Film Review Of Precious Knowledge : A Critical Review

Ever since the 1960s, the Texas textbook controversy has had an issue in America. The Texas school board is meeting to make revisions to their textbooks and curriculum. But are they also revising history? Educators across the country are watching to see the effect this issue will have on students. The choices the board members are making will affect politics, religion, monies spent thru-out the Texas school system. Christian conservatives on the state education board want curriculum changes. Parents and student would like the curriculum to remain the same, or not

Many institutions questioned how they were going to provide class necessities and administrators for the newly added courses. These concerns arose when they wondered what kind of controversy will be created from having the classes and what exactly students will benefit from the teachings of ethnic studies. Hu-Dehart stated in her article, “The relationship between ethnic studies programs and traditional academic departments becomes unmanageable because it raises issues of turf protection, competition for scarce resources, and racism on the part of traditional scholars.” At first, the fight for ethnic studies seemed as simple as a three step process: add the class, find teachers, and find students interested in the course. However, many other factors contributed to the establishment of ethnic studies courses. As listed above, these issues complicate the ease of creating a multicultural academic course. Another thing to consider was that not all students agreed to have an ethnic studies course. According to Hu-Dehart, “Traditional scholars find it difficult to shake off their preconceptions about the illegitimacy and inferiority of ethnic studies programs and, by extension, ethnic studies scholars.” Although the importance of an ethnic studies course does not resonate with all student body, being aware of the opinions that are roused is just as important. There may not always be an agreeing audience but it is possible to open the minds of college students by exposing them to multicultural

Antonia Darder sets a language in Culture and Power in the Classroom that critiques the traditional American educational system while challenging teachers to a new thinking of culture and diversity in the classroom. Using the groundings from several theories, theory and resistance, regimes of truth, and theory of hegemony, she set the platform of the hidden curriculum that is valued in traditional public education. She seeks to use several theoretical frameworks to create a bicultural critical pedagogical approach, which links education to impactful politics. In Culture and Power in the Classroom, Antonia Darder makes is clear that education matters, but yet more importantly that all students matter in their educational experience. As educators there needs to be awareness and consciousness of the hegemonic forces of race, class, culture, ethnicity, gender, and/or ability shape that inferiority within students. Cultural hegemony is so natural, that even in the classroom students are immune to the shoddiness of living within the realms of the dominant culture.

After all, the Permian school district gerrymandered the boundary lines in order to get as many black kids to play on their football team as possible. However, they only convinced themselves of their tolerance. When almost all minorities lived behind the barrier, over the tracks, excluded from white interaction outside of school, it is hard to believe that the love for sports triumphed over racism. On the field, blacks were welcomed for their athletic skill. Off the field, it was back over the tracks where they belonged. Blacks knew what the tracks represented: “Symbolically and physically, the tracks were still a barrier and still defined an attitude” (92). The school and team integration covered the racism that was still clearly present in Odessa. The former principal of the “black school” said that “[t]here 's no integration, there is desegregation. There is no integration in this community, the same as any community in America” (98). The townspeople of Odessa know in their hearts that true integration doesn’t exist, but it didn’t matter because the government saw that Permian high school finally became integrated and allowed blacks and Mexicans to play on their sacred sports team. In this case, football wasn’t just a game. The integration of the team was a blanket to cover all of the racism and separation. At the end of the day, sports didn’t save the minorities; they had to go back to the rough side of town.

The author went on to state that once we act on our personal and professional connection to different cultures in our lives then members of the racial continuum of color populations of Brown, Asian, Native American and multiracial will be able to gain presence, position and power in our schools. To sum it- we

They each described the different opinions of Republicans and Democrats over a controversial Mexican-American studies textbook, which in turn, highlighted a distinct relationship between politics and education. Furthermore, they revealed a downfall in the adoption process, proving that it doesn't always work out how it is intended to. Now, it is up to Texas to determine how they proceed with the adoption process in order to successfully help students further their knowledge and develop a quality

