Prejudice in the Classroom

The topic of “prejudice” is a subject that most schools generally stay away from. It is a topic that sometimes rattles our conscience, and brings out the truths about our viewpoints and the condition of our sociological status. In the following essay I will be commenting on what are some ways that teachers could continue to educate themselves about new methods related to prejudice reduction while simultaneously keeping up with student needs and school requirements, especially when time is such a problem?

“Whenever there is a will, there is a way”. This statement is true in any endeavor we undertake either individually or corporately. One way teachers can continue to educate themselves and be pioneers in the reduction of prejudice in the classroom, and in society is to make it part of the core curriculum of each educational institution. In today’s society this topic is of high importance, and it should also be highly regarded in the educational settings. Requesting teachers to continue to educate themselves while simultaneously keeping up with students and school requirements is a great challenge. But not engaging on the topic of prejudice in the classrooms can be devastating. Prejudice is a truth that needs to be addressed, and exposed in our schools. As we have learned, these negative traits and values are birthed from the “fear of the unknown”, and a lack of knowledge. As an educational institution we are the pioneers of technology, information, techniques, and even the process of attaining and imparting knowledge. Schools should be held responsible for what is taught and modeled in our classrooms. Requiring future teachers and leaders to address such sensitive topics can be the force that changes our sociological paradigms, and give birth to a new face in our classrooms, our nation, and globally.

Not embracing, discussing, or engaging in the subject of prejudice, is like attaining a college degree in mathematics but not taking algebra. By educating on the rudiments and philosophical framework of prejudice, we are not asking teachers to find personal time in extending their educational degrees. It is a means or solution in giving teachers the opportunity to collate this subject matter into their program while unseeingly attaining their extended knowledge through the preparation process (hidden curriculum). Learning more about the dynamics of prejudice can empower, motivate, and even be an advocate for change in our schools. The problem we face is not time, the problem is that we have not considered prejudice to be a topic of high concern which requires our time. This coalition of implementing, educating ourselves, and making it part of our program can make it worth time investing. I could see it now, the core curriculums of an institution could sound like this; science, mathematics, english, reading, social studies, humanities, history, and prejudice. What do you think?

In order to embrace diversity, it is my contention that we must expose the truths of prejudice. Learning about each other’s differences and similarities will be important in the progress and enculturation of the next generation of citizens. Implementing a “prejudice” course in the core curriculum of our future teachers, and allowing existing teachers to extend their knowledge through the preparation process should be in the minds of those decision makers who influence the core curriculum agendas. Now is the time for change, let’s start it in the classrooms.

Baseball

There is nothing like the open air of a windy stadium, the ketchup poured upon a “Nathan” hotdog, and a thirty two ounce of diet Pepsi to quench the thirst of a baseball game. With the temperature at eighty six degrees and the wind blowing at fifteen miles an hour, fifty six thousand fans are cheering for their favorite players, and of course a victory for the home team. Somehow we all have something in common, a national pastime, our friends, our families, and the love for baseball.

Baseball has always taken on a significant role in the cultural development of our society. I could remember growing up in the streets of Brooklyn living just six city blocks away from the famous “Ebbets Field Stadium”, where the Dodgers played. With my homework completed and a baloney sandwich in my right hand, I would run to my mother and beg her to permit me another chase at “taking a crack at the ball”. There, across the street from my house, also stood “Medger Evers Stadium”, a parched grassless field with graffiti stains all over its beautiful facades. Everywhere I turned there was a stadium, you see, locals from the area would send their kids to “play ball” in order to alleviate some of the stresses and harsh realities which plagued most of the families in our community. For some reason we were not welcomed in professional baseball stadiums. We were minorities, and the closest thing we had at participating in a baseball game was playing “stick ball” between the heavily parked cars inundating the Brooklyn city Streets.

