http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/ Just another Edublogs.org weblog Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:26:54 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 hourly 1 http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Our Finest Hour Arrives » All Of My Unique And Interesting Comments… Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:45:03 +0000 http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/#comment-13 [...] Chris  [...] [...] Chris  [...]

]]> http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/comment-page-1/#comment-12 » Comments Post Where’s The Cap? Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:16:49 +0000 http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/#comment-12 [...] http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/ [...] [...] http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/ [...]

]]> http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/comment-page-1/#comment-11 Mike Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:54:20 +0000 http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/#comment-11 Chris, this is definitely an interesting article. I wouldn't go as far as to say they were being racist, necessarily, at least not maliciously so. That being said, Alek's race or appearance of race, did play a large role in his classroom misplacement. This is the exact reason I think schools should be more personal. I mean, as soon as you enter the education system, you are given a number - at least in my district. That number now replaces your name. Anytime you had to fill anything out, it was student number first, name second. I mean, that same system is used at Grand Valley. No one cares about your name, just your number. If schools (the people, not the actual building) were more personal and actually sat down with students as they entered they might actually learn a thing or two - like which ones speak English. Oh, if only we were so lucky. The fact that the school simply didn't believe Alek's parents when they said he spoke English sends chills down my spine. I just can't believe they would be so ignorant to do something like that. Well, I can believe it, I just don't want to. Anyways, great article! Chris, this is definitely an interesting article. I wouldn’t go as far as to say they were being racist, necessarily, at least not maliciously so. That being said, Alek’s race or appearance of race, did play a large role in his classroom misplacement. This is the exact reason I think schools should be more personal. I mean, as soon as you enter the education system, you are given a number – at least in my district. That number now replaces your name. Anytime you had to fill anything out, it was student number first, name second. I mean, that same system is used at Grand Valley. No one cares about your name, just your number. If schools (the people, not the actual building) were more personal and actually sat down with students as they entered they might actually learn a thing or two – like which ones speak English. Oh, if only we were so lucky. The fact that the school simply didn’t believe Alek’s parents when they said he spoke English sends chills down my spine. I just can’t believe they would be so ignorant to do something like that. Well, I can believe it, I just don’t want to. Anyways, great article!

]]> http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Walter Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:40:15 +0000 http://feuerdorn88.edublogs.org/2007/10/21/on-race-and-esl/#comment-10 Your post reminds me of a school district in Washington state that had a system of placing students in particular high schools based on ethnicity in order to sufficiently diversify classes. Ethnicity was not the sole determining factor of where students would ultimately go, but it played a major component in the district’s planning. If students refused to identify their ethnicity on school registration cards, they were hauled into administrative offices for officials to visually check them. To add insult to injury, the district officially categorized each student as either “white” or “nonwhite.” I believe the district had good intentions, and there were a lot of complex societal factors going on, including the so-called voluntary segregation of residential areas along ethnic lines, but it came as little surprise to me that the Supreme Court recently struck down the district’s methods. Alek’s case is similar to the Washington one in that certain officials and faculty might have accepted ethnicity as a blunt instrument with which to justify action taken within the system. Similarly, so-called representatives of their respective ethnic groups, who are so good at attracting news cameras and are inexplicably depicted as the face and voice of an entire vaguely defined group, seem to be guilty of the same thing. Race first, individuality second, seems to be the implied order of importance. Did faculty and administrators at Hillsboro act in a racist manner? I don’t think so. But race seems to be making a comeback as the be-all and end-all of identity. Why this might be happening is definitely something to be concerned about. Your post reminds me of a school district in Washington state that had a system of placing students in particular high schools based on ethnicity in order to sufficiently diversify classes. Ethnicity was not the sole determining factor of where students would ultimately go, but it played a major component in the district’s planning. If students refused to identify their ethnicity on school registration cards, they were hauled into administrative offices for officials to visually check them. To add insult to injury, the district officially categorized each student as either “white” or “nonwhite.” I believe the district had good intentions, and there were a lot of complex societal factors going on, including the so-called voluntary segregation of residential areas along ethnic lines, but it came as little surprise to me that the Supreme Court recently struck down the district’s methods. Alek’s case is similar to the Washington one in that certain officials and faculty might have accepted ethnicity as a blunt instrument with which to justify action taken within the system. Similarly, so-called representatives of their respective ethnic groups, who are so good at attracting news cameras and are inexplicably depicted as the face and voice of an entire vaguely defined group, seem to be guilty of the same thing. Race first, individuality second, seems to be the implied order of importance. Did faculty and administrators at Hillsboro act in a racist manner? I don’t think so. But race seems to be making a comeback as the be-all and end-all of identity. Why this might be happening is definitely something to be concerned about.

]]>