Graduate School of Education and Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles Race, Class, Gender, and School

Inequality in the United States

Education 130; Friday 12:00 - 4:00 Spring 2014 Humanities A51 Office Phone #: (310) 288-3311 TAs:

Jonathan A. Carroll, Ph.D. Office Hours: By appt. Email: jon.carroll2@gmail.com

Laura Cervantes - Laura2010@ucla.edu Monique Lane - mslane01@gmail.com Shante Stuart - skstuart5@ucla.edu Kenjus Watson - kenjus@ucla.edu Troy Lau troylau@hotmail.com

` Course Syllabus Noted scholar and education advocate, John Dewey started his essay Democracy and Education this way: Modern life means democracy, democracy means freeing intelligence for independent effectiveness the emancipation of mind as an individual organ to do its own work. The idea of liberating intelligence is a novel one and you would be hard pressed to find an educator who would argue against this function of education. However, in todays landscape, where public schools close as private jails rise, it appears the space for emancipating intelligence is quickly shrinking. As the space for the work of the mind shrinks, the chasm between those who can find gainful employment and who cannot grows. Democracy, as Dewey so eloquently framed it relies heavily on the ability of the public to be educated. This need requires of those who acquire social capital that they reinvest in communities of need so that public education does not disappear altogether. The motivation to offer service will not happen without a keen understanding of how various groups currently experience the institution of education. This course will attempt to provide students with a basis for understanding the educational experiences of different groups in the United States. We will focus extensively on the following groups: African Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Chicanas/os/Latinas/os, Native Americans, Women, and low-income White Americans. The experience of these groups in U.S. public schools and their efforts to utilize education to improve their socio-economic status will serve as the focus for the course. To set a context for analyzing these experiences, we will also consider larger social issues such as the role schools play in the socialization of young people, and as instruments of social control and social stratification. We will examine how the historical development of public education in the United States has influenced its present form, and take a critical look at some of the current

issues and policy debates in education including the debate over school reform, bilingual education, and affirmative action. These pursuits will ultimately lead us to consider ways in which the problems facing U.S. schools can be more effectively remedied. Finally, throughout the course we will examine some of the issues facing Los Angeles public schools, and use this analysis as a case study for understanding the problems and issues confronting urban schools in the United States. Course Requirements There will be three assignments for the course. Each is outlined below: Guided Question Responses: Each student will be required to turn in periodic one-page (single spaced) guided question responses (GQR) to the readings for the previous weeks. The purpose of these responses is to gauge the manner in which students are processing course content, agreeing, or disagreeing with content and making meaning of topics in the course. The GQRs should not be mere summaries of course readings, but an analysis, critique, reflection and engagement with course readings. Students may be asked to share from their journal reflections to generate critical questions for class discussion groups. GQRs that are not turned in at section on the day of class will not receive full credit.

Midterm--Identity & Schooling Experience Paper: One of the topics that this course will address will be the social constructions of various identities, namely race, class, gender, and school inequities. The course is also interested with how these identities have been influenced your schooling experiences. To that end, students will be required to submit a 5 page paper which examines aspects of their multiple identities, the social construction of that identity, and how they influence their perception of themselves and of others. Students should discuss key factors, people, and experiences in the formation of their race, social class or gender identity, and how they believe notions of their identity were formed and are in a state of constant flux. Moreover, the paper should also address how your schooling experiences influenced this formation. The paper should give consideration to some of the following questions: -What, if any, privileges did you enjoy in your schooling experience, and why do think you did? -What disadvantages did you experience throughout your schooling experience? -How was race discussed or played out in your school and home experiences? -What messages did you receive/not receive about gender in your upbringing? -How did social class shape the quality of the education that you received? -How was your school and classes stratified racially? -What lessons did you learn about race, class, & gender in your neighborhood? -What students seemed to receive most privileges in your schools?

