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In Class/OutClassed
Welcome to InClass/OutClassed: On the Uses of a Liberal Education, an Emily Balch Seminar offered in Fall 2011 @ Bryn Mawr College. This is an interestingly different kind of place for writing, and may take some getting used to. The first thing to keep in mind is that it's not a site for "formal writing" or "finished thoughts." It's a place for thoughts-in-progress, for what you're thinking (whether you know it or not) on your way to what you think next. Imagine that you're just talking to some people you've met. This is a "conversation" place, a place to find out what you're thinking yourself, and what other people are thinking. The idea here is that your "thoughts in progress" can help others with their thinking, and theirs can help you with yours.
So who are you writing for? Primarily for yourself, and for others in both sections of our course. But also for the world. This is a "public" forum, so people anywhere on the web might look in. That's the second thing to keep in mind here. You're writing for yourself, for others in the class, AND for others you might or might not know. So, your thoughts in progress can contribute to the thoughts in progress of LOTS of people. The web is giving increasing reality to the idea that there can actually evolve a world community, and you're part of helping to bring that about.
We're glad to have you along, and hope you come to both enjoy and value our shared exploration of class, in education and outside it. Fee free to comment on any post below, or to POST YOUR THOUGHTS HERE.
Reflection on Kai Davis’ Experience
Since I had my Esem, I have been more and more unsure about how to define the word education. But at least I am pretty sure about one thing; that is education is actually v. at the time one starts to go to school and receive education, the education she or he gets is far more than education. We don’t have many “racial issues” in China, but Kai Davis’ experience reminded me the influence of education on students who so not belong to the “mainstream”. For some of them, being a member of minority may motivate them to study harder and become more ambitious; but for some of them, anger and stress accumulate, which may lead to big tragedy.
For Rodriguez, being minority is a motivator. As a “scholarship boy”, it is difficult for him to find a place both at home and school. But instead of getting frustrated and hopeless, he spent more and more time studying to in order to attain his goal. Though often feel lonely, being isolated by “mainstream” is generally not a very big problem for them. However, for others, being minority is painful and unbearable. A piece of breaking news happened in china in 2004: four dead bodies of were found in their dorms and all of them were killed in a very cruel way. Surprisingly, the killer turned out to be their roommate, a boy from a poor village of Yunnan province. When the murder was caught by the police, he said calmly that he never felt regretted about killing his classmates, for they treated him in a extremely harsh way, just because he came from a poor farmers family.
Leveling the playing field or perpetuating stereotypes and limiting access to education?
I think education, as it is right now, does not level the playing field. In my latest paper, I talked about how access to education is distinctly different because of the stereotypes that are perpetuated by society about various people from different backgrounds. At the same time, I argued that education may be the very tool that can change this issue of stereotypes in society. However, when talking about education as the tool to do such a thing, I feel that I was referring to a more dynamic type of learning, based on Freirian's theory of problem-posing education. The back and forth relationship between teacher and student that Freire suggests, brings the possibility of an always changing education, with many perspectives being included. The fact that many students and even many teachers bring different perspectives into their daily dialogue and interaction allows for so much growth in the education system, also proposing a way in which the stereotypes and assumptions made of people from different backgrounds can be changed and actually allow for the barrier of access to education to be broken.
Education levels "the playing field"？
Education Is What You make It.
Education is what you make it. Maybe it levels the playing field, maybe its a waste of time. In class we see the different experiences that people have from whatever education they have recieved. All of our experiences are different and in all of them we have taken things and left things behind. Therefore, my opinion is split down the middle, is education a leveling playing field- sure, for some. Is education a waste of time, it probably is for some people. Personally, I feel that we cannot put a blanket label on education.-- its a living, breathing entity that constantly changes. Yet, I feel due to peoples assumptions about education (as in people think education is a great equalizer and when its not, education is the one that is wrong, not the presumptious person) it fails in being a leveler because it didnt work for everyone. In other words, because it didnt work for everyone, its a failure to everyone. If it cant help one, then it probably cant help any of us. Of course this is a misconception that feel arises when people talk about the role of education in our society.
Education levels the playing field?