Over the past few months, a new set of books has emerged from the nation's publishers, the first since the State Board of Education in Texas, driven by political conservatives and Christian evangelicals, adopted standards in 2010 for what should be included in them”( Eichenwald). The curriculum and textbooks a student learns from are essential to a solid foundation in the quality of their education. Education is the crucial building block for a student to have a fruitful future and in today's society a percentage of the best careers oblige to an absolute minimum of a higher education. It is then the obligation of parents and the educators to give the best conceivable instruction to students to set them up for school and for their future occupations. The Texas States Board of Education is currently the fool of the country because of the activities of the Texas State Board of Education whom has fizzled students by not giving the best information possible and permitting government officials with individual agendas to write the curriculum and rebuff textbooks that present a compelling bias far from the truth. “When it comes to meddling with school textbooks, Texas is both similar to other states and totally different. It’s hardly the only one that likes to fiddle around with the material its kids study in class” (Collins).And also, According to Landau

Despite Mah’Ria’s mother’s efforts, there was nothing she could do to improve the situation for her daughter, which is the case for most parents who don’t have the connections and power in society that comes as a result of wealth. It was sad to see that when Normandy kids finally had the opportunity to attend school in a different district, the Francis Howell district parents were unhappy and stereotyped them without knowing their struggles. The first step to changing policy is awareness of the disparity due to economic ability, and awareness was a something the parents from the Francis Howell district lacked. In this podcast, we see the systematic racism that still exists in today’s society. If it weren’t for the Normandy school district losing its accreditation, Mah’Ria would still be stuck in a school that scored 0 Points for academic achievement. There is evidence that school segregation improves test scores and attendance among students and is a program that should be valued for the success and equality it could bring low-income

The transcript of “Racial Segregation in American Schools” is one of the many things that continue to convey the theme through Pathos. When the principal of Central High School explains how it felt to be inside a mixed school, he included how it made him

In the state of Arizona a bill has passed.This newly created bill has created tensions between the people of Arizona and the government.This new bill says that ethinic studies will no longer be allowed to be taught in classes.Even though this law says ethnic studies are banned these actions should be taken care of because these remarks are erroneous.

Mexican-American history is overwhelmed with rich culture and vast experiences. The struggles and challenges this diverse group of people possessed throughout time to bring about change prove important to the history of the world in many aspects and regards. Whether or not to teach Mexican-American history in classrooms throughout the United States is a hot topic of debate. However, to forget about an entire race and culture of a people is to sweep much larger issues under the rug such as racial divide. It is not only morally wrong to do such a thing, but also impractical to ignore an entire group of people. Doing so leaves room to breed uncomfortable ignorance throughout the population about Mexican-Americans.

The education system serves to be another oppressive institution as the teachers purposely alienate the Asian American students from the others. Instead of being seen as unique for being first-generation citizens, they are viewed as being deviants and hassles. The teachers, though some have Asian roots, refuse to understand the struggle or lifestyle of these children who have come from immigrant families. This is seen when Florante talks about Mrs. Takara saying she is, “A Japanese and an American wrestling in one mind. He says that her American upbringing has blinded her from reading between the lines of the history textbooks where silent people choke from invisibility and humiliation” (Linmark 49). This mindset definitely results in the obvious racist undertones that are evident throughout the education system.

Higher learning is a movie about 1990’s incoming freshman class at Columbus University. The class is a diverse group of Caucasian, African American, Jewish, and Hispanic people who are all trying to discover what they want and where they fit in at a university that has already categorized them and placed them in boxes based on social background. They must endure in a society full of prejudice, racism, and appropriation of rape cultural while trying to find a sense of belonging. Most of the Caucasians are blinded by the reality of black people because of their Disney World, “we are all one”, lives. Other Caucasians see black people as threats and even band together to form a white supremacy group who target students who are not Caucasian. The African Americans have to deal with prejudice and racist authorities and students in a university and world that doesn’t care to protect them. The Jews and Hispanic face a lesser yet extremely similar reality.

To begin, a white woman named Erin Gruwell decides to take up teaching at Woodrow Wilson High School two years following the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. She arrives on the first day to find out that her class is full of “at-risk” high school students— some of which are just out of juvenile hall and have very poor grades. These are kids who have segregated themselves into racial groups so badly that they can’t even sit near each other in the same classroom or walk by each other without getting into fights.

This video relates to several chapters in our sociology book, the main chapter being chapter ten, race and ethnicity. This movie focused on the struggle in our country with discrimination of those