On My Way
Jacqueline Lehmann
Fall 2006
A Note About the Author
Jacqueline Lehmann was born in 1982 somewhere in the state of
Jacqueline has contentedly existed in New Paltz,
Jacqueline considers her most important formative experiences thus far to be having spent summers as a child traveling through New England, having worked as an Assistant Bell Captain at an upscale resort, and having survived both a semester studying in
Table Of Contents
Inquiry and Intellectual Growth 1
Personal Learning Story 2
Literacy Autobiography 12
Professionalism 21
Poetry Unit Lesson Plan 22
Appreciation of Human Diversity 29
Essay on The Bluest Eye 30
“On Awakening” 34
Advocacy for Students and Democratic Citizenship 42
“With
Inquiry and Intellectual Growth
I have included my learning story, “An Unlikely Guide,” as evidence of my capacity for inquiry and intellectual growth for more than one reason. First, nothing that I have ever done has served as a better vehicle for inquiry and intellectual growth than the semester I spent studying and participating in a service-learning program in
Examining my experience of learning how to teach English in such a challenging environment caused me to really look into what it means to be a student and a teacher. Articulating these ideas makes them tangible, and including the story in portfolio means that I can easily look back on the key points of what I learned as the memory fades with time.
I placed my “Literacy Autobiography” in this section because understanding my own process of becoming literate is important to understanding my future role in my students’ literacy process. I found that it was hugely helpful to understand my formative years through the lens of the reading we used in our “Literacy for Diverse Learners” class.
Jacqueline Lehmann
Personal Learning Story
Dr. Rose Rudnitski
An Unlikely Guide
“I have been dreading tomorrow since I walked out the door last Friday.” I looked down at my bare feet and the temple carpet. It was a worn reddish color. I felt my eyes fill with tears.
“You should not worry much. I think you will be fine.” Phramaha Amnart’s kind words made the corners of my mouth tug upward, but not quite into a full smile.
When my service coordinator had suggested that my volunteer placement could be to teach English, I thought that that was the most logical use of my skills. After all, I had taken quite a few education classes and was planning on becoming a teacher sometime after graduating with my Bachelors in English.
I had been dropped off at
There must have been a misunderstanding between my teacher and the headmistress. She was very nice but didn’t seem to speak English very well. She led me anxiously through the courtyard, which had the occasional chicken running through it.
The next thing I knew, she introduced me to the teacher of a first grade class, and then they both left. They left me with thirty pairs of curious black eyes. I started to panic. I had no lesson plan, no training in
After about an hour, during which I have no recollection of what I did, the headmistress came for me and deposited me in the second grade classroom. This time the teacher stayed, but she also spoke little English. After a few minutes I felt a bubble of panic rise in my throat. I muttered in Thai to the teacher that my taxi was there and I had to go. I basically ran out of the room.
Over an hour later, when Boon arrived to pick me up, he found me crying in front of the Buddha in a smaller temple hall. Everyday after that when he saw me he would giggle, “Today, no boo hoo, okay?”
So now it was time to go back to
Phramaha (Phramaha means learned monk) Amnart tried again to reassure me. “Jackie, don’t be afraid. I will help you learn how to teach children.” I wondered what my friend knew about teaching children. He was thirty-five years old and had spent the last seventeen years living at the
“Remember, some of them have not seen farang (foreigners) before. Never had farang teacher. Some only see them when they take tours to village and buy handicrafts.”
I had not really thought of how strange I must have looked to them, wearing my school uniform (the university we attended was Christian, and we had to wear a black skirt and white blouse everyday) and with my blond hair and blue eyes.
Phramaha Amnart continued. “You have to make them feel comfortable with you. Make them laugh, then they will learn. You will be a good teacher.”
“But how should I do that? I barely speak Thai, they only sort of speak Thai, and they all speak different languages.” I was fighting not to feel hopeless, especially in front of Phramaha Amnart, who constantly exuded optimism.
“You need to make them laugh. Then they will know that they will listen to you. I will show you.” Phramaha Amnart stood in front if me, his hands raised as if he was about to clap. “You write numbers on the board. They should know a little how to count. One, three, five, seven, nine.”
“Odd numbers?”
“Yes. Show them that odd numbers they clap. You say even numbers, they don’t clap. Then you can pretend, someone will clap when they shouldn’t, and they laugh. You tell them to pay attention.”
I felt skeptical about this “game”. But I promised to try it. He insisted that it would work. “They know about mindfulness. This is the same.”
The next day I managed to get to the school despite how nervous I felt. I had borrowed laminated vocabulary cards from my Thai teacher, and tried to mimic how she constructed her lessons. I didn’t feel comfortable enough to use Phramaha’s game. Some of the students paid attention while I taught, others looked bored.
On Wednesday I decided to try the activity. It was easy enough to explain using a bare minimum of language. Every few numbers I would pretend to clap at the wrong time, and those who weren’t listening would clap in the otherwise silent classroom. Their classmates would giggle and they would start to pay attention to my voice again.
