The students in the second grade classroom that I am tutoring in grew up in very different socioeconomic and cultural environments than those of which I grew up in. The students come from low-income families and Hispanic and African-American cultures, while I grew up in a middle class white culture. Although these differences exist it has not been difficult to find areas in which to associate with these children. The boys in the class are a little easier to associate with because we have common interests such as sports and music. Sports and music each have many Hispanic, African and Caucasian Americans cultures represented. By relating to the students in these areas and by using analogies that the children can associate with in relation to sports and music, the differences between race and social status become less noticeable. The girls in the class also have some areas in which I can relate the criteria of the classroom to. My wife is a big Walt Disney movie and artifact collector, so by proxy I am also a Walt Disney fan. (I do enjoy some Walt Disney stuff, ie. Alice in Wonderland, Fantasia, Disney World) Also, I have twin daughters at home, so I picked up a couple of tricks here and there in order to relate to them. Carlson says that in order to protect minority rights it is essential to make the classroom a place of equality and respect the differences between cultures. By teaching democratically and relating educational subject matter to aspects of these minority students lives in a way that makes them excited about learning are all ways in which to intersect my experiences with that of the students.
Although I am not the oldest student on campus, I am older that a good majority of the student body of the state college. The fact that I am older than most students that are participating in the tutor program, gives me certain advantages that come with age. I have been out in the working world and found that it can be a tough place to try to make a living. Also, certain aspects of life such as bill deadlines, dealing with c0-workers, customers (home owners), managers and business owners, the joys and rigors of family life are all experiences that come with age. These examples are all ways that one learns how to persevere through the many different cultures of power that exist in society. These experiences can be passed down in terms that students can understand in order help them be better participants in the democracy of the United States. By teaching these students to challenge essentialistic world views by relating my experiences, not directly, but from a universal perspective, the barriers such as race, gender, sex and age that Carlson states, can effectively be broken.
From what I have learned thus far from class and my service learning experience, it is embarrassing to say that I pretty much thought that all children had the ability to receive a universally equal education. By this I mean that all children, whether rich or poor, would receive the same education if they chose to grasp it. Boy, was I wrong. There are so many inequalities in the education system that many books could be written and have been written on the subject. It seems that the deciding factor in receiving a good education comes down to money. Cities and school districts that have money are more likely to have students that are achieving because funding can be provided for the best teachers, books, transportation and school maintenance, while the poorer cities do not such privileges.
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Your conclusion, there, starts to drift into Kozol territory, too. But it seems true that one of the biggest factors in quality of education is money. This makes sense, I suppose, since accounting for Kliewer's individual needs or Goldberg's linguistic needs or Delpit's cultural needs requires both work and money. Also, the more of these factors that need to be taken into account, the greater the cost. So, the more multiculturally diverse a school is, the more expensive it is to run effectively.
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