Katrell - Blog Posts 2 & 4

Given your understanding of intentional and unintentional racism both through teacher-student interactions and curriculum development, how would you encourage diversity in the classroom?

Encouraging diversity in a classroom could be really simple. Not just sitting around and arranging seats to where students of different background’s sit with each other. But , simply just having activities in which students as well as teachers can get to know each other on a more personal level. Activities like answering questions about themselves or telling facts about themselves. Which would create bounds and relationships. Kids within the school system are always in search for friends of people to be around. For the most part a lot of the time it isn’t about what race people are. It may occur to them that they are from different ethnic groups or backgrounds but in older educational environments people take pride in where they are from or what they do differently.

Or simply again having ice breakers every beginning of class. This would also, encourage diversity because it opens minds towards new thoughts and ideas. Diversity isn’t just about ethnicity, it can be about learning style, Ethnic class, Economic status, Etc. A lot of things are in play when it comes to diversity. So just in an educational environment giving students the chance to learn about each other and communicate encourages diversity. Because of the fact it is opening the eyes of the students to be aware of new things.

In what ways has Brown vs Board of Ed achieved its goal of ensuring educational equity? And in what ways has it not?

I don’t believe that Brown vs Board of Ed achieved its goal of ensuring educational equity. I say this because even though schools are segregated and supposed to be all equal. In reality it is not. Even though this case promoted schools in a sense of blacks being able to go to school just like whites but not with them. Now the story is about public and private schools. Public schools typically have a strict protocol to follow when it comes down to curriculum and learning. The public schools also, tend to have more blacks and Latinos /Latinas statistically. Just like in old times schools for non-whites. I’m not saying there are no whites in publics but people would be less likely to find anyone white into the public school system. Furthermore Public schools are less funded and less privileged.

While on the other hand , there is the private schools. Private schools tend to be over funded and more so for the people who are privileged. Or as many would say economically privileged. And with these schools statistically tends to be more people of a white background with money. And since they are privileged , the things that are taught in privates tend to be more advanced than the things that are taught in publics. Only reason Brown vs Board of Ed can be considered to be a success because now blacks are now able to go to a structured school even though most of the time there are poor resources or material. There is still the opportunity for the same level of higher education or degrees.