while reading Unlearning the Myths That Blind Us by Linda Christensen i really started to understand what exactly the " secret education" was. i had always heard about disney movies having an underlying message, however i never really understood what is was and how it affects children. i also really enjoyed the reading. i feel that it was very interesting to read about something i was very famliar with, afterall i think i have seen every disney movie at least twice!
1. the first quote i chose was "our society's culutre industry colonizes their minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream."(pg126). this quote really makes me think how badly i wanted my prince charming to come and rescue me one day because i saw it in EVERY disney princess movie. it really gave me a false sense of reality.
2. the second quote i chose was"they assure me that they make their own choices and the media has no power over them-as they sit with Fubu, Nike, Timberlands or whatever the latest fashion is." i really like how she compared fashion and how the media manipulates us to wear certain brands, and how the childrens movies and cartoons manipulate young minds. i think it is important to show te different waa the media has effected its viewers.
3.the third quote i chose was "we look at the roles women, men, people od color, and poor people play in the cartoon." i think this is very important and very interesting. before reading this essay i would have never of thought to watch out for these stereotypes, but once you notice them, you realize how obvious they really are. it is very disturbing to view.

While reading Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community by Dennis Carlson i must say that I found it a little difficult to read in the begining. Ifeel that it didnt really have a flow, but as I contiued to read I felt it become easier to read. I do agree with Carlson that "Gayness" has been left out of class curriculums on purpose. and i feelt hat they should be incorporated within a child's education starting off at ayoung age. If students learn about different sexual orientations early in their education I feel that they will understand and not be so judgemental to their fellow peers as they get older that may be gay or have gay family members.
the first quote i chose was "the cleansing of gayness from the literacy canon is often defended as an effort to maintain the reputation or "good name"of authors by not "outing" them."(pg 236) this quote really does make sense because if a gay writer was out and open about his sexuality he may be looked on in a negative way and his work may suddenly not be worth what it was if no one knew. this really upsets me, why should a person be judged because of their sexual orientation?
the second quote i chose was, "to the extent that gayness is recognized in the curriculum, it is likely to be in the health curriculum,where it is associated with disease."(pg 237) this quote just makes me sick, it gives gayness a negative appearence. if something is associated with disease your going to think it is bad. so if a child sees this in class they may never see pass that.
my final quote is "so gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as contagious."(pg237) this statement makes me laugh almost. it is such an ignorant statement. this just goes to show how people who do not understand something can make it such an issue and make it a negative.

While reading Aria by Richard Rodriguez i learned about a different culture in a different way that i was use to. i really enjoyed the reading and found it easy to comprehend. i found myslef feeling very sad for richard, and could not relate because english is my first and only language. however I was able to put myself in his shoes while reading because it read like a story.
the first quote i decided to use is "without question, it would have pleased me to hear my teachers address mein Spanish when i entered the classroom. I would have felt much less afraid." I really was taken back when he said this because I realized that a simple greeting was a barrior for him and people who speak a different language.I just never thought about it before. and the fact that he used the word afraid really showed how much of an issue it was.
what really made me sad was when the nuns asked Richard's family to start speaking English at home. after that they lost a very big part of their family. which brings me to the second quote I chose, "the family's quiet was partly due to the fact that, as we children learned more and more English, we shared fewer and fewer words with our parents." this made me very upset, he was losing a very big, important part of his life, yet he was gaining social acceptance and understanding. but really how important is that when you lose a part of yourself and who you are?
Because I can not completely relate to what Rodriguez is saying here, what i can do is try to make it easier for people who speak different languages to feel more comfortable, i think it is very important to keep speaking he language of your culture, it is part of who you.

After reading White privilege by Peggy McIntosh I feel that I have a better understanding and acknowledgement of white privilege and exactly what it entails. The most interesting part of the reading was the list of daily privileges that white people have. I was shocked at how many I deal with each day and at the expensive of others. It kind of scared me. I found myself becoming very uncomfortable and angry when reading the list because I agreed with most of them if not all. But I know that McIntosh did not write this to bad mouth white people but rather to state the issue and the issues with the issue and some possible solutiosns.
"The silences and denials surrounding privilege are the key political tool here."(pg 6) This line is very true an seemed to be the yeild in the solution. what I feel that McIntosh is saying here in this reading is that as white people we are aware of our privileges yet we are in denial about using them. I liked how she compared white privilege to other privileges to maybe help her readers identify that its not just about race but many other factors and also use them to compare. Like male privilege, race privilege is an everyday thing for example. But McIntosh believes that most men say they are nto at any advantages but are aware that women are at disadavantages.
I find it very interesting when she says that "i think that whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege...i have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that i can count on cashing in each day."

Hello

Hello my name is Michelle Norbury and I am a sophomore here at Rhode Isaland College. I am enrolled in 5 classes this semester and so far so good! I am an Elementary Education Major with consentration in Special Education. I am from Newport, RI and have lived there my whole life. I love summer and going to the beach, hanging out with friends and family, and i have enjoyed my time here at RIC so far!