I think the part on social justice is very relavent for me and all people who want to become educators. Many students know that things in their life arent always as easy as others who live 20 minutes away. One of my homeworks assignments dealt with the careers the students want to pursue and the costs and benefits to getting the job. It surprised me when one student wrote about getting a good job because she wanted to move out of her violent neighborhood and move into a peaceful neighborhood. Students inmany of our classes are aware of social inequalities that exist in our society.
I believe that as educators, we should help bring explanation and reasoning to many of these inequalities. That is why I like the idea of using Problem Based Learning so students arent just told about problems by their teachers, they go investigate and see with their own eyes, the problems that exist in theri own neighborhoods. I tthink that problem based learning is more meaningful to students than a normal old lecture.

One very controversial topic that we as future educators have to deal with is sexual orientation. A few semesters ago, I took an upper level class on LGBT(Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) psychology. This class was very interesting to me because it allowed me to view things from a persepective i never thought of before. I was one of, if the only, straight male in the class and it was really interesting to hear some experiences from my classmates who were apart of the LGBT community. The most interesting part that I took from the class was that everyone believes that everyone else is stright. Many people in my class who weren't straight said it upset that when people assumed their sexual orientation. I realized that I too, always assume people as straight.
This subject is somewhat touchy to bring into the class room. Our country is filled with people who are outraged by people of different sexual orientation and I heard stories from my professor (of the psychology class) about teachers coming under fire because they tried promoting the acceptance of gays and lesbians. No matter what, it should be understood that all people, no matter their race, ethinicity, sexual orientation,etc. will be respected in the classroom. Schools are supposed to be a place of learning, not bullying someone who is different. I think it's vital that educators be aware of the issues facing their students who identitfy as LGBT.

Minorities in America

Although I'm dealing with mostly African-Americans in my student teaching (about 99 percent), I found the chapter on Asian-Americans very interesting. What really grabbed my attention was how the author described the media as portraying Asian-Americans as "good" while African-Americans are portrayed as "bad." It was interesting how often, like the case of the teacher in California, Asian isn't included on some research and even in district assessments of teachers. In these cases, they stated that there wasn't enough asians to make up their own category which ultimately lead to a Japanese-American teacher losing her job because of the overwhelming amount of "white" teachers. It seems that the dominant white culture basicaly assimilated the asian culture into their own, unbeknownst to the asian-americans in the group. Were they included into the white race division because they were considered "good enough" for our culture?
Another part that got me somewhat upset was how many americans often view asians from just one region and culture, not many regions and numerous cultures. One of my good friends is an immigrant from South Korea and i know he would be upset if he would be considered the same as someone from Vietnam, because it's taking away part of his self-identity. If someone said to me, "Your white, your family came from Europe," I'd be somewhat angry. I don't really consider myself Euro-American but identify myself from my families specific countries of origin.
I also like the contrast the book made between chapter 20 and 21. While chapter 20 discussed how society often portrays black men as violent, aggressive beings, chapter 21 discussed the stereotype of asians being very quiet and studious people who have worked extremely hard to fulfill the american dream. They're often viewed as well behaved people who act "normally" (aka more like whites) than other races and don't have social problems other minority groups have like poverty, illiteracy, etc.

The scrutinized teen

I found chapter 7 of our book to be very interesting. The media basically implies that today's teenagers are killing more people, having more unprotected sex, and using drugs more and more. Because of the coverage teenage crimes get in the media, most Americans think that teenagers are violent creatures, with no regard for others. All in all, the media seems to be inflating facts about a group of people and stereotyping them all. Many groups of people are stereotyped (minorities, gays, etc) and these stereotypes are generally seen negatively in the eye of the media. However, the media often creates these stereotpyes by covering certain stories while not paying attention to others. It's important for us as educators to make our students aware of the bias look the media and many other age groups have against teenagers.
I found the section on "poverty violence" intriguing. First of all, I cannot stand racist people and think that anyone who thinks less of a person because of the color of their skin is very ignorant. Obviously there are other factors at play when a certain group has a problem not commiting crimes. That reminds me of a movie, "American History X," in which a Neo-Nazi is discussing the amount of Africn-American men incarcerated and says that they're genetically predetermined to commit crimes. People like this are so filled with hate that they don't look at the social inequalities that often place certain groups in a tough situation. Poverty is extremely tough for many people yet it doesn't mean all in poverty are murdering drug dealers. The media can often portray this yet we must warn our students about how the media can put a spin on things to show a side of something

Puberty is a phenomenon in which everyone experiences. During this strange and for some, difficult time, hormones begin to physically change humans from children into adults. During my time in college, I have taken a few courses that discuss puberty and the developmental and social changes that come with puberty. Yet for the first time, I actually will be dealing with children who are going through puberty. While they receive some information about the changes occurring in their body (growth of sexual characteristics, menarche, etc), I don't believe enough is done about sex education. This is a controversial topic because it's a touchy subject. How do we educate young teenagers about sex education? Some insist on abstinence until marriage. However, the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin who insisted that abstinence until marriage was the best way to teach children about safe sex ended up having a pregnant teenage daughter. In my opinion, abstinence until marriage is extremely unrealistic and will never work in our society. Teenage pregnancies are widespread in out society, especially in lower ses communities. What is a plausible answer to help decrease the amount of teenage pregnancies? Do we hand out condoms to children and give a class on contraceptives and their proper usage? Some may argue that it's promoting sex between minors, however, nothing can stop two teenagers from doing what they please. In addition to better sex education, more research needs to be completed on puberty. The authors state that most studies are done on white, middle class, white adolescents and that there are, "...too few cross cultural and multiethnic studies have been conducted." In order to better understand this confusing and difficult part of students lives, researchers need to expand where they research across the spectrum.

Anti-Oppressive Education

The article, "Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education," reminded me of a group that was formed in my high school known as PATH. PATH was a group that stood for, Promoting Acceptance Toward all Humans. My high school was a suburban school that was predominantly white, middle class students with a small variety of minorities including asian-americans, african-americans, and had a few, as the other calls them, queer, students. This group promoted accepting these minority groups and all the teachers embraced this as a powerful tool to help include and accept these students as humans who should be respected. In other words, they created a supportive space for these students who were often not supported even by their parents. Since I come from a pretty conservative city, the majority of the student body hated PATH and rebelled against it by wearing shirts saying, "Its Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve," for example. While the attempt to promote unity between different groups was there, most students stuck to their ways and hated others who were different than they were. It's difficult and while be difficult for me and other future educators to promote respect for others who are different when the dominant group doesn't understand or doesn't want to understant other groups. However, I know that not all students will accept homosexuals, for example, yet they will respect them in the schools and any form of discrimination won't be tolerated.