Oct. 31 Monitoring Progress on Diversity

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I love the opening paragraph of this chapter about “projectitus” where in diversity activity is equated with diversity progress. The author  goes on to mention that leaders (and I would add ‘others’) grow tired of “spending time on yet another task force”. Continuing on, the author reiterates, “campus reviews of diversity often consist more of information on activities than on institutional change.” In the same section the author asserts, “it appears that the impetus to reflect on the status of diversity often tends to be reactive, as a response to external requirement, as a response to a call to ‘demonstrate’ (and sometimes prove) the effectiveness of a single program in a highly politicized context, or in response to a campus incident.”

These comments hit directly on the head of the question I have often held. This is a problem beyond the higher education realm. It’s the problem, in P-12 education, and our society at large. There are a lot of people, organizations, and causes throwing a lot of ‘fixes’ at the issues of diversity, underrepresented, oppressed, less-abled, you name it. This is a particularly onerous problem in the schools. Plans, programs, policies, are instituted and implemented, before careful examination of the effectiveness of the current plans, programs, and policies. The new plans, programs, policies, are begun before carefully considering their potential effectiveness, or problems which would render them ineffective. In an effort to be politically correct, in line with policy, within the standards, complying with the requirements, poor thinking and evaluation goes on. When this happens change is implemented that never really addresses the problem. Hence, the same issues are revised year after year with little change.

To quote the author again, “numbers do not exist in a vacuum.” Further, “…caution must be used to make sure that data do not become removed from context or used to make the issues so complex that no meaning can be developed. Data and data requests can also get out of control and proliferate to the point of meaninglessness.” The data needs to be carefully and thoughtfully reviewed before it can be used to address the strengths or weaknesses of the institution. I found the section called Orienting the Data to be especially helpful in the process of reflecting on data and the nature of change before decision-making. I also found the webs on 264-268 to be helpful guidelines which could easily be adapted for P-12 use. I dog-eared those pages for possible future reference.

Oct. 31 Inclusive Leadership and Religion

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As a teacher, I’ve been nervous when students ask questions, or mention “God”, “Jesus”, or such in my classroom. I find myself walking on eggshells during the holidays. For ELD it’s important to teach vocabulary for the holidays that students experience in our country. I occasionally have students who do not celebrate holidays at all. Sometimes parents are adamant about what students can/cannot do. Sometimes this can be done without changing much and other times it requires greater shifts. I remember my son coming home from 3rd grade and announcing that EVERY kid in his class was Christian, because they all celebrated Christmas. This prompted a discussion about holidays, and how they have changed. I know many families who celebrate holidays, and traditions from more than one religion due to marriages within their family.

As an individual, I’ve experienced prejudice due to religion. As a child, I attended a few different churches. At age 9 when I decided to join a church, I was ostracized. I was no longer allowed to attend church activities with my friends, some of my friends were no longer allowed to play with me, and I was denied the awards I had earned in another church’s youth program. I remember thinking that surely God wouldn’t want people to act that way towards a child. I shrugged it off and continued with my decision. That was 1969. Ironically, in 1994, I taught a children’s summer program for one of the churches I had been excluded from as a child. I was asked to teach although I was still a member of the church I had joined at 9 years old.  As an adult, in 2000 there was an group in our school district who was actively trying to limit employees from my religion from getting hired because they thought there were ‘too many of them’ on staff and in higher-level district positions. Some of these people were friends and acquaintances who were not aware of my religious affiliation. Again, in 2012, there were verbal threats from an employer to fire myself and 3 other persons due to religious affiliation. The early members of my church fled for their lives due to an ‘extermination order’ which was issued by our government. They fled to a Mexican territory for safety to establish their religious practices.

As a leader, I believe comparative religious education in schools would be a benefit for tolerance and acceptance, but also for the simple reason of becoming educated in religious literacy and becoming more informed citizens. There is a need for prior training, and reputable curriculum so that this is done with respect, accuracy, and as objectively as possible so that students and families do not feel spiritually threatened by it. At the lower grades I like the ‘morning messages’ which focus on character-building traits such as kindness, cooperation, responsibility, hard-work, etc. As the author of this section mentions that many things fall under the category of ‘spirituality’ irrespective of religion, and that individuals do have a ‘spiritual’ cycle of development which is often neglected in our schools. Some aspects of it can and should be taught if we are going to prepare good citizens and students who are ready for all aspects of success in college and/or workplace after graduating from high school.