Baseball was an opportunity, a dream, a desire that inspired us to rise above our limitations and nourish the imagination of becoming the next “Babe Ruth” or perhaps “Mickey Mantle”. It was not just the game, but what the game symbolized. For some reason there is something fascinating about watching an “underdog” team facing the monstrosity of wealthy, healthy, well trained professionals who smoked cigars in the bathrooms, and ate a five course meal at lunch time. Baseball spoke for the less fortunate masses, and gave us an opportunity to beat the giants who limited our lives and discouraged our potentials. It was not about the money, the fame, or the success, but about the legacy of overcoming the odds.

Who doesn’t want to be part of a winning team? The “Yankees” is the team I most admire, with their famous pinstripe uniforms and twenty six World Serious victories hanging from their executive office, being a Yankee fan means you’re part of a winning fraternity. It is amazing how a simple game of baseball could teach us the art of “teamwork” and the dynamics which fashion the spirit, heart, passion, and desires of a winning team. Baseball has many facets which exemplify the characteristics of the corporate world, by couching, teaching, managing, training, and preparing individuals to achieve their maximum potential, you find people like “Jackie Robinson” coloring the walls of the “Baseball Hall of Fame”, and Latino player “Juan Marichal” breaking the barriers of racism in the sport.

Baseball may have lost some of its candid personalities, its joy, or even the spirit of the game due to its globalization involvement, but one thing is for sure there is one tradition which still attracts kids, families, baseball lovers, and even visitors to the game, and that is the famous “Take me out to the Ball game” song. Just like music has melodies, you cannot go to a baseball game without participating in a seventh inning baseball ritual that goes like this; “Take me out to the ball game; take me out to the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks I don’t care if we never get back, let me root, root, root for the home team if they don’t win it’s a shame. For its one, two, three strikes you’re out at the old ball game.” I Love baseball!

The Poem

Yehuda Amichai is a contemporary Hebrew poet who has had a tremendous influence in the poetry world. With his rich ancestral background and desire to seek out the realities and truth of "Holy Scripture" he meditates, contemplates and orchestrates poetry that bends the theological concepts of early scholars. He also entices his readers to journey through his poetry from a contemporary point of view.

In the poem “A Man In His Life”, Yehuda responds to the writer of “Ecclesiastes” with a poem which depicts the life and death cycle of a man who has limited time. With vivid experiences which inundates the heart and life of most men, Yehuda prophesizes through his poetry and tells the story through the eyes of “manhood”.

A Man in his Life by Yehuda Amichai

A man doesn't have time in his life
to have time for everything.
He doesn't have seasons enough to have
a season for every purpose. Ecclesiastes
Was wrong about that.

A man needs to love and to hate at the same moment,
to laugh and cry with the same eyes,
with the same hands to throw stones and to gather them,
to make love in war and war in love.
And to hate and forgive and remember and forget,
to arrange and confuse, to eat and to digest
what history
takes years and years to do.

A man doesn't have time.
When he loses he seeks, when he finds
he forgets, when he forgets he loves, when he loves
he begins to forget.

And his soul is seasoned, his soul
is very professional.
Only his body remains forever
an amateur. It tries and it misses,
gets muddled, doesn't learn a thing,
drunk and blind in its pleasures
and its pains.

He will die as figs die in autumn,
Shriveled and full of himself and sweet,
the leaves growing dry on the ground,
the bare branches pointing to the place
where there's time for everything.

Brown Vs Board Assignment

For hundreds of years millions of people have suffered at the hands of immoral practices which dominated the social scene in American history. Ever since the foundations of this nation, political powers have been proficient in assembling excuses and practices which favors a stratum of people. The Anglo-centrist concepts were widely accepted and a national paradigm was birthed. In the following dissertation I will be commenting on the details which highlighted the “Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka” amendment, and why do I think schools are still segregated today.

The idealism of “Segregation” depicted the devaluation of social groups according to race, and used forced to institutionalize its practices. Many legislative and local officials assumed this ideology as a common practice in United States, and masked itself behind the concepts of “separation”. Separation, in contrast, was the devaluation of social groups freely practiced without use of force, but by use of choice. This masking of words, lead to an incredible period of civil adjudication and readjustment.

