Blog #6: 30 Million Less Words

Reading "What if we talked about monolingual white children the way we talk about low-income children of color?" prompted me to do some google searching on the evolution of language in the United States over the years.  Okay, to be honest, it was not just this reading that prompted that, it was also my newly found beginning knowledge about White Privilege, Black Lives Matter, and the Stonewall Riot together with some of what I have learned in my Assessments class which is where I learned that Standardized testing in our Nation's public schools is created specifically for Middle Class Monolingual White Students from the North East.

Before I share my newly acquired "googled" knowledge on the topic I will bullet what stood out for me in this weeks blog reading:

• "by the age of 5 years old monolingual white children will have heard 30 million fewer words in languages other than English" in comparison to "bilingual children of color."
• monolingual white kids "lack of exposure to richness of non standardized varieties of English that characterizes the homes of many children of color"
• Caused by:  "failure of monolingual white communities to successfully assimilate into multilingual and multidialectal mainstream since the 1960's."
• "linguistic isolation has detrimental effects on cognitive development of monolingual white children."

As we know the article goes on to highlight that the same best practices we are learning should be occurring in modern day classrooms; ie "translanguaging", should be occurring at home as well in those monolingual white houses and communities.  Okay, I agree.  

But, the "baffle" for me is how did we get here?  How are we monolingual whites so clueless as we raise our children?  

This is where my newly found "google" knowledge comes in.  The answer is in Society.  It is changing.  Language is driven by immigration; it always has been.  Immigration was at a lull from 1910 to 1970 due to the results of the World Wars and the fact that instead of people immigrating from Europe; Europe had become a place of Emigration.  This means, for the most part, immigration was at a standstill and part of the American dream was to speak English for success to be accomplished in the future.  That was then.  Now we are in the 21st Century and USA is behind the times in language acquisition.  Standardized Assessments are still created for the monolingual middle class white kids from the north east, USA, but that does not compliment the multiethnic population of the United States.  Why do the testmakers want us to know only about U.S. history and culture?  That's for another blog.

                                   

Now, regardless of where our children will live or work when they grow, we are in a Global Community in which they need the benefit of exposure to many different languages in order to be successful in the world as an adult.

If it was not clear in what I already wrote, I do believe in a Translanguaging classroom.  But, like all that we seem to become aware of in modern times, those of us who learn about it become aware of it, believe in it, and can practice it; that may not be the case of the others who teach alongside us.  

Feel free to check out these links:
The Rise of Language Diversity in the United States

This article was published in 2011 and was written by Alison at Accredited language.  Here are a couple of highlights I thought were worth noting.

• At that time she wrote that the "preservation of immigrant languages has helped increase linguistic diversity in the United States" 
• At that time 55.4 million people were speaking a language other than English at home in the United States.  
• She also explains that back "then" which is before the 1970's the one major linguistic goal of immigrants was for all children to become fluent in English.  "Flawless English was thought to be the ultimate MUST as far as securing a future in the country."

Immigration and Language Diversity in the United States

This article is by Rubin G Rumbaut & Douglas S Massey.  It was published on July 10, 2013.  It holds a lot of useful and interesting information on the changes and patterns in language use over time and directly correlates it to immigration to the United States.  There are many "Tables" which highlight a lot of interesting facts.  If you click on the link above you can scroll down and easily click on the Table links.  Meanwhile here were some interesting facts that sparked my thoughts:

• "percentage of foreign born fell steadily in the United States from 14.7% in 1910 to 4.7% in 1970.  This dwindled caused the Census Bureau to STOP asking questions on it's mother tongue."
• "The great American paradox is that while the United States historically has been characterized by great linguistic diversity propelled by immigration, it has also been a zone of language extinction in which immigrant tongues die out to be replaced by monolingual English."
• They conclude by stating:  "the revival of immigration has simply restored language diversity..."
• "In the absence of continued large scale immigration" (this article suggests) "mother tongue of today's immigrants will persist somewhat into the 2nd generation, then fade."

In other words it shows the patterns of how United States has opportunities to take advantage of the many languages which migrate to our country and can assist in the development of multilinguistic patrons IF we use these languages through "Multilingual Talks" as suggested in today's blog reading, and if we utilize translanguaging in the classroom.

