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I related to the discussion about the inequity students who are immigrants face. My students when I taught at KIPP were mostly English Language Learners. Many of my students immigrated from the Domincan Republic and Guatemala. Chapter seven in Critical Issues in Education discussed some of the challenges unique to students who are immigrants and how that creates inequity. One of the challenges is language and cultural differences. My students who were immigrants sometimes did not have the background knowledge the western- dominant culture curriculum expected them to have. Additionally, there were language barriers. Families needed translators to communicate with me, making it more difficult for families to reach out to me about questions or concerns. It also made it difficult for families to help students with school work. Chapter seven discusses how learning in students' home language and English is best practice. The Teaching for Change website provided in the Week Four readings provided a list of Social Justice Books that have the words in English and in Spanish. To help fight inequity that students who are immigrants from spanish speaking families, teachers should have these books in their classrooms.

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I empathize with teachers and school districts struggling to figure out the best discipline policies that work and support equity. Chapter 12 of Critical Issues in Education discusses how zero tolerance discipline policies are inequitable. Students of Color are much more likely to be suspended from school than their white peers under these types of policies. The podcast, This American Life: “Is this Working?” shared the experience of a teacher whose entire class was disrupted by a student.  It feels inequitable to the students who are ready to learn to have their learning disrupted by another student. However, is removing that student from the class equitable? It is hard. The podcast also talked about schools that have strict zero-tolerance policies and those that utilize restorative discipline practices. Teachers do not want to have inequitable discipline practices. It is hard to know the most effective and equitable way to manage classrooms.

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I want to know more about fighting inequity through multicultural teaching. Chapter 10 in Critical Issues in Education discusses how multicultural teaching fights inequity in schools because with multicultural teaching, all students (not just middle to upper middle class white students) can see themselves and their home cultures reflected in the school and in the curricula. Teaching only the western, dominant culture version of history and curricula is inequitable and does not represent our population or truth. Chapter 10 also discusses how representation matters! Students who can relate to the curricula are more engaged and more likely to achieve academically. Therefore, excluding some cultures from the curricula is inequitable and does not set all students up for success. I want to learn more about how to be a multicultural educator. The website LearningForJustice.org provided with Week Four resources has lesson plans that help teachers teach about diversity, multiculturalism, justice, etc. I look forward to utilizing this resource to help me learn more about being a multicultural teacher.

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I felt conflicted when I read chapter six of Critical Issues in Education about gender inequity in schools. I learned that there are publicly funded schools and classrooms that are separated by gender. After reading chapter 2 of Critical Issues in Education and listening to This American Life: The Problem We All Live With, I believe that taking away school of choice furthers inequity. I also think separate is inherently unequal so boys and girls only schools and classrooms are automatically inequitable. In addition, these schools exclude students who do not fit the gender binary. That is also inequitable and problematic. However, parents with resources have the choice to send their students to private schools that are separated by gender. Therefore, in some ways, offering that option to families without the financial means to go to private school is more equitable. Allowing families the choice to decide what is best for their families, just like wealthier families can, seems ideal.

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I was surprised to learn that groups in this country actively support inequity in schools through their resistance to “Critical Race Theory” in schools. The ABC News article Critical Race Theory Battle Invades School Boards with Hep from Conservative Groups, discussed how groups across the country are trying to stop schools from teaching about gender and race. Inequity and systems of oppression are part of the history of our country and the current reality. Not teaching about these issues ignores the truth. The Part Two Introduction in Critical Issues in Education discusses hidden curricula. Students learn from what we teach and what we don’t teach. The hidden curriculum in not teaching about systems of oppression is that schools deny certain realities or do not believe those realities are important or worthy of attention. Clearly that is extremely problematic. Multicultural teaching, discussed in chapter 10 of Critical Issues in Education, talks about also teaching about history from the non-dominant culture’s point of view. Refusing to talk about race, gender, etc. makes multicultural teaching impossible.

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I am now more aware of the debate surrounding standards and inequity. Chapter eight of Critical Issues in Education discusses how the standards movement is in response to inequity in achievement in schools. Having different standards for different places is inequitable. If some students are held to higher standards than others, those students that are held to higher standards will be more prepared for college and future careers. A response to this issue, with the idea of improving equity, were the Common Core State Standards. This American Life: 3 Miles discusses how many students from lower income areas who graduate high school do not end up graduating from college if they start. This difference in college graduation rates may be because of inequity of standards and expectations at the lower education levels that resulted in lack of preparedness. Chapter eight, as well as other resources I found for my diversity paper on this topic, also discuss that simply raising the standards without addressing social and political issues students experience is inequitable and will not resolve the achievement gap. Common Core state Standards and addressing systems of oppression simultaneously will help address the inequity surrounding student expectations and the achievement gap.

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I was angry/frustrated when I read/heard about the inequity that exists between schools depending on where you live and the wealth of your family. In chapter three of Current Issues in Education school funding is discussed. The chapter discusses how much of school funding comes from local property taxes. This means that poorer areas, with less property to tax, receive less money than wealthier neighbors who have an abundance of property to tax. That is so inequitable. Equity in this case, would be the poorer schools receiving more resources. In the podcast “This American Life: Three Miles” students that went to the public school in the Bronx had polar opposite schooling experiences from the students attending a wealthy private school in the Bronx. The differences in what the two groups of students were being prepared for later in life perpetuated the inequitable situation. One of the students from the public school had an immediate physical and emotional reaction to the private school when she saw how inequitable the schools were. It is heartbreaking.

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I changed my attitude about school of choice. There is inequity in education based on the schools students attend. The importance of choice is made clear when listening to This American Life: The Problem We All Live With and chapter four of Critical Issues in Education. Prior to this reading, I did not want there to be any school of choice because I felt that school of choice furthered inequity by allowing some schools to continue to struggle, while families with agency or resources were able to move, leaving some children and families behind. Argued in chapter four and supported by Mah’Ria’s story in This American Life, people need choice so that their children are not stuck in failing districts, where only people with money can choose a different school. Simultaneously, the country needs to be fixing the failing districts. After the districts are fixed, there should be choice, and all choices should be good ones that provide quality education.