Reading 6

Chapter 6: Enter Postmodernism
Barker
Wow. How interesting to see the nation-state and military power as a social construction. I had listed Germany in the first exam as also a form of hegemony. The whole idea of nation-state was forced on the people such that denial of the state became a crime. Even today the idea of country and nation is so entrenched in the beliefs of all people that I find it amusing that American citizens with Mexican ancestry cannot see the irony in the the celebration of supplanting one nation with another in the La Raza Unida and LULAC rallies.

I have some problems with the facts of modernism in individualization and urbanization. I find that in many ways these are at opposite ends of the spectrum. To me the rural ideology is more entrenched in individualism than the urban ideology. The ability to self-sustain is far more applicable in a rural environment than urban where the person is more required to depend on others for needs and goods. I think of an electoral map of the United States that shows the rural maps invariably vote for individual rights over beauracratic services and redistribution of wealth in a community based manner. How does Barker explain this seemingly disjointed belief?


Chapter 7: Issues of Subjectivity and Identity
Barker

The thing that is most at the forefront of my mind during this chapter is the identity of women in immigrant cultures. At what point in the interactions with new societies do women become willing to address themselves as individuals in a new permissive culture? Do women's rights apply to women who willingly choose to not partake in them? Does the willingness of a woman to exist as a subjugated culture mean they are choosing as their identity this role or is this something the new culture should enforce on immigrant women?


Disrupting decifit notions of difference: Counter-narratives of teachers and community in urban education
Milner

When I taught over a decade ago it was in a rural school in East Texas that was 45% black, 45% white, and 10% Mexican (and by this I mean Mexican nationals who were working fields of agriculture or oil). Most of the Mexican students had limited English proficiency. While the number of students in each class varied from an urban environment the diversity, cultural beliefs, and transience were similar to those mentioned in the article. What I noted as I taught was that students LOVED hearing about my life (both past and present). It was interesting for me to read the article to find the applicability to rural schools as well. To this day I have relationships with past students and really appreciated the power of story to effective teaching.

I think I identified most with "Mr. Hall." Every day I taught I tried to find a similarity to my life so that students could see that I was not "other." That I could empathiize with their lives in some way.

It was interesting to watch Milner deconstruct the idea of "urban student." For so many situations I wondered what made each of these teachers good teachers versus what made them good for an "urban" environment. Milner presented the situations in ways that tore down the walls about socio-economic standards and made the reader identify the students as just that "students" and children at that.

What is the implication of consistency with students across demographics? Is this more important to students who perhaps lack it in their lives, or is this a need that all students need in that age group? Or is this a need all children have, period?