Friday, November 4, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
History education in schools? Begin rant (er, newest rant).
I got all worked up in class tonight (again). In schools of education all across the US, multiculturalism is being talked about. The need to reach more students based on their cultural background and the desire to gear lessons toward those cultures. I understand that those who support this sort of educational framework are trying to progress toward a better understanding of each other. I admire that thought process, but I disagree that public school history classes is the forum for this. Have multicultural festivals in you community, have as many get-togethers as you want. I love those sorts of events! But, the history classes of American students is not the place for this. And sometimes the proponents of this curriculum make illogical arguments. They want less talk about the founding fathers, more talk about civil rights leaders, more talk about inventors who come from non-european backgrounds, etc. I get it and I don't disagree with that. Not entirely, at least. Where I disagree is the assumption that all those who live in a certain community and who share a similar skin color also share a similar culture and a similar heritage. I feel that designing a history or library lesson for students that is trying to 'teach them about their culture' based on a half-assed attempt to guess what their ethnicity is based on skin color is ridiculous, offensive, and big move in the wrong direction. You are not helping anybody by doing this. There are a number of reasons why this has about a 0% chance to succeed.
1) Skin color does not equal ethnicity. It equals skin color. That's it. Nothing more. There are now 7 billion people on Earth and there are probably nearly that many skin tones. We are a mobile species and skin color has nothing to do with the language we speak, the religion we practice, or the traditions that we accept.
2) Nobody's cultural identity is the same and nobody can teach a culture effectively to all students without stereotyping a culture. And if all you're going to do is pass along stereotypes, there is no reason to even begin down this road.
3) Where you have a school, you have certain commonalities among students, chief among them is geographic location. When you are teaching history, teach the history of that place. No matter what the students look like or where they were born or what country their parents came from, they are all currently living in this place. They have this in common, so you teach to the commonality. If my parents had moved to Portugal when I was little and I was enrolled in a primary school in Lisbon, it's ridiculous to believe that my teacher should teach me about American history because my parents are Americans. My parents will pass on the American traditions to me and we will celebrate and share our traditions with friends that we make in Lisbon. But my primary school teacher will teach me Portuguese history because that is the commonality among his/her students, including me. I live in Lisbon, therefore I am in Portugal, therefore I will learn Portuguese history. It is not the teacher's responsibility to design an educational lesson specifically geared toward me because my ethnicity or racial makeup is different from a fellow student's. Don't put pressure on history teachers to teach the history of every nation or every culture on earth because they can't do it and it's ridiculous to expect it. Teach the history of where you are. Local history is the commonality. If a parent wants their child to learn about where their ancestors came from, it's on the parents to teach it. Asking a teacher or librarian to teach 'what it's like to be a Mexican-American' is only asking for trouble because no family's story is the same and no teacher or librarian can do that responsibility any justice.
4) Along with #3 but U.S. specific: any person born here or who immigrates here and becomes a citizen shares a common national history. It doesn't matter if you're teaching in an urban area or a rural area, it doesn't matter if your class is filled with students from the same race or if every student is a different race. We are all Americans, and as such we all share a past that includes Cesar Chavez, Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Sitting Bull, etc. Should the history curriculum be expanded to cover more than the 'always covered U.S. history themes'? Yes. Absolutely! But don't decide not to teach colonial history because your students don't have a similar skin color to George Washington. Don't decide Sitting Bull and the Lakotas aren't relevant because you have no students of Lakota descent in your classroom. Teach them about the Harlem Renaissance. Teach them about Henrietta Lacks and Alice Paul and Georgia O'Keefe. Teach them that women have accomplished more than just the right to vote. Don't hide the sadness in our history, but don't only focus on slavery and the Civil War. Tell them the truth about WWII concentration camps, the Trail of Tears, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Matthew Shepherd. Teach them about those who built the railroad across the West as well as those who have flown in space. Teach them about politicians and philosophers and athletes who made a difference on a global scale. Teach them about inventors other than Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers, but don't exclude those historical figures because they're of Northern-European descent and therefore not seen as 'multicultural'. Teach them everything that you can about the country that they belong to because this is our common history. We are all the same in this regard and we all share this past. These people are our people. There is no color line, there is only a national story. Maybe the customs that we each take part in are different and, by all means, share customs and family traditions with each other, but don't ever begin to cut out parts of a shared history because you don't think a student can relate to that historical event or figure due to an assumption you make based on skin color, religion, or ethnic background. That's demeaning to a student's intelligence as well as to the history of a country.