After a few minutes I began my lesson. The class was much more engaged than the day before, and even the students who didn’t seem motivated were at least listening.
I visited Phra Sing temple after class. I found Phramaha Amnart in the main hall, watching the farang as they explored the temple.
I bowed to him quickly. “It worked! My class had fun, and they listened to me. Do you know any more games like that?”
He smiled, “Sure, I’m happy you liked it. I can show you more.”
He rose from his chair and proceeded to show me a game where I would make an animal noise or gesture and they would have to name the animal in Thai and English. People looked at us like we were crazy as this learned monk made barking and mooing noises and I tried to name the animal in
The next day my classroom was filled with laughter, and my students really started to learn their vocabulary. Most importantly, they no longer regarded me with suspicion. After that, I tried every day to get them out of their seats and moving around. It was always the most fun part of my day.
I learned many things from Phramaha Amnart. He taught me about Buddhism, Thai society and custom. By the end of the semester, I had a small notebook filled with games that he had taught me for the classroom.
When I left
Jacqueline Lehmann
Literacy Autobiography
Professor Mary Sawyer
She knew it was wrong to trade homework with her friends, but she didn’t care. By seventh grade, Jacqueline felt that as long as she had all of her work done, her obligation to school was complete. After all, most of her classes had little relevancy to her own life. So Jacqueline, Allison and Nishma would diligently split up all of their homework each day, (they were in the same Honors classes) and make sure each girl got a chance to copy the work by class time.
Jacqueline did enjoy English, and often requested to do the work for that class. They had just begun a unit on poetry, which was something new for all of her friends. Ms. Driscoll had taught them about simile and metaphor, and assigned each student to write a poem about themselves using one of their newly-understood poetic devices.
The girls divvied their homework up as usual: Allison would do the math, Nishma would do science, Jacqueline would take care of English, and they would each do Social Studies on their own.
The next day in homeroom, Jacqueline shared the poems she had written with her friends. They both thought she had done a good job writing with a voice that resembled their own. They really liked her poem that she had written for herself, although it was a bit dark. She had described herself through the metaphor of a caged animal, wanting freedom and finding only frustration. It contrasted dramatically with her usual cheerful demeanor, and the friends laughed that she must have been in a bad mood the day before to write such a thing.
In English class everyone worked on an editing exercise and some people shared their work. Jacqueline had always been too shy to share in class, and this time was no different.
The following day, Ms. Driscoll collected everyone’s work. She announced that she would anthologize the classes’ work and give everyone a copy. She also had decided to enter all of their work in the town library’s writing contest.
Two weeks later Jacqueline was called down to her guidance counselor’s office. Apparently one of her classmates parent’s had called the school after reading her poem in the anthology. The parent had read the poem as a distressed cry for help from a depressed teen. Her counselor was going to call her mother and recommend that their family go to therapy together.
Jacqueline felt embarrassed having to explain to her parents that she had thrown herself into the mood of the metaphor she had chosen, and that she felt fine. Her parents, thankfully, accepted her reasoning, and not much more was said about it at home.
A few weeks later the library called to congratulate her on winning first prize in the poetry contest. When she called her friends to tell them, they had both received calls themselves. Allison’s poem had won second prize, and Nishma’s had won the honorable mention. In essence, Jacqueline had won the entire contest.
The drawback of winning was that she would have to read her poem in front of everyone at the reception. She dreaded the event from the moment she heard of it. How could her writing that had caused so much trouble be suddenly rewarded? She had never felt so confused.
The night of the reception, Jacqueline stood at the podium and felt her heart pound as she struggled through the short piece. As the audience clapped, she thought she would like to never have to share any of her work again.
***
Jacqueline Lehmann was born in 1982 in a small
Her home was filled with books. Most of them belonged to her mother, as her father didn’t read for pleasure much outside of Classic Boat magazine.
Jacqueline’s mother had been born in a middle-class family and had always performed well in school. Although she had not pursued her career after becoming a mother, she held education as a priority for her only daughter. She read to her on a daily basis. They would sit in the orange velour armchair in the corner of their living room for hours at a time.
Mr. Lehmann had grown up in a working class family, his father a printer and his mother a housewife. He lived in an area where most students came from a similar background. It seems as though the school sought to provide their students with what Patrick Finn would call a “domesticating education, which leads to functional literacy, literacy that makes a person productive and dependable, not troublesome” (ix). This accounts for why, when Mr. Lehmann struggled to learn to read as a young child, he was rarely afforded assistance other than being told to copy dictionary pages. His teachers figured (consciously or unconsciously) that he would be a laborer when he grew up anyway, and needed to learn enough just to get by.