I found it interesting that religious school institutions were found to have greater instance of comparative religion education, and did an equal, or better job of producing religiously tolerant students. Although I attended a religious university, there were many student organizations for various religious, gender, minority, foreign, and political students. Ironically, there was also an ‘atheist’ student organization. In recent years there has also been much media produced form the school in efforts to support these groups of students within the context of the university. I mention this because earlier in the year the question was raised about how these issues were addressed in such environments. I believe education and access to education truly is the key to effecting change from the inside out.

CSUCI and Plastics in the news

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My friend and fellow ESRM Capstoner, Dorothy Horn, made the VC star for her project on microplastics in sand crabs!

Dorothy’s VC Star Article

Diving into the World of LGBT (Revised)

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Hello and good afternoon,

This week we dive into the world and communities of the LGBT.  As mentioned in previous blogs for the past few weeks, I have played the “Lurker” and watched events unfold from afar. I have followed a few groups while,  The Los Angeles LGBT Center, LGBT News and Human Rights Campaign being the favorite choices of the many sites available.

I have to start this article by saying that I was advised to use an alias account to research this topic, but I was reluctant to do so as I felt that I should be representing myself, and not a fictitious character. It almost felt wrong to be someone that I am not, or to mislead others into believing a lie. So with that said,  with my personal Twitter account, I became a follower of all three of the groups mentioned before.

It came as a massive shock to how much SPAM and Male hook-up sites were received almost immediately. As one that is researching the well-being of a community and how they fight for equal rights, I must say that I was set back by this type of response.  What I thought was supposed to be a community center for the LGBT of Los Angeles is more of a trolling site.  I have never experienced such a personal violation in my life. It never dawned on me that men were so free and eager to showing private parts to complete strangers over the internet. I mentioned the encounter on another feed and asked if that was normal? Being greeted with hesitation and complete dismissal, and being told that a straight man had no business being a part of a gay community came as no real surprise, it was just the tone used and the choice of language. As I mentioned before that, I have received this type of rejection before.

Part of me is saying to myself, “what were you thinking”? While the other half of me is thinking, “what’s the big deal”? If one does not understand the truth of a subject, then one must dive deeper into that topic. What I do know is that there is an entire world of LGBT that is screaming words of equality and unity. Other words ring out as well, like peace and love, and freedom for everyone. I am not going to go deep into this, but I will say, that road is a two-way street. There is a gap that is between the heterosexual world and the homosexual world, and it come together equally by BOTH sides, and not just one adapting to the other.

For the next couple of weeks, I will still be diving into the world of LGBT, but I will stick to official pages and focus on the health issues that arise day to day.

Well as I always say, keep smiling, make someone laugh out loud and have a fantastic day.

CDR

 

Just a little note to my many followers, in no way shape or form do I ever intend to offend or insult anyone for any reason. The topic chosen is highly sensitive and can be taken the wrong way, and I apologize in advance.

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New Family Dynamic

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When I first started reading chapter seven I was having a hard time taking the content seriously. The chapter discussed how Teens were choosing to get pregnant due to shows like Teen Mom and The Secrete Life of the American Teenager. I think if anything these shows depicted the hardships that come along with being a teenage mother and how having sex is an adult activity that can lead to adult consequences. Just like the chapter we read on violence due to media, I do not believe that teenage pregnancy or divorce rates have anything to do with what people are seeing in the media. I think that those type of lifestyle chooses are due to peoples own decisions and that by seeing how glamours it is to be a divorced parent in no way will make someone want to go out and file for divorce. I can understand concerns that parents may have about media  (as shown in the New York Times video) but I believe that just watching a television program or listening to a specific song will not change the values a child holds dear nor will it make a teenager want to go out and have a baby. I think that children learn by example and the best example they have is their parents.

