Welcome bloggers and readers! Here’s Blog #1: The K-12 Pipeline and Funding of American Schools and White Privilege

In the last meeting each person spoke about on of their identities that they thought described who they were. Sadly I was unable to attend class and was not able to hear anyone’s presentation. From what I heard they were all great and I wish I could have been there.

Reading Chapters 2 and 3 was not very surprising for me because I want to be a teacher when I am older and in class we have talked about these situations. I also remember hearing that standardized tests did nothing to help us learn because students are just bombarded with information. Teachers have to dedicate so much time on these tests and I think that the students feel so much pressure knowing that they have to do their best because if not the school will not get as much funding. I had a bad experience when I was in fifth grade with my white teacher I do not know if she thought I was incapable of understanding the directions she gave us but when I “disobeyed” she started screaming at me about listening to directions. This was not the first time she screamed at a Latino student, she would also scream at one boy in my class when he would do something she deemed “wrong”. She would also isolate him from the entire class that way he would not forget what he did wrong. The class broken up into four groups advanced, average, below average, and far below average. Most of her time was spent with the advanced children because she thought the far below children did not have a chance in improving. This example here alone shows how some teachers just give up on students because of their race and capabilities.

The articles on White privilege really opened my eyes on the various ways white people see themselves. Some people know their privileged and want to educate their children to understand that they are privileged but not to abuse it. I think that it is very important for parents to educate their children and teach them about their roots and how others do not have the same opportunities or life that they have. On the other hand there are people who are white and do not feel privileged because they live in low income homes that it does not matter what your race is you still have to be on your guard if you want to survive. I am Hispanic and I do not feel very privileged my parents are struggling financially with trying to pay bills and the mortgage. Now that I am going to college it is even harder I because I only received three small scholarships and I had to take out a loan but this is still not enough to pay all of tuition and housing. However, I am glad that these articles made me look at the different aspects of being white privileged I realize that not just because someone is white it means they are privileged.