attending Los Angeles Unified schools.

References

Migration Policy Institute. (2015, September 21). Retrieved June 6, 2016, from Deportation of a Parent Can Have Significant and Long-Lasting Harmful Effects on Child Well-Being: www.migrationpolicy.org

State of New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2016, from Enrollment of Immigrant Students and/or Undocumented Students: www.state.nj.us/education/

BLOG 4

Diversity in the Classrooms

Religious Diversity in the classrooms is very important because implementing lesson plans helps the students to express their own identities while learning about diverse religious and also non-religious beliefs. The students are able to use a variety of resources to explore common themes among different religious traditions. Even though public schools are not allowed to teach religion, teaching about religion in a secular context is permitted. This is also important because it safely and effectively teaches about religion and religious differences using critical literacy strategies, it helps students explore their own identities and the identities of others through developmentally appropriate lesson plans and classroom activities. It also promotes empathy and respectful curiosity and combat stereotypes, prejudice and bullying. (TANENBAUM)   

This week’s module was very interesting for me. I am not a teacher, but I went to high school and college in United States. I had not thought about the religious diversity of my peers yet. I agree with that K-12 teachers should be aware of Guidelines for teaching about Religion in schools in the United States. I was pretty shocked when I saw my quiz score about religions. I realized that I do not have enough knowledge with religions. I go to church, but I had not gotten a chance to study the bible, so I didn’t get some of questions upon it either. From the quiz, I checked “Yes, permitted,” to a question following “According to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, is a public school teacher permitted to lead a class in prayer, or not?” If I went over whole “Guidelines for Teaching about Religion in K-12 Public Schools in the United States,” I would have got it correctly. So, I took the test twice, once before reading it, another after reading it. It helped me a lot to get some brief ideas. (TEACHING TOLERANCE, 2007)

Teachers have a very important part when it comes to religious diversity in the classrooms such as not promoting any particular religion or lack of religious belief, they should not give personal views or even support those of certain students, they must be very sensitive to respect, and not interfere with a student’s religious beliefs and practices. The students should also not be encouraged to accept or conform to specific religious beliefs or practices. (Anti-Defamation League )

The second chapter on gender and sexuality, many different lessons that were held for students surprised me. I remember one reading from the internet, that homosexual forms by social activity, or home environment.I have no chance to watch kids, students closely. But even from watching neighborhoods, or listening to neighborhoods’ story, I can tell that many words are said by children that can interrupt them to form understanding the different gender identities. Gender roles are created by teaching, and learning. Schools and teachers can support it with good programs or lessons. (Lorber, 1994)

Policies and Curriculum reforms are important to protect students from bullying and also harassment and also to decrease discrimination against many targeted groups such as bisexual, lesbian, gay and transgender. Teachers are the ones who are responsible for implementing these reforms but most of them lack the necessary training and knowledge in these areas to do so effectively. It is important for teachers to become knowledgeable about such issues in order to ensure student safety, physical and emotional health and also diversity and equity. (Psychology Today, 2010)

Third part “At Risk vs. Resiliency & School Violence.,” brought me a lot of thoughts. Violence should be ended. I heard a lot of stories from my friends who went to High schools in Los Angeles District. They described as many of students at their school were carrying guns or knives. They were ready to be aggressive, violent. I think schools and teachers need to control and educate students more on that. From the documentary “Valentine Road”, Larry got shot twice from the back by his classmate Brandon and he died two days later. Larry was struggling with his identity; he started wearing makeup and heeled boots to school. At that time, Brandon, who was Caucasian, showed interest in white supremacist ideology. On Valentine’s Day game, Larry asked Brandon to be his Valentine. Problem outbreak! Teachers and schools should have helped them form identities.

The issue of school violence has been noted by the government and federal and state laws have been kept in place to tackle this issue. Teachers also need to pay close attention to students who report some symptoms such as an increase in believing that they are too unsafe to attend school, depression and also suicidal thoughts, more psychologically distress than the students who were never victimized so as to avoid school violence. (youth.Gov)

References

Anti-Defamation League . (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2016, from Religion in the Public Schools: http://www.adl.org/

Lorber, J. (1994). Retrieved June 13, 2016, from Lorber. 'Night to his Day". The Social Construction of Gender: http://wgs10016.commons.gc.cuny.edu/lobber-nighttohisday

Psychology Today. (2010, July 21). Retrieved June 13, 2016, from Teaching Sexuality; How much can we expect from classroom teachers?: http://www.psychologytoday.com

TANENBAUM. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2016, from Religious Diversity in the Classrooms: http://tanenbaum.org/

TEACHING TOLERANCE. (2007). Retrieved June 13, 2016, from One Nation, Many Gods : www.tolerance.org

youth.Gov. (n.d.). Retrieved June 13, 2016, from Risk & Protective Factors: http://youth.gov/sites/default/files/logo.png