Higher Standards and Success

I agree with most of the points Gloria Ladson-Billings makes in chapters 3 and 4 of The Dreamkeepers. However, there were a few points that stuck out to me.

In the memory described on pages 33-34 of going downtown on a field trip, the line, "We knew that we were held to a higher standard than other people" stuck out to me. She thinks this proudly, at least as a child. In reality, though, it is unfair that just because these children are colored their behavior is held to a higher standard than white children's. It is unfair that African Americans need to present themselves very well in order to excede the expectations of them by whites, while whites don't necessarily need to do the same thing in order to receive a certain kind of treatment. When a group of African Americans or any other minority is out in public, what they do is seen as representing their whole race. If a group of white people is out in public, as members of the majority, they do not have that same weight on their shoulders.

I do not know how this could be changed, although I have one impractical idea. If the majority of white Americans travelled abroad to countries that are not predominantly white, they could learn to identify with this feeling, and perhaps when they returned they would see their own multicultural neighbors in a different light.

I was surprised when reading Ladson-Billings ask, "If a teacher looks out at a classroom and sees the sons and daughters of slaves, how does that vision translate into her expectations for educational excellence" (59), implying that it would not translate well.  I think that in saying this she contradicts what she says earlier in the chapter about claiming to be "color blind" as a negative thing. I do not think that acknowledging the fact that many of your African American students would translate to them not doing well academically (or translate to me as the teacher then treating them in a way that would not benefit them academically as much as the other students). I would imagine that students whose grandparents were slaves have family history that is as important to them as any other person's is to them, and see a family history of slavery as a family history of hard work and perserverence, which would translate well in the academic arena. Achknowledging slavery as part of a person's family history does not necessarily mean that I wouldn't hold them to the same academic high standards as their white counterparts.

Perhaps I am incorrectly interpreting Ladson-Billings, and she may just be asking the question to try to make us think, in which case, it has worked.

Another point I found interesting that she mentions at the beginning of chapter four is that "success means doing better than others". This is an interesting definition, as it is entirely social. It reminds me of the joke where two people have to outrun a bare chasing them and one says something like, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you". It is such a cutthroat way to think of something that should be positive, although it pretty much is the American cultural view of success. Must it be so competitive because of limited resources? Not everyone can be #1.

I like to think of success as meeting or exceeding my own expectations of myself. I would rather live by my own definition, so my own success does not depend on someone else's failure.

The Dreamkeepers continues to be a thought-provoking read.

We're all in this together.

I agree with Gloria Ladson-Billings that the school system is still segregated today, in terms of how well it has been serving African American students. I have unfortunately heard some of her statistics before: young African American men are more likely to end up in jail than in college. African American teens are five times as likely to end up pregnant as their Caucasian counterparts. One fact that I had not heard before that she mentions is: African Americans in public school perform lower on standardized tests than whites EVEN IF they come from higher income families. I feel that this fact alone is a reason to examine how our standardized tests are being formed, and a good reason for us to ensure that a representative amount of African Americans are members of the process.

 Ladson-Billings talks about the idea that I have heard before from classmates and in popular culture that when a black man or woman is successful, he or she is often accused of not being black enough by peers. I find this ridiculous because working hard or doing well at something are not  "white" things to do. There are people who work hard and people who are unsuccessful in every culture. To tear down someone of your own race because of their work ethic only further divides the community. No one should ever feel guilty for working hard and being successful at something. It's a shame that to some people's view is so polarized that they cannot see their neighbor's success as part of their own community's success.

I find it interesting that one of the common features in all of the successful teachers she studies is that they are all "culturally congruent" with the students they teach. This idea reminds me of when I worked at an afterschool program and there was a family with children who were half Jewish and half Chinese (not sure what religion). During Passover, the children were unable to each the snack that was provided to the rest of the children because it contained leavened bread. We would have happily given them an alternative snack, however, one of the group leaders happened to have brought some matzo ball soup from home that day and shared it with all of them. They seemed really happy that they could identify with this group leader, and that she understood what they were going through. She didn't have to share the food that she had brought from home, but she had the mentality that these kids (just like all the kids at the center) were all part of her family, and it showed in her interactions with them. I see this attitude as very important in becoming a teacher who will be able to reach the maximum number of students.

I look forward to my continued reading of The Dreamkeepers to see what other connections I can make with it.