The video called teaching after Brown v Board of Education: "The Other 3 R's was all about the problems inside the schooling in this country. I enjoyed this video because it had a lot of information in it and I got a lot out of it. I also enjoyed it because it hit on every reading that we have had in class this semester. I found myself thinking back on our readings when they talked about the fact of race inside the class room and how students of color are set back and do not have the same opportunities as white's. I thought about the Rodriguez reading when the panel was talking about the language barrier inside the schools and how teachers are not properly trained or schooled in how to teach children where English is their second language.
There were a lot of different things that I liked about this video but some in particular were when Gloria started talking about the cut aways in the curbs in America for the handicapped, and how people who were not handicapped didn't want them but they were implemented and everyone benefits from them. From the handicapped people to the women with the stroller and the father with child on his bike. Then she says how it can be related to schools, where if you implement something for the less fortunate and start it from the bottom even in turn will benefit. I also like when she brought up the part about how the schools are still segregated and not properly funded and how each school should be funded equally but they are not. I think this is one of the biggest problems that we face in this country with the school system. It reminded me of what Dr. Emdin said on Saturday at promising practices about how the population in the country determines the enrollment in the schools and in poor neighborhoods there are mostly people of color and that's what the schools are and in the richer neighborhoods there are more whites. This topic made me think of Kozol's piece we read and the neighborhood he was in and how it was for those people in that neighborhood and the schooling and what the success rate is. I think that there is a big problem here in this country and we claim that there is equal opportunity here, but really where does the opportunity fall and who gets it? People of color do not get the same opportunities as whites, especially in poorer neighborhoods its even worse. The fact that teachers do not want to teach in schools that have less opportunity, lower test scores, low success rates, and low pay is terrible but I agree with Orfield that these teachers need to live too. Those schools do not pay well and the teachers cant survive on what's being paid. Again it goes back to the funding issue. Teachers want to make a difference in a child's life but also need to be able to survive in a country that is getting harder to live in then ever before. Of course they will leave to go to a school for better money. In my opinion though I want to make a difference in children's life no matter the money but not everyone thinks that way.
Overall I enjoyed this video and got a lot out of it. I liked mostly everything except that they talked about a lot of the issues in America but didn't specify on some of the things they are doing to change it unless I missed that. And also Gary Orfield couldn't keep his hands still and didn't stop moving the microphone the whole video that really bothered me because I do a lot of public speaking and that takes focus away a lot and distracts, it obviously distracted me. Just a little peeve that I have sorry.
Some questions I have are what is Kip School? And also this one is for the class. How do you feel about going into the education field knowing that this exists, and how might you try and change this? Either on a small level or a larger scale?
I also think that we need to rethink our statement of "equal opportunity", when all schools are not given the same resources. By funding these schools differently, we are setting some kids up for failure from the beginning.
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