How Ironic

Let me start today's posting with a question:

How do we go about meeting the needs of each individual student without creating conflicts of inequality? After reading the articles assigned during last weeks class I feel I can't even come close to a solution. One of our readings written by Joan Spade titled, Gender and Education in the United States reminds us how educational experiences vary for girls and boys. Sadly, after reading Spade's article I wasn't one bit surprised or even disheartened. Spade's article was reinforcing everything I already knew about gender stereotypes. The bottom line is that educational institutions often have difficulty meeting the needs of each student equally. Is it wrong for me to then question whether or not gender issues are stereotyped or factual?

One truth I do know is that society pressures us to compare ourselves with others. When we compare ourselves to our neighbor we really want to know which group we belong in. There is nothing worse than having no where to fit in. Much of what was discussed in my blackboard group was how grouping affected our social relationships in school. Academic placement can ultimately lead to positive and negative group labeling as Oakes argues in chapter 8 titled, Grouping, Tracking, and Categorical Programs: Can schools teach all students well? Because grouping and tracking can begin as early as kindergarten, students are told from a very young age that they are either part of an elite, average, or struggling-to-learn group. This type of labeling misguides students, telling them where they do and don’t fit in. If students are told their test scores are not good enough to place them into a group with friends, students social relationships may be forever altered.

Grouping and tracking is such a dominant procedure and I feel that the overall motivation behind doing it is because the state does care how each student is being taught. Ideally, if we as teachers could use this method in order to teach thirty different students at thirty different levels all in one classroom then why not take advantage of the system? I believe that we must not ignore the consequences that come along with grouping students into categories based on how well they take tests or perform during certain assignments. One classmate brought up an interesting point when she asked “How in the world can we asses a person’s potential, and how do we asses a person’s future accomplishments? As educators we can’t simply assume that because one student has difficulty reading aloud or even during time limitations that they must have a learning disability. If this is assumed then wouldn’t we assume that this student should start reading at a lower level and that extra help be required outside of class? What if this wasn’t the case but said student was actually a very intelligent student but was shy and got nervous when given time restraints. I am already seeing how assumptions can be discouraging and detrimental to their educational achievements

A large part of our classroom structure thus far has been circled around becoming aware of such differences between race and gender. When we were asked to write our own educational autobiographies and to remember what it was like growing up as a girl we were motivated to reconnect with how our educational experience helped create who we are today. School for me built a foundation for social relationships, an academic environment, and personal development. Much of what I know about myself today is a result of how I managed to survive and thrive through elementary, junior and high school. When Jean asked us to think about how our lives would have changed if we were born the opposite sex I very quickly discovered that there was very little, if anything that wouldn’t have changed. If I was born male, how would the relationship I have with my parents been different? Would I still have the same group of friends? Would society still accept me as a boy who loved art class? How would societies views alter the way in which I chose to live my life. I discovered that because I have no idea how it would be to grow up male that It was easier for me to let society tell me how it was going to be. I immediately fell sad about the whole situation because I realized that life should never be about what should be it should be about what is.

It feels ironic to be a student learning how to teach other students. I don’t ever want to lose touch with how it feels to be a student even when I am a teacher. I want to become a teacher who tries to understand my students with empathy rather than sympathy because I feel that a part of being empathic is being motivated to act. I know it’s entirely impossible to understand every situation and that is why I feel this past week has been so interesting to me. We have been discussing how stereotypes can be either viewed as disadvantages or advantages. Even if some stereotypes have the ability to present themselves as false I do not want to entirely dismiss them as truth because I feel that my dismissing something altogether requires ignorance. If I’ve learned one thing this week it has been to recognize differences and to become aware of how everyday issues exist and while there isn’t always a solution, we can change our actions. If we aim to positively acknowledge our students daily we might raise our hopes of reaching equality.