to survive/let the past/teach you/

BLOG ENTRY EIGHT: LAURA'S PAPER CRITIQUE

2005-05-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading Laura's paper on three children's novels, The Lion, The Witch, The Wardrobe, Matilda and Harry Potter, and the impact of "child-adult conflicts, parental neglect, magic and materialism" have played in each story.

I think Laura did a great job introducing her paper, while I tend to ramble on, Laura was able to effectively describe what her paper would be about, without it sounding like a book report. The structure of her paper was also very effective. I felt she did a great job transitioning to different paragraphs and discussing other stories.

Without it sounding as if she was simply summarizing the books covered in her paper, Laura provided a brief summary and evidence of situations occuring in the books to support her thesis. Not only did she provide evidence from the book, but she also revealed information about the actual time period the books were written, for example when she begins to talk about Matilda she explains, "It is important to take note of life during the1980's." This can reveal a lot about the motives and meanings behind any of the novels she critiqued.

I do think Laura could have focused more on the use of materialism in her paper. I'm not sure if her conclusion was strong enough or that it supported her paper. Other than that I thought it was a great paper. Concise, well researched and well argued. I would give this paper an A- or B+.

BLOG ENTRY SEVEN: REDEFINING THE BLACK ROLE: EDUCATION IN FREEDMAN'S VILLAGE, 1863-1888

2005-04-20T16:44:00.000-07:00

1. Establishment of the Freedmen's Bureau
a. organization of the Freedmen's Bureau
b. educationl efforts by Freedmen Bureau
2. Historical Background of Arlington, Virginia
a. Arlington's population
b. end of Civil War
c. first free schools
3. Establishment of Freedmen's Village in Arlington
4. First Years of Freedman's Village School
a. school year 1863-1864
b. school year 1864-1865
5. Freedman Village Schools
a. 1865-1876
b. 1877-1888
6. End of Freedman's Village
7. Schools in Arlington After the Fall of Freedman's Village

You can find my critique on Kelly's page.

BLOG ENTRY FIVE: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS VISIT

2005-03-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

I will admit, I was extremely excited about visiting the Library of Congress. I thought it would have every book that I would ever want and need in my life. After five hours of searching through catalogs and waiting for books, I left disappointed and exhausted.

I went on a Saturday with Sarah and Kelly. Most of the rooms were closed, so the ones that most appealed to us, we didn't have access too. I didn't really find any books that spoke directly about the education of African Americans in Washington, DC. My expectations were pretty high, so not being able to find resources that would help me narrow my topic was a bit frustrating.

After of five hours of trying to find books that could help me I decided to leave and visit Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library. I wasn't expecting to find much so I just browsed the four floor library. I stumbled across the Washingtonian section of the library and I asked an extremely rude library if they had a section on education in DC. He pointed out a section, that indeed, had a plethora of surveys, case studies and historical references to schools in Washington, DC. I grabbed seven books and dived in.

This was the turning point in my research, because I was able to find examples of inequalities in education in our country's capitol. Now, my concern was fitting all of this information from the Reconstruction paper until today into one solid 20 page paper.

I don't plan on returning to the Library of Congress, but I do want to look more into the Board of Education and Board of Health, because they seem to have tons of information on education in Washington, DC.

BLOG ENTRY SIX: INCOMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY

2005-03-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

Listed below are a number of books I found that have really be helpful. I haven't looked into journal articles just yet, but the Journal of Negro Education has a number of articles on the education of African American's in the past and currently, in Washington, DC.

BOOKS

1. Katz, W. (1969) History of Schools for the Colored Population. New York, NY: Arno Press.

2. Fader, D. (1996). The Nake Children. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers.

3. Knox, E. (1957). Democracy and the District of Columbia Public Schools: A Study of Recently Integrated Public Schools. Washington, DC: Jud and Detweiler, Inc.

4. Cohen, H and Filipczack, J. (1971). A New Learning Environment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, Inc. Publishers.