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Session 10

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I thought the video Sex, Drugs, and Gore was very interesting. I thought it was funny how one mother said she thought it was not appropriate for her daughter to buy Prince’s Purple Rain album. Then why let your kid buy it?? Whose fault is that? I get that some music can be pretty graphic, but you can control what children listen to. I know my parents did not let me listen to certain songs when I was younger, and once I listened to those songs later, I realized why they did not let me hear them. How about instead of criticizing everything, you talk to your kids about the songs and why they’re inappropriate.You can only control so much of what they listen to, but you can talk to them as much as you want.

As for the sexualization of girls, I thought this website was wonderful. Not only does it provide the evidence for the sexualization of women, but it also provides tips for parents and girls. The most important tip I saw was just talking with them. I am not a parent, but I have a younger sister who just started high school. I always talk to her about appearance, boys, and fitting in. I always tell it like it is because I want her to see that this world is not all pink and pretty, but there are bigger issues going on in society like the sexualization of girls. I also loved the provided websites.

Sternheimer brings up the whole Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant issues, and how these shows idolized the teens pregnancies. I had a public speaking class once, and one time sometime gave a speech about those tv shows. I remember she said that the girls in the show got paid an outrageous amount for each episode, so this can be seen as idolization in a way. I always thought the show was dumb and not exactly a great model for teens. Also, I think there is a movie on Netflix about the whole 17 teens getting pregnant at the same time. I have never seen it, but I did not know that it was a true story from Massachusetts.

Seeing Things In A Different Light

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20151025_141713When I first heard we were going to Santa Rosa Island, I will admit I was both excited and nervous. A weekend away from civilization sounded nice but there was a big chance that I wouldn’t be able to get any work done, which stressed me out a bit. But when we got to the island, my nerves dwindled down. Maybe this trip would be good for me. And I was right. I had a blast being away from everything and being one with nature. After all the stress I’ve been under to complete all the assignments, write papers, study for tests, etc, it was good for me to get away from civilization. I was able to relax and actually think about my life.20151024_114912

And the faculty-lead sessions were eye-opening as well. I learned to see things in a different light. A better and creative light. To take something that is usual looked at for scientific purposes and see the beauty and creativity of the object. To see the cliff sides more than just millions of years of history but a beautiful sculpture made from millions of years of the ocean hitting against the sand.

I also learned to celebrate diversity. Not only in the human race but nature in general. And I better understood evolution and how it varies from place to place. The different species of plants and animals that are on Santa Rosa didn’t just appear there one day. It’s all because of survival of the fittest.

Both of these lessons have the common core of seeing things differently than originally thought. Everyone sees everything differently. Reasons can vary from past experiences, education, way of thinking, etc. For example, one may see this trip as a getaway from the stresses of everyday life while another may see it as a burden because they’ve already had a bad experience on retreats. It is up to everyone to understand everyone’s differences.

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” ― Henry David Thoreau, Walden

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Going to the island I feel as though I was served an abundance of ideas. Maybe not for all students but for me I loved all of it I couldn’t get enough and wanted more to learn. Some majors despised the island while others loved it. In some strangely crazy way, every major was incorporated in this trip whether it be the math to see an estimated time frame to see if plants will grow to the art and seeing the beauty in the surroundings.

 

Being a biology major, there were so many opportunities to choose from when it comes down selecting something to your research liking. While selecting one is hard since there were very few things on the anatomy of the body I am just going to make a sharp left and talk about the second best thing I am good at and that’s botany. This is a very strange field I find myself excelling in due to the fact that I absolutely hate gardening I do not have the patience to keep watering and watching the growth I just want to see the final product as soon as I possibly can.

 

I think both myself and my lab professor already who spoke out at our roundtable could benefit from looking at the restoration of plants due to the hundreds of species of Bees. We could benefit in more than one way we get to see and discover the various species of bees and their interactions around plants. The second best part is that affiliates with how bees play a major role in not just the United States but on the islands along the coast where there are various endangered plants.

 

This research question will raise various eyebrows because we’re talking about bees and plants. They are both deadly and boring at the same time to the point where no one really thinks about these situations and just avoid all topics about these two together. However, this will spark the interests of other staff because it will solve a few answers like how plants continue to disperse and maybe even an answer to colony collapse disorder.