A final thought:

A lot of our colleagues who are unaware of the benefit, or the existence of translanguaging in the classroom, probably grew up and attended school during the time when the achievement of English fluency was the key to success.  The societal history in these other articles support their beliefs.  But, the reports also demonstrate the change that has occurred in Societal immigration.  It also demonstrates the fact that the United States is and has been behind the times in developing our students into multilinguistic adults.   We need to recognize this movement, embrace it and start closing the monolingual white children language gap.

Stonewall Post #5

                                         

At times, it takes time for words to react to life.  Opting to watch the Stonewall trailer prompted me to view the documentary.  My notes include quotes from the Stonewall Riot Documentary:

•  Prior to the actual riot "Societal Expectations = to grow up, marry & have kids"
•  Society was taught "No man is born homosexual it is learned in first three years of life."
•  Homosexuality was a mental defect
•  Homosexuality was equated to psychopathy
•  Homosexuals lose all chances of a Normal happy married life.
•  It was against the law to be a Homosexual.  Punishment from state to state varied for this crime of Homosexuality.
• " Central Point in history: Blacks starting to be protected by laws coming out of Civil Rights.  Gay Rights; none."
•  "Black people going to the back of the bus.  This is Gay Peoples going to the back of the bus."  
• "no 'out' for gay back then"
• "NY was the only place" one gay woman said "of having the chance to connect with people and being around people who do NOT  care about gays being gay."
• Christopher St in NY:  "could sit and talk to gay people without having sex."
• "Weirdness = homosexuals, lesbians, gays."
• "Stonewall Riot should have been named Stonewall UPRISING; not riot."
• "Major incident yet no cameras."
•  "Rosa Parks" movement of Gay people

                                         

                                          

•  "Gay people stood up and said NO"

                                 

•  "The Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police.  The Peace Movement, we ran from the police.  That night"(Stonewall Riot) "the police ran from us; the lowliest of the low."
• "Americans had thought we were Monsters; yet oddly enough being Gay is so American."
• Protest March followed the Stonewall Riot.  "It started with about 100 to 120 people and as they walked to Central Park it grew to about 2000 people.  We could be ourselves for the first time

"You come in with open minds that we are equal,"  "Some people may see your differences and may be threatened by them, but you are unstoppable. You will love who you want. You will demand fair and equal pay and you will not allow where you come from dictate where you are going." (quoted from T-Mobile add 2018)

Blog #4 White Privilege

This week I read two articles:  "Why Talk About Whiteness?  We Can't Talk About Racism Without it?" by Chiarello and a piece of "The Unexamined Whiteness of Teaching:  How White Teachers Maintain and Enact Dominant Racial Ideaologies" by Picower.

Both readings provided more fuel to my understanding of White Privilege.  It also provoked me to ask my children some questions.  First, I will state the fact that I am white.  My children are white.  This means, by race, we are a White Privileged family.

I grew up in the 70's and 80's.  This is when I went to public school in the Northeast.  I grew up in the Middle class.  In my learnings in Elementary School, Middle School, High School, and College (graduating in 1993) there was no teaching of the term White Privilege.  I do remember learning about Slavery; not too much about the Civil Rights movement.  It was not included in my history curriculum.

My children are 22, 20, and 19.  My son is 22.  He has a high school education but has always been interested in history beyond the high school curriculum and constantly is reading about history and watching documentaries.  My 20 and 19 year olds are girls.  History is not their forte.  My 20 year old has had some College classes, but is on a break from them.  My 19 year old is a Sophomore at URI; going to school for Education.

I decided to ask each of my children separately what they knew of White Privilege.  My son answered: "Ma, it's that the Whites have created a society that provides opportunities for only Whites and suppresses opportunities for all other races especially blacks.  It's ridiculous."  I chimed in about Columbus and how he brought the slaves to the United States and that is where it started.  He added by using the term:  "manifest destiny."  I didn't know what he meant:

But, after he explained, I said, yes, you are absolutely right.  I said even today, the standardized tests are created for Middle Class White Students from the NorthEast.  If you do not fit into that classification, you are meant to fail the test.  He was disgusted but knew of this and said "exactly."  