5. School-Related Attitudes of Title I Children in the District of Columbia Public Schools. (1971). George Washington University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms.

6. Lucas, R. (1977). Analysis of Educational Opportunities in the Washington, DC Public Schools. University of Minnesota. Ann Arbor, MI: Xerox University Microfilms.

7. Willis, D. ed. (1994). Picture Us: African American Experience in Photography. New York, NY: The New Press.

8. Hobson, J. (1970). The Damned Children: A Layman's Guide to Forcing Change in Public Education.

9. Woodson, C. (1968). The Education of the Negro Prior to 1861. Salem, NH: Ayer Company Publishers, Inc.

10. Boydston, J. et Al. (2004). Making a Nation: United States and Its People. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

JOURNAL ARTICLES

1. Levey, J. Segregation in Education: A Basis for Jim Crow in Washingon, DC 1804-1880.

BLOG ENTRY FOUR: THE MISSING PAPER TOPIC

2005-03-01T10:54:00.000-08:00

I will admit coming up with a topic that I will be committed to and enjoy writing and researching has been tough. I've been going back in forth in my mind on topics that interest me. So I thought of my life in hopes that my life experiences could be developed into a 15 page paper (that my professor assures is "not that long".)

Let's see:
1. I'm black.
2. I'm a female.
3. I grew up poor.
4. I grew up in the South.
5. I had parents on drugs.
6. My parents were in prison during my high school years.
7. I went off to college.
8. I want to be a teacher and teach in an urban school.
9. I believe in the improvement in the lives of the poor, blacks and other minorities.

I literally made this list in my notebook and circled the ones that had or will have the hugest impact in my life. I circled eight and nine and decided to take a look at that. So I proclaimed "Black Education in America" would be my topic. But where would I start? What do I mean by "black education"? What kind of history could I talk about? And where in America do I want to focus on?

These questions haunted me, because I...had...no...clue. So I went to the library and found volumes of information on the school system in northern Virginia. I loved this idea, because my topic was narrowed significantly. I could focus on Arlington, Fairfax and other areas. Maybe as far south as Richmond. I still had interest in doing Washington, D.C., so I had some thinking to do. But I think going to the Library of Congress and the National Archives will provide me with additional insight as to what I want to focus on.

I want to discuss the progress (and some would argue the lack of it) blacks have made in the pursuit of education. I want to go back as far as the mid to late 1800's until today. My focus; however will be the post-Brown v. Board of Education era.

I'm excited about this! There are a number of historical resources to help me make my claim that although blacks have achieved a great number of victories in regards to equal education, there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made to ensure that all children receive the EQUAL education.

BLOG ENTRY THREE: PRIMARY RESOURCES

2005-03-01T10:40:00.000-08:00

Below are three primary resources that I will undoubtedly use for my paper. The first illustration is a picture, from the book Warriors Don't Cry, of the nine students who integrated Little Rock, Arkansas' Central High in 1957. This was three short years after the landmark Supreme Court ruling to integrate schools in America. This book is composed from Melba Beal's personal diaries. Beal was one of the nine students forced to deal with telephone threats, attacks from mothers and students, aggravated police and economic blackmail--all while trying to pursue their human right to an adequate and equal education.

The second primary resource is from the book The School Busing Controversy: 1970-1975. It's a news article from the Richmond News Leader. This article examines the lack of progress school integration has made in Virginia and in other states. During this time many sociologists and politicians believed that simply integrated schools would alleviate a number of problems the nation was facing; however, school integration in itself became one of the our country's biggest dilemna.

The third primary resource is from the book "Simple Justice". This book chronicles the progress blacks had made in America since the 1600's. The yellow highlighted portion is a quote from Professor Barringer from University of Virginia. He argues "Negroes learning should be limited to a Sunday school training" and that our mere purpose in life was as a "source of cheap labor." I particularly like this source because it examines the thoughts of many southeners during the late 1890's and early 1900's. It will also help me chronicle the changes in black education in America, in particular Virginia.

