Post Reading Week Eight

-Some reasons that students are misdiagnosed with LD, ED, and MR could be because of language barriers, if a students first language is not english, and they are being tested on their knowledge in a language they do not know it can falsely determine their intelligence therefore making the teacher assume that they are not prepared to move onto the next level or need extra attention. Another reason kids can be misdiagnosed is because teachers could grow impatient with children at a young age and write them of as having LD, MR, or ED when really it is just because they want to move on with the class. Rather then stepping back and evaluating the different things that could be causing the disturbance with the child they go to the easiest route and diagnose them with whatever they feel is appropriate.

-I think that the fact that almost all LD's are determined by teachers leads for higher rates of LD's in children just because every child learns differently. Girls are often more subdued in class then boys are which could lead to more male students being diagnosed with LD's, also the language barrier for a child that does not have english as a first language could be particularly difficult because the teacher could assume that the child just doesn't pay attention or doesn't want to learn in class which leads to diagnosing students with LD's.

-A lot of things from this week surprised me. Just the readings alone were enough to surprise me, especially Michael's story. The fact that he had dyslexia and that prevented him from doing various things in his life, including excelling in the workplace, but then when I really started to think about it I realized that it is something that I have witnessed in my life. This intersectionality based on race and disability. I personally know two people that have dyslexia, one of them is my aunt and another is a friend. My Aunt is a Mexican woman in her thirties, and my friend is a white male in his teens. My Aunt has suffered from dyslexia from the time she was in grade school and still suffers from it today. It is not severe but it is still brought up from time to time and she says it was difficult but not to difficult, and that she had extra help throughout school for it. Anytime I have been with her I have never noticed the fact that she has dyslexia. My friend on the other hand has severe dyslexia, but all of his teachers tell him that it is fine and he will get over it eventually he is now around my age and still has extreme difficulty with spelling but teachers told him that there is no need for extra assistance and it is something that will pass. After realizing this I was surprised at how much this happens, and how much I never noticed it. The readings definitely opened my eyes.

Word Count: 499

Pre-Reading Week Eight

Learning Disabled: When a person has a learning disability is when an individual has difficulty learning in a typical manner. Usually when a person has a learning disability it is in a certain subject. There are some learning disabilities that can be difficult to overcome and can affect a person throughout their entire life whereas other learning disabilities can be addressed and overcome with the right attention and treatment.

Mentally Retarded: If an individual is mentally retarded they have difficulties dealing with obstacles that people face everyday. There is usually a delay in development, people who are diagnosed with mental retardation usually cannot develop reading, writing or math skills as rapidly as other children would be able to. Mental retardation can vary in severity, while some people can learn to become independent and live there own lives, others have a harder time doing so.

Emotionally Disturbed: Legally noticed as a type of disability, people with emotional disturbance suffer in a way that there emotions hinder their performance and development in life. Emotional disturbance can make it extremely difficult for an individual to develop and maintain relationships with others, not being able to maintain appropriate behavior in certain situations, and/or physically exuding their emotional distress on other individuals or objects.

All of the terms listed above are branches of special education because they all deal with different types of needs that certain individual requires. Learning disabled is categorized as a learning disorder, while emotionally disturbed is an emotional disorder, and mentally retarded can overlap into those two categories. Special education addresses these needs and helps to aid them whereas general education is the norm for what is used towards every other individual that does not exhibit any type of disorder or special need. People that have learning disabilities need someone there to pinpoint what exactly they need help or improvement on to help regulate their learning momentum towards those who are in "general education". Those who are mentally retarded need someone to help them learn the skills they need to become an independent person. People who are mentally retarded don't need help intellectually per se but rather to just gain skills to be dependent on themselves. People who are emotionally disturbed need assistance learning control and specific functions. Emotionally disturbed people have a hard time knowing boundaries and limits and therefore need assistance when it comes to functioning in their daily lives.

