Talking Point #6 (Lawrence)

I feel Lawrence is arguing that the Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated schools back in 1954, was not really a success if we look closely at it. The case might of started a spark that ignited all the boy-cotts, sit-ins, and marches after the case decision but one can not be to certain. He says that the case only focused and dealt with the effect of school segregation, but did not recognize the purpose of segregation as a whole, which is to designate blacks as inferior in the society.

1. "It is the thesis of this paper that the Brown decision fostered a way of thinking about segregation that has allowed both the judiciary adn society at large to deny the reality of race in America, that the recognition of that reality is critical to the framing of any meaningful remedy-judicial or political- and that Brown may ultimately be labeled a success only insofar as we are able to make it stand for what it should have stood for in 1954." I got this quote pretty much rate from the beginning of Lawrence's article and he comes rate out and states the reason for this article and states what he argues. I felt by him coming rate out and telling the reader what his thesis, made it easier to follow along and understand.

2. "In short, segregation American-style, like South African apartheid, has only one purpose: to create and maintain a permanent lower class or subcaste defined as race." This quote or sentence from the article got my interest because I had a class that went over in depth about South African apartheid and this allowed me to compare segregation to something else.

3. "Once established it will not be eliminated by mere removal of public sanction but must be affirmatively destroyed." I got this quote from the section of the article that went over the three underlying characteristics of segregation. This pointed out that by the Brown case just merely eliminating segregation at schools was not enough. It was only a step, but a lot more need to be done to improve the society.

I was only able to read the first couple of pages of this article because I have had a lot of other work to do, but from what I read it has caught a good bit of my interest and can not wait until I have time to finish reading the rest of the article.

Talking Point #5 (Kahne/ Westheimer)

the authors of this article, Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer, seem to be arguing that service learning is a good way for people who are involved, to help others and change themselves and the community around them. It also seems that they argue that there still can be way to improve service learning experience. The authors say that one way for service learning is by "civic duty" and voluntaring in communities and another way is through knowledge of issues which will in the long run create "change".

1. "Mr. Johnson explained, students would interact with those less fortunate than themselves and would experience the excitement and joy of learning while using the community as a classroom."

Mr. Johnson's way of teaching and doing service learning is through civic duty, voluntay work, and giving. The authors explain that this is one way to do service learning but this way neglects the students fro having an in depth look at why these problems are happening and how one can start making change.

2. Mr. Adams seventh grade "examined the social, economic, legal, and polictical determnants of homelessness around the world and in the local school community."

On the other hand Mr. Adams's way of teaching and doing service learning is through giving his studnets systematic and critical analysis of the causes of homelessness and strategies on how to prevent it but this way neglects the charity aspect of it.

3. "more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are headed" "controversial issues surrounding the means and ends of service learning have been pushed to the background"

We have to ask ourselves what do we went to get from service learning and what is the proper way of get the most out of service learning. I believe that we need to get both knowledge on the issue and also get experience with volunteering and civic duties dealing with the issue we are looking at in class.

I found this to be a pretty easy read and was somewhat interesting the hear about the different types of service learning. I feel that we are doing a good job in class with getting some knowleged about issues we talk about and also get good voluntary experiences with the VIPS program.

Talking Point #4 (Christensen)

In Christensen's article "Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us", she argues that children's cartoons and shows and media are "secret education" that teaches kids what society thinks as acceptable and unacceptable. They teach kids stereotypes about different genders, race, and class that are not true. In this article Christensen explains what she does with her class to help here students to critique what they see and help them to act on what they see in cartoons to make change.

1."depicts all Arabs with the same face, same turban, same body and they are all thieves swinging enormous swords." This is from a Popeye cartoon and this is pointing out how this cartoon stereotypes Arabs.

2."Both of the Cinderellas compete for their men against their sisters and the rest of the single women in their cities. They "win" because of their beauty and their fashionable attire." This quote is talking about the story of Cinderella and teaches little girls that watch or hear this story that if they want to win they need to be beautiful and compete and fight against all other women, including their sisters, to get a guy.

3."Many who watched cartoons before we start our study say they can no longer enjoy them. Now instead of seeing a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see the racism, sexism, and violence that swim under the surface of the stories." This is what a lot of Christensen's students are saying after taking her class. It is hard for them to realize that cartoons is a "secret education" before taking the class, but after they can know critique and take action to start changing this "secret education."