Mullato tells mother he is passing as white

I thought this was interesting. A clip from the movie The Human Stain. Enjoy it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOjPvCPNbE

Talking Point#5-Kahne & Westheimer

In the Service of What?
The Politics of Service Learning
Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer


Authors' Argument: Kahne and Westheimer argue that it is important that students participate in a Service Learning Program because it is a way to help and give back to their community. At the same time Service Learning projects promote students' self-esteem.

Quotes:
1. "In contrast, much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change.”
I am confused. I don’t understand this quote. Isn’t giving or helping part of changing someone’s live.

2. "After they returned, the students' perspectives on these elementary school children had changed. They were "surprised at the children's responsiveness and their attentiveness," they found the children to be "extremely polite and surprisingly friendly," and they discovered that they "listened well and had excellent behavior." One student wrote, "Everyone at the school had good manners, and I think more highly of the neighborhood now."
I think that this quote is very important because after the students visited the school in a poor neighborhood they changed their way of thinking. They realized that poor people also have good manners and that they can be friendly. Besides helping others, I believe that Service Learning projects can change the way students think about others. If they wouldn’t done that service learning activity their misconception about that school and their students was going to be the same or even worst.

3. "Effort to integrate service learning activities into the curriculum has great potential and deserves the support they are now receiving."
I agree with this quote. I think that it is very important that service learning projects become part of the curriculum. I think that it is a great opportunity to learn and help those in need.

Comments/Point to share: I think that this article was very interesting. I think that Service Learning is a great idea and it should be part of the school’s curriculum. It is an excellent opportunity for students to give back to their community. I am so glad that one of the requirements for FNED 346 is the SLP. I believe that everyone should be encouraged to do it.

Talking Point#4-Christensen

Unlearning the Myths That Bind US
Linda Christensen

Author's Argument: Christensen argues that the media portrays the wrong imagine to our children. Children are learning about sexism, racism, etc. at an early age. Christensen also argues that it is our responsibility as parents and teachers to teach the correct information.

Quotes:
1. "Many students don't want to to believe that they have been manipulated by children's media or advertising. No one want to admit that they've been "handled" by the media. They assure me that they make their own choices and the media has no power over them - as they sit with Fubu, Nike, Timberlands or whatever the latest fashion range might be."

I agree with this quote. It is really sad to know that most of our children will not wear nothing else but brand name clothing and shoes. I agree that the media has a lot to do with our children’s behavior, but I also believe that peer pressure plays a big role in it too. Our children see it on TV, at school and in their friends. They think that in order to be accept by their friends, they need to wear nice clothes. The funny part of all this is that most of them don’t work and their parents are the one ended up paying for their expensive clothes. In order words, we as parents also contribute to that “manipulation.”

2. "Have you ever seen a black person, an Asian, a Hispanic in a cartoon? Did they have a leading role or were they a servant?"

I can see how this quote is true, but at the same time I can see how this is changing. Nowadays, I can see more cartoons with black, Asian and Hispanic character in them, e.g. Little Bill (produced by Bill Cosby), a Chinese cartoon that came out recently called Ni Hao Kai Lan, and our famous Dora the Explorer and Diego. There are not too many, but at least we can find some if we start flipping through channels.

3. "Because we can never look like Cinderella, we begin to hate ourselves. The Barbies syndrome starts as we begin a lifelong search for the perfect body. Crash diets, fat phobias, and an obsession with the materialistic become commonplace.

It is so sad to think that media has such as big influence in us. I believe that when we have a low self esteem we are more vulnerable to feel that we-"to start hating ourselves." We get the wrong image from TV, magazine and we forget that it's all airbrush. What we see is not real, but we don't get it.

Comments/Point to share: This was a very interesting article. When I finished reading this article I thought about my culture. You will think that in the Hispanic culture things are different. The answer is no. It is hard to see on Hispanic news, soap operas, talk shows, etc. someone with dark skin completion or curly hair. The majority are good looking, lighter skin, blond hair. Although, the Hispanic culture is a mixture of African, European and Indian. It is really hard to see the African and Indian characteristics on Hispanic television. It is sad.

Talking Point #3 - Carlson

Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community
Dennis Carlson

Author's Argument: Carlson argues that it should be part of the Public Schools curriculum to talk about sexual identity (gay, lesbians, travesties). He also believes that a democratic multicultural education must become a dialogue in which all "voices" are heard and all "truths" are understood as partial and positioned.

Quotes:
1. "Within normalizing communities, some individuals and subject positions (i.e. white, middle class, male, heterosexual, etc.) get privileged and represented as "normal" while other individuals and subject positions (i.e., black, working class, female, homosexual, etc.) are dis empowered and represented as deviant, sick, neurotic, criminal, lazy, lacking in intelligence, and in other ways "abnormal."

I am starting to like Delpit. When I read this quote I immediately saw the connection with Delpit's idea "the culture of power." Carlson and Delpit are basically saying the same thing. In order words those who are considered "normal" have the privilege to be part of the normalizing communities and those who are considered "abnormal" have not any privilege.

2. "Willard Waller, in his 1932 classic The Sociology of Teaching, argued that homosexual should not be allow to teach for several reasons. Teachers were presumed to be lecherous and develop "ridiculous crushes" on students."

I don't know if this could be a quote, but when I was reading this part of the article I said to myself how about heterosexual teachers, they have ridiculous crushes on students and they are allow to teach.

3. "Not only do these silent spaces work to make those on the margins invisible and silent; they also, and at the same time, make the cultural center invisible as a center since it never has to "speak it own name."

I can see this quote connected to Johnson's argument about saying the word in order to recognize the problem. I agree with Carlson and Johnson. When we don't express our feeling it makes hard to comfort the problem. It is like being able to see, but not wanting to see the reality.


Comments/Point to Share: This article was somewhat difficult to read. There were paragraph where I did not have a clues what Carlson was trying to say, but there were other parts that were clear and I was able to make connections with other texts that I have read.
It is sad to think that gays and lesbians are associated with disease.