Kerren's Sociocultural Theory, Education Policy, and Pedagogy Blog

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I Am Not Your Negro 11/18/2020

I Am Not Your Negro Raoul Peck's documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, illuminates the history of the black experience in America as seen through the eyes of the author James Baldwin. Drawing off Baldwin's work Remember This House, the documentary explores the connections between the way things were during his time and the way things are in American society today. Prevalent themes in the film include the contrasts and similarities of civil rights activists Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Medgar Evers, the power words can have, racial representation in the media, and the reality that social justice still remains to be seen in our country and around the world. The Confluence of Four Lives Baldwin states that he wants the three lives, Malcolm, Martin, and Medgar to "bang against and reveal each other, as in truth, they did." Baldwin felt that each man had used their journey as a means to instruct the people they loved so much, who in turn betrayed them. The same

Race and Dis/Ability 10/28/20

In this weeks text, Dis/ability critical race studies (DisCrit): theorizing at the intersections of race and dis/ability, the argument of the authors, Annamma, Conner, and Ferri, begins with the assertion that aspects of Critical Race Theory and Disability Theory ought to be combined into one new theoretical framework that analyzes race and ability in the same capacity. Citing the 1920's essay, Racial Intelligence, by W.E.B. Du Bois, DisCrit illuminates the way anthropological physiognomy shapes hegemonic views of the intellectual, socitial, and moral growth of persons of color and those with disabilities. In his work, Dubois relates how scientific racism was used to portray African Americans as being of inferior intelligence, through post-mortem examinations of human brains, in order to justify slavery, segregation and inequalities around the world. Marking people of color with the stigma of possessing developmental conditions, akin to those who are disabled, and therefore, not f

Cultural Education Is NOT a Crime 10/14/2020

In the documentary, Precious Knowledge, viewers are confronted with the startling statistic that 48 percent of Mexican American students drop out of high school. Many of these students leave school feeling that the education system was stacked against them and that they have been ignored and subjected to benign neglect. In an effort to offset the number of dropouts the documentary states: “In 1997, community activism led the Tucson city council to set up a study committee to look at ways of boosting Latino student achievement and reducing dropout rates. Based on its findings, the school board unanimously voted to create what was then called the Hispanic Studies Department” This name was later changed to Raza. The program was intended to present students with greater opportunities in life. One teacher of the program José Gonzales makes an analogy with an Indigenous concept called Chinacle. Plant a seed and it will grow. By 2010, despite the fact that students became engaged, informed,

Mass Incarceration (9/30/20)

The assigned material this week takes a look at mass incarceration through a critical lens by calling into question America's skewed criminal justice system, it's foundations and the policies that continue to feed it, while maintaining ambition for positive change. Ava DuVernay's 13th argues that although the thirteenth amendment to the constitution abolishes slavery and involuntary servitude, the American criminal justice system exploits the clause that denies these liberties to those who have been convicted of a crime. Through this "loophole" those who seek to perpetuate racism and the spoils of a servitude driven economy continue to oppress black, Hispanic, and native American communities by portraying them as criminals, brandishing harsh sentences, stripping their humanity, and denying their civil rights upon release. Further, the film postulates that the modern criminal reform system is molded by legislature created by corporations who stand to sow monetary

Health, Wealth, and Those Left on the Shelf (9/16/20)

In the readings this week, a clear connection can be established between Unnatural Causes: In Sickness and Wealth and T hinking About Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts Through a Science-Informed, Early Childhood Lens (Shonkoff and Williams) . When citing the causes of disparities in health and wellness amongst populations in the US, they both purpose that environment, career options, and access to healthcare are profound influential factors. Additionally, they both reveal how individuals can become predisposed to experiencing poor health as adults due to conditions experienced in the early years of life. Although we are all living on the same planet, and American’s are living on the same continent, environmental conditions are not universal. Unnatural Causes thoroughly explores environmental conditions in Louisville, Kentucky in a way accentuates the drastically different conditions between the classes residing there. The areas that consist mostly upper class/ upper-middle class

Manifesto

I am a teacher who stands up for the truth against those who would try to deceive with falsehoods, who is in favor of supporting multiple forms of literacy against the suppression of knowledge, who is a supporter of empowering students against those who seek to strip them of passion and autonomy, and who is a defender of the authentic examination of the world against those who obscure realities with smoke and mirrors. I am a teacher who favors the permanent struggle against racism and the prejudices that lend to systematic oppression. I am a teacher who rejects discrimination because it is responsible for the marginalization of students and their needs. I am a teacher full of hope for the future, in spite of constant obstacles. I am a teacher who refuses to give up just because some have the belief that my mission is futile. I am a teacher who is proud of my student’s accomplishments and the potential for their positive contributions to our world. If I do not struggle for equity for a