Then I asked my daughters.  My 20 year old (about to be 21) is a Mom and her boyfriend is Dominican.  They took their baby to the hospital ER and he dropped her off at the door.  Julia explained, "when I was there, there was a Hispanic girl standing next to me with her baby and a woman came up to me and said "your baby is so cute." and she ignored the other girl."  Julia mentioned this to her boyfriend who said "She said that to you and not the other girl because you are White."  She went on to explain that White Privilege to her is about the inequalities of the treatment of white kids versus black kids.  She said "if there were two college boys who were accused of Raping a girl, one black and one white, the white kids would get off with a lesser charge or the charge would go away because this blemish on his record would ruin his future career."  She said "the black boy who had an equal crime would get the maximum sentence for the crime and deal with the consequences. "

So I found this when I googled "white privilege in young men".  Julia was close:  

Then, I asked my youngest:  Kayla, who is going to College at URI for Education.  She said, "Mommy, we learned about this in my Gender Roles Class."  She said "White Privilege is that Society is biased towards the success of White men." She said that "even the height of how door knobs are constructed is to benefit the White Man."  She said "anyone who is not a White Man, is not privileged.'  She furthered by explaining if you are handicapped, you can't access buildings or homes just anywhere, but if you are not handicapped you can.  She said that "job opportunities are more available for White Men."  She gave an example that if "you had sent a resume in for a job and there was a girl named Samantha who applied for a job and a girl named Sam, then Sam would probably get called back first because it could be a boys name."  So her thoughts (based on her Gender Studies class) formulated her definition of White Privilege to be based on Gender and Race.  I then talked to her about what I was learning.  She said, that makes sense.

I just thought this was interesting.  As I said, I grew up in the 70's and 80's and am just learning about White Privilege now.  Even though all three of my young adult children had different depths of knowledge or thoughts around White Privilege; they have more of an awareness than I did at their age; they are 25 years ahead of me on this topic.  I point this out because it gives me the message, that Society is changing.

One more point:  I heard the message in the reading of  "The Unexamined Whiteness of Teaching:  How White Teachers Maintain and Enact Dominant Racial Ideologies" by Picower.  I think the movement is in the right direction.  I am concerned about the statement that more Black people should be brought into teaching.  Opportunities should be made available for any person who feels driven to teach to have the opportunity.  Also, I am glad that they furthered this statement by stating if they do recruit more Black people to teach Black students, then they too need to be educated about White Privilege so they do not reveal it with their biases and experiences.  My caution with this is:  are they suggesting segregation?  And that white people should educate White People?  

What I think is long overdue is our Social Studies Curriculum in the school system.  I think our Common Core Standards need to teach about White Privilege and it should be tracked (in this curriculum) over time.  I do feel society is moving in the right direction.  

Blog #3

A way for awareness to reach and be heard beyond the classroom and into the homes of society.

Prior to this week's readings, I had heard "Pro Black Isn't Anti White" but was confused by what that meant.  The short video "4 BlackLives Matter Myths", and my comprehension of the three readings "Black Lives Matter Herstory," "Why Teaching Black Lives Matter Matters," and "Meet a school District that brought BLM into the classroom -and learn how you could do it too," finally brought me to more of an comprehensible understanding of what I think is Afro Pessimism, and anti black, and what I can do as a teacher and a member of society (regardless of the color of my skin) in support of "Black Lives Matter."

I feel as if finally, I am understanding, that it is not held against me to have felt the injustice of Trayvon Martin, when it was happening and I heard of it on the news and still today when I reflect back on it.  I think it's more of taking a stand and saying that Black Lives do Matter as much as all lives matter.  I remember exactly where I was when I heard of Freddie Gray and how I felt wronged for him.  As white woman I thought how wrong!  As a mother my heart broke for Freddie Gray and for his family.  As a member of society I wanted justice for Freddie Gray.  I wanted the persons responsible for killing him through callousness and neglect (once in custody) should meet justice and should become a role model for what NOT to do as a person in authority (or any member of society). These examples should become the moment that forces our eyes to open and for us to take a position, stand together and make change.

Finally, in the "Meet a school District that brought BLM into the classroom -and learn how you could do it too" article they suggest Students as young as kindergartners learning about youth activism and responding to questions like “What’s a value that you can stand for?”  I do agree Kindergarteners do learn about values at this age.  I feel this simple suggestion is one I can carry to my classroom and become part of the culture and climate I teach in.