Talking Point # 2 - Rodriguez

Aria

Richard Rodriguez 

Authors Argument: Rodriguez argues that 

children who are taught english because they go to an english speaking school loose some of themselves in the process. a little bit of their family life is diminished and other people can be affected by this ripple of information

1. "Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility. What they understood was that I needed to speak a public language. So their voices would search me out, asking me questions. Each time i'd hear them, i'd look up in surprise to see a nun's face frowning at me. I'd mumble, not really meaning to answer. The nun would persist, 'Richard, stand up. Don't look at the floor. Speak up. Speak to the entire class, not just to me'"

I Chose this quote because it reminds me of a little boy in the kindergarten class i observe in. his first language is clearly not english and when he is asked a question he looks panicked and pained. when the teacher is giving instructions he looks VERY puzzled and he looks around to see what everyone else is doing. i feel like (as the nuns) the teacher doesn't really try to help him. she mostly barks out commands and i can tell that it makes this little boy feel terrible. when i was doing a rhyming activity with him, his lack of english skills was very apparent. when asked which of the 2 out of 3 cards rhymed he responded, "man, rhyme". i was very taken a back. i felt like he should have resource or a aid with him to help him get through the class and help him learn english. the teacher is not going to help him learn english and he's not going to learn anything when it sounds like gibberish to him.

2. "I also needed my teachers to keep my attention from straying in class by calling out, Rich-heard - their english voices slowly prying loose my ties to my other name, its three notes, ri- car- do."

This quote also made me think of that little boy. what if learning english was going to 

make him feel like he was being pried from something? what if learning english was going to make him feel like he was being pried from his roots? what if the teacher didn't embrace his heritage and just made him flat out forget about it and speak and think strictly in english? in that case, i would feel terrible

3. "The family's quiet was partly due to the face that, as we children learned more and more english, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents. sentences needed to be spoken slowly when a child addressed his mother or father. (often the parent wouldn't understand) The child would need to repeat himself (still the parent misunderstood). The young voice, frustrated, would end up saying, 'Never Mind'"

Again, i think of the little boy in my class. if he does learn english and it becomes his

primary language; what is going to happen to his family life? he obviously speaks only

spanish at home. is he going to loose ties with his family like Richard did? is spanish going

to be that barrier between his family and himself? if so is learning english worth it? i would

never want a child to loose touch with his family because they couldn't understand each other.

family is all you have in the end and is a public language something worth breaking that up?

overall i found this article interesting. i thought of the little boy in my class the whole time. i

want so bad for him to be able to understand the teacher and follow what is going on.

his education is important but is breaking up a family worth it? perhaps there can be a 

common ground. i want that little boy to learn and not sit in his seat puzzled because he 

doesn't understand the public language. i really wish for him to go to resource or have and aid.

i guess that since english is most of our first languages that we kind of take advantage of it.

we learn new things everyday because we can understand the language. how unfair is it

to not be able to learn because you can't learn the foundation of what is being said, the

english language. i get very frustrated when i try to help him, but i don't know how to.

i have to remind myself im not trained in that. so until then, i will do my best for him.

Talking Point #1 - Goldberg

110 People Who Are Screwing up America

Bernard Goldberg

Authors Argument -

Goldberg argues that Kozol is brainwashing Americas minds. He thinks that Kozol is pushing for a more liberal approach to teaching in America thus, producing more biased children into society.

" He says teachers should ... United States would say" (pg 295)

1. This is evidence of Kozol's thinking

" Most lunch table ... why should i be so enthusiastic about our country?" (pg 293)

1. i picked this basically because i used to sit at my lunch table and debate the same thing in high school. we debated why we should care about a country that doesn't care about the people in it, especially the lower class ones.

2. Kozol basically spoke about how the lower class people in america get crap. which this article and myself would talk about

"We are taught ... don't seem to worry about offending Americans" (pg 294)

1. I feel like that isnt really true. i feel like the text books just say whatever they say and don't really offend our country or others. 

2. this made me think of the olympics for some reason. i felt that during the womens gymnastics, one of our anchor women was bashing her (the US team) really really bad. she was picking out ALL of our flaws and when it came time for the chinese, she applauded them for everything, never pointed out mistakes and when there was mistakes she was like AWW! thats ok! they're great!!! like... way to show for your country lady. i thought my mother was going to jump through the TV to Bejing and kick her arse.

k so overall i thought this article was a bore. the other article caught my interest and i LOVED it. but this one was politics this, complaining about that. it sucked to me. Also, i thought it was too short to grab worth while quotes from and i felt like my quality of quote choosing lacked from that. o well. 

Talking Point #1 (Kozol)

Amazing Grace 

The Lives of Children and the Conscious of a Nation

Jonathan Kozol

Author's Argument-

Jonathan Kozol argues that no matter the quality of life of a person or the way they live or act, they deserve a decent place to live. Just because they are the lowest of the low doesn't mean that they have to be stuck with the lowest of the low environments or 'jobs'. women shouldn't have to be prostitutes, men shouldn't have to sell drugs to get by. a person shouldn't cry day in and day out just because of who they are and where they are. the quality of life they have is non - existent. what quality? there is none. Welfare is being taken away and infants are DYING because of lack of care in places that people should feel the most cared for in (hospitals). Just because they live in the slums, doesn't mean that they should be treated like the place they live in; especially because no one will give them a chance to leave the slums. Rich people think of them as garbage, and garbage should be put away in a place where no one sees it. 

"The incinerator, i am later reassured ... cancer risks to children" (pg 7)

1. Because they live in the slums and have poor quality of life and they literally live in a sese pool, the incinerator that burns hazardous waste was build in their neighborhood. limbs, dirty soiled linens are burned and the harmful toxins and smells are pumped into their community for the already athematic children to breathe in. 

" I got the doctors letter and the ... you've been cut off" (pg 19)

1. This poor woman was cut off from welfare after she did all that she needed to do to get it back. the hospital who neglected to send the paper to the welfare office was the cause of the termination of it. i feel like that hospital is one of the most shitty things (pardon my language) in that community. The people who really need welfare cant get it and when they try to get it again the system sends them in loops and when you are elderly, its almost worth not even trying because of all the hassle you have to go through just to get it.

"Lincoln Hospital ... died because of staff mistakes" (pg 15)

1. HOW!!! please please please tell me HOW a nurse or a doctor can kill an infant (more than one for that matter) from a MISTAKE!!! what do they say to the parents? ' oh oops i killed your baby, sorry'. HOW!!! I just cant understand how a person who's job it is can kill 12 people from a mistake and not monitoring patients. i understand they are short staffed but, to loose 12 people including babies and children is terrible. Hospitals are supposed to be saviors, instead this hospital just seems to be the death angel; swooping the poor people out of the ghetto.

I just wanted to say that when i read about the poor little children being subjected to filth and some who were even being KILLED i got teary eyed. how can this happen? how can something SO innocent be SOO corrupted and injured like they are. it really really breaks my heart and i just felt so heavy reading this.  I also kind of blended both things for the quotes. oops, my bad

Gabba Gabba Hey

My Name is Katie. Most of my friends call me Katie Cav. 

im not fond of blogging but hey. whatever.

im a Sophomore at RIC and im studying Early Childhood Education.

i have a very relaxed approach to school which tends to piss my parents off. o well.

i hope to own my own day care one day.

i LOVE alllll kinds of music. and ill dress however. 

im thrilled at the prospect of graduation. it should really come faster.

annnd i really dont know what else to say =]