And as a future librarian and past history major: I won't teach children a history lesson nor will I recommend historical fiction based on what figures most closely resemble the child's skin color, so don't even ask me to, because that conversation will not end well.
/end rant.
1) Skin color does not equal ethnicity. It equals skin color. That's it. Nothing more. There are now 7 billion people on Earth and there are probably nearly that many skin tones. We are a mobile species and skin color has nothing to do with the language we speak, the religion we practice, or the traditions that we accept.
2) Nobody's cultural identity is the same and nobody can teach a culture effectively to all students without stereotyping a culture. And if all you're going to do is pass along stereotypes, there is no reason to even begin down this road.
3) Where you have a school, you have certain commonalities among students, chief among them is geographic location. When you are teaching history, teach the history of that place. No matter what the students look like or where they were born or what country their parents came from, they are all currently living in this place. They have this in common, so you teach to the commonality. If my parents had moved to Portugal when I was little and I was enrolled in a primary school in Lisbon, it's ridiculous to believe that my teacher should teach me about American history because my parents are Americans. My parents will pass on the American traditions to me and we will celebrate and share our traditions with friends that we make in Lisbon. But my primary school teacher will teach me Portuguese history because that is the commonality among his/her students, including me. I live in Lisbon, therefore I am in Portugal, therefore I will learn Portuguese history. It is not the teacher's responsibility to design an educational lesson specifically geared toward me because my ethnicity or racial makeup is different from a fellow student's. Don't put pressure on history teachers to teach the history of every nation or every culture on earth because they can't do it and it's ridiculous to expect it. Teach the history of where you are. Local history is the commonality. If a parent wants their child to learn about where their ancestors came from, it's on the parents to teach it. Asking a teacher or librarian to teach 'what it's like to be a Mexican-American' is only asking for trouble because no family's story is the same and no teacher or librarian can do that responsibility any justice.
4) Along with #3 but U.S. specific: any person born here or who immigrates here and becomes a citizen shares a common national history. It doesn't matter if you're teaching in an urban area or a rural area, it doesn't matter if your class is filled with students from the same race or if every student is a different race. We are all Americans, and as such we all share a past that includes Cesar Chavez, Harriet Tubman, George Washington, Sitting Bull, etc. Should the history curriculum be expanded to cover more than the 'always covered U.S. history themes'? Yes. Absolutely! But don't decide not to teach colonial history because your students don't have a similar skin color to George Washington. Don't decide Sitting Bull and the Lakotas aren't relevant because you have no students of Lakota descent in your classroom. Teach them about the Harlem Renaissance. Teach them about Henrietta Lacks and Alice Paul and Georgia O'Keefe. Teach them that women have accomplished more than just the right to vote. Don't hide the sadness in our history, but don't only focus on slavery and the Civil War. Tell them the truth about WWII concentration camps, the Trail of Tears, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Matthew Shepherd. Teach them about those who built the railroad across the West as well as those who have flown in space. Teach them about politicians and philosophers and athletes who made a difference on a global scale. Teach them about inventors other than Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison and the Wright Brothers, but don't exclude those historical figures because they're of Northern-European descent and therefore not seen as 'multicultural'. Teach them everything that you can about the country that they belong to because this is our common history. We are all the same in this regard and we all share this past. These people are our people. There is no color line, there is only a national story. Maybe the customs that we each take part in are different and, by all means, share customs and family traditions with each other, but don't ever begin to cut out parts of a shared history because you don't think a student can relate to that historical event or figure due to an assumption you make based on skin color, religion, or ethnic background. That's demeaning to a student's intelligence as well as to the history of a country.
And as a future librarian and past history major: I won't teach children a history lesson nor will I recommend historical fiction based on what figures most closely resemble the child's skin color, so don't even ask me to, because that conversation will not end well.
/end rant.
Hello world!
For the first time in months, I've actually come out of the tunnel vision I've had regarding life and graduation. Comps last week the beginning of the end (hopefully) and as soon as I had submitted them I wandered around my house for the first time and actually saw what a mess things were in. I knew life had gotten out of hand because of the overdue notices in my email, etc. But, for instance, I don't know how long cat vomit had been on the floor of the dining room, but it was like trying to remove cement. My laundry pile is so expansive that I had to kneel and shove it away from the furnace vent so I could at least get a little warmth on the night that it got below freezing. I still have no time for actually doing the laundry despite the fact that I have no pairs of socks left. I'm wearing mis-matched single socks that are leftover when the dryer eats one, you know? Yeah. They're still socks and with boots nobody else knows...until I publish it on the internet, that is. So yes. If you see me, I am wearing mis-matched novelty socks. It adds to the novelty?