Jacqueline’s father didn’t read much as an adult because it had never been easy for him. He had found out in later years that he was dyslexic. As a result, he had been viewed as and even called stupid by many of his teachers. In their defense, there was very little awareness about learning disabilities at that time. Learning to read had been a painful and tedious process for him. These experiences were part of why he had worked so hard to become a teacher himself, even though he didn’t imagine himself able to teach an academic subject.
There were occasions when her father would read to her, usually when her mother was out for the evening or asked him to put her to bed. She was too young then to realize how important this was to her emerging literacy.
Mr. Lehmann’s determination to read to his daughter sent her the implicit message that even though she would be hard pressed to find him immersed in a novel, he knew that literacy would be an important tool for his child. He was careful to validate her love for books even though he didn’t exactly feel the same way. This was because he had grown up in a working-class family and had had to struggle to achieve middle-class ideals for his family. Although his literacy success was in a non-traditional field, he wanted to help give his daughter the skills she would need to excel.
According to Victoria Purcell-Gates, the time of emergent literacy (which takes place before the child enters school) is essential to the learning process. She and other emergent literacy theorists believe that written language is learned much like oral language, through experience and interaction (41). Jacqueline was lucky to have so much support in this process, and was set up for success upon starting school.
Jacqueline was able to read simple chapter books on her own by the beginning of first grade. Her mother would take her to the library each week and Jacqueline would borrow as many books as she could carry. Her little body often bent under the weight of such a hefty stack of books, but she never could wait to get home and start reading. All of the librarians got a kick out of this enthusiastic little girl and were delighted to offer her suggestions of new authors to explore.
She was lucky that she was able to further her love for reading by taking advantage of the resources that were available to her. Had she been born into a different sociocultural background it is doubtful she would have excelled as she did. Victoria Purcell-Gates discusses such differences in resource accessibility in Other People’s Words. Because of Jenny’s illiteracy, she and her children were not able to use the public library until they had someone who could guide them through the process of getting there, getting a library card and the other necessary steps. Despite Jenny’s good intentions as a mother, she was unable to participate actively in her children’s literacy learning like Jacqueline’s mother was.
In fourth grade, Jacqueline was chosen for the elementary school’s “Gifted and Talented” program (G&T). Her parents were delighted although she was relatively unmoved. It did mean getting to leave class three times a week, which sounded like fun.
In G&T, there was an increased push towards creativity and multicultural learning. They studied
The good points of the program were somewhat balanced out by the alienation that sprung up between the G&T kids and the rest of their class. When their G&T teacher came to get them, the rest of the kids would often groan, “Why do the smart kids always get to leave class…” Soon most of the “regular” students did not want to work with the “smart” kids, or even be friends with them.
This schism widened further during the first two years of middle school. At this time, the G&T students were in separate classes for English and Social Studies. Honors Math and Science classes were available in the beginning of seventh grade.
Jacqueline’s school district was reputed to be one of the best in the county. In fact, it was largely why her parents moved to Centerport. Although the school had ample financial resources, its educational style was inconsistent. Perhaps this is because of the mix of socioeconomic backgrounds of the students, ranging from what Jean Anyon would call affluent professional to working class. The contradictory messages given in different classes were often confusing to students who did not know what was expected of them.
For example, Jacqueline’s G&T classes were largely taught in the Anyon would classify as typical of an affluent professional school (Finn 15). Creativity was supposedly valued, but was risky business for students who might speak strongly and end up in their guidance counselor’s office like she had. Ms. Driscoll had been trying to lend students the opportunity to create a voice for themselves, but the school guidance counselor’s actions had stifled Jacqueline’s voice through her reaction in a way that she would never quite get over.
On the other hand, Jacqueline’s regular classes were taught in a middle class school style. Schoolwork was merely a means to an end; good grades=good college=good job. Creativity was far less important than completing what was required. As a result, Jacqueline felt reluctant to express creativity after the poetry episode, even in the classes that purported to encourage individuality and expression.
She also felt conflicted, not wanting to appear too smart and alienate herself further from her peers. She rationalized that as long as she completed all of her work she would do well enough. When it came time to apply for college, her grades reflected that misconception and she realized that she should have worked harder.
It was always assumed that students understood why they were learning certain things; no one took the time to explain the level to which high school is preparation for the future whether or not college would be necessary. As Finn shows through his study of Freire, (155-172) making literacy relevant and essential is the way to make students feel purpose in their work rather than doing the bare minimum. This ideal applies to students in the traditional school system as well as adult learners. Jacqueline feels that this is an essential part of education.
During college, Jacqueline’s love for reading and writing continued to grow. She took as many classes related to literature and language as she could fit into her schedule. She found that knowledge had more of an inherent value than it had in high school and felt enthusiastic for the first time.
She decided after a semester off to pursue a graduate degree, and looks forward to continuing to pursue a higher level of literacy; she loves the idea that there will always be more for her to learn about as she pursues her studies. She still feels uncomfortable sharing her writing.
