Throughout Wednesday's discussion there were so many things I wanted to say although it's hard not to offend anyone. I know we shouldn't care but at the same time we've been conditioned throughout the years to "watch what we say." The first thing I want to say is that although I find it important and beneficial for different ethnicities and races to be immersed in the same educational system together, however I believe that's unrealistic. Never in any realistic social setting are you with an Asian, a black person and a Jewish person. I'm not saying this is right but that's just how things are, and as mentioned in class I'm not sure it's just about students physically sitting next to each other in class, but learning about one another's culture and history that's important. For example in our class all the black kids sit together and all the white, which obviously shows that people are uncomfortable with one another. I mean I understand people being friends with one another but how are we supposed to get to know each other if we automatically seclude ourselves to what's comfortable? I tell my friends this when they're dealing with boys but I think it applies here; you have to put yourself in a little bit of an uncomfortable situation in order to potentially get what you want. Obviously our public school system is still very much segregated but that has something to do with where people live and who they are comfortable living with not necessarily the fact that schools and their districts are doing it on purpose.
Here's a news broadcast on the anniversary of Little Rock 9 discussing how things really haven't changed...http://youtube.com/watch?v=sxSsxwKZxCI
In relation to solutions to this problem, I find it sad that we would even need to make an amendment saying that education is a fundamental right. If it needs to be in our constitution in order for us to take it seriously and to start making reforms then I think there's an even bigger problem with our society as a whole, and this is what we truly need to be considering.
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3 comments:
"Never in any realistic social setting are you with an Asian, a black person and a Jewish person."
I disagree with this statement. Perhaps never in YOUR realistic social settings, but in my experience, it happened. I lived very briefly in Michigan and attended 8th grade at a middle school there -- my first experience with a school that had a more diverse make-up. The close social circle I developed there consisted of 2 Mexicans, a Brazilian, an Asian, a Jew, and a Black girl. I had a few friends who were white, of course; they just weren't part of my "close" social circle. And, however odd this might sound, I (as one from caucasian heritage) did not feel the slightest bit awkward about it, nor did I feel uncomfortable being the only "white" girl in our group. (I can't say though whether my internal knowledge of my Native American heritage -- even though I have light hair and blue eyes and look white -- affected, however subconscious, my perception and comfortability of this setting.) At the time, we (or at least I) didn't even think about how "odd" our lunch table may have looked to others nor did I care -- I was with my friends, and we were having a good time and that was what was important to me.
If you believe in and promote diversity and true integration, it is possible to achieve integrated social circles in a larger capacity/setting. For many, all it takes is an open-mind to integrate their smaller social settings. I really don't think it is that difficult to do; I think it is difficult for people to want to do -- probably because of how they were shaped by their backgrounds. Regardless, a majority of your social circle depends on you and who you decide you want to have in it so as England mentioned (on pg.9), you have to want to become a multicultural individual.
As far as your last comment about the need for adding an amendment, I agree with you that the larger social injustices are the reason for this proposition. However, by making an amendment or by promoting change on any other level, are we not considering those other social injustices? Perhaps the promotion of these changes are a step towards addressing the "bigger problems" in our society. Some people will not accept change unless it is forced initially. Those in power oftentimes will not relinquish it voluntarily so it will be hard to encourage or motivate them to change something which might later threaten their power.
I partially agree with you about schools never realistically being integrated. I went to school in a very rural area and i believe EVERY school within a 20 mile radius of me was predominantly (possibly at least 90%) white, and when you look at schools in the city, they are predominantly black. BUT as stated in somegirldotcom's comment, it does occur sometimes. I disagree with your statement on the Amendment. I believe that it does need to be put into action to potentially force people to understand our issues and help face them.
I agree it is sad that we would be force to add the right to quality education as another fundamental right, however i think it should have been something that we should have fought for years ago every since we address the inequality in education. Education should not be exception i mean if we had to make amendments to constitution to acknowledge and grant equal rights to vote, employment opportunities for blacks and women. Education should been the next right to address due long history of denial or restrictions on access to education of minorities.
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