Wise

A Particularly Cheap White Whine: Racism, Scholarships and the Manufacturing of White Victimhood By Tim Wise
-Megan
1.)"White students are twice as likely as their african american or latino counterparts to be taught by the most highly qualified teachers and half as likely to have least qualified instructors in class."
1. I chose this quote because I found it very disturbing.
2. This quote is saying that already privileged white students have even more benefits by having the more qualified teachers teach them.
3. This line is giving a specific example as to how white students are more privileged than the nonwhite students.

2.)“Fact is, there are plenty of scholarships that have nothing to do with merit per se, but about which conservatives say nothing: scholarships for people who are left-handed, or kids whose parents sell Tupperware, or the children of horse- breeders, or descendants of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, among many thousands of such awards (3). Apparently, it's OK to ensure opportunity for members of these groups, despite the fact that none of them have faced systemic oppression before, but it's the height of immorality to do the same for students of color, who have indeed faced explicitly racial obstacles in their lives.”
1. I chose this quote because I believe it to be entirely true.
2. This quote is explaining that there are thousands of scholarships out there available to students for things that they have no control over, that not based on grades or talent, that are acceptable but being colored is not an acceptable reason for getting a scholarship.
3.This line is addressing the issue of affirmative action and explaining why it's not any different from many less controversial scholarships.

3.)"Whites would enjoy extra and unearned opportunity relative to people of color, thanks to pre-existing advantages to which we were never entitled in the first place."
1. i chose this quote because I think it's a serious problem that we have as a society today.
2. This quote is saying that whites have less challenges just because they are white and they have no reason for life to be easier.
3. The quote is important to the piece because it further explains how nonwhite students have more obsticles than white students do.

Overall I found that this piece was easy to rad, but kind of redundant because I knew that most of these things were going on in the world. Unlike the other articles we have read there was almost nothing surprising about this reading. When reading this I was wondering if anyone in class personally, or knew someone who had been affected by something like this.

Kahne/Westheimer

"In the Service of What?" by Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer

1.) In contrast, much of the current discussion regarding service learning emphasizes charity, not change".
1. I chose this quote because it speaks directly to our classroom service project.
2. This quote is saying that while we do service learning as a good deed and a learning experience, we should be using it as a means to make ourselves installers of change.
3. This quote contributes to the overall piece by explaining the difference between what we are doing with service learning time opposed to what we should be doing.

2.) "Unfortunately, in many service activities, students view those they serve as clients rather than as a resource."
1. I chose this quote because it explains how I feel about my service learning project. Before reading this I didn’t really see myself as a resource, but now I see that I should and that I can be of some value to the kids that I work with.
2. This quote is explaining how volunteers see themselves; we think that we’re doing service to get something out of it for ourselves, but we can really do it for the benefit of the kids too.
3. The quote contributes to the article as a whole because it is describing the value of volunteers.

3.) In Atlanta students simply write a 500-word essay describing their experiences. They never discuss their experiences as part of a course.”
1. I chose this quote because I though it was a powerful one.
2. This quote is saying that when students do service they end up not even thinking of it as a requirement anymore. They can often see it as something that they can enjoy.
3. This quote is important to the article because it shows that students can really end up valuing required service time.

Overall I thought that this article was easy to read. I enjoyed this article because it made me think a lot about my service learning project and how far i have come with it. It made me wonder if my fellow students are feeling the same way about thier service time as I am?

Christiansen

Christiansen
"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us"

1.) "Our society's culture industry colonizes their [student's] minds and teaches them how to act, live, and dream"
1. I chose this quote because I thought it was one of the most powerful lines of the whole piece.
2. This quote is saying how children soak up everything that they see in the media or hear on television and learn what their ideals should be based on these things.
3. This line contributes to the article as a whole because it set's up exactly where the author will be going with the piece.

2.) "Young people, unprotected by any intellectual armor, hear or watch these stories again and again, often from the warmth of their mother's of father's lap. The messages, or "secret education," linked with the security of their homes, underscore the power these texts deliver."
1. I chose this quote because I thought that it was a thought provoker. I though that it was interesting there are so many stereotypes that we learn as kids based on the stories that our parents read to us.
2. This quote is explaining how as young people, with no real knowledge to defend ourselves with or any real ability to form an opinion, we are exposed to may literatures that my expose some bad ideas to us.
3. This line is important to the piece as a whole because it kind of opens our eyes to the "dangers" to reading to kids and the things it could expose them to.
3.) "No one wants to admit that they've been "handled" by the media."
1. I chose this quote honestly because I loved it, it's really so true.
2. This quote is explaining a hard truth that none of us ever want to admit, we are all subjects to the media wether we like it or not.
3. This quote is presenting a fact that the author will further explore and this gives the piece a direction to move in.

Overall I did not find that this was a hard piece to read and I actually found it to be pretty interesting. I think that this would be an interesting pice for parents to read so that they might be aware and try to intercept some of what their children get from the media. One question I thought of while reading this article is what might people in the class find that they have come to "believe" or account to media exposure.

Blackface on America's Next Top Model Controversy

http://www.stylelist.com/2009/10/29/blackface-on-americas-next-top-model/2