2005-03-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

This picture is from the book "Warriors Don't Cry." It features the nine students who took on the battle to integrate Little Rock's Central High.

2005-03-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

This news article is from the book "The School Busing Controversy: 1970-1875." This article examines the lack of progress school integration since the Brown v. Board of Education decision made over 20 years ago.

2005-03-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

The yellow highlighted portion of this page is from Professor Barringer at University of Virginia about slaves in the U.S. This page is pulled from the book "Simple Justice".

HELLO

2005-02-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

This is the first time I've tried a blog. I'm a new History major. I actually hated history in high school. I took a survey class of Western History and decided to give it a try. I would love to teach history on a high school level. I think my focus is more in the lines of African and African American history.

I look forward to bonding with my classmates. I am sure I have a lot to learn.

BLOG ENTRY TWO: WILD SEED: THE BLACK CHILD AND THE CURRICULUM

2005-01-27T15:48:00.003-08:00

"…we need to look at the past through new eyes in order to determine what we might learn to help address the apparently difficult educational issue of providing an excellent education for all African-American children." (an excerpt from Black Teachers on Teaching by Michele Foster).

This blog, in fact, has nothing to do with the black child and the curriculum. After flipping through the table of contents of both our Children’s Culture Reader and Childhood in America textbooks, I noticed the lack of research on the educational issues associated with our black youth in America. Instead, I was forced to read two articles that were slightly close to my research interest. "The Case of Peter Pan: The Impossibility of Children’s Fiction" and "The Child and the Curriculum" are the two articles that I settled on. These articles helped me further examine my research topic idea: the impossibility of the black child and the curriculum.

In "The Case of Peter Pan: The Impossibility of Children’s Fiction" the author argues that children’s fiction does not speak to the child. Jacqueline Rose continued that "children’s fiction tests on the idea that there is a child who is simply there to be addressed" (58) but the book is never meant for him or her. The book instead is meant for the adult and the best form of it comes in a story of morality. The adult uses this book to tell stories of what is meant to be a child and to grow up. The author would argue; however, that the child isn’t asked, "what do you want"?

Then Rose goes on a tangent about sexuality in Peter Pan and how many books are based on some hidden sexual desire for children. What seemed impossible was Rose’s ability to stick to her thesis. She did bring up a good point about literature for children. Rosed stated that "literature for children became an independent venture during 18th century, when conceptualization of childhood was dominated by philosophical writings of Locke and Rosseau.

This led me to the article "The Child and the Curriculum" by John Dewey. Dewey was a philosopher of the 19th and 20th centuries. He argued that education was a fundamental issue in the social transformation of America. He believed that America should "get rid of the prejudicial notion that there is some gap between the child’s experience and the various forms of subject matter that make up the course of study" (303).

"The child and the curriculum are two limits which define a single problem" (303). Dewey argued that like two points that define a line, subject matter and the child’s experience are a continuous reconstruction. They embody the "cumulative outcome of efforts, strivings and successes" (304). I agreed with this notion of inseparability. I do believe that with learning comes experiences and with experiences follows learning.

I can’t really connect what I read this week to my research interests other than to exclude black youth’s experience in education from research, literature and legislation, is depriving them of all their inherent possibilities. These children have the potential to do so much, but the lack of funds and resources thwarts any attempts on their part.

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My aim is to take this weekend to really focus my research topic idea into something concrete and measurable. I apologize if this blog lacked focus.