Ultimately, Jacqueline would like to become a high school English teacher. She would like to be able to help those students who come from a less privileged background learn why literacy is important to their lives. She is able to see the advantages that she was given as a source of her academic success and feels that others should have the same opportunities. She feels passionately about literacy as a vehicle for social change, and intends to teach literacy not only as a creative function but the means of becoming a meaningful, participatory citizen of this country.
Works Consulted
Brandt, Deborah. (2001). Literacy in American Lives.
Finn, Patrick J. (1999). Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in
Their Own Self-Interest.
Professionalism
My lesson plan for an alternative poetry unit has been placed under this section because it represents my ability to plan objectives and to create rubrics and handouts for my students. I find this lesson plan particularly important because it directly addresses some of the inequalities that exist within the literary canon and ways that we, as educators, can create an awareness of these issues for our students.
Poetry Unit Part 2 Pretest
Please take out a separate sheet of paper and name as many non-white American poets as you can think of.
Key Concepts
Racism
Sexism
Eurocentrism
Literary Canon
Lesson Objective:
-to promote information and understanding of writers outside of the mainstream American literary canon
Definitions
Racism: The theory that distinctive human characteristics and abilities are determined by race.(OED)
Sexism: The assumption that one sex is superior to the other and the resultant discrimination practised against members of the supposed inferior sex, esp. by men against women; also conformity with the traditional stereotyping of social roles on the basis of sex.(OED)
Eurocentric: Centered or focused on
Literary canon: (1) An approved or traditional collection of works. Originally, the term "canon" applied to the list of books to be included as authentic biblical doctrine in the Hebrew and Christian Bible, as opposed to apocryphal works (works of dubious, mysterious or uncertain origin). (2) Today, literature students typically use the word canon to refer to those works in anthologies that have come to be considered standard or traditionally included in the classroom and published textbooks. In this sense, "the canon" denotes the entire body of literature traditionally thought to be suitable for admiration and study. (http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_C.html)
MY MOTIVATION:
Throughout my education I have seen how English courses typically exclude those who are not considered a part of the literary canon. Because of the Eurocentric nature of this canon, many interesting and talented writers are overlooked in schools. Learning about writers of other cultures will help student’s begin to appreciate those cultures and seek the wisdom they have to offer.
LESSON
This lesson will take place the day after a class period in which students are taught the basic poetic devices such as simile, metaphor, alliteration and imagery. They will take the pretest and then the class will work together to come up with a satisfactory definition for each of the vocabulary words. The link between the -isms and the literary canon will be illustrated by the pretest. They will then receive the assignment for the presentation.
Presentation Rubric
| Criteria | Outstanding 9100 | Satisfactory | Unsatisfactory |
| | 90-100 | 75-90 | >75 |
| Presentation Standards | Maintains excellent eye contact and body language, speaks confidently | Speaks clearly and looks at audience | Mumbles, looks down, does not speak to audience |
| Creative analysis | Uses numerous poetic devices to support and develop interesting analysis | Offers a reasonably thought out analysis, maybe uses few devices | Does not utilize devices at all or analysis lacks any textual evidence |
| Thoroughness | Covers all required areas of the assignment and is informative, completes bonus or goes beyond | Covers most of required areas but does not offer any extra information | Does not cover required areas or inform audience |
ASSIGNMENT:
Choose an American poet of the opposite gender and a different ethnic background from your own. (The word American can be taken somewhat loosely, you may choose someone who was born in the
PRESENTATION OBJECTIVE:
-to invite literary response and expression in a creative form
-to promote critical analysis and evaluation of poets from different backgrounds
-to encourage social interaction in the classroom via a formal presentation
PRESENTATION: Put together a presentation (5-7 minutes) on the poet. You should include basic biographical information and a reading of a poem of your choice. Provide a basic interpretation of the poem using the poetic devices we have discussed. Explain why you originally chose them and whether or not you find their work to be valuable.
BONUS: Write a poem modeled after the one you have presented. You may share this with the class if you wish, but you can still get credit if you feel more comfortable simply handing it in with your presentation materials.
POET SELECTION: You may chose any poet who meets the above criteria. You may use a poet from the list I have provided if you like. The list has been drawn mostly from our poetry anthology with a few extras added in. Please let me know by Friday who you have decided on. Speak to me if you are having trouble deciding.