When I was a kid, my father and teachers always told me the same thing "Schooling is the only way to succeed". "Succeed" means wealth, high social status and public recognition. Newspapers were filled successful stories of people who raised themselves from poverty to opulence by studying hard, being determined and gaining advanced degrees. I believe many people in the US have the same expectation that education may help the poor overcome their situations. That's why their policies favor the diversity and finacial aids occupies a large part of the college's budget. Yes, it's true that a person, with a decent degree, can get a high-paid job and be in middle class.
However, just to some very determined and very talented people, education can level the playing field. In most cases, it can. Rich people always have better access to schooling than the rest of the community. Some educational systems favor the rich by high tuition fees. In some private schools, poor kids are somehow marginalized and forced to lose their identity (It was described by Bell Hooks). High socioeconomic status allows the rich to go to college and succeed. The successful kids can continue to maintain their social standing. Their children continue to receive the benefits of education. It can happen as a cycle. Education in this case is the tool to maintain the unfair social order.
Education levels "the playing field"? Nah....
By the way, within this response when I refer to ‘education’, I’m referring to education that one receives within school and the classroom.
Education levels the playing field?
In reflecting on the various readings that we have done up to this point, it seems to me that the answer to this question is both yes and no. In the case of Luttrell’s and Shorris’s students, education certainly did “level their playing fields” in a sense, for Luttrell and Shorris gave their students the educations that they had never before had. With these educations, the students were then able to move towards higher education and attend colleges and technical schools. This is education in its idealized form - for education is, at its best, meant to level the playing field as it did for these students.
But in another sense, we must keep in mind that not everyone has access to the type of education that Shorris and Luttrell gave their students. I think about the movie “Waiting for Superman” and the children in that movie who attended school and worked hard, but did not have a level playing field simply because they did not have access to the “right” schools and the “right” teachers. With this thought in mind, education is a means of leveling the playing field, only to the extent that one has access to “good” education - education in which students and teachers engage in an active classroom and where students are encouraged to learn.
Leveling the Playing Field?
Can education create a level playing field? For Kai Davis, education simply reminded her of the lower playing field that she was expected to live, work, and die at. Her white classmates were surprised to see that she could excel in the AP classes that they believed to be above her level, creating a dichotomy of "us" versus "them" wherein she was out of the place that had been prescribed for her by her pigmentation. She also seemed disappointed with the reaction of her African American peers, feeling like "having a 4.0 made [her] 4 shades lighter," setting her apart from the "normal" black students who struggled to stay in school and keep their grades up. Being smart was a "white" trait, one that Kai was seemingly betraying her race to have.
It's interesting to think about whether affirmative action is a force to level the playing field, or whether it further separates African American students from their white peers. Are we really encouraging diversity? Or does it create isolation within top universities for diverse students, while leaving other members of their race behind who have not met the bar to come and be isolated?
While I am firmly pro-affirmative action, it's troubling to think about the way diverse students are regarded when outside of their "normal" playing fields.
Kai Davis and Education
I have heard the words of Kai Davis way too many times. Kai’s poem neither startled me nor surprised me. I’ve have felt these heavy emotions before and have even felt this type of pain. Although I am not black, I feel as though the experiences that Kai Davis talks about do not only occur within the black race-- it occurs in all races.
What really stuck out to me was when Kai Davis asks, does a 4.0 gpa mean that she’s four shades lighter? She goes on to say that intelligence is a white trait and that “acting smart” means “acting white.” This is something I have been told before. Especially because I went to a private school. My friends from my public school often thought that I left them to go to a private school because I was “too good for them” and that I would probably fit in better with the white people anyways. But how can the color of my skin affect my education? People of my OWN race told this to me-- how can someone of my own race say that I “act too white”? It has always been difficult to understand why people self-hate against their own race. I think that is the main reason why the perpetuating stereotype to be like everyone else in your race still exists.
Family and Community Assets > Academic Promise
For many reasons, I'm compelled to say yes. I have met friends with limited resources and assets, yet through excelling academically, these people were able to find scholarship and aid to college. This is not to say though that purely academic excellence provided them a path to college. Factors like family expectations, values, and stable income were huge influences in these students' paths to college. And, if these factors were not present, I don't believe these students would excel as much as they had.