HIST 300 CLASSMATES

2005-01-27T15:48:00.002-08:00

1. Anderson, Nicholas A.
2. Baber, John B.
3. Byrd, Lori L.
4. Dobbs, Laura N.
5. Hadrick, Kelly M.
6. Kennedy, Francie
7. Klepfel, Keith H.
8. Leahy, Madeliene B.
9. Luu, Nghinh A.
10. McCormack, Brendan
11. Nikitenko, Jazmine L.
12. Perry, Rickita T.
13. Smith, Sarah C.
14. Stewart-Nunes, Sarah

BLOG ENTRY ONE: A HOPE IN THE UNSEEN: SOCIAL INEQUALITY AND AMERICAN EDUCATION

2005-01-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

I recently read the book A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League. It was a book about a high school senior born and raised in the inner city streets of Washington, DC. Cedric Jennings was an honor roll student who studied and strived well beyond the expectations of his teachers and peers. His tenacity led him to Brown University, an Ivy League school. What seemed to be a triumph, became a nightmare for Cedric. He found himself far behind most of the other freshmen. He had to manage an array of intellectual and social changes around him, and he discovered that he had little in common with the white students, many of whom came from privileged backgrounds.

This book left me questioning the educational system in America, in particular urban education. To boast America as a democratic society with equal opportunity for all, how could Cedric and millions of other minority students like him, be so shortchanged? This question led me to two articles in our texts, "Unlearning Black and White: Race, Media and the Classroom" from The Children’s Culture Reader, and "School Desegration" from Childhood in America. After reading these articles, I narrowed my paper topic from the study of urban education to the study of educational inequalities between urban black youths and white youths with more privileged backgrounds.

In "Unlearning Black and White" the author examines the history of the civil rights movement in the 20th century, from Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) to the mid seventies. Sharin Goldin discusses how images of the child and the idea of the classroom during this time period provide some sort of "solution" and it also reveals contradictory responses to the civil rights movement and confronting racial injustice. She also makes some attempts to evaluate media’s influence of capturing what was going on in classrooms across America. I add attempt, because she weakly links the two.

Children represented victimization experienced in a contemporary society and a vehicle for a more just society in the future. According to Goldin, children played a central role in the civil rights discourse. The black child standing alone and being called names expressed the adult fears of unfairness and inequality. "…To all the questions, tears and anger children brought back home [from school], the back family and its community were fully engaged" (137).

This, along with other factors, ultimately led to the push of integrated schools. These integrated classrooms were the backdrop and vehicles for exploring race. It was a way to evaluate America’s race blind society. If integrated schools failed, then the country deprived black children of equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Of course it was met with opposition and hesitation. Whites argued that black students were disruptive and behind academically. Blacks argued that they would not be able to identify with a classroom where their teachers were white, their peers were predominately white, and their curriculum was white male dominated. Those for integration argued that this was the ideal classroom setting. It was a place to "transcend the limitations of one’s surrounding" (145).

John Dewey stated that "each individual gets an opportunity to escape from the limitations of the social group in which he [or she] was born, and to come into living contact with a broader environment." That is, reeducation of race was demanding, and it demanding students of different races to interact. The author observed that debates about confronting history played out around the child-staged through the classroom-as a testing ground for strategies for social and cultural transformation. Children have and will always provide answers (and hope) to our social problems.

In the second article, "School Desegregation" Chief Justice Earl Warren called for an end to legal segregation in schools. This landmark decision has been known as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). This question separated the country for years: "Does segregation of children in public schools, solely on the basis of race deprive the children of the minority group of equal education?" The Supreme Court argued, "We believe it does" (318).

Justice Warren believed that segregation fostered a feeling of inferiority that affected the hearts, minds and motivation for children of color to learn. In the field of education, he argued, "the doctrine of separate but equal has no place…separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" (319).

Although this decision was made over 40 years ago, America still deals with schools being blatantly segregated based on race and socio-economic status. Both of these articles primarily focused on the history of segregation and the impact of segregation and integration on American society, pushing the children in the forefront. These articles help me narrow my topic, because it help me get a better understanding of how our educational system has gone from inequality of education between whites and blacks to the attempts to rectify the injustices against blacks. I believe that although some progresses have been made, I still witness inequalities in education.