In the Brown vs. Board amendment (347 U.S. 483-1954) the Supreme Court was challenged to overturn the “Plessy vs. Ferguson (163 U.S. 537-1896)” amendment which upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation in public accommodations under the doctrine of “separate but equal”. By freely separating the racial classes and offering equal accommodations the U.S. government was justifying the concept of separation rather than segregation. This notion played erroneous in the eyes of thirteen families and their twenty children. With Mr. Oliver Brown, a concerned African American parent, welder, and Assistant Pastor leading this legal precession, the United States found racial segregation a violation to the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. This overturned all earlier adjudications set forth by the “Plessy v. Ferguson” decision, and paved the way for integration and the Civil Rights Movement.

“Reform” has always found herself banging at the doors of society, political circles, and now education. This unmovable notion continues to be significant in the evolutionary process of socialization and its concepts. Even though society won an important decision in 1954, there are still many ideologies which continue to battle the notions of social inequality and segregation. The social stratification of the populace is a modernization concept practiced by local and political officials. By separating, stereotyping, and marginalizing individuals by their financial successes, zip codes, and last names state and educational officials may be undermining their own successes.

We have obviously seen schools in different neighbors receive additional funding simply because of the social stratum which it dwells. This biased resolution challenges the concepts of equality, equal accommodation, and equal assessment. With less funding perpetuating the accessibility, tools, and academic instruction of our schools systems, students associated with “lower class” families are being challenged to perform at the same level as “upper class” families. This categorization of funding, requirements, and assessment is questionable and can lead to an additional constitutional amendment in the future. With socialization and integration being the primary subject of interest in today’s society and the eternal clock of evolution ticking we may see a new wave of reform plunging at the footsteps of society. This categorization process undermines all political, social, academic, economic and diverse arenas.

Joan Cartwright & Jazz

The rich sounds of Jazz and Blues is a genre of music which has its roots planted in the echoes of the original African slave hymns. It expresses and vocalizes the sounds of a history of peoples, and culture which is so richly found in the African American ethnicity. Breaking the chains of racial tensions and telling the stories of relationships, love, and soul expression these sounds unites us all because it tells of life’s stories that goes beyond the color barriers. Joan Cartwright is one of the leading Jazz and Blues artists and composer who is still with us today, and I had the privilege of meeting her and participating in this rich history of music.

As we studied about “Women in Jazz”, Joan Cartwright made it clear that women had their place in the origins of Jazz Music. From the West Coast of Africa to the Clubs of Harlem she tells the story of greats such as, Betty Carter, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Cole Porter and others. I enjoyed very much singing along her famous song “Love Translation” which speaks of how love unites us all through the trail of life, country, continent, world, and universe. With her charisma and smiles she ignited the floor and brought us the rich sounds that with its history, imparted in us all a rich experience and feeling of pride. For some of us, it reminded us of the early sixties and seventies and perhaps for others she gave a great history lesson. With tambourine in hand, she made us dance and feel the joy of participating in a diverse event not focusing on our difference but in our similarities.

Listening to the history of Jazz and Blues, we continue to see an evolution of sound, music and message which embraces its history. From the drums of Africa to the trumpets of Jazz it is so clear that we have evolved into a diverse group of people with a diverse ability to share history from the lens of time. It is not usual to see a lady saxophonist play her tunes while “lady melody” played her keyboard. Yes, I must say women have come a long way and they are here to stay. They had rime, they had rhythm, and they had blues. Much prettier than their counterparts, these women had style. Culturally this event was rich in information, and brought to life the history, emotions and feelings of the great women of Jazz.

By embarking in this event in “Black History Month”, I learned, laughed and participated in the sounds of my ancestral background. I took my sandals off and sang along in some of the song such as “I sing because I’m happy”. It reminded me that we all come from one, we all are one, and we share in one common goal called “life”.