Castillo, Ana. Mexican
Catacalos, Rosemary. Mexican/Greek
Cervantes, Lorna Dee. Mexican/Chumash Indian
Chin, Marilyn. Chinese American
Cofer, Judith Ortiz. Puerto Rican
Davenhauer, Nora Marks. Tlingit
Derricotte, Toi. African American
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. Indian
Endrezze, Anita. Yaqui/Europoean
Erdrich, Louise. French Ojibwe/European
Evans, Mari. African American
Harjo, Joy. Cherokee French/Creek
Hogan, Linda. Chickasaw
Hope, Elizabeth (Sister Goodwin). Inupiaq
Joseph, Allison. African American
Lorde, Audre. West Indian
Nye, Naomi Shihab. Palestinian American
Ping, Wang. Chinese
Silko, Leslie Marmon. Pueblo/Mexican/White
Silook, Susie. Yupik/Inupiaq
Song, Cathy. Chinese/Korean
Wong, Nellie. Chinese American
Alexie, Sherman. Spokane/Coeur D’Alene
Baca, Jimmy Santiago. MexicanApache
Brown,
Cruz, Victor Hernandez. Puerto Rican
Cullen, Countee. African American
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. African American
Espada, Martin. Puerto Rican
Garcia, Richard. Mexican/Puerto Rican
Hazo, Samuel. Lebanese/Syrian
Hughes, Langston. African American
Lee, Li-Young. Chinese
Liu, Timothy. Chinese American
McKay, Claude. Jamaican American
Mura, David. Japanese
Ortiz, Simon. Acoma
Rios, Alberto. Guatamalan American
Suarez, Virgil. Cuban
Sundiata, Sekou. African American
Walcott, Derek. St. Lucian
Welch, James. Blackfoot/Gros Ventre
Williams, William Carlos. Puerto Rican/English
Yau, John. Chinese American
Young Bear, Ray A. Mesquakie
Appreciation of Human Diversity
I have included my essay on Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye under the heading of “Appreciation of Human Diversity” because the novel looks at the struggles of a working class African-American family and their disintegration as a result of institutionalized racism and sexism. Through an examination of the work’s themes and messages, one can learn a lot about the importance of validating the cultures of all children.
The essay “On Awakening” has been featured in this section because it closely analyzes the process of coming to awareness about racism that Lois Mark Stalvey undergoes in The Education of a WASP. This book is important for people of all races because it deals with how all people are affected by race relations, and what one woman did to knock down boundaries within her own world.
Jacqueline Lehmann
Institutional and Cultural Discrimination
In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, the characters’ lives are shaped on many levels by the racism and sexism that pervade their world. These prejudices can exist on cultural and institutional levels. It is important to distinguish between the two in seeking to understand the effects of each.
Institutional racism is when an institution (such as schools, media outlets, churches and government) make decisions and have policies that discriminate against a people based on their race. Cultural racism can be perpetrated by individuals, but is a result of attitudes inherent in a culture that allows racism to persist. Sexism can also exist on both levels, institutional and cultural.
Cultural and institutional racism and sexism had an impact on Pauline Breedlove, and largely shaped the person she would become.
Since she was a young girl, cultural sexism made her feel inadequate because she felt that she was not feminine and pretty in the stereotypical way of the time. She had a club foot and walked with a bit of a limp, which set her apart from other girls. This insecurity got worse when she and Cholly moved up north to where the women were fashionable, straightening their hair and wearing high heels. She always felt like an outsider because she could never look like they did. Her ugliness was sealed with the loss of one of her front teeth, and she then internalized her perceived lacking to such an extent that she completely stopped taking care of herself. She then passed this poor self-image along to her children.
Mrs. Breedlove thought her children ugly at birth. This is partially because of her own “ugliness“, and partially because of the cultural and institutional racism she witnessed while giving birth. When the white doctor and students came through the delivery room, he said out loud that black women birth children like horses foaling. (This represents cultural racism because of this misconception of black women having different feelings and experiencing pain differently than white women. This furthered institutional racism because it contributed to the medical practitioners being biased in their treatment of blacks and justified paying them less attention.) Mrs. Breedlove recognized the ridiculous nature of that statement and was sure to fuss louder than necessary while giving birth. Surely this negative experience was projected onto her newborn.
Institutional racism caused a shift in the Breedlove family dynamic that basically destroyed their marriage. Because Cholly was unemployable because of his race, he was unable to act as provider for his family. He was forced to seek other methods of control over his family’s destiny. As a result, he abused Mrs. Breedlove on a regular basis. His abuse became more frequent as she became uglier, and he began to rape her in her sleep instead of making love to her like he used to. Because of cultural sexism, Mrs. Breedlove tolerated his abuse. Most people considered it acceptable at that time for men to behave in such as way, as women were basically the property of their husband. While she did not completely submit to his violent behavior, she never really considered leaving him a viable option. Instead, she considered herself a martyr and his sins her cross to bear.
This cultural sexism is also exemplified by the fact that after her marriage, Pauline became Mrs. Breedlove. Even her children called her by her last name. It is as if in marrying Cholly, she gave up any semblance of an individual identity and became purely an accessory to her man. This is ironic because she was, in fact, the head of the household as the sole breadwinner.
Because of widespread cultural racism, the only people to call Mrs. Breedlove by her first name were the white folks she works for. They take familiarity a step further by giving her a nickname. Not only is she in no position to protest, she actually liked them calling her Polly.