Students should incorporate any relevant readings or literature that has been covered in class (minimum of five) to write this paper in order to make connection between your experiences and various theories, ideas, and concepts discussed in the course. Final Research Paper--: The final research paper should examine one of the pressing issues in education that has been discussed over the quarter. The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate critical thinking across various perspectives, problem-posing inquiries, and attainable answers to complex problems in education. The final research paper must identify a research question, and the final paper should address that question. Students must pay attention to dissenting viewpoints, provide critical analysis, and incorporate a minimum of 10 references from the course in the final paper. Students will be required to address one of the topics discussed (with approval of your TA) in class and provide a more detailed account of the issue based on various resources. This final paper, which should be 10-12 pages in length should not only include a critical analysis of the selected topic, but also should provide further research on the topic, and offer new interpretations, or creative ways to rethink varying issues involving race, class, gender, and schooling in the United States. Grading Policy The final grade for the course will be based upon the following criteria: Lecture & Section AttendanceMandatory Guided Question Responses-Due every other class--20% Midterm PaperDue 10/29--30% Final Research PaperDue 12/6 -- 40% Attendance & Participation10% Discussion Sections All students will be required to participate in a weekly discussion section following class. During discussion time, students will be required to participate in, and generate discussion, and participate in activities with the other students in the section. Also, TAs will use the time during the discussion section to address student questions or review relevant themes, readings, or topics. All assignments will be turned into your discussion section TA. You will be notified about your discussion section time and location during the first day of class. There will be two textbooks for the course. There will also be readings listed on the course website. The two texts are: Howard, T.C. (2010). Why race and culture matters in schools: Closing the achievement gap in America's classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press. Milner, H.R. (2010). Start where you are but dont stay there: Understanding diversity, opportunity gaps, and teaching in todays classrooms. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

*All papers should be written in APA format. SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND ASSIGNED READINGS EDUC 130 SPRING 2014
1) Fri 4/4 Introduction to the Course: Syllabus Overview. Historical and Contemporary Considerations for U.S. schools (No class. We will send out a prompt where students must reply on message board and respond to at least two classmates) Access and Equity in Schools Read: 1) The Flat Earth and Education: How Americas Commitment to Equity will determine our future, Darling Hammond; 2) Achievement Gap, HowardChapter 1; Changing Demographics, Howard, Chapter 2 The Role of Education in American Society Read: 1) Tracking, Oakes; 2) School Knowledge, Anyon. 3) Transitions to adulthood. 4 ) Presidential Address, Ladson-Billings Culture & Education Read: 1) Whose culture has capital, Yosso 2) Culture, HowardChapter 3; 3) Culture & Education, Erickson (Guest Speaker K. Watson) Race & Schooling Read: 1) Child Poverty in America (CDF) 2) Portrait of Inequality (CDF), Blacks & Latinos 3) Milner, Chapters 1-3 (Guest Speaker R. Milner) A Look at Gender in American Schools Read: 1) Gender bias and curriculum, Klein. 2) Educational equity for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered,. . ., MacGillivray. 3) Feminist thinking, hooks.; 4) Homophobia, Lund & Callaghan. Education and Socialization: Resistance and Agency Read: 1) Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Freire; 2) Examining Transformational Resistance, Solorzano and Delgado-Bernal; 3) In Their Own Voices, Lee; Teaching, Privilege & Opportunity Gaps 1) Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, McIntosh; 2) Milner Chaps 1-3) The Possessive Investment of Whiteness, Lipshitz (Guest Speaker S. Stuart) Language & Culture Issues in Education Read: 1) Asian Pacific American Students, Pang, Kian & Pak; 2) Mesitza Consciousness, Anazaldua 3) Beyond the Methods Fettish, Bartolome. Mexican immigrant high school students, Valadez Hope and Implications for Future Schooling 1) My Pedagogic Creed, Dewey; 2;) A Talk to Teachers, Baldwin. 3) A note to educators, Duncan-Andrade. 4) Examples of School Success, Howard, Chapter 7 (Guest Speaker M. Lane)

2) Fri 4/11

3) Fri 4/18

4) Fri 4/25

5) Fri 5/2

6) Fri 5/9

7) Fri 5/16

8) Fri 5/23

9) Fri 5/30

10) Fri 6/6