I find out whether I passed comps on Friday afternoon. If I passed, I really will be able to feel a weight off my shoulders and can focus on trying to get my life back together outside of school and work. (Is there life outside, still?)
Last night I decided to indulge the trick-or-treating thing. I wasn't sure whether I would or not, but I did. And I had only 3 trick-or-treaters. All little ones, which is what I like. As I've mentioned previously: I don't like giving candy to teenagers who don't try to dress up. I got a little boy in the Scream killer mask (I'm surprised they still have those), a little clown with a red runny nose, and a little princess. I didn't give them as much candy as I would have had I know that there was just going to be three all night. I ventured out around 7:30 to look around and saw that I was the only one on the block with the porch light on, so I just turned mine off and watched the Halloween version of Dancing With the Stars. It was kind of a let down except for the team dance... Even those who are really good weren't fantastic this week. Anyway, I have a lot of Reese's peanut butter cups left. Yum.
Also, if you hadn't heard:
THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!
I was amazed. (I still am.) It was unbelievable. I don't think I'll ever be able to see another World Series and not compare it to this 2011 World Series...and probably find future ones lacking. The only d'oh! I had was that I went to sleep after the 8th inning of game six, also known as the most amazing comeback victory ever?The cards won the game after scoring on their last out of the game. Twice. In 11 innings. I went to sleep, not wanting to hear them lose to the Rangers. I do have to say that the Texas Rangers made a fan out of me during this series. I never paid much attention to them, but watching their team and their manager over the course of the 7 games made me respect them a lot. Their manager seems awesome and totally behind his players 100%. They are a fantastic team and the level of competition between the Cards and the Rangers are what made the series so memorable and exciting to watch. Each game was intense and you never really knew who was going to win. That's what really made the series so fantastic, aside from the run the Cards went on. The Rangers players and manager seem like very kind and respectable guys who are fantastic baseball players. It was sad to see them lose when they were so close to winning their first ever series. (And to feel sadness in the middle of celebrating that kind of a win for my team says something about the way I had come to like the Rangers.) If the Rangers end up in the World Series again next year (against any team but the Cards), I will cheer for them. Nolan Ryan was my favorite baseball player as a kid and I would like to see him celebrate a world series win as an owner of the Rangers. Still, for the Cardinals: this was beyond anything I ever imagined this team would accomplish this year. So proud! Go Redbirds! Now La Russa is retiring and probably other members of his staff will leave, too. But, what better way to leave? It really doesn't get any better than this. And now maybe they can use some of the money they would have paid the staff to keep Pujols on the team? Yes? Maybe? I hope so. Anyway, it's still nice to bask in the glory of this World Series win.
*bask*
I find out whether I passed comps on Friday afternoon. If I passed, I really will be able to feel a weight off my shoulders and can focus on trying to get my life back together outside of school and work. (Is there life outside, still?)
Last night I decided to indulge the trick-or-treating thing. I wasn't sure whether I would or not, but I did. And I had only 3 trick-or-treaters. All little ones, which is what I like. As I've mentioned previously: I don't like giving candy to teenagers who don't try to dress up. I got a little boy in the Scream killer mask (I'm surprised they still have those), a little clown with a red runny nose, and a little princess. I didn't give them as much candy as I would have had I know that there was just going to be three all night. I ventured out around 7:30 to look around and saw that I was the only one on the block with the porch light on, so I just turned mine off and watched the Halloween version of Dancing With the Stars. It was kind of a let down except for the team dance... Even those who are really good weren't fantastic this week. Anyway, I have a lot of Reese's peanut butter cups left. Yum.
Also, if you hadn't heard:
THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!
