Talking Point #3

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community

by Dennis Carlson

1. "Much as communist teachers were to be drummed out of the teaching corps because communism was "contagious," so gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as contagious"

I can not believe that people thought that "gayness" was contagious. The fact that they actually would fire a qualified teacher just because they are gay, really upsets me. Thankfully today this is not an issue anymore, but the actuality that it once was an issue is shocking and really makes me realize that I am lucky to live in the time frame I do.

2. "Normalizing texts systematically exclude and neglect the culture of those outside the norm for the purpose of ratifying or legitimating the dominant as the only significant culture worth studying."

Carlson makes a very good point here. I never thought about it before now, but he is really right. There is really a heavy impact on all students that the culture that they use in all the texts books is the only culture worth studying.

3. "Yet the intimidation continues, much as it does in the military."

Thought there is very little discrimination with gays, there is still intimidation. This means that people still have worries about being around gays, and are almost scared to be around them as well. This should not be the case but I have even found myself feeling this in some sort of way.

This article really gave me a lot of information about what gays had to go through in the past. I never knew that people were fired because they were gay. I always thought that the gays were going through rough and hard times today but now I know that there were many more things that they had to go through as well. The education system really doesn't include gayness in any of the curriculum's except when teaching about HIV/AIDS. I really enjoyed reading this article and learning a lot more than I knew before.

Talking point 2

Aria by Richard Rodriguez

1 "As we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents."

This quote from the article really sums up what happens in a lot of families that speak other languages at home. Once the children learn English and use it out in public they tend to not know how to speak to their parents. The family that was once close and had their own family language, is now losing their connection. I feel that there has to be a sense of frustration between the family, that they don't know how to communicate to each other.

2 "For I was increasingly confident of my own public identity."

When a child in the public school systems in the US and they don't speak English, they tend to feel not a part of the society. Like the author states, once he became a English speaker, he felt he was a part of society and the public. The more fluent in English the more confident he became as a student in the public. I know that if the tables were turned, and I had to be the student who didn't know the public language, then I would not have any confidence until i knew the language either.

3 "Today i hear bilingual educators say that children lose a degree of 'individuality' by becoming assimilated into public society."

Having bilingual education is so important. The culture of power speaks English, therefore if one doesn't speak English they are at a disadvantage. Even though there are arguments on whether or not one will lose their individuality when they become English speakers, I disagree. If that's what defines individuality, does that mean us as English speakers aren't individual? This quote is important because this is a huge argument that is still going on today.

I really enjoyed reading this article. I really understand the importance of bilingual education. There were a lot of feelings that people who speak other languages have that i didn't know. I felt so upset for the father who was losing his family in a way. He lost the control of his house hold because he wasn't fluent in English. The wife became in charge of the household and the voice of the family. This made the father self-conscience. The family lost their connection and their new language made them feel fake at a time. Even the children became more advanced then their parents. Richardo didn't even know what to call his parents so he just didn't address them. On the other hand his family became confident in their languages and being a part of the culture of power. This was a very interesting article and I
really felt a connection while I was reading it. Richard Rodriguez is a great author and I like how he wrote real life stories.

talking point 1

Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol

1. ""were your parents mad?" He looked surprised by this. "why would they be mad?" he asks. "God told us, 'Share'"

This conversation between the narrator and the little boy, Cliffie really got me thinking. Cliffie's family was very poor and didn't have much food or money. Cliffie went to get three pieces of pizza, one for him, one for his mom. and one for his dad. On his way home he saw a poor man who was hungry and he gave him some of his pizza. When asked if his parents were mad about giving away their pizza he said no because they are sent to share by God. Even though he has very little he still is so positive and tries to help others who are even worse off than he is. This was s o inspiring to me; people may be so poor and still be positive about it.

2. "I was offended but i was also blessed. I took the two chairs."

This quote was taking place when they were talking about the illegal dumpers. People would just dump their trash on the street and people would take it. When this woman explained that she found a brand new set of table and chairs and took it, it really made me feel for the people who live like this. She explained that she did feel offended that people were giving her their trash and that this is as much as she was worth. However she also realizes the situation that she is and to get things like that she is blessed. This really just made me feel for the people who have to live in these situations and that they get "blessed" with someone else's trash.

3. "She told me, 'I aint waitin' for the law.' In less than 48 hours he was dead...I hate to say it but he got what he deserved."

Here in this passage it was discussing a man who was killed by the grandmother of a girl that he raped and gave AIDS. The man was the mother of the little girl's boyfriend. The mother died 6 months earlier and then the boyfriend raped the girl and gave her AIDS. She then dies and the grandmother wanted revenge. She made me notice that the police are usually not involved in such cases, and when they eventually do its too late. The grandmother didn't want to wait until the police got involved and she took matters into her own hands; which seemingly happens a lot.

All of these stories really made me sad and feel terrible that people have to live in these environments. The author really brought a lot of heartfelt stories to prove the points he was trying to get across. There were stories of poverty and not having money for food. There were stories about not having good or manageable living environments. In the winters there is no heat and the people living in poverty have to try and survive. There are some efforts to help them like providing portable heaters or electric blankets; and when that wasn't possible they supplied sleeping bags. In the summer it was always too hot and people were losing their energy left and right. The children would even hang out the windows to catch a breeze. Then there were stories about the unclean and unsanitary health care and lack there of. Drugs are a huge part of the everyday life for the people living and growing up in these environments.

Deaths were very common in almost every family, and if someone in your family hadn't passed away there was a large percent chance that you would have at least known someone who has. Though there are so many struggles with living in poverty, people still manage to stay positive and at least try to better themselves. Reading this article really helped me to understand what some of these people have to go through and that they are trying to get rid of the lives they are destined for and make a better life for themselves.