Analysis Of Joy Castro's 'On Becoming Educated'

In Tucson, Arizona ethnic studies classes caused controversy over what kinds of classes should be allowed in Tucson’s public schools. The Latino population of students was greatly being effected by only a 50% graduation rate. The ethnic studies curriculum was created to engage students with a history from a different cultural viewpoint than what was usually taught in public high school. From the outside of the classroom the opposing forces against ethnic studies believed that the hidden curriculum within the classes was detrimental to students. This was because it was teaching anti-American beliefs along with creating students who would act with rebellious beliefs and racism. From inside the classroom the teachers and students look to their curriculum and insist that their curriculum was more about having courage to examine history, create understanding and respect for one another and one’s self. They believed in looking at problems that the world was facing and not just accepting them but also trying to make a change for the better. The problematic readings were grounded in the courses use of the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed” with ideals that are based in teachings like Marxism.

In her essay “On Becoming Educated” Jay Castro discusses her first experience and with, thoughts on, feminism. She continues to contribute feminism throughout her essay as she talks about her life during school and during her teaching years. As I read this I can relate to some of the events she talks about but I also came to disagree with some parts.

Gruwell taught her class about the Holocaust, the genocide of Jews. While learning about this major event in class the students were able to see how another person’s hatred affected someone’s life. They saw that many of the victims did not survive and were killed simply because of their race. This drew a parallel for the students to see how their hatred and violence against each other was senseless. In the same way Hitler killed Jews because of their race, they were killing each other. From learning about the Holocaust the students were able to step outside from their own personal norms, and examine a situation from a new or different

Even, when the students seem careless and do not tolerate the professor, Gruwell guided by her ideals and big heart refuses to allow her students to be incompetent and gave her students a chance to overcome the limitations imposed on them by society and themselves. She encouraged them to do something remarkable and memorable and assign them a journal where they could feel free to express their emotions and feeling and essentially tell the stories that define them. Gruwell draws students’ attention by assigning them The Diary of Anne Frank, a book that promptly become a guide for the students and open their minds and eyes against intolerance and misunderstanding. Inspired by this book, the students raised funds to bring Miep Gies, the woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California where she declared that the students are the real heroes.

Gerald Graff is a professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Graff, in his essay, emphasizes the importance for instructors to teach and increase enjoyable courses that students shall truly understand. Graff assures that all kids have hidden intellectualism trying to emerge from within, and as a teacher he feels partly accountable to help those kids develop their competencies in educational work. The essence of Graff’s argument is for students to know that intellectualism lurks within them all, and they need to implement their potential at school. Furthermore, he enriches the essay based totally on his own life experiences, along with his hidden intellectualism, while he attended school during the anti-intellectualism

A particular question that is seldom pondered over and yet is capable of carrying so many doubts within it: who are we? Who are we as a society who can do the things we do? Who are we who can suffer from them? Award winning poet and essayist Susan Griffin confronts these distinct questions in her work titled, “Our Secret”. Griffin believes that a basic understanding of the things that play a part in the growth of an individual is essential to understanding who we are. The way a child is raised dictates how that child is going to become later on in life. One of the distinct highlights of Griffin’s essay was her use of describing the progress of the V1 rockets in World War II. Griffin studies the aspects of human nature by using these missile developments as a metaphor to symbolize the raising of children and the factors that can influence a growing individual. One of the prime figures that Griffin uses pertaining to these growing individuals was Heinrich Himmler, leader of the Nazi secret police. Griffin uses Himmler as an example to demonstrate how big of a role a parental figure can play in the development of a person.

Between memoirs and history textbooks, two very different approaches to historical matters are dealt with: one appeals to emotion, while the other to reason and logic. In Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, he discusses his life during the Holocaust and what life in a prison camp was like on an emotional level. The treatment of the Jews at the hands of the Nazi guards is more appalling through the emotional description of a survivor like Elie Wiesel than through the contextual and fact based evidence found in a textbook. One such example of this is when Wiesel describes how when the Jews were herded onto the cattle carriages to move them from Geiwitz to Buchenwald, and how the Nazi’s distribution of rations led to the Jews eating snow off one another’s backs:

I teach history because I want students to fully understand the perspectives of other groups of people who have been silenced and marginalized.” I was able to observe her 10th-grade world history class.

