School Space

In the short story,“The Sanctuary of School,” by Lyndd Barry, the author uses characterization, the building of one’s personality and feelings, to create a central idea. The central idea that is supported in this short story is that home is not a place, it’s a feeling of love and safety. The writer of the story,“The Sanctuary of School,” proves the central idea that home is not a physical place but a feeling hope and protection, through characterization.

He explains an encounter where a teacher told him, “‘Sit in the encounter until you learn English’”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg32). This quote shows that even in the first grade Castro realized that racism was alive and present, and it was wrong. He believed that it was wrong for the school to be treating him a certain way (badly), simply because of his culture. Through the testimonio, these early encounters show us how Castro’s identity and core values were shaped. Furthermore, Castro’s testimonio allows him to tell a fuller story of social activism. For example, Castro vividly recalls the Watts Riot that took place in Los Angeles. The Watts Riot was the result of the community reacting to allegations of police brutality against an African-American motorcyclist. Castros explains, “If you lived or worked anywhere near Watts, located south of the downtown area, you saw and smelled the smoke from the burning cars and buildings.”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg131). This demonstrates how the testimonio gave us a different view of social activism that was occurring during the time period. It is portrayed to us through a personal response of someone who experience it first hand. As the Blowouts progressed the Chicano students attitudes changed. A student explains after the movement, “‘were the first time that we began to develop consciousness...It was very affirmative. Thats where you began to have an identity’”(Garcia & Castro, Blowout! pg 322). The Chicano

This exemplum shows the author’s viewpoint well; not only is the school overpopulated with 1,500 students, but it is also mainly filled with minorities, as given by the principal’s statement “this would not happen to white children.” (page 244) It reinforces his purpose by giving the audience an example of how his perspective is true in order to allow the readers to consider the author’s argument.

11). Due to his recent revelation to the reality of his identity, he encountered a series of plateaus during which he contemplated whether he should associate with the “colored” race or with the white race. He was now aware of his true identity: partially African-American and partially white. From this point onward, he endeavored to understand whether he is black or white. He did not know where he belonged in society. He contemplated his responsibility to his race versus his responsibility to himself. He tried to embrace life as a ““colored”” man at times, and other times he chose to pass as white. His life was full of contradictions and he could not decide which racial community to assimilate in. He eventually realized that his personal identity did not align with the pre-established racial boundaries.

It demonstrates that even without juridical discrimination; hate speech, lowered expectations, and dismissive behavior can have devastating effects on achievement. Black members of the blue-eyed group forcefully remind whites that they undergo similar stresses, not just for a few hours in a controlled experiment, but every day of their lives. Although these concepts are food for thought… they are merely preludes to the main course. The most important lesson to be learned here is that just one person can make a difference.       Next we join a group of 40 teachers, police, school administrators and social workers in Kansas City - blacks, Hispanics, whites, women and men.

The black characters in the novel are all victims of this “separate but equal” mentality; the younger characters yearn for real equality and the older characters have settled in to their lives by accepting their “fate.” The existing structures of society in Bayonne, Louisiana prevent black characters such as Grant Wiggins and Vivian from ever breaking out of their social class; both are forced to remain in their lives as teachers of young black children who will also grow up to live limited lives. Wiggins says of his classroom, “I’m the teacher... and I

Also like Jackie, Beals had a life-changing experience, she was going to be one of the first African American students to attend an all-white school in Little Rock Arkansas. On her way to becoming one of the first African Americans to attend an all-white school, people did many hateful things to her. She had to be brave and confident to accomplish her goal of becoming the first African American to integrate into an all-white school. In paragraph eighteen, Beals states, ”We stepped up the front door of Central High School and crossed the threshold into that place angry segregationist mobs had forbidden us to go.” The “segregationist mobs” tried to prevent Beals’s entry into the school, which is a challenging event. These events caused Beals to grow and develop into one of the pioneers to integrate into an all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas. In paragraph eighteen the text states, “Where none of my people had ever walked before as a student.” Beals’s reactions impacted her society by ending segregation in schools across the country. In paragraph sixteen, Beals states, “I felt proud and sad at the same time, Proud that I lived in a country that would go this far to bring justice to a Little Rock girl like me. But sad they had to go to such great lengths.” Her reactions impacted her society because now that the United States

Hughes feels like his race places a large part in his education at the prestigious school he attends, stating “I am the only colored student in my class / The steps from [my school] lead down into Harlem,” (799). This is an obviously intentional phrase. Hughes knows his race and where he’s from is important to the white members of his school, whether negative or positive. In turn, Graff speaks about this in the beginning of his essay and says “... my preference for sports over schoolwork was not anti-intellectualism so much as intellectualism by other means,” (299). Here, Graff is essentially saying that teaching in his school was biased against non-standard means of education, and therefore could not cater to the needs of the “working-class ‘hoods’” (299). In this respect, educational bias of race or intellectual preference is prominent on both of the author’s essays, even though the direct quotations may not reveal it outright.

On the other hand, Nguyen talks of the language difficulties that she experienced being a Vietnamese in the United States. At first, she is enrolled to a school far from home as it offers bilingual education to help her integrate with the system of learning. She works hard to raise her academic performance with hopes of falling in favor with the teacher. However, as the teacher knows her Vietnamese origin, she manifests her stereotype on Nguyen’s comprehension in literature readings. For instance, while it was her turn to read, the teacher would interrupt her making sentiments such as “you are reading too fast….things she did not do to other students” (Nguyen, 35). She also faces a “school-constructed identity” together with her sister with all sorts of jibes thrown against them. As Vollmer puts it, “such assumptions affect the interpretations made of student behavior and school

Racial formation is a vast sum of signifying actions and social structures that clash in the creation of complex relationships and identities that is a labeled race. Throughout the history of the United States, a large array of strategies was engaged in regarding education that took advantage of nonwhites. Since policies by those who supposedly “protect our rights” attempted to eradicate social, economic and cultural aspirations, dominated groups were more often than not suspicious of the school 's interests. According to John Ogby, “children from dominated cultures often failed school because they considered the school to be representative of the dominant white culture” (Spring, 101). This portrays racial formation having an effect on equality. “Acting white” meant to attempt to do well in school because

Born in 1993 in segregated Monticello, Mississippi, Rod Paige, the African American U.S. secretary of education, said in retrospect of his own experience in school: “They [white students] had a gym. We played on dirt courts. They had new textbooks. Our textbooks had the covers torn off. We marveled over the cleanliness of their brick school” (qtd. in “50 Years” 68).

White sets the tone for the piece by informing the audience of his “increasing admiration for the teacher in the country school.” This simple beginning statement puts a positive image of country schools into the readers’ minds without too harshly pushing his opinion upon them, which could in turn, result in alienation of the audience. By using this technique, White is able to begin to persuade readers without them even realizing

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.

In James Baldwin’s article “A Talk to Teachers” he utilizes paradox, tone, and anecdote to persuade the audience that an educational system where students are taught the true meaning of American history and identity must be established in order to create a society where people of all races contribute their ideals to society.

James Baldwin was an African American author who grew up in Harlem. In his “Talk to Teachers”, he discusses how society connects to education. He shows that society shapes a child’s education by conditioning and telling them how to view their place in life. According to Baldwin, society shows that there are unfair rules and regulations in a country that is supposed to believe and practice freedom. When the child grows up, they will realize that they do not have equal opportunities as other children and will then question their own identities. To fix these contradictions, Baldwin believes education should “create the ability to look at the world for himself.” He also believed that a child should “examine everything in order to achieve change and a sense of their own identity.”