Essay on Boys of Baraka

Anderson begins to analyze the troubled culture by first looking at the home environment and behaviors during childhood. The values differ drastically between the two groups. He states that the decent families are typically working families and try to instill positive values in their children. They hope to provide a nurturing environment and aid their children in pursuing a successful future. They are involved in their performance in school and have home rules to abide by. They have curfews for their children and generally know where and whom they are with at all times, especially young children. They try to prepare their children for the unknown and possible confrontations with

“Children of Men” is set in the year of 2027, when the world is in chaos with the multitude of political and social issues including immigration and fascism. The movie could be classified as science fiction because it consists of two common elements of the genre: a futuristic setting and a dystopian society. There is, however, no advanced technology or artificial intelligence. The cities look just like today, except they are shabby and grimy. Everything is awash in grim to reinforce the theme of a dystopian society. The gloomy setting makes London look like it did in the 19th century with its criminal world of the time. The color palette is stark, favoring grays over other hues. The movie vividly paints a bleak and

Students who attend schools can be affected by their culture, race and background, much like how Puerto Ricans were oppressed in East Harlem in the 1980’s. This article explains how race can affect how people of certain races grow up, and how they are treated, and how when this treatment is unfair, the students usually drop out of school. “Study examines how race, culture influence school discipline, dropout rates”.

Due to the discrimination of African-Americans, and oppression resulting from it, the government, justice system, educational system, and society has made it clear that African-American teenagers obtaining a thorough and effective education is the least of their concerns. It is almost as though African-American teenagers are purposely being set up to fail. As stated in “The Oppression of Black People, The Crimes of This System and the Revolution we need”, “Today the schools are more segregated than they have been since the 1960s with urban, predominantly Black and Latino schools receiving fewer resources and set up to fail. These schools more and more resemble prisons

The Long Shadow is a book written by three research sociologists; Karl Alexander, Doris R. Entwisle, and Linda Olson. Karl Alexander is John Dewey Professor and chair of the Department of Sociology at the John Hopkins University. The late Doris R. Entwisle was a research professor of Sociology at the John Hopkins University. Linda Olson is an associate research scientist with the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) and the Center for Social Organization of Schools at the John Hopkins University. This book was originally published on April 14, 2014 and in this book, these professors followed the lives of 790 children growing up in various neighborhoods throughout Baltimore, Maryland. I would consider this book a case study because it took over twenty-five years of research, interviews and surveys to finally get it done and then later on published. The three main subjects researched in this book are a family’s background, disadvantaged urban youth, and the transition to adulthood. And in this paper, I will present my central findings of this book.

The route the children are designated to take, in addition, is specified in the writing to inspire in the audience fear. The segregated school for Black students is located within a mass of railroad tracks, warehouses, and red-light districts, all notably dangerous locations for children to be in. By specifically mentioning that Ellison had “forbidden words” added to his vocabulary, he implies that he had interacted with the many unsavory individuals in the area to the extent of learning immoral materials or skills (Ellison 4433). This emotional appeal enforces the idea that impressionable children are innocent and that their actions were forced upon them by the adults in control. It also appeals to the parental instinct to protect children and preserve their future. By being forced to maintain continuous exposure to dangerous environments and professions of ambiguous morality, the Black children are victims of tarnishing and possible injury by the White authority purposefully segregating the children to hazardous areas. The strategy in specifying the unfortunate circumstances the African American children are facing is for causing the White adults to appear as villains who impose professionals of socially denigrated on innocent children. In contrast, Ellison, despite not doing anything particularly virtuous, is designated the ‘hero’ to be cheered for along with all his associates and peers, who are also victims.

Insolvent, Ravenous, Fretting! Economical disadvantages leads to the three ideas stated, in layman’s terms, broke, hungry, and worrying. Unfortunately, many African American individuals inhabit areas that display very tarnished living conditions, which includes violent criminals, illegal activities, and very low performing schools, better known as “ghettos”. Consequently, due to the disadvantages and low prosperity in these communities, many young adolescents or student’s education suffers a great deal. Education is one of the most powerful apparatuses to sever the hardships of poverty. The popular 70’s sitcom “Good Times” and modern day sitcom “Everybody Hates Chris”, are two perfect examples of two struggling African American families that values education because of their race, family structure, and family roles, which displays reflection of society.

