Archive for year: 2014

Affirmative action plan as stated in the readings is not only challenging but controversial. According to the readings Affirmative action plan was design to help less represented minorities, “Affirmative action is more of a process than just an admissions policy. Colleges and universities reach out to groups that are underrepresented and urge students to apply. Institutions often offer financial aid to underrepresented students and provide on-campus support programs to improve their academic success.” In the article The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action, adds on to say that the policy permitted schools to use two forms of admissions. One, regular admission, which compared all scores and grades among White students. Second, special admission, students were allowed to apply as “economically and or educationally disadvantaged” and were not ranked against White students but instead with others of similar disadvantaged students. Unfortunately after the 1978 Bakke case that ruled out the affirmative action policy a decrease in admissions at Universities was seen by African American students and Latinos. It’s very hard to add comment to such controversial topic but I instead can agree with President Lyndon Johnson who acknowledges that, “You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair.” In making this comment, President Lyndon Johnson argues that it’s not fair to conclude that les disadvantaged students are able to compete with students who have exposure to more knowledge and better education. I agree that minorities do face many educational disadvantages because of my participation as a minority I faced many struggles that prevented me from taking classes with regular students that were native English speakers. I struggled with English classes simply because I had never been exposed to vocabulary that was necessary to successfully accomplish Standard English classes. If I were a student that was looking for an opportunity at a respect Medical Universities, I would hope to be ranked with other minorities instead of highly educated students. Not because I’m less intelligent but simply because my struggles and my exposure to lower educated environments.

testing

I had my first DIG meeting last Thursday and was able to express concerns I had in class, one of which was taking in all of the assigned reading each week. As a result of the group’s concern’s Julian designed an activity around writing tips. It was important to be able to hear other student’s ideas for what works for them and what doesn’t, as well as gaining tips to better my own reading. Before we engaged in our class discussion we went outside and participated in activity to better prepare us. I was skeptical at first but I honestly enjoyed linking fingers with classmates and seeing the ways each of us have been privileged or not. I discovered many ways of being privileged that I wasn’t previously aware, such as my family owning a house, having a house full of books, and a parent who graduated college. I ended up being one of the only few close to the front and it made me feel uneasy, however, with proper respect for others I know that doesn’t make me any better.

After we took part in the activity we discussed K-12 Pipeline and its impacts on educational equity. Although I read chapter 2 and 3 it was still eye opening to see the statistics presented on the slides. I was shocked my how many more whites score higher on the SAT than African Americans or Latinos. It became apparent to me that our K-12 school system is not equal for everyone and each student and school is not given a fair chance. What is sad is that those who start in the lowest quartile almost never have the ability to catch up. Teachers are not as prepared and schools are not given enough resources to effectively teach students. It was hard to accept the glaring inequities because I wish they didn’t exist, but through class discussion and experience I am aware that they do. We then discussed the other various articles on white privilege and I was again saddened by the covert discrimination that still exists today. People of similar backgrounds and socioeconomic status’ tend in the same neighborhoods, therefore, those living in low income areas don’t receive as much funding. Less expectation and praise may be given to those students, as demonstrated through the quick in-class activity. Mostly, I was stunned and troubled by the statistics.

This week we read Chapter 6 and 8 in Diversity in American Higher Education. Chapter 6 on the Diversity Rationale contained a lot information, most of which I hadn’t previously been aware of. The Diversity Rational is an interpretation that stemmed from a Supreme Court decision and says that race may be used as a selective factor in college admissions as long as racial quotas are not being endorsed. I found chapter 6 somewhat hard to follow. It contained a lot of information and terms that I wasn’t familiar with until I looked up the terms. I felt that chapter 8 complimented the statistics that were in class last Friday. Due to the socioeconomic status of many African Americans in the 1940s, many received poor education compared to that of White’s. I felt as though chapter 8 was easier to understand and presented ways, such as affirmative action, to help solve the problem of underrepresentation of minorities in college. The third assigned reading was an article that related to chapter 6 and included various Supreme Court decisions regarding race and education throughout history. It contained facts on specific cases and how it still impacts educational equity to this day. Overall, the reading was difficult to digest upon first glance but became easier to understand as I researched terms and read over things more than once.

