Provenzo Chapter 10

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Main Points

1.

Our nation has

imperfectly
championed ideas of
freedom,
democracy, equality.

2.

We are a nation that

was founded on the
conquest of native
or indigenous people
and slavery has
played a critical role
in our historical
experience.

3.

4.

We have assigned privilege and

power to groups based on their
origins, economic, power, and
geography: whiteness and
privilege have dominated our
culture.
As teachers and border crossers
it is essential that we
understand the experience of
dominated cultures; not to do so
is a basic error that diminishes
us not only in our work but also
as a culture and society.

5.

Privilege and oppression are not

limited to those addressed in this
discussion.

Dominated cultures:

People conquered as part

of European settlement
of North America
People brought here as
slaves
Colonized as part of the
U.S. global expansion
Perceived as inferior by
the dominant culture
Not provided equal rights
Physically segregated
Taught by members of
the dominant group

Language, traditions, and

values are trivialized,
considered inferior
Limited access to social and
economic opportunities
Deculturalization: when
the dominant culture strips
away the culture of the
dominated group

Methods used in educational settings

Segregation and
isolation
Forced change of
language
Curriculum reflects
culture of dominant
group
Textbooks reflect culture
of dominant group

Dominated groups not allowed to

express their culture and religion

Teachers from the dominant

group

Colonized people are directed,

they do not direct themselves

2 million people
About one percent of the U.S.
population
7% in BIA schools
5% in private schools
88% in public schools
To describe Native Americans
with a single descriptive term is
like describing Italians, Greeks,
Norwegians, and Russians as
Europeans.
Speak at least 200 different
languages.
Primary goals: civilize the
savages and convert them to
Christianity.

Native
Americans

Education

1879: first federally

sponsored school, the
Carlisle Indian School
Captain Richard Pratt: All
the Indian there is in the
race should be dead. Kill
the Indian in him, and save
the man.
In 1928, federal report:
Native American children
be educated in their own
communities not boarding
schools.
Self-determination: late
1970s and early 1980s.
Funding decreased under
the Reagan administration.

Puerto Rican
Americans

When taken over by the U.S.,

Puerto Rico was well on its way
toward independence.
Puerto Rican independence was
brought to a standstill with the
invasion of the country in 1898.
The Puerto Rican population,
despite its Spanish, African, and
Native American roots, was
forced to assume U.S.
citizenship.
Hawaii and the Philippines are
other examples of colonial
expansion in the late 19th
century.

African
Americans
When importation of slaves

outlawed in 1820s, over 10

million Africans had been
brought to North America.
In a slave society, Africans
viewed as tools for benefit
of owners.
Essentially, compulsory
ignorance was the policy
established for African
children under slavery.

Opposing Models of
African American Education:
Booker T. Washington

Washington supported policy of

accommodation.
Rejected idea of social equality
between African Americans
and whites.
African Americans as separate
as the fingers from the white
population
But, like the fingers on a hand,
inevitably linked.

W.E.B. DuBois

DuBois argued for the training

of the talented tenth of the
African American population
Serve in positions of leadership
in education, the ministry,
politics, and business.
According to DuBois,
Washingtons compromise
threatened the political power
of African Americans, their civil
rights, and the possibility of
higher education and its
benefits.

The Movement for Civil Rights

Black Codes
Laws restricting the rights of newly freed
African Americans after the Civil War.
Illegal to marry across racial lines,
Voting dependent on owning property,
Eliminated Blacks from serving on juries,
etc.
1954 Brown V. Board of Education of
Topeka:
Supreme Court decision: Separate
facilities were inherently unequal.
Feeling of inferiority. . .unlikely ever to
be undone.

1955: Brown II
Students to be admitted on a
nondiscriminatory basis with all
deliberate speed.
Resistance throughout the South
Little Rock: first real test of the
desegregation laws.
1957, Arkansas Governor sent National
Guard troops to Little Rock to prevent
African American students from
entering.
President Eisenhower sent troops to
Little Rock to enforce Brown Decision.
Process of social change had begun.

Civil
Right
s

Compensatory Education

Effort to achieve greater educational

opportunity
1965 ESEA: one billion dollars in Title I
funds
Assigned to school districts to help
disadvantaged children
For children whose families live below the
governments poverty level.
Established in 1965: compensatory
education programs (e.g., infant
education, early childhood education,
basic skills, counseling, and dropout
prevention programs) in nations schools.
Best known: Head Start--disadvantaged
children preschool readiness program

Dominated Cultures and

Privilege

Teachers:

Usually white, middle class

More suburban than urban

Cultural references: Eurocentric

Moderately conservative

The Mercator projection:

Parallels of latitude, which are equal distances

apart on a globe, are drawn with increasing
separation.

Greenland and Antarctica: enormously

exaggerated, although their shape is preserved.

Relative size of the worlds countries are

incorrectly represented.

Cultural bias is operating when the world is

portrayed using a Mercator projection.

Maps are useful tools.

We need to know the extent to which they

unconsciously influence our view of the world by
establishing a normative practice.

This is also the case with issues such as

privilege, and especially what has been
described as white privilege.

Main Points

1.

Our nation has

imperfectly
championed the
ideas of freedom,
democracy, and
equality.

3.

We have assigned privilege and

power to groups based on their
origins, economic, power, and
geography. Whiteness and
privilege have dominated our
culture.

2.

We are a nation that

was founded on the
conquest of native
or indigenous people
and slavery has
played a critical role
in our historical
experience.

4.

As teachers and border crossers

it is essential that we
understand the experience of
dominated cultures. Not to do
so is a basic error that
diminishes us not only in our
work but also as a culture and
society.

5.

Privilege and oppression are not

limited to those addressed in
this discussion.