Precious Knowledge
Precious Knowledge
Building on Strength
by Ana Celia Zentella
A Critically Compassionate Pedagogy For Latino Youth
by Julio Cammarota and Augustine Romero
The film "Precious Knowledge" is arguing that some students have a dysfunctional relationship with the school, not with learning. Studying early childhood education we were always encouraged to teach to each individual child. Every child has different interests and learning styles and in order to make learning most effective it is important to be familiar with your students and teach to their needs. This stood out to me while watching the film. At no point in the clips of the classroom were they teaching hate or putting down another group of people. They spoke about facts and related it to education. These teachers found ways to connect with their students and relate to them on a personal level while teaching them about their identity. The results were clear. The students felt empowered and they were performing better and enjoying school. Isn't that the goal?
Learning about your culture makes you feel like you belong. When you know where you come from and who you are, it shapes your identity. It is hard to put yourself in the mindset of a minority when you have never truly experienced it. Seeing all of the board members trying to shut down these classes, when they have never even attended one class was very ignorant. Seeing how protective and passionate these students were about these classes, it seemed so obvious that they were needed and necessary. As educators we have to listen to what our students need.
Listening to the superintendent speak in the video about unifying the school and not segregating into different race groups could sound like positive change, but schools are already segregated to one way of thinking and doing things. This doesn't always work for everyone. When they spoke about how the classes are planting seeds that the systems aren't fair and there are plenty of opportunities for everyone made it clear how ignorant they were. When the decision was made to shut down the classes because they were not teaching the right way and these classes were breaking away from tradition seems like it was coming from a place of fear. We have the power and this is the way we want to do things, so don't try to change it.
In the article A Critically Compassionate Pedagogy For Latino Youth they spoke about how due to the states language policies banning bilingual education, Spanish speakers are more likely to drop out. If by law teachers cannot speak in any language except english, EL students are not going to understand what is going on and become disengaged. This law seems like the opposite of the goal of education. If you have the resources to speak to someone in their native language and communicate and educate them, but you are forbidden by law, it is like throwing away food in front of a starving person. The goal of education is to teach every student in your classroom and these kinds of laws are oppressive and set minorities up for failure. The reasoning behind these laws is because of a narrow minded way of thinking and being afraid of change and acceptance.
My final thoughts on both articles and the video are that it is important as an educator and a human being to be aware of peoples differences and to be accepting. If you feel uncomfortable about something, learn about it. If instead of eliminating these classes, the people in power took the time to learn about the benefits they could help give students what they need to succeed instead of just telling them what they think that they need. Including all students of every race in cultural studies is important. Students can feel proud of their identity by being included in mainstream school rather than being told it is wrong.
This clip, Immigration and Education relates to the articles by sharing how latino immigrants are treated in education and why it is important to fix it.
Hello Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you.
After reading the articles and watching the documentary film I know feel more empowered to keep on advocating for the right of our students to express their believes and ideas (as long as they are just). The video was very powerful and touching. Seen how students and teachers bonded and work together share with everyone we they believed in. They wanted justice and equality for all students. They were not willing to allow authorities to silence their voices anymore. They shared their vision and believes with those who wanted to listen to their message.
students took matter in their own hands and used the opportunity to take power and use it towards a good cause (to peacefully protested in order to have their voice heard). Students and teachers united, fought together and were successful. This video showed is a great example of how persistence, unity, collaboration, respect, welcome and promote success. The students in Arizona did it! ¡Si se Pudo! Yes, they did it!
Hello Jessica, I really enjoyed reading your blog. I especially agree with you in that throughout history ignorance and fear of the unknown is what has caused people to reject others different from themselves. Those against the ethics studies at the high school didn't even care to see for themselves by refusing to visit the classroom, they were just too obsessed with their own beliefs to try to "walk in somebody else's shoes." I don't know if you remember one scene where one of the students told the state official that people were just as afraid of the civil rights movement, and you could litteraly hear crickets, because he had no idea what to say or that he had a point.
ReplyDelete"it is important as an educator and a human being to be aware of peoples differences and to be accepting." I totally agree with this. All things aside this is the most important. If people can begin acting on this then there would be less problems and people would be seen for what they stand for as opposed to what they do not.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteYes! Empowering students and guiding them in their learning is the goal. You would think that the decreased dropout rate and the success of the students in ethnic studies would make lawmakers want to keep the program. We are always hearing about which schools are "high-performing" so what is the difference here. If you have a program that works why not keep it? They are focusing on the cultural aspect as being negative. When in fact it is a positive in the students lives and education.
Ah, this is such a crucial reframing! : "some students have a dysfunctional relationship with the school, not with learning." There's so much right there in that notion that can help us deepen our practice as educators and think about broader changes needed in schools (and society!).
ReplyDeleteRemember -- when Superintendent Horne talks about unifying the district and not segregating students, what he is saying -- in a racially coded way (that is, talking about race without really talking about it) -- is that Chican@ students should have a mainstream educational experience (read white/Euro-American or "whitestream" as Indigenous scholar Sandy Grande calls it) . Whiteness is normalized and made invisible within the notion of "mainstream"; Latino-ness is othered, made dangerous or threatening.
What I find inspiring in your post is the call to action! If, as educators, we firmly believe that every students' culture and identity should be valued and made central to the learning experience, how do we actively engage in social stuggles and efforts to make this a reality? For example, in PVD, there is an youth-led grassroots effort underway to expand ethnic studies:
https://www.pvdstudentunion.org/ethnic-studies/