Gender and the Evolution of Normal School Education: A Historical Analysis of Teacher Education Institutions
2007; Routledge; Volume: 21; Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1047-8248
AutoresChara Haeussler Bohan, J. Wesley Null,
Tópico(s)Gender Roles and Identity Studies
Resumowonder when all this madness is going to go away, when we all can reunite together as a nation ... hear crying and lost souls screaming for help so loud to the point where life just passed you by like a vapor. see dead corpses lying on the streets, sidewalks, and even freeways. There's nothing but still movement in that little boys eyes, tears falling down his cheeks, as he realized he's left alone in this world. From I Am and Only Me Alice Vasquez Tucson High School Senior 9/20/2005 The poem, I Am and Only Me was written by Alice Vasquez less than a month after the worst natural disaster in American history. Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, destroying whole communities and neighborhoods and killing thousands. The events that ensued from Katrina's devastation revealed to Alice the cruel she mentions in her poem--a nation severely and perilously segregated by race. Americans watched, along with Alice, how their government virtually ignored the suffering of myriad African American families and children. Many watched in disbelief as America's dirty secret was exposed to the world and questioned how far America has come in dealing with race. Alice wrote her poem as a homework assignment given to her in a social justice government class at Tucson High School in Arizona. Her task was to analyze current events in the news to describe how institutions resolve or create problems related to race. The course encourages students to examine real world issues and develop solutions to solving local community issues. Days before Katrina, students had discussed the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the war in Iraq, which created a sense of despair and hopelessness among the students. Under-funded schools barraged by standardized tests usually lead to a decrease in achievement (Valenzuela, 2005) along with an increase in military recruitment (Mariscal, 2005). During the class, students responded to questions like: Is NCLB a conspiracy to fill the front lines with people of color? Do standardized tests push young men and women of color into the military to become fodder for corporate wars of greed and dominance? Many students believed that racism influenced the effects of NCLB and the unjust approach for military recruitment. Some did not see these connections. However, after Katrina, the evidence was too overwhelming to ignore. Everyone agreed with Kanye West who stated, George Bush doesn't care about Black people. Although most students in the government class were Chicano, they could relate, as people of color, to West's statement. In the social justice government class, students are exposed to a complex conceptualization of the State. Drawing from Omi and Winant's (1994) Racial Formations in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s, the class defined the U.S. government as the state to highlight how race has been the central political trope shaping U.S. civil society. Throughout American history, political officials have constructed certain meanings and perceptions of race to establish and maintain White supremacy as well as White privileges (the 3/5th ruling, legal segregation, immigration restrictions, and gerrymandering, etc.). However, the racial state, according to Omi and Winant, is dynamic and subject to social movements and grassroots organizations that introduce different racial meanings and perceptions while achieving political and social advancements for people of color (Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, affirmative action, and immigration reforms). The historical pattern of the racial is analogous to a pendulum swinging back and forth--with political power heading toward the maintenance of White domination or moving in the opposite direction of racial/ethnic minority gains. To help students see hope through the despair of Katrina, the teacher explained that although the pendulum in the racial presently swings toward policies that exclusively benefit White communities, students of color, through engaged activism, can balance the scales of social justice. …
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