This discrepancy shows the effect that racism and sexism had on her over the years. Mrs. Breedlove lost the concept of family and internalized the power she was granted in caring for the whites. She showed no love towards her own family short of providing for them through her job. Yet she treated the children of the family she worked for as if they were her own. The extent of this was exhibited when Pecola, Claudia and Frita were over at the house where Mrs. Breedlove works. When Pecola burned herself by accidentally pulling the hot pie onto herself, she was yelled at and banished from the house. The little white girl started to cry and was immediately comforted and promised another pie.
This disconnection from her own children comes to a head after Pecola is raped and impregnated by Cholly. Mrs. Breedlove’s reaction to finding Pecola defiled on the kitchen floor is to beat her. This act was firmly rooted in the racism and sexism that had shaped their lives. If Mrs. Breedlove hadn’t internalized the ugliness that white society imposed on blacks and then let herself become empowered by her position in the white household, she would probably have known how to love her own children. Instead she blamed Pecola for Cholly’s behavior. No doubt this played a role in Pecola’s descent into madness.
The demise of Pecola and her family was caused directly and indirectly by institutional and cultural racism and sexism. Morrison’s metaphor of the seeds and the soil suggests that readers of her novel have the power to create change in the world around them. Morrison offers the reader an invitation to cultivate rightness from the soil up. The seeds that Frita and Claudia planted were not able to grow despite their good intentions because the soil was imbued with evil. As educators, we have the opportunity to reach people when they are closest to the soil-as children and teenagers. This can be a powerful tool in working for social justice and equality, but only if we make it so.
Jacqueline Lehmann
Issues of Racism and Sexism in Education
On Awakening
Lois Mark Stalvey’s education in racism entailed a gradual process that took place over several years. Her enlightenment can be viewed as having occurred in three major stages.
The first stage of her journey took place when her family was still living in
Lois’ friend Harriet Fischer helped her to begin to understand what being part of any minority meant. Harriet was Jewish and had experienced Anti-Semitism at an early age. As a result, Harriet was participated on committees that concerned themselves with civil rights. She convinced Lois to attend a meeting of the “Panel of American Women.” Lois was suddenly filled with compassion for others who were ostracized by society as she remembered what it had been like to be the only child in her school with divorced parents. Her mind slowly began to open to the reality she had been unable to see before.
Lois’ first African-American friend, Grace Christopher, convinced Lois that things are NOT okay for her people in the
I can relate to Lois’ experiences as she began to ensconce herself in the African-American community, or conversely as black person might feel when surrounded by white people. I am lucky enough to have felt what it is like to be an outsider in a culture different than my own, and have grappled with my own feelings of guilt. My guilt was not so much related to being white as it was related to being a white American.
I spent a semester abroad in
Spending a long weekend in
I realized then that the trick is to do what Lois did; the trick is to take such feelings (of which the circumstances cannot be helped) and turn them into a motivation. It sounds idealistic, but that was when I realized that I really did want to become a teacher, and share what I have come to believe is the truth about all of the “-isms” in the world.
In their quest to help the Bensons, Lois learned that “…no one was against equality, they just didn’t practice it” (89). She and Ben become ever more determined to do what she can to work for the rights of African-Americans even though she had become alienated from her old life, and it was this decision that cost Ben his job.
The second phase of the Stalvey’s education began when they moved to
It is safe to assume that at some point I will be working with underprivileged children. I will have to guard against any prevailing viewpoints amongst my colleagues that these children are lost causes because of their class or economic background.
As they made new friends, Lois learned to accept the “tests” that they, as WASPs, had to pass in order for African Americans to trust their intentions. She learned to see these tests in a positive light; if these people felt completely hopeless that there were any good white people in the world, they would not waste their time getting to know people like herself.
Their first new friends, Barbara and Leland Hamilton, helped them to continue their awakening. It was through their influence that Lois wrote a version of African American history and learned how many heroes and achievers have been virtually erased from American history because of their race.
This also ties in with my motivation in becoming a teacher. When I was a sophomore in college I read Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States of America” and for the first time felt that there was so much I didn’t know. I decided I could never teach small children in a public school because I refuse to further the lies about the conquest of the
While visiting the Bensons in
When Lois first found out that Marc is a misogynist, it was not enough initially to deter her from their friendship. She was, however, disturbed by his view that “Our fight is a man’s job…Women should be kept out of demonstrations” (240). He encouraged her to use her knowledge to teach other white people, while at the same time expressed his approval of her views by denying her whiteness.
Marc was too militant for most of the other African Americans that Lois and Ben had befriended. They expressed ambivalence about the wisdom of promoting “Black power” in a way that would incite further anger from whites. Lois found herself relating more closely to Marc than her more conservative friends. She felt immeasurable hatred towards the white “enemy” she saw on TV. She was, however, aware that such animosity is counter-productive.
Lois learned of Marc’s anti-Semitism and became disillusioned with their friendship. She learned that minorities who might work together to beat oppression often turn their anger on each other. This represents the beginning of the third stage of Lois’ education, and the last part that we, as the reader, are privy to.
