Blog #1 (:

Last week’s class focused on the presentations that went along with our “Who are you?” papers. I like the fact that this class is smaller than all of my other classes, it makes it easier to get to know all of the people in a class in depth, it makes us sort of a small community that is set up to help one another. I enjoyed getting to know each and every one of my classmates, its great to see that there are some that I have so many similarities with. Although many of us talked about some of the topics which included family, ethnicity, and education; it is great to see how it all was different for each of us in our own special way. I also enjoyed the fact that although we may all have different backgrounds and our journeys might vary from one another we all for the most part have the same goals which is to be the best type of individual we can be and succeed in whatever we put our mind to. Although  it may be a long journey with obstacles we cannot predict it is quite satisfying to know we will have each other throughout this course and hopefully beyond it.

This week’s readings consisted of chapters 2 and 3 in the book and some articles online. The chapter in the book that I found more interesting and in various ways I myself experienced or saw as I was growing up was the chapter that focused on the K-12 pipeline for Blacks and Latinos. The reading talked about how racism has indeed improved since the segregation years,but it hasn’t really completely gone away. The way that white children are treated in regards to their education compared to black and Latino is very different even to this day. The fact that the readings focus on this is very much more than enough proof that racism still occurs in schools and that the way we are taught and treated throughout or early educational years really affects our future outcome. The future outcome to many of the students that get that special treatment is for the most part getting into nicer schools with better reputations and resources. The fact that I experienced this first hand is more than enough proof that something is being done that shouldn’t be whether it special treatment, segregation or even racism. When I became a senior in High School and realized I had no real set plan for myself hit me that I was likely to become a bum of some-sort. I went for help to my counselor but was shocked to see they were only focused on the students who were on the right track since about freshman year. I wasn’t shocked to see that most were AP students and mostly all were either White or Asian. The counselor sort of pushed other students like myself who were never given the opportunity like those that the AP students had. For the most part most of the misinformed students consisted of Hispanics or other types of minorities. Although I think this wasn’t done on purpose by any specific individual, it just goes to show how much of a privilege it is to be a certain type of ethnicity.

The second article that also stood out to me, not because of any personal experience, but because it had so much truth interpreted in it was the article ” A Mother’s White Privilege”. It tells how much of a privilege it is for this mother to have three white blond haired, blue eyed boys compared to having o be a mother to boys of Black ethnicity. It explains how she won’t have to worry about her boys being shot, killed or mistreated by officers just because of their ethnicity.  All the points she makes are very true and have been strongly supported by many recent events that have happened in the U.S. including the case of Trayvon Martin and events that recently occurred in Ferguson. It is great to see that a White mother recognizes all of her privileges and will indeed take advantage of them. I think it can also open the eyes of the U.S. and see that action needs to be taken so not only one type of ethnicity is seen with these types of privileges.