At some point, the desire to achieve is very limited by income and familial values. This is probably evident in the lives of most of us—even if we were not straight-A students, many of our parents' incomes and expectations were the reasons for our ability to go to college. Sure, academic promise is obviously part of our paths to get into college, but we cannot ignore that, for many of us (not all of us), we could never get where we are without the financial support of our parents and/or a community that valued education.
However, when a student lacks these resources, the fight towards gaining this caliber of education (Bryn Mawr or similar schools) is nearly impossible. Students with the most academic promise and passion to learn find themselves limited by financial constraints or community constraints. When a community looks down on education, I can see how uncomfortable it must be to rise above that.
A Level Playing Field?
I think education has the ability to level the playing field, but very often it doesn't do this. Many of the students at my high school, for example, came from low-income households and were on what's called "Free or Reduced Lunch." These very same students went to amazing colleges and (after attending an economically diverse school like ours) were armed with much of the "cultural capital" needed to find their niches in higher education settings. But we were also lucky in that the interactions among teachers and students in our school focused on an overwhelming desire to learn more and succeed. Our playing field was leveled for us when we came in – all of us scoring above a minimum level on an aptitude test in order to even be accepted to the school. In schools where this isn't the case (zoned local high schools in areas with poorly scoring elementary schools), it's far more difficult for students to even make it out of the system – let alone level with students from schools which are far more highly funded and are fed by high performing elementary schools. In these cases, many students are barely at acceptable reading and math levels – so it's impossible to expect teachers and students to work together to break even with other schools.
Level playing field? Maybe not.
Education seeks to level the playing field but like all things- this is not an ideal world. As great as it would be to have it be a totally equal playing field, it is currently a work in progress. Class and thus money determines what kind of education one can afford. A person from Brooklyn will not have the same education as someone who grew up in a rich suburb with private schools galore. It makes things far more equal however, it cannot entirely level the playing field. Some people with still have a little bit of trouble getting across. However, there is sometimes a pattern of those who can afford a top notch education, do not take it, and yet someone who wants an education cannot get one. Ah life!
Reaction to Kai's Poem
I really enjoyed Kai's poem and although I'm not black, I found myself relating to the experiences she was describing because I would describe myself as a woman of color too. When she called out the characteristics of her fellow classmates in AP classes, I thought about my experiences as a student in an AP class. My high school is very diverse, socioeconomically and racially, so most of the classes had students from all kinds of backgrounds. But what I eventually discovered was that the higher up a level a class I went, the less diverse the classes became. So by the time I was a senior and taking on more challenging classes, I found myself being the only person of color in the class. I would think an observation like that was irrelevant, like it shouldn't have bothered me, but it did. I had moments where I would feel isolated and sometimes I couldn't relate to other. And I often second guessed myself and felt like I had to put in two times as much work to compensate for my skin color. Sometimes I even wondered if learning English as my second language made me less capable than my English speaking peers. I wanted to know why I seemed to struggle more than anyone else in class. I wondered why I was the only person of color in an AP class and I'm sure there are students that are experiencing what I experienced back then.
Working Class Heroes, Rock n Roll Niggers and the American Ruse
After our viewing of Kai Davis' poem last week, and in light of a conversation I had had about it's possibility to offend people, I began thinking about powerful and eloquent uses of "vulgar" language and racial epithets throughout our pop cultural history. As some of you may know, I have an overwhelming interest in pop culture and especially in rock history. As such, Davis' poem caused me to think about other instances where poets or lyricists have used vulgar or offensive language and imagery to discuss their thoughts on their education and on their chances in life. I initially planned to write a post about the uses of language in the classroom, but then I though about the uses of language as tool for expressing our frustrations with our class and education situations and prospects. As part of this discussion, I am offering you three videos from youtube.