Word Count: 401

pre-reading

-Experiences of domestic violence could be different based on class, and race because some people do not have access to certain programs or certain resources to help them get out of violent, or abusive relationships. Different factors also play a role in domestic violence, in terms of wether someone will stay or not. If someone is of lower class and needs two incomes to support there family, they may be hesitant to leave because they do not know what they would do if they left. Also safety plays a huge factor. If someone is of lower class with limited resources, they may not feel safe leaving an abusive partner for fear of what might happen if they rebel against that person. As far as certain races go, all cultures are different so the views on domestic violence may be different in each household. Some cultures are more chauvinistic then others and women in those cultures may be more quiet about the domestic violence then women in other cultures. Also it depends on the household you were raised in. A lot of domestic abuse cases that I have seen, stem from domestic abuse in the household of the abuser when they were younger, leading them to think that this is the norm. Not saying that it is so for all cases,and not saying that it is an acceptable excuse, because really there is no excuse but there are definitely a lot that come from that

-VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act that was passed in 1994. VAWA gave 1.6 billion dollars to fund different things such as women's shelters, intervention for domestic violence, rape education, as well as different programs that help improve the law and prosecution, as well as aiding victims. During the 80's and the 90's there was a "battered women's movement" that led to many different people coming together and going to congress to address, and act upon the rise of abuse against women, and domestic violence. VAWA supports training in communities to prevent domestic violence from happening as well as strengthening prosecutions and law enforcement when it comes to domestic violence.

355

Pre-Reading Week Six

Audre Lorde

February 18, 1934 - November 17, 1992

A librarian with an impressive college background, attending Hunter College to earn her bachelors degree in library science, Lorde was going to school to pursue her love of poetry.In 1954 she started to attend the National University of Mexico where she experimented with her lesbian sexuality. When she returned from the National University of Mexico, Lorde worked as a librarian and became a member of the lesbian scene that was emerging in Greenwich Village. Shortly after she decided to pursue her education further and obtained her Masters in Library Science from Columbia University. Lorde married attorney Edward Rollins in 1962, they had two children, and divorced in 1970 but this did not stop Lorde from pursuing her dreams. By this time Lorde had more titles than "librarian" she was also an activist, poet, and teacher. She began to teach classes focused on racism at the city college. She released two books of poems, the first called: "The First Cities" and the second titles "The Cable Rage". Audre was diagnosed with cancer and wrote an autobiography titled "The Cancer Journals". She struggled with cancer for fourteen years, first struggling with breast cancer, then falling victim to liver cancer. She died on November 17, 1992. Lorde was known not only for her poetry or for her romantic style of writing, but also her activism in issues of racism and feminism.

Cherrie Moraga

September 25, 1952 - 

Cherrie Moraga is a Chicana poet who resided from Los Angeles, CA. She earned her bachelors degree from Immaculate Heart College in L.A. and earned her Masters Degree from San Francisco State University. Moraga writes about her experiences of growing up "La Guerra" meaning  fair skinned, born to a Chicana mother and a white father this is what she refers to herself as. But race was not the only thing that provided inspiration to her writing. She was also a lesbian and wrote about her experiences both as a lesbian and a Chicana. She stated in an interview that once she opened up to her mother about her lesbianism  it created a newfound bond between her and her mother and gave her a newfound appreciation for being a Chicana. Moraga had already been writing before this experience but after it happened it really opened up her writing, Cherrie now felt like she could fully express herself without difficulty. She became an educator, teaching writing classes and drama classes at different universities across the U.S. Soon after Moraga started writing plays, these plays dealt with a range of issues, from racism, sexuality and feminism. Moraga is still a playwright to this day, having had her play premiere in January of this year and has had books published as well as published books. 

Word Count: 464

Post-Reading Week Five

-In the video, "Shit white girls say to black girls"is a lighthearted, yet informative example of colorblind racism today. It illustrates colorblind racism in social settings where white people are associated with black people, therefore thinking that it is okay to make comments that would not be socially acceptable to say to someone that they did not know. White people may see this video as racist and may be very offended by this but the fact of the matter is that the person that made the video do not have the power that white people do when they make comments concerning colorblind racism. Colorblind racism as a mask of sorts that white people put on. Believing friends or being associated closely with black people or other minorities is a pass to say what they want since they believe that whatever they say cannot be seen as "racist". In the video, the white girl addressing her black friend is being very candid about all of the comments that she is making and being very forward about her views and curiosity towards black stereotypes, in the video assuming things that would stereotypically be linked to black people. I do not think that the video was made to insult, but rather to inform that colorblind racism exists and that some people do recognize it and its impacts it has on people.

