4/11 Reading

Reference: "Made in America", Chapter 8

1) "The program that serves immigrant students at Madison High is created by a complex interplay of formal policy, history, and tradition, and the passions and intentions of the adults charged with implementation" (pg. 174) - Similar to what I talked about in my chapter 7 blog last week, I think people outside the teaching field do not realize how political it can be. I talk to my parents and non-education-major friends and they are totally surprised by what I tell them, but I do have a narrow scope on the issue because I attend this university and it is highly rated in the teaching field. We have progressive professors here who teach us the reality of what we can expect in the teaching field and I do feel that some enter it very naive and blind to what it actually becomes: a bureaucracy game. It becomes what the school wants you to do, not what you want to do. You have to play to the wants and needs of the state legislature who generally do not have people with a background in education on their boards and therefore cannot express what actually goes on in a classroom or a school in general. We also do not have people who can stand up for these ESL kids and have a background in ESL, which was few and far-between maybe when the book was written, but it has no holding now in today's society where the information is much more readily available. Schools are beginning to require teachers to have ESL training and licensure before entering the classroom because it is such a pressing issue in certain areas of the country. I have friends who did not get hired out of college and had to go back for ESL training in order to get a first-year teaching job. It is the reality of the situation and it boggles my mind that the people in this book do not understand the implications of being naive and removed from what the students were going through. It is easy to get angry at the teachers in this book, but I had to stop myself and remember that this was over 10 years ago and the situation in this country was pretty different from what it is now. I think that is the main thing I have to get over when reading this text, but the fact is that those beliefs trickle down from these teachers. I'm sure most of them are still teaching and teaching at Madison High and carrying on with this system. I really hope that someone has come in and changed things for the school.

2) "...from both of these student perspectives, the social world is highly divided" (pg. 178) - In this section, Olsen talks about how the high school students are being put into this dichotomy of learners: 1) the students who are academics and involved in school and clearly want to succeed or pursue higher education and then 2) the students who are perceived to be slackers and the teachers write them off as that they are merely going to follow in their parent's footsteps or not pursue higher education. The immigrant students tend to fall under the second category because no one is willing to help them reach that academic level. Generally these students come in with the attitude that they are going to be in honors courses and be up to par with their peers, but then they are put into this ESL classes or lower-level classes because of their English abilities and then they are beaten down by the system. The system of the high school makes them believe that they cannot achieve what their American peers can and as a consequence they do not pursue higher education; some do that are really motivated and optimistic, but I can see why most students feel discouraged from doing what they intended to do. It is hard to learn a second language; I am taking college level Spanish courses and sometimes still feel like I speak like a grade school kid in Spanish. I get that students are scared to speak in class and that is why discussion classes are difficult for them. It is hard to say that the teacher should not do discussions in her class if she has ESL students because it does inhibit the expansion of knowledge in the classroom, so in an odd way I do sympathize a little with her. It is not her fault that the school placed them in her class without doing an accurate check on their English abilities. Or the teacher should just let it go and tell them that they can participate when they can; they can gain something from listening to students speak.

3) "So I don't want my students to discuss child-rearing practices in Iran, for example. It wouldn't be helpful." (pg. 181) - I am sorry, but I cannot abide this attitude. I do not understand why this would not be helpful in the classroom environment. I guess I just did not realize how culturally bound some of our classes are until this point in my educational career. It is hard not to see it unless you really pay attention, and it is even harder still because I am part of this culture and have no questions about what we do. I can see why a home economics or child development class would be culturally bound; our child-rearing practices are probably very different from some cultures and some may have elements that remain the same, but I can see why immigrant students would not know what to do with the information because they have been raised a certain way as well. Why would students not want another perspective in child-rearing? This teacher has the attitude that it is our way or the highway, which is very common in Americans. We generally tend to think that our way is the best way because everyone around us validates that belief. We believe that what we do is the right way and that our government is the best or our food is the best, whatever it may be. Most Americans are pretty blind to or do not care about other cultures in this country or what they believe since it does not relate to what we believe. I have to admit that I was like that up until I was in high school; I grew up pretty sheltered and did not understand other cultures, but my parents did not understand them, either. We understood our own ancestors' cultures, but even then, my parents never learned Polish and Italian. They were completely American from birth and so were most of my grandparents. I just think that some people here in the United States need to learn to be open and allow new ideas to come in, and even if they do not agree with them, at least allow the students to express their ideas. It can be beneficial for everyone.

4) "Even those with good intentions, and the recognition that the curriculum ought to be broadened, run into these barriers. Change is not supported and teachers are left on their own to do what they can." (pg. 185) - This is just another thing that irks me about our education system. I truly felt bad for these teachers at Madison High in this chapter. I know that some of them come off ignorant and naive, but they are still people and they are teachers. Teachers get the short end of the stick in most cases and when the administration does something wrong, they are quick to blame it on them. If students are not succeeding, it cannot possibly be the curriculum's fault or the textbook's fault. It is always the teacher who gets thrown under the bus for one thing that they may have done wrong in the classroom. I feel sympathy because I have been in many classrooms and have done clinical experiences, and I have talked to teachers who have expressed these concerns to me. This is all very real. Teachers are expected to change things very quickly if the administrations tells them to, and they are under fire in lawsuits. It does not matter that a teacher has put hours and hours into their lesson plans; it is time then to scrap them if the administration does not like it or it does not promote what the parents want. That is a whole other issue entirely: parents. In recent years, it has gotten worse and worse in the United States. Parents seem to think they know everything about education and if their child gets a failing grade, the blame is no longer placed on the child. It is placed on the teacher. It makes no sense. Yes, in some cases it may very well be that the teacher is just plain terrible at teaching, but generally that is not the case. If a student does not study, it is their fault that they fail. If they are dozing off or daydreaming in class, what is the teacher supposed to do? We cannot possibly cater to every single student's individual needs every single day. I came from a background where if I did not do well, my parents punished me. I tried to use the excuse that my teacher does not like me or she did not explain it, but I knew those were lies and so did my parents. Teachers are under so much pressure to be perfect, and it is pretty scary for a future educator like myself.

5) "Student failure is a result then of lack of effort" (pg.188) - Again, another very common misconception. I do not think student failure generally is a result of no effort on their part. I have seen it happen in my own high school with friends of mine and I totally get that teenagers can just be rule-avoidant and lazy. It happens every day. At the same time, student failure can be a combination of many factors that could be going on. For ESL students, it can be not knowing the language, trouble at home, financial issues, they could be going through the Silent Period of acquisition and no one understands, religious issues...the list is infinitely long. The same can go for regular mainsteamed students as well. If a student is not eating at home or is being beaten up by a parent every day, I would not exactly blame them for failing a test that day. Teenagers do not know how to handle issues like that; no one really does. I am 21 years old and I cannot even imagine having that kind of situation. I just think that teachers need to be a bit more sensitive and willing to talk to students about things that are going on in their personal lives and find out what could be happening to make them fail. If they just assume it is that the student does not want to try, that is not solving anything. I know that teachers have about a million roles in the classroom, and being an adviser or counselor can be one of them. It is uncomfortable, but we have to do it for the benefit of our students. Failure should not be taken lightly and teachers should take the necessary measures to find out why it is happening.