Individuals Rights to Education

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome by Christopher Kliewer

Argument:
Kliewer argues that children with disabilities, specifically with Down Syndrome, should be included in classroom activities.

Quotes:

• "(Douglas Bilken) and fellow educators have substantiated this vision with detailed accounts of actual educational arenas where all students are welcomed, no voice is silenced, and children come to realize their own self-worth through unconditional acceptance of one another."

This quote means that schools should be viewed as a community, where everyone is connected and welcomed. No one should be judged. The children who are labeled with disabilities should not be silenced, which means including them in group work, lunchtime, and recess. They are children, after all, they should be interacting with children.

• "Don't tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail."

Shayne, a teacher mentioned in this article, believes that children do not come to school to be labeled. School is about working and learning together. She values human reciprocity, where individuals are given an opportunity to participate in the community/school. Shayne wants a classroom where no child fails, whether it be a child with or without a disability.

• "So what...if you don't fit exactly what you're supposed to? You know, it's not like I fit many people's idea of what a teacher's supposed to be like."

Shayne analyzes a student who will not conform to society's expectations. Society believes that this child is "defective". Shayne is trying to show that nonconformity is a child's right to being human. Not everyone is going to fit every one's expectations--it is impossible!

Comments:

Students who are labeled with a behavioral or emotional disorder are generally placed in a self-contained classroom. They are hidden from their peers without these labels. I think every student should be able to play with other students. Self contained classrooms avoid socialization, which is one of the main reasons to be in school. I do believe in resource for students because every student deserves individual attention for academic purposes. But, with only 6 or so hours in the school day, that is impossible to achieve. Not every student will receive an IEP.

I think that teachers should accept each student as they are. Maybe at the beginning of the school year, the teacher could meet with the parent and the student outside of the classroom. This way each student will learn the best way they know how. :)

segregation

"One More River to Cross" by Charles Lawrence

Argument

Lawrence argues that segregation in schools make black students feel inferior to white students. Segregation means abuse--physical and emotional--towards these black children. It also involves an unequal opportunity for black people to learn in the school community.

Quotes

"The first is that segregation's only purpose is to label or define blacks as inferior and thus exclude them from full and equal participation in society."

Lawrence writes this quote as a way to understand why segregation should be placed in our society. I guess being a non-white skin color, that means you are inferior. These black people should be put in a different category of life because they are so different (skin color) from the skin color of those who have power.

"Once blacks are labeled as inferior, they are denied access to equal societal opportunities."

There is a stigma towards black people--earning power, work ethics. People of the non-white power culture are often wrongfully accused of crimes and denied the opportunities to do the same things that a white person can do.

"The exclusion or segregation of blacks in public facilities was settled policy and reached considerable maturity in the North before moving South in full force."

The North was said to abolish slavery way before the South and this is still evident today. In the North people are more liberal in the sense that they are more welcoming towards diversity. In the conservative South, there are debutante balls devoted to the white young ladies coming of age. And like Kayla said, Obama won the North states and McCain won the South states.

Comments

I was surprised to see that this article was written in 1996. It was a very long list of how segregation is still apart of our society today. This was one article that I did not enjoy reading. I was so blind to not see segregation in our country. But, according to the article, my observations proved false. Lawrence says that if we don't recognize and try to fix prejudism, then it will never go away. If nothing is changed, then African Americans will always have to cross one more river and never reach their full potential.

School Tracking

"Tracking: Why Schools Need to Take Another Route" Jeannie Oakes

Oakes' Argument:
Oakes argues that tracking should be in all schools because it allows teachers to target certain individuals in the classroom. Many teacher find this a helpful way of figuring out a students needs (equity). Others find tracking to be stereotypical-- students are grouped by being "less-able" and put into a different class or even put in a different part of the classroom.

Quotes:

• "In low-ability classes, teachers seem to be less encouraging and more puntitive, placing more emphasis on discipline and behavior and less on academic learning."

High-ability classes have better instruction. The teachers spend more time on learning and less time on discipline. The teachers are enthusiastci. The students tend to trust their teacher. If there is trust, then there is more time spent on learning. However, on the opposite side of the spectrum is the low-ability classroom. The atmosphere here is not a postive one. The students interefere with the teacher, making him/her spend their whole time creating order and discipline.

• "Unless students are similar in learning 'speed', such a curriculum racing horrendous problems of pacing."

In the classroom, there are always going to be some students who acell and learn at a fast pace. Then, there are other students who learn a little slower. For these students it becomes humiliating to be retaught by the teacher. During this re-teaching period, the fast paced learners have to be occupied by "busy work" in order to resist boredom.

The curriculum that Oakes is writing about is the material taught that requires prior knowledge from the students. It is obvious to know that not everyone and/or their parents ever taught them this prior knowledge. So, I can imagine the difficulty in trying to mix students who do have prior knowledge, with those who do not. It becomes frustrating.

• "Students need not be held back from ideas because of skill differences; rather they can acquire skills as they become ready."

I agree with Oakes because not everyone is ready at the same time. As teachers, we should not hold back on new ideas--"challenging, complex, related to real life, and rich with meaning". These students have the right to know and it is up to them when they will process and become ready for this information.

In order to spread these ideas, Oakes suggests creating an active classroom environment, where the students work together. The material needs to be taught with the abilities of the whole class. Some stratgeies Oakes points out are teaching through thinking, discussing, writing, and visualizing. This makes all the students able to comprehend material. Through real world problems, students venture away from the "abstract world of 'school'".

Comments:

Working with the students from VIPS, I notice that when I go over to one of the students desks and ask if they need help, they sheepishly shy away from me. When I do actually get the chance to help them, they feel timid and unsure. My intentions are by no means to humiliate the students, I just want them to comprehend the material. I can see where Oakes is coming from when he writes about the horrendous problems of pacing. I think that schools should track its students that way the children can learn in the best possible way. I know that it is controversial, but so what? Maybe the parents should allow their children to be placed in special classrooms, in order to acheive greatness. :)