Last week we had an interesting discussion in class. I really enjoyed when we spoke about white privilege. I didn’t realize some of the things that were in my “invisible knapsack” until I spoke about my personal experiences and some things just happen to come to light. It’s so funny how such a small thing can go without being seen by myself unless someone tells me. What really caught me by surprise was the activity we did together outside.  I never thought I would have ended up toward the front of the line. When we began I assumed I would end up somewhere in the middle. Since that day I have really been  thinking a lot a bout that. I feel blessed in some ways to have had the opportunities I have had thus far in my life, and I have a different outlook on my life. I feel very grateful for that experience in that activity because it truly was an eye opener for me. I hope we get to do more activities like that soon.  I think a lot of the class possibly experienced an awakening of some sort after that activity like I did.

We had some very interesting readings for this week. The first I honestly had to go back and forth a couple times to understand it better. Reading about the Diversity Rational and seeing how the Supreme Court ruled it was ok for Universities to use race as a deciding factor made me want to keep finding out more. When u look it up, funny enough a lot of the first articles that appear are about being white or a white male in universities. I read an article on nyulawreview.org called “White like Me” and it states “…the pursuit of diversity does not only benefit minority students who gain expanded access to elite institutions through affirmative action. Rather, diversity also benefits white students who grow through encounters with minority students, it contributes to social and intellectual life on campus, and it serves society at large by aiding the development of citizens equipped for employment and citizenship in an increasingly diverse country. ” Tying this to the second article, so my question is, why are white people still doing better in school?…(in lamest terms) as its stated in the second reading. I’m not sure why, I can’t seem to draw a good answer because I did go to mainly white schools and to be honest a lot of the people I knew that were hispanic as well, that went to other schools didn’t finish school. Why? I feel like there may be some sort of cultural factor. Seeing how easily it is to be pushed down by your color or your race I’m not surprised if people happen to be discouraged in the process of their education. I can say that I feel some societies believe being different that way is a stigma sadly. Answering a previous question on my last blog, I can relate to when the magnet program was almost taken out of my high school. The school I went to was primarily white, If you go visit you will see mainly white people on the banners outside of the school. You see absolutely no diversity there. The whole magnet was made up of minorities. In my group specifically we had mainly black and latino and we had all known each other since elementary so we were a pretty close group of people. I’m thankful the  magnet was never removed though, who knows where I would have end up.

I loved the articles for this week’s reading. They were all thought provoking and challenging. Reading this literature influenced me to spend a great deal of time in reflection on how white privilege pertains to me. Peggy Micontosh did a great job explaining what white privilege is and offering a long list of examples to ensure that her readers have a thorough understanding of the subject. I also enjoyed the other articles because they offered personal opinions, and experiences about white privilege, while still being very informative.  Lastly all the articles were in harmony about White Privilege being a social issue that affects us all. If anyone lacks in conviction to deconstruct or correct the  problem they are participating in continuing the a flawed, unjust, and prejudice system.

My favorite of the articles were the two written by the white mothers.  A Mother’s White Privilege was so powerful because it focused on the privilege of being free from anxiety of your children being in danger on the basis of skin color. I was especially touched by the article because some of the author’s arguments seemed so preposterous, yet when examined have an immense amount of legitimacy. Why should a mother be afraid of her children being murdered by the police for playing with toys at a walmart, or having car problems? Simply hearing statements like that is absurd, and yet we have evidence that those are in fact rational concerns of mothers’ of color. What is more alarming is that these concerns are birthed not from fictitious or similar events, but from actual events.

I also found 6 Things White Parents Can Do To Raise Socially Conscious Children to be a very insightful article. Reading the article almost felt like reading a coming of age story. The author spends time telling stories about her children learning how to live in a world filled with diversity, and her personal involvement in helping them develop a proper perspective of how to deal with diversity. I loved the roller coaster of emotions I experienced while reading this Article. I thought that each account expressed innocence and was simply adorable, but quickly shifted into serious hard learned lessons. Her children go from learning the difference between Barak and Michelle Obama, and other Black Americans on magazine covers, to learning that fear causes people to do awful things. While I do not have children of my own, and understand that this article is about raising children, I found it to be the most helpful. I was able to recognize that helping others see prejudice and white privilege is painful for both parties, but necessary to deconstruct prejudice in our society. I was also inspired by the innocence and intelligence of the children in each account. They associated themselves with white culture and and expressed sympathy without being taught or told to do so. I am reminded that we were not born with our prejudice and can change. We simply need humility and a child like heart.