I was amazed. (I still am.) It was unbelievable. I don't think I'll ever be able to see another World Series and not compare it to this 2011 World Series...and probably find future ones lacking. The only d'oh! I had was that I went to sleep after the 8th inning of game six, also known as the most amazing comeback victory ever?The cards won the game after scoring on their last out of the game. Twice. In 11 innings. I went to sleep, not wanting to hear them lose to the Rangers. I do have to say that the Texas Rangers made a fan out of me during this series. I never paid much attention to them, but watching their team and their manager over the course of the 7 games made me respect them a lot. Their manager seems awesome and totally behind his players 100%. They are a fantastic team and the level of competition between the Cards and the Rangers are what made the series so memorable and exciting to watch. Each game was intense and you never really knew who was going to win. That's what really made the series so fantastic, aside from the run the Cards went on. The Rangers players and manager seem like very kind and respectable guys who are fantastic baseball players. It was sad to see them lose when they were so close to winning their first ever series. (And to feel sadness in the middle of celebrating that kind of a win for my team says something about the way I had come to like the Rangers.) If the Rangers end up in the World Series again next year (against any team but the Cards), I will cheer for them. Nolan Ryan was my favorite baseball player as a kid and I would like to see him celebrate a world series win as an owner of the Rangers. Still, for the Cardinals: this was beyond anything I ever imagined this team would accomplish this year. So proud! Go Redbirds! Now La Russa is retiring and probably other members of his staff will leave, too. But, what better way to leave? It really doesn't get any better than this. And now maybe they can use some of the money they would have paid the staff to keep Pujols on the team? Yes? Maybe? I hope so. Anyway, it's still nice to bask in the glory of this World Series win.
*bask*
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Halloween Creepiness A Few Days Early.
Have you heard of "Take This Lollipop"? Read this article from cnn if you want to find out about it. If you're at all into freaking yourself/others out for Halloween as well as making a point regarding 'beware what you share', this is a pretty good place to start. I used it to see what the creepy guy would find because I feel like my profiles and things are pretty well locked down where Facebook is concerned. It was uncomfortably weird seeing him flip through my vacation photos though. The video definitely made me look like this llama (click the llama! you won't regret it! It's funny.):
The actor is creepy anyway, he played the scary abusive dad in "The Secret Life of Bees" (great movie, by the way...), and just has that creeper kind of look to him, plus the scary basement and crazy-eyes he has. Anyway, if you're looking for a way to be totally creeped out for Halloween or to totally creep others out, "Take This Lollipop" is a pretty good way to do it. And then go immediately check your privacy settings on everything you can think of. Happy Halloween?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Someone is staring at me in the coffee shop and a fly that won't leave me alone.
It's Wednesday already? Or maybe, it's only Wednesday?! Hmm. Glass half full/empty sort of beginning here.
So... Comps is decidedly less enjoyable than perhaps I thought it would be several naive days ago. It's kind of [nearly] impossible to keep focus on four questions for an entire week and write four research papers on said questions. Especially when your baseball team is in the World Series that week. And one of the questions is on Learning Labs. How much can you really say about Learning Labs? I like them. They're cool. Kids seem to enjoy them. Hurrah for having spaces for kids to try out being a radio deejay. I'm for it. But...there's only so much to write about them and to design one? Well...there's only one extremely good example of a successful learning lab right now and I assume all 40 of us are going to base our labs on that one example. How uninteresting it must be to grade these.
You know those images that are floating around the social media sites right now? The kind where it's a jumble of letters a la those word search things? And you're supposed to look at it and the first few words that you happen to decipher in the puzzle are supposed to describe who you are right now? Yeah. I don't know if there's a science behind that; I don't know if someone took that from a psychologist's toolbox or if someone just decided to make a word search seem way more important by pretending it tells you something deep about your personality. BUT. I did one and I got the following words: impatient (check), restless (check), passionate (check) and naive (check). I can pretty well center all four of those words completely on myself right now in terms of job-hunting and moving forward in life.
I've had spotify on random radio things and it seemed to get stuck on Sufjan Stevens and I didn't really pay any attention until just a second ago when I finally registered this annoying noise coming through my earphones and I was suddenly, 'What the hell am I listening to?'. I'm happy to say that now I have Beady Eye playing who are decidedly more funky and more me than Mr. Stevens. Not that Stevens doesn't have a good song or two...but...no. I have a tendency to chair dance when I listen to music and I have a tendency to need to listen to music when I'm writing my papers and I have a tendency to need write papers away from my house. All this comes together to mean that this week I've had a higher frequency of bursts of public dancing than normal. It's been kind of eye-opening to realize that I am rocking out enough to disturb other booth-sitters in my coffee shop that I tend to use as study ground #1. I tried to branch out to a second study ground at the local university in town, but they have a major parking problem and even though I had a student parking permit at my disposal, there was NO WHERE to park near the library. They have a really nice library and I was hoping to go in and look around for a bit and see what sorts of services they offer their students as a way to help write one of the comps, but that was kind of a bust due to the parking issue. And aside from that, I kept nearly going the wrong way down one-way streets and after two separate attempts to find a parking space on campus (one in am and one in pm), and after several circles around campus, I gave up and returned to study ground #1. Seriously, Lincoln needs a parking garage or something. It's ridiculous over there.
