I particularly enjoyed reading the beginning of the chapter “Ending School Segregation of National Minorities.” Of course one would find/include Brown vs. Board of Education in a book about education and it’s history. I enjoyed reviewing this case because it reminded me of my highschool history class. Something that stood out in this section was the part where it mentioned “the president’s public image was often threatened when examples of racial injustice were shown to millions of television viewers.” I’m just wondering… if America’s image wasn’t threatened, would the government continue to let these civil right’s movements continue on? It’s also obvious that the media was helpful in aiding the civil rights movement. Going back to the civil rights movement reminding me about my highschool history class, is it necessary for schools in one’s own country to present themselves in a righteous way? For example, I remember reading in my textbook that Japanese history textbooks excluded all the facts or events that would make Japan look bad and in a way that would promote nationalism. Would children or students of one country actually be affected by the teachings of a textbook?
In the section of “Asian Americans: Language and the continued Struggle for Equal Educational Opportunity,” something that stood out was “there is no equality of treatment merely by providing students with the same facilities, textbooks, teachers, and curriculum; for students who do not understand English are effectively foreclosed from any meaningful education.” Personally I think that providing language aid to non-english students is beneficial but in the back of my mind I am debating between aid and the ways of “sink or swim.” Sink or swim is when a child who probably doesn’t understand any english at all is put into an english speaking environment and they’re left to learn or catch up on their own. And from that I guess we see if that child sinks (can’t keep up at all) or swims (starts to learn and adapt to his/her new environment). So my question is, how effective is the way of “sink or swim?” Do you think some schools implement this, why?