-People who gain from colorblind racism are people who gain from white privilege. It maintains white privilege without glorifying it in such an overt way. Colorblind racism is not something that cannot be seen by all or is not acknowledged by all and with such justifications that keep colorblind racism alive and prevalent, white privilege can maintain stronger then ever.

-I believe that colorblind racism is a very useful tool in understanding race in America today. It is the exact reason that racism is ignored and is dismissed by most people. Justifications that are thrown out lead to people believing that it does not exist today and that people excel in society solely based off of meritocracy.

Post Reading: Week 4

Section 1:
In the cartoon above the statements that the characters are making are lies because they are all talking about how race does not affect them personally or how they do not see race therefore it should no longer be an issue. This is false because everyday in everything anyone does, your race is reflected upon you in some way. All of the characters in the cartoon that are making statements seem to be white, and since they have never felt the type of racial discrimination that others have felt and if they have never made a racial slur, they feel as though that they are not racists and they live an equal life amongst everyone which is not true.

Section 2:
I agree with McIntosh's statement because even in this day and age where we are such a mixed nation there are still so many stereotypes stapled to all different races, while the white race is still clearly the hierarchy among races. If you are a white male in society today you have the opportunity to excel so much more career-wise, than someone of a different race with the same education and qualifications as you. But many people are oblivious to this because there are some cases where people of a different race can excel and achieve their dreams. So many people see it as meritocracy, and that the people who don't excel are simply just not trying hard enough to achieve their goals. When really a lot of it depends on structural privilege.

Section 3:
Scalzi's analogy to white men playing life on the lowest difficulty setting is great for understanding structural privilege because it is not saying that white men do not have to do anything to achieve things in the life, it is simply saying that it is way easier for them to achieve the things they want with little practice or little effort. They still have to go through obstacles and overcome boundaries to get to the next level but are able to do so with great ease rather than someone who is playing on the highest difficulty level and may have to go through a level repetitively in order to overcome just one obstacle. It is similar to McIntosh's piece because again it touches the subject of meritocracy. That there is a myth that it still exists. White men can coast by on the easiest game setting while others struggle to play on the highest difficulty setting, but most people are oblivious to this kind of privilege so it is never addressed.


Word Count: 421

Post Reading questions September 4, 2012

-I think that there are many similarities between the students that attended SFSU in 1968 and the students that attend SFSU today. In 1968 the students that attended SFSU were protesting the rights of  minority students due to the inequality that was shown throughout the campus and the question of wether or not "special programs" should continue to be funded or not. And unfortunately, although we as a society have come a long way in terms of racial discrimination but in a lot of cases minorities still struggle financially and with the ever rising tuition costs it is harder for students to attend, both for minorities and non-minorities. This maintains the struggle for social and economic equality. Now it is very rarely that you can succeed in the workplace with no college degree in hand, so students that cannot afford to do so because of economic struggles end up with minimum wage jobs causing a never ending cycle. I think that the CSU's and the state are doing a good job with giving financial aid and grants to those students that deserve it based on academic performance. But with rising costs in tuition the grants and financial aid do not cover all expenses leaving some families unable to pay. These are similar issues that the students in 1968 faced that we are still facing today.

- I agree with Monteiro when he says that traditional history classes would be outlawed under the HB 2281. In one of my US history courses during high school the curriculum was mainly focused around American (white history) and the events that happened with them rather than the history of the US as a whole, including all different ethnicities and their rise in the US. But the only reason I say it would be prohibited is that the four criteria set in HB 2281 are all things that are determined by the individual. In HB 2281 one of the criteria is that the class must not: "Promote resentment toward a race or class of people." but how are the instructors to know how a particular student will take to certain information? They cannot determine the reaction and influence that certain information will have on a student. All of the criteria can apply based on individual ideals. There is no way that these rules can be applied to a group and for all individuals to react the same to course materials.

Word Count: 405