So now I'm trying to study here but it's kind of not working, either.
So... Comps is decidedly less enjoyable than perhaps I thought it would be several naive days ago. It's kind of [nearly] impossible to keep focus on four questions for an entire week and write four research papers on said questions. Especially when your baseball team is in the World Series that week. And one of the questions is on Learning Labs. How much can you really say about Learning Labs? I like them. They're cool. Kids seem to enjoy them. Hurrah for having spaces for kids to try out being a radio deejay. I'm for it. But...there's only so much to write about them and to design one? Well...there's only one extremely good example of a successful learning lab right now and I assume all 40 of us are going to base our labs on that one example. How uninteresting it must be to grade these.
You know those images that are floating around the social media sites right now? The kind where it's a jumble of letters a la those word search things? And you're supposed to look at it and the first few words that you happen to decipher in the puzzle are supposed to describe who you are right now? Yeah. I don't know if there's a science behind that; I don't know if someone took that from a psychologist's toolbox or if someone just decided to make a word search seem way more important by pretending it tells you something deep about your personality. BUT. I did one and I got the following words: impatient (check), restless (check), passionate (check) and naive (check). I can pretty well center all four of those words completely on myself right now in terms of job-hunting and moving forward in life.
I've had spotify on random radio things and it seemed to get stuck on Sufjan Stevens and I didn't really pay any attention until just a second ago when I finally registered this annoying noise coming through my earphones and I was suddenly, 'What the hell am I listening to?'. I'm happy to say that now I have Beady Eye playing who are decidedly more funky and more me than Mr. Stevens. Not that Stevens doesn't have a good song or two...but...no. I have a tendency to chair dance when I listen to music and I have a tendency to need to listen to music when I'm writing my papers and I have a tendency to need write papers away from my house. All this comes together to mean that this week I've had a higher frequency of bursts of public dancing than normal. It's been kind of eye-opening to realize that I am rocking out enough to disturb other booth-sitters in my coffee shop that I tend to use as study ground #1. I tried to branch out to a second study ground at the local university in town, but they have a major parking problem and even though I had a student parking permit at my disposal, there was NO WHERE to park near the library. They have a really nice library and I was hoping to go in and look around for a bit and see what sorts of services they offer their students as a way to help write one of the comps, but that was kind of a bust due to the parking issue. And aside from that, I kept nearly going the wrong way down one-way streets and after two separate attempts to find a parking space on campus (one in am and one in pm), and after several circles around campus, I gave up and returned to study ground #1. Seriously, Lincoln needs a parking garage or something. It's ridiculous over there.
So now I'm trying to study here but it's kind of not working, either.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Attention! Attention!
I can put a good percentage of my hair up into a ponytail.
[For the first time in years.]
That is all.
[For the first time in years.]
That is all.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Mid-comps musings.
I am in the middle of my Master's comprehensive exams right now. Things are going okay. When the questions were released yesterday morning and I saw them, I was pretty happy with them. I feel secure in the knowledge that I can get the needed grade for these questions and graduate. I have two secondary drafts done and a list of sources mostly compiled for the final two. It's not bad. This is exactly what I wanted. I chose this program all those years ago because of the fact that they offered a comp exam option instead of a thesis. I am not a person that enjoys theses. I have a theory that people who choose to get a grad degree fall into either a thesis group or a comp exam group. I am definitely the latter. I think I have some fellow students who fall into the former, based on the panic levels screaming from posts on the online discussion boards for these exams. I understand the feeling though. I had to a thesis for my history undergrad degree and it nearly gave me a panic attack. It wasn't even as rigorous as a graduate level thesis would be and I was exhausted from it. No, no. Give me a test any day instead of a semesters worth of meetings and readings and planning with committees, etc. I pity the fool that has to go the thesis route.
Still. Comps are not all glitter and rainbows. The weather is beautiful right now (70s in late October, areyoukiddingme?) and it's making it rough to focus on comps. I would much rather be doing something like this:
I feel like I'm definitely more of a porch swing sort of human rather than a hammock sort of human. Granted, I haven't had a lot of hammock experience, but the few times I've tried one out, it's been totally uncomfortable. This looks absolutely perfect. I could type my comps and read my books right there. I haven't been to a beach in a long time...I think I've mentioned this in recent months... This just looks so enticing. Maybe a coastal librarian job is what I need?
Still. Comps are not all glitter and rainbows. The weather is beautiful right now (70s in late October, areyoukiddingme?) and it's making it rough to focus on comps. I would much rather be doing something like this:
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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