anti-Arab prejudice?

Zaire mentioned something in her paper about Arab-Americans now in fact being the group that is most the object of discrimination---something which occurred to me with this Norwegian terrorism at first being blamed on Arabs than apparently on a blue-eyed(shades of Mrs. Elliott) Norwegian.

Maybe we can talk about this on Monday. Keep on reading ULTIMA. 

Remaining Assignments

1. Finish the Diversity book for Thursday (tomorrow)

2, Revise your Cedric essays for Thursday (tomorrow)

3. obtain the Anaya (Bless Me Ultima) and bring it to class tomorrow

4. For next week--a 500-word (2 page) essay on affirmative action--define the term, and say what you think of it, whether you are for it or against it, and how long it needs to continue.

5. For next week-a 500 word draft personal statement for admission to college. 

A Hope In The Unseen

 Links for some of the issues we addressed this week. Here you can read about the 'Tiger Mother'. Here is an essay by Malcolm Gladwell about his biracial background.

Again we are beginning A Hope In The Unseen for next week. Please read as much as you can over the weekend. If you make good progress, try to read Defending Diversity, or at least start it, as well.

Things to think about for next week:

1) What is your ideal college? Where would it be located (urban, suburban, rural)< what kinds of classes would be offered, what kind of people would go there? What would the facilities and buildings be like?

2) Think about Melba's experiences in Warriors Don't Cry, and those of her peers, and compare them to the ostensibly more receptive environment Cedric faces.

Beginning to think about papers:

These are the two alternate paper topics for the July 14 (again, Thu, not Fri) due date. Choose one of these, the one you find most interesting.

1. Why doesn’t Cedric fit in at the college he attends? Is it the school’s fault? His fault? The fault of a still-racist society? Nobody’s fault? Another option we haven’t thought of? Pick one of these and discuss, making sure to use evidence from the book,

2. Discuss Cedric's relationship with his father. What is working in that relationship, what is not? It is more a strength or a problem for young Cedric as he goes through high school and college? 

For now (on the blog) all I want you to do is post below one or two sentences that might begin to address either of these questions. anytime before we meet on Monday is fine. 

Segregation

We talked about integrating today and integration as a 'big word' in Pattillo Beals' view of it, but we did not really talk about segregation.

1) What does the word 'segregation' suggest to you? How would it make people feel? How for instance would Melba's grandmother have felt loving all her life under segregation  Can s'egregation' ever be good? (For instance, some people think boys and girls should be educated separately--how is this different from educating the races separately).

2) What sorts of activities in the old South would have been segregated, aside from school?

3) Our big discussing item--why was education such an important way to achieve an integrated society? Why did it matter so much?

And then we will finish our work on the photograph essay.

Remember, disregard references  to "Friday' in the syllabus; I meant 'Thursday'.

Grade Breakdown

Attendance and class participation 20%
Major Paper 1 30%
Major Paper 2 20%
other in-class writing 10%
Blog 10%
but as I said in class the key is just to stay with our very intense and fast-paced style and if you keep up you will get a good grade--and we will make every attempt to help you keep up!

Student Introductions

Student Introductions

We are still going to go around in class and introduce ourselves tomorrow, but feel free to intorduce yourselves here, and also to upload any photos or any improtant element of your self-expression.

Again please do look at the photos in WARRIORS DON'T CRY and dive into the book as well—as much of it as you can read. Just getting the main idea is enough.