Paideia Practice

Like an artist, a teacher continues to develop new styles, methods, tools, and frameworks which will help their students understand and attain the concepts which he or she is trying to convey. In the following reflection I will be describing in my own words what is the “Paideia Practice”?

The “Paideia Practice” is the art of teaching which elevates, exerts, creates, and mediates a desired experience and method to effectively furnish knowledge to students. Simply transmitting information either through verbal or scriptural means is not the only and effective way of educating the populace. Educationalists have a responsibility to nurture a teaching and learning environment which will enhances and provoke students to extend beyond their passive learning experience and attain the desired results. Merely lecturing through a course study may show limited teaching efficiency and can discourage students in their journey through their educational career.

Educators who are effective in developing the “Paideia Practice” involve questioning, dialogue, participation and in some cases, extra-curriculum activities in their course outlines. Many modern day teachers will introduce a film, piece of art, pictures, music, poetry and other forms of stimuli which help cultivate an effective learning environment for students. Being knowledgeable of the diverse learning style of each student is vital in preparing and developing lessons plans that address the special needs of each student.

Fashioning and assembling lesson plans takes critical, creative thinking and careful attention. It is important for educators to understand their own lesson plans before presenting it to their students in order to make adjustments and remove content which may be confusing and negatively impactful. Stimulating memory, recitation, integration, and critical thinking concepts may empower students to stretch beyond their own paradigms and strengthen their intrapersonal and interpersonal communication skills.

In conclusion, with the current movement of diverse populations inundating the American school system it is becoming more challenging and exciting for future teachers to create a lesson plan which embodies a multicultural theme. It is important that we do not allow for the assimilative process to take root in the “Paideia Process” of developing unbiased and effective lessons plans which will prepare our future students. Like any other concept, idea, or movement which continues to evolve it is going to be interesting to see how colorful classrooms will become and how educators address and prepare to answer the principles of the “Paideia Practice”.

Constructivism

Construction workers have the responsibility to take a designed idea and assemble the necessary tools, resources, and procedures in order to erect the desired structure. In the following dissertation I will describe in my own words the Constructivist Approach to teaching and learning?

Similar to the methods used by “construction workers” in the workforce environment, teachers are responsible for introducing new principles, concepts, ideas, resources and information which builds upon the foundational concepts previously learned by students, this concept is called the “Constructivism Approach”. In the “Constructivism Approach” knowledge takes active precedents in the student’s life and compels teachers to challenge the fundamental principles on which the knowledge is based. By questioning, empowering, and challenging students to explore and investigate new information educationalists are certifying the accuracy of the student’s knowledge and adding to the totality of their understanding and experiences.

In the process of “Constructivism”, time is vital in securing a sustainable and vivacious growth of added knowledge. Simply challenging students to investigate their thesis of knowledge is not conclusive in the developmental process of educating. But, allowing students to process, allocate, reason, and regulate the new information attained helps fortify the accuracy and understanding of that knowledge. Similar to the apperception ideology which states “process of new ideas always associates themselves with old ones”, constructivism closely resembles fundamental principles practiced and mentioned by earlier philosophers.

The learning approach to “Constructivism” is the responsibility of students. Simply accepting new knowledge without regulation or investigation can lead to devastation. It is my contention that if knowledge is continually active then new knowledge can lead to solutions or truths unchartered or attained. Developing a critical thinking process is essential to “Constructivism” and leads to a healthy battle of pursuing a passive approach to learning. Simply accepting different concepts as “factual”, without investigation limits our scope in the educational developmental process.

Constructivism will always be part of the educational process. As the thirst for knowledge continues to unveil we will always find new ways, means, concepts, ideas, truths, and information which will provoke the innovative mind and challenge our structured paradigms. Constructivism is a concept that continually adds to the nurturing of knowledge. Constructivism is active and it’s here to stay!