Greater than any war, plague, or catastrophe and it’s potential damage to human life is beyond calculation, the feeling of dehumanization is a feeling beyond description. Elie Wiesel a Jew Holocaust survivor from Sighet, Transylvania writes a memoir Night. In his memoir he writes about his own experiences in 1944 during the holocaust. Throughout this story Elie goes through lots of challenges that ultimately challenge his faith as a human. In resemblance, Jakob Blankitny a Jew from Maków Mazowiecki, Poland writes his take on his experiences in 1944 throughout the holocaust and how he and his family are treated by the Nazis and degraded as humans. In dire circumstances, these texts argue that dissolving one into a primitive with savage, animal characteristics are necessary for survival under inhumane conditions.

In the book Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor Ayer, World War II events are described through the experiences of two people during this time. Excerpts from both character’s own memoirs are included to get the perspective from their lives. Some events that took place throughout the book include the severe reality of the Holocaust and the effect of the Hitler Youth on young Germans. Parallel Journeys specifically portrays these events through the eyes of Helen Waterford, who was a Jewish girl, and Alfons Heck, a Hitler Youth member mesmerized by the power of Adolf Hitler.

Education is meant to broaden the minds of incoming generations to the diverse cultures and aspects of the world. While its purpose is meant to open up horizons, it has also held up the task of oppressing opposing thoughts and judgments. Author James Baldwin exposes this truth in his article, “A Talk to Teachers,” as he chastises the education system’s contradicting actions inasmuch as the support of an all-encompassing education while scorning unconventional thinking. Baldwin’s purpose to confront the antithetical activity to hopefully change the system’s ways is attempted by persuading teachers who “deal with the minds and hearts of young people” that a paradox of education occurs when students develop a conscience--they become “at war” with society--is valid in that education should allow development for individual thoughts and varied opinions to challenge for the reconstruction of society’s oppressive nature.

The idea that information is “deposited” from a teacher into a student fits the majority of Rodriguez’s educational experiences. As a young child, Rodriguez feels that “books were going to make [him] educated” (Rodriguez 578). He never questioned what he was told by his teachers or what he read in any book. He didn’t develop ideas of his own or any critical thinking skills. Rodriguez says that he was “a great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker; the very last person in class who ever feels obliged to have an opinion of his own” (Rodriguez 581). This type of education helps us to understand the relationships Rodriguez had with his “mentor” Richard Hoggart, as well as his school teachers and parents.

This comparison lends a sense of deep and sincere respect and awe for the teacher’s ability to educate their students to their fullest potential. The infallibility of these teachers becomes quickly contrasted against the malevolent legislators who have been targeted throughout the review. Tom Horne, in particular, is attacked for his overbearing and unnecessarily personal barrage against the Ethnic Studies program. His extreme disrespect and willingness to either stretch the facts, or completely invent them, make him a formidable enemy in a war where perception and public rapport are paramount. Horne has “openly lied in the past about his history of bankruptcy and has the unique distinction of being banned forever from the Securities and Exchanges Commission” ultimately showing just how insincere and conniving he truly is (Biggers 2). The legislator's inclination toward personal attacks and deception makes them even more able to dismantle the Ethnic Studies program Acosta had worked so hard to put in place. In a battle where the enemy supremely overpowers the students, changes need to be made.

The developmental stage of a young child’s life is very crucial and can be impacted by the media. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Liesel Meminger is a young girl living in a very important part of Germany’s history, the Second World War. Liesel’s childhood unfolds and develops against the backdrop of a time when words, books specifically were used for power and control. Liesel is someone who has a love for reading and, as such, books become very important to her, not only for her education but for her rebellion and discovering her true identity. Throughout the novel, books become a crucial symbol used to convey the desires and discovery of identity for the main character as her childish ignorance changes to her mature adulthood.

For example, “many assumed that those whose language differed from that of the dominant culture were less intelligent. Even today, that pre-1980’s stereotype used by some to describe struggling writers continues” (Fernsten & Reda). However, these perspectives based on historical events do not adequately present a well- rounded view on academic experiences, a marginalized student or instructor may currently endure. For example, “Setting and maintaining uniformly high