"Education Is Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment" by Shor

1. "Is the curriculum balanced and multicultural, giving equal attention to men, women, minorities, and nonelite groups, or is it traditionally male-oriented and Euro-centric?"

I chose this quote because it reminded me of the Delpit reading. It makes me think about the way in which students are taught based on the culture of power. It's unfair to present information that is based solely on white males. In order to fully understand history, one must be able to view it from all sides.

2. "To teach skills and information without relating them to society and to the students' contexts turns education itno an authoritarian transfer of official words, a process that severely limits student development as democratic citizens."

I found this quote to be very important. How are students expected to learn anything if they cannot relate to the information that they are being taught? We need to stray away from the Eurocentric male views in history and literature and take a look at that of women and minorities.

3. "To them, schooling supports existing power and divisions in society by sorting students into a small elite destined for the top and a large mass destined for the middle and the bottom."

This quote relates to the Oakes reading on tracking. It is unfair for minority students to be placed in lower level classes based strictly on their race. These students are stereotyped as being less capable than their white counterparts when this is not necessarily true.

I thought this reading was a good choice to end off with. It connects nicely with several of the readings including the Oakes and Delpit readings. Overall I think that Shor did a nice job showing how education gives us power, tying in the culture of power and the Johnson reading.

"Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome" by Christopher Kliewer

1. "The phenomenon of categorization at the expense of individual value has been described as a 'disability spread' in which we 'extrapolate the characteristics we associate with the notion of disability to the particular individuals we meet. These perceptions are often based on stereotypes and what we think we know about a particular disability. They are expressed in predictable ways. For example, all people with Down syndrome are happy.'"

I chose this quote because I think it does a good job representing how people often think about a particular disability. Too often we judge a person based on the stereotypes that society has developed for the particular group of people this person fits into. Just like all other stereotypes, there are many exceptions to the "rule".

2. "'I don't tend to see Down syndrome as something. I fyou look at those three kids running around the room, they're incredibly different from each other. They're different in terms of what their bodies are like, how they best communicate, what they're like socially, their interests. And with those three kids in the room it would be hard to say, 'This is how you should teach kids with Down syndrome.''"

This quote reinforces the idea that the stereotypes placed upon those with Down syndrome are false. Not all children with a particular mental disability function the same way. Somebody cannot say that "this is how you should teach kids with Down syndrome" because they all learn differently. It depends on the individual student and the teacher must be willing to try different methods with each of their Down syndrome students.

3. "As mentioned earlier, people with Down syndrome are joined in their struggle for citizenship by other oppressed groups."

I like this quote because it shows how people with learning disabilities are grouped with Others - those of a different race or background. These people are set apart and treated differently than every one else because they are not "normal". We have to take time to think about what "normal" is and who defined it. This relates to the Johnson reading which states that "the dominant racial group has the cultural authority to define the boundaries around 'white' as it chooses."

My mother is a special needs teacher, so I have been able to witness the struggle children with Down syndrome have with fitting in personally. Also, the inclusion of the stories of children with Down syndrome helped me to understand this a bit better. As a prospective teacher, I am able to see how this is going to affect the way I teach. I can only hope that once I become a teacher I will be able to make the children in my class with Down syndrome among other learning disabilities feel as though they belong.

"Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work" by Jean Anyon

1. "Work tasks do not usually request creativity [in the middle class school]. Serious attention is rarely given in school work on how the children develop or express their own feelings and ideas, either linguistically or in graphic form."

I chose this quote because I think that creativity should be present in every activity. If students are not asked to be creative, then there's no room for individuality. It's impossible to determine one student's work from another's.

2. "The products of work in this class [in the affluent professional school] are often highly valued by the children and the teacher."

This quote stuck out to me because I think that every child, no matter their social standing should be proud of the work they have completed and so should their teacher. If a teacher does not show that they care about their students' work, then they will feel poorly about themselves and may not put in an effort.

3. "Schoolwork helps one to achieve, to excel, to prepare for life."

I chose this quote because I think that's it's not completely true. Sure, school does help students to prepare for life, but there are many things that one needs to live a successful life that they cannot learn in the classroom. Social skills are a part of this. We do need to learn math and how to write in order to be able to properly communicate, but many of our experiences outside of school contribute to our preparedness for life.

Having gone to school in town where the schools would be categorized as affluent professional schools, this article opened my eyes to what else is out there. I never knew that students who attend working class schools are treated so poorly. Their teachers give directives and don't explain themselves. I find it troubling that these students aren't given more positive attention. Children from low income families need teachers that will make them feel good about themselves, not cut them down.

"Teaching Boys and Girls Separately" by Elizabeth Weil

1. "Principal Mansell reports that her single-sex classes produce fewer discipline problems, more parental support and better scores in writing, reading, and math. She does, however, acknowledge that her data are compromised, as her highest-performing teachers and her most-motivated students have chosen single-sex."

It appears that single-sex classrooms are a good idea and should be implemented nation-wide. Since boys and girls tend to learn differently, the teacher can properly help each child reach their highest potential when teaching a single sex. If test scores are increasing in schools where single-sex classes are being introduced, then it seems viable to say that they are working.

2. "'The neglect of gender in education and child rearing has done real harm.' These tragedies 'might have been averted if the parents had known enough about gender differences to recognize what was really happening in their child's life.'"

This quote directly follows references to a young boy who has been diagnosed with A.D.H.D. and depression who takes three pills a day and to a middle school girl who went from being a wallflower to an "outgoing socialite" who eventually killed herself. These are both heart-breaking stories. This just goes to show that parents as well as teachers need to be aware of gender differences. In the case of the middle school girl, if her parents had been paying attention they would have noticed that she was unhappy with who she was and decided to change herself, but when that didn't make her feel better, she killed herself. In the case of the young boy, he was probably stereotypically diagnosed with A.D.H.D. because he was an active little boy which is not uncommon. If their parents had been aware of gender differences, they may have been able to prevent these things from happening.

3. "While there's some dispute over whether there's an ongoing education crisis for white, middle-class boys, there's no doubt that public schools are failing poor minority students in general and poor minority boys in particular."

Even after No Child Left Behind was implemented, things are not changing. White, middle-class students are still performing better than minority students. Further steps need to be taken in order to ensure that all children are performing equally in the classroom, no matter their race or socio-economic status.

This article was very interesting. To be completely honest, I was dreading reading it, but I actually enjoyed it. I had never really put much thought into the different learning styles of girls and boys. Gender differences have been discussed in several of my other classes, but we did not touch upon the difference in learning styles. I think same-sex classes are a good idea if test scores are improving. It seems as though it would be easier to teach a class of either all boys or all girls. Of course we must keep in mind that there are many exceptions and some children are wrongly stereotyped and a single-sex classroom may not be appropriate for him or her.