Lois realized that she cared about the rights of all people, and began to understand the dangers of scapegoating one particular group. She recognized the media’s role in making white people fear African Americans. She became conscious that history repeats itself, and that “a prestigious committee of men had investigated the 1919 riots. I wondered how they would have felt if they had known that a woman yet unborn would read their words and know that no one had listened” (303). Lois was left to hope that her children will not look back on the Civil Rights Movement and wonder what went wrong. This lesson regarding the media is one that I have learned for myself over recent years. We live in a culture propelled by fear, not just of African-Americans, but Muslims, Hispanics, and at any given time whichever specific group we feel threatened by. I believe that this is a function of the government trying to control the masses. It took years without having a television for me to eventually become sensitized to the implicit messages forced on us through the media.
The culminating point for her newfound knowledge comes when Lois met a man who had been a member of Hitler’s army. His testimony convinced Lois that oftentimes, good people are deprived of the knowing what is really going on in their country or society. They can be easily lead astray by propaganda and lies. Events like the Holocaust can take place again if people are not careful.
Lois is firmly convinced that each of us can do a little, and should not stand idly by when we are granted a vision of reality. In retrospect she and Ben cannot regret any of the decisions they made, although ignorance was undeniably bliss.
I have often felt this was throughout my academic career, especially when I learn new things about American history or the current political climate. The more I find out, the more I have to maintain my conviction not be swallowed by frustration.
This book reaffirmed my belief that even the most self-possessed person has prejudices, whether they be conscious or unconscious. For example, at a relatively late stage in Lois’ education she found herself realizing that she still fell victim to her presuppositions that blue-collar workers are all ignorant and intolerant. I am aware that because of certain circumstances in my own life I am susceptible to buy into certain types of “-isms”. It is only by looking at where these views come from can a person become truly open-minded. As an educator, I will have to be aware of any negative views I hold of people based on stereotypes.
The institutional racism that was in place during Lois’ time was much more blatant than what we mostly see in 2006. The Benson’s long quest for a house was due to the racism purveyed by the real estate industry. The most apparent institutional racism that I know of in my time lies in our school system, which is unfortunately the institution that is most important to our country’s future. I have learned through my own education about the disparities that still exist between districts because of the way schools are funded, and as teachers we must act as advocates for the students who have the least access to adequate learning conditions.
The different ways in which blacks and white view racism as addressed by Lynne Duke are also important to understand, especially as a future educator. As a white woman, I will need to be understanding to minority students even when it might seem that they are being somehow oversensitive. It only makes sense that the people who suffer because of racism have a less positive view of our progress over the last fifty years. It is easy for white people to say that everything is going well when in fact there is still a long way for us to go.
Lois became aware of the dangers of being color-blind through her friendship with Marc Moses. This phenomenon, as discussed by Horace Seldon, puts people at risk of denying the truth of who they, and others, really are. Denial of the truth does not bring us any closer to equality, it just makes it easier for us to avoid facing any racist ideas we might hold. In a classroom, we should emphasize valuing diversity and the idea that everyone’s different background has something important that the other students can learn from.
There is always more work to be done in the quest for equality for all people. I believe that it is one of the most important jobs an educator can have to seek to teach students about the evils of racism, sexism, ableism, and the other stereotypes that encourage hatred or fear between people.
Works Consulted
Barndt, Joesph and Charles Ruehle. “Understanding Institutional Racism”.
Duke, Lynne. “Blacks, Whites Define ‘Racism’ Differently”.
Seldon, Horace. “On Being Color-Blind”.
Stalvey, Lois Mark. The Education of a WASP.
Advocacy for Students and Democratic Citizenship
“With
Jacqueline Lehmann
Teaching Literacy for Diverse Learners
Professor Mary Sawyer
With
“There is no such thing as an innocent pedagogy” –James Berlin (Brown 130).
The American dream seems to be fading into a tired mythology. As the battle rages over immigration, people from other countries are still coming to
If education is the means to achieve social equality within society and upward mobility for individuals, it has yet to succeed on a grand scale. As the rich get richer and the poor spiral downward into poverty, one must wonder if we are just not looking hard enough at our educational system. (See graphics p 9.) Education as it is currently formulated inherently maintains current power structures, and to revamp that on a societal level would take a commitment that our society does not seem willing to make.
As freedom is defined increasingly through the logic of consumerism, the dynamics of self-interest, an e-commerce investment culture, and all things private, there seems to be a growing disinterest on the part of the general population in such non commercial values as empathy, compassions, loyalty, caring, trust, and solidarity that bridge the private and the public and give substance to the meaning of citizenship, democracy and public life. (Giroux 2).
Any hope for change seems to lie within individual people, educators more specifically, who have the power to teach students to examine and rebel against this continuing cycle. Through an examination of literacy education, one can understand where some of the facets that further inequality arise and find ways to address them within the classroom environment.