Kozol highlighted how against the popular belief and expectations, a trend of re-segregation has been growing inside the urban public schools in US. Kozol’s purpose of writing is more than just highlighting the issues at Fremont High school. The high school is just a small representation of the bigger apartheid. Kozol has drawn a picture of the mismanagement and the hopelessness growing among the students due to it. This becomes overwhelmingly evident when Kozol wrote about the time he was speaking with an African American girl “’Dear Mr. Kozol,’ wrote the eight-year-old, ‘we do not have the things you have. You have Clean things. We do not have. You have a clean bathroom. We do not have that. You have Parks and we do not have Parks. You have all the thing and we do not have all the thing. ‘Can you help us?’ (Kozol, 410)”. First off, it needs to be pointed out that Kozol frequently leaves out names of personal interviewers in his article, which leaves room to doubt if what he is saying is true. But giving the benefit of the doubt (considering Kozol’s credibility), the statement with the eight-year-old itself is eye opening to say the

The documentary, “Hoop Dreams” depicts the structural, psychological, and environmental issues that perpetuates poverty in America through a cohort of individuals, Arthur Agee and William Gates. Agee and Gates’s lives are chronicled through a longintudinal study of four years, from the summer they enter high school, to their entry into college. Both African-American teenagers are recruited from different parts of Chicago, but they came together to begin their freshman year at St. Joseph’s High School, the institution that built Basketball superstar Isaiah Thomas. Both Arthur and William begin their journey in a similar manner, but were exposed to the complexity of their dream, their education, and negative societal factors that ultimately change the course of their lives.

The Moore family is a family that is made up of three generations, starting with the grandparents, parents, along with the children. The Moore family also consist of multiple racial groups, such as African American and Caucasian that causes divided within the family because of the cultural differences within each group. The Moore family is made up of Jessica, Caucasian mother, Ed, African American father, Derrick, adopted African American son, Terrence, Jessica’s biological biracial son, and Debbie, Ed’s biological biracial daughter. With the listing of the both husband and wife along with the children, it is clear that this family has encounter a few life transitions, trajectories, cohorts, turning points, and life events. Understanding life course perspective will assist with understanding the family dynamics that are displayed within the Moore family. Life transitions, trajectories, cohorts, turning points, life events, along with other terms will be defined and discussed to fully examine the Moore’s family behavior and life events that guided their family’s development. With all of the issues that the Moore family has encountered both Jessica’s and Ed’s marital problems may be seen as the core of their family’s dysfunction, therefore, this will be explained under the life course perspective.

Black males enter educational environments questioning if they belong while trying to survive. Schools reflect critical factors that impact how Black males see themselves and how they envision their futures. Brooms (2016) asserts that school culture cannot understand the context of the lived experiences of Black males within education without positioning them as victims of the system. However, it is due to “institutional racism, intergenerational poverty, and the lack of meaningfully sustained educational reform and community development (Brooms, 2016)” that disproportionately puts Black males at risk for educational failure. Polite and Davis (1999) adds that “to be an African American male in school and society places one at risk for a

In Toni Cade Bambara’s “The Lesson,” she encourages Sylvia to look society in the eye and change what is expected of her. She exposes the inequality present within the United States’s society through the perspective of young African American children. Often, many are unwilling to acknowledge that they are a victim of poverty, leaving them in a state of ignorance, that will not promote any change. The story revolves around Sylvia, a young black girl, who finally has her eyes opened to her disadvantaged economic status. Real learning often occurs after a state of discomfort and confusion. Bambara takes Sylvia through a journey enlightening her through an uncomfortable juxtaposition of Harlem and Manhattan, her and her friends, and who she actually is and who she wants to be.

Traumatic experiences, difficult home lives, and the effect of drugs can leave a significant imprint on the rest of an individual’s life. The context which individuals are surrounded by during their developmental years has a significant impact on their mental health and development. In the documentary, The Bad Kids this idea is depicted through the portrayal of adolescence and early adulthood periods of the individuals at Black Rock Continuation High School. The film portrays the lives of at risk teens, who are given a second chance to get their life on track and earn a high school diploma. However, there are complications and set-backs that are holding them back from accomplishing their goals.

“The Lost Boys of Sudan; the Long, Long, Long Road to Fargo” by Sara Corbett, The New York Times April 1, 2001.

Alone, the use of only hard facts would make for a semi-interesting story, but combined with the use of personal stories, Beatty tells a believable account of real events. Basically, Beatty shares her own story as well as evidence that verifies the events in order to record her perspective on gang violence and the effects of poverty on children. Beatty’s powerful combination of ethos, pathos, and logos effectively conveys the impact of financial insecurity on her young students.