The Uneven Playing Field
I think that a majority of people want to believe that education levels the playing field, but it does not. From my own experiences and what can be seen, money seems to level the playing field of education. Many students can have the opportunity to get an education, but the quality of the education depends on money. Lower class families do not always have the means to access private schools, charter school, etc. They may have access to advanced level classes, but do they compare to the advanced level classes at a private school a few blocks away? Usually in lower income areas, the schools do not have the funds to get new books or technology and rely on poor quality versions of Romeo and Juliet.
Education and Society
It is my belief that education does not equalize our society. If anything, education is what divides out society. An education either affirms or changes your position in society. If it changes your position it can separate you from your home community, and affirming your position does not accomplish much. Education can only be truly equalizing if exactly everyone is presented with exactly the same education with varying educational environments that will allow each individual to achieve exactly the same level of knowledge. If this was the case, however, our society would be extremely limited. A diverse set of skills is unarguably vital to any community, and a truly equalizing education would hinder that greatly.
If the idea of an equalizing education is generalized from skill to class, this same issue still remains. Multiple individuals trained in different skills but all of the same class and access is still counterproductive. Class and educational experience are defining factors in everyone's perspectives and beliefs. Too similar experiences homoginize the view point of society and make the ideals of democracy pointless, and our leadership could easily come from one person. I'm pretty sure this prospect does not appeal to anybody here. Education is most definitely not what equals society nor can it be without consequences reminiscent of an unnerving totalitarian novel.
Kai's Poem
The poem/video we watched by Kai Davis brought up many good points on racial views. She spoke very negative of how school is structured and why its structured that way. Her views of how black people are viewed brought up history's view on blacks. What she said that struck me the most was "does having a 4.0 mean I'm 4 shades lighter?" People viewed her as "white" because of her grades. The way she worded it was the part that really got to me, how people sterotype others, or how people sterotype themselves. I mainly liked the poem because she didn't sensor anything she was saying and thats how things should be.
Education and the (Financial) "Playing Field"
Being a student who is using education to climb out of the lower class, the idea of "leveling the playing field" is one that I think of often. I consider myself privileged in this respect: though my mother is disabled and has raised me on her own along with two other (foster) children, she has always emphasised the importance of educational motivation and has been willing to sacrifice to make this possible for us.
Not everyone is as fortunate. Many cannot even fathom the idea of becoming educated beyond high school: some must halt their educational careers even before high school graduation to care for their families, while others have become so disillusioned with or otherwise discouraged by the educational system that it seems as if it is not worth it. Of course, the public school system doesn't do much to help: as Shannon has stated, I have experience with people who have been "pushed through" public school despite performing poorly in class, putting them at a further disadvantage in standardised tests and increasing the possibility of dropping out of college.
Education levels the playing field
The playing field in America is definitely not level, but I believe that education is not at fault. Education is something everyone should acquire because it allows people to further themselves in life. For instance, in Shorris' study where he gave lower class a basic education, it allowed them to continue on to college and hold their own. However, even though many people are becoming education, those who "make it" or find the level where they can compete with others in life, have certain characteristics that allow them to reach this place, and its not their level of education. It is money and connections. Shorris' students, although they did not have money, found the connections through his program that allowed them to continue onto college and make a name for themselves. Other students have money. The ability to pay for college automatically puts that person ahead of one who cannot afford an education. And even on a smaller scale with kids in the same school district, some parents may be able to afford to send them on community service trips or pay for music lessons. The ability to pay for these things is basically the ability to buy yourself into college, because it is these things, the extra circulars, that make a difference in the college application. Basically, the playing field really can't be leveled when personal finances come into play.
Reflection of in class video
The video we watched in class was interesting for me because at my school no one was criticized for being smart. We had a huge amount of diversity with kids from all over the world. Also, I believe it is because it was private schools were everyone was from the same socioeconomic class. Because of this, no one race was seen as less intelligent than the other. Therefore, this video, for me, for me brought to light the fact that no every school is as fortunate. Overall, I thought the video was an excellent way for this young woman to get her point across. I thought it was clever how she mixed very vulgar words with highly eloquent speech; it defiantly helped her to get her point across. Even though I thought it was clever however, one of my classmates stated that “it was just another black person complaining about the situation”, and since I am not black and I have not experienced this within my school, I feel that my opinion is insignificant.
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