One of the most significant reasons for literacy learning furthering the status quo is the increasing multiculturalism of the
Groups that exist on the margins of American society such as Native Americans are unique in that while they live on the land of the
Stephen Gilbert Brown experienced this firsthand when he taught Athabascans at a reservation school in
All this I would share with, pass on to, and transmit to my native wards, as if they were indeed no more than so many safe-deposit boxes in which I would store my life-savings of knowledge, to paraphrase Friere’s banking metaphor for this transactional, colonizing brand of education, which above all seeks to “initiate” the native into the academic discourse community of his or her colonizer through mastery of its discourse conventions. (Brown 128)
These students were unable to engage with the course material because it was presented as exclusive of anything that pertained to their own lives and culture. They were not allowed to play any significant role in their education, and were seen as passive recipients of knowledge. As Brown learned, this kind of teaching rarely empowers students to usurp the status quo. Rather, it serves to further their sense of opposition to mainstream society. Should these students later seek success within the mainstream, they likely will not possess the necessary tools.
Another way that literacy learning tends to further entrench the status quo is the continuing importance that literacy education places on the language of money and power, standard English. This is a problem for both students from lower class households and
One of the problems with literacy learning for
Working class students often speak in ways that block their access to systems of power. “Proper” English is not likely spoken or emphasized within their homes. School may or may not be considered important by parents, depending on the sort of life that they wish for their children. Regardless of parental involvement, Patrick Finn found that:
The language of the school, especially the language of school books, is explicit. The explicit language that more affluent children learn at home prepares them for the ever so much more explicit language of the school, particularly the language of books. The implicit language that working-class children become accustomed to at home doesn’t. (Finn 90)
Hence, working class children, much like
Literacy learning in American schools also perpetuates the status quo because of its never-ending commitment to the traditional literary canon. This canon is a manifestation of sexism and Eurocentrism, and excludes a large segment of the world population. Almost all of the works commonly taught in schools are written by white men, and most feature white male main characters (usually including but not limited to works by Shakespeare,
Robert Calfee, a professor of education and psychology at
As things stand now, a slim percentage of non-white students will be lucky enough to be find protagonists that can be role-models or even seem relevant to their lives. The excluded portion float through school feeling removed and depersonalized as a result of a lack of representation. There is a good chance that these students will never learn to appreciate literature or feel enthusiastic about their literacy learning.
There are many ways to seek righteousness as a teacher when dealing with questions such as these. Brown offers words of wisdom to those of us who might end up teaching in a community similar to the Athabascan reservation.
The indigenous culture was not only marginalized by the schooling privileged in E.L. Elmendorf it was cannibalized by those bush teachers who, like myself, had gone native—who saw their stint in the land of the indigene as a rare opportunity to collect Indian artifacts, lore, and spirituality, like so many kids on a frantic hunt for Easter eggs. (Brown 135)
One has to be wary of commodifying the host culture in the process of seeking to validate their language and traditions. The people who lived in the community where Brown taught had already encountered his kind and were well aware of white people who sought to, in a sense, possess their culture and make it their own.
In seeking that balance, Brown found that
The borderland teacher must cease teaching to the core of the dominant culture, as incarnated in the canon and the “core” subjects of the colonizing curriculum which privilege the master narratives of American history, the use of standard English, the scientific mode of inquiry. This is not to imply that history, English, science and physical education must not be taught; it is rather to argue that they should be taught not within the context of the dominant culture but within the context of the indigenous subculture. (136)
This is to say that in an academic setting, one might have to stick to teaching certain subjects but can easily address the differences between cultures within that teaching. For example, in a physical education class the teacher could follow each unit of traditional American sport with having the students teach him or her one of their sports and then playing that. If neither culture is excluded, the students are less likely to undergo an academic identity crisis where they feel as though their school life directly contradicts their home culture.
When one is faced with students who are struggling because of their lack of understanding of standard English, (be they
As far as fighting the elitism of the literary canon goes, that is easy enough to address for future English teachers. I fully plan to teach my students the definitions of racism, sexism and Eurocentrism and then talk about what has become the literary canon. Obviously I will have to teach a number of canonical works as they are mandated parts of the curriculum, but creating student awareness about the nature of “the classics” will help those who feel marginalized or excluded from literature as a whole. I would like to also teach works that reflect a more diverse society, and plan to offer many opportunities for students to find authors who they can relate to.
I am a firm believer that education should be the foremost way for a person to be successful, whatever their definition of success may be. If “success” is a career and financial stability, education should be the means to the end. If “success” is personal growth and self-satisfaction, what better way to understand one’s role in the world than through literacy as a means of communication. All students, regardless of background, should be given access to a meaningful education and hence an equal oppurtunity to attain success within society.
While societal reform to combat social disparity would be the only surefire way to ensure that all citizens indeed have equality of opportunity, the power of one individual is immeasurable. We truly only have the power to commit to changing ourselves and influencing those around us. We are obligated as humans and citizens of the
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