Monday, September 28, 2009

Aria Talking Points

When I began reading this piece, I thought that it was going to be very straight-forward and easy to get through. It was only a few pages, and it was written as a personal story, which I tend to find more enjoyable and informative. And although it WAS an easy piece for me to read, I was left with a few questions. The narrator of this story said several times that he was glad his teachers did not want him to keep speaking Spanish, even though he was uncomfortable and intimidated by the English language. However, he then goes on to express how he still longs to speak Spanish, and how speaking English in his home separated his family and made them become very distant from one another. It just seemed very contradictory, and if his point as the author was that children who do not know English should be forced to give up the language they know and speak at home so they can learn English quicker, I do not agree at all.

When Rodriquez is describing the time some Nuns from his school come to talk with his parents, he says: "With great tact the visitors continued, 'Is it possible for you and your husband
to encourage your children to practice their English when they are home?' Of course, my parents complied. What would they not do for their children's well-being? And how could they have questioned the Church's authority which those women represented? In an instant, they agreed to give up the language (the sounds) that had revealed and accentuated our family's closeness. The moment after the visitors left, the change was observed. 'Allora, speak to us en ingles,' my father and mother united to tell us." The tone is this paragraph sounds, at least to me, sarcastic and resentful. It sounds to me like he was and might still be angry at his parents for abandoning their culture and therefor sacrificing their closeness as a family. Did anyone else read it like this or does it mean something completely different?

Another point that I took away from this article was how the author is dissapointed that he lost his "private language", even though he was happy to master English and feel accepted in our American culture. "I would have been happier about my public success had I not sometimes recalled what it had been like earlier, when my family had conveyed its intimacy through a set of conveniently private sounds. Sometimes in public, hearing a stranger, I'd hark back to my past." His sense of longing to be able to have a connection with his family in regards to speaking Spanish makes me really sad. I think that yes, practicing English at home was beneficial, but the children also should have been able to speak Spanish too.

Another point from the article that puzzled me was this: "Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between classroom language and the language of home. At school, words were directed
to a general audience of listeners. ('Boys and girls.') Words were meaningfully ordered. And the point was not self-expression alone but to make oneself understood by many others." Is the author saying that, by speaking English at home, his classroom language and language at home became the same thing? If so, I think it is important to have a seperate dialog from school and home.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

McIntosh Talking Points

The article I read was "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh. At first I was slightly off-put by the title; I was nervous that it would be another article like Delpit's that would be difficult to read, and that it would make me feel uncomfortable or guilty. However, once I started reading it I realized that I need to keep an open mind and see that I'm not being singled out and blamed for anything, I need to acknowledge these privileges in order to move forward and have that uncomfortable discussion. Some of the quotes that I found most interesting were:

"Many, perhaps most, of our white students in the United States think that racism doesn't affect them because they are not people of color; they do not see "whiteness" as a racial identity".

It is true that I've never really thought about my racial identity as "white". I've never had to feel like I was being judged based on the color of my skin, and it's unnerving to think about those that have been.

"Keeping most people unaware that freedom of confident action is there for just a small number of people props up those in power and serves to keep power in the hands of the same groups that have most of it already".

To me what this quote is saying that until the people that do have privileges recognize this, we cannot work together to end racism.

"I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider".

This is one of the privileges McIntosh writes about. It made me think about how many rights that I take for granted; I don't have to worry about voicing my political opinions and having people tell me I only think that because of my race, or that I'm "unamerican".

Monday, September 7, 2009

First Post

Hi! I'm Megan Cary, and this is my second year at Rhode Island College. I'm majoring in Elementary Education, and I commute from Coventry. My classes this semester are mostly Gen Eds, and although there's a lot of homework to go along with them, I find them all pretty interesting. When I'm not at school I'm playing video games or hanging out with my friends. I work part-time at CVS. I'm excited about this class, and I hope it helps me understand more about teaching as well as what needs to be done for admission into the FSEHD.