Changing History

As we talked about in one of our previous classes, these articles all seem to be alluding to the same thing: how to fix America's Capitalist systems?

Both Greider and Zweig reference the importance in teaching society the differences in divide class from gender and race while also promoting equality in the economic market.

This past week I attended a sports game in Boston, and everywhere there were "BOSTON STRONG" shirts, hats, bags, flags, etc., everything you could slap a label and a price tag on. These corporations are profiting from a tragedy to Massachusetts and these United States. They are more than likely, exploiting foreign workers to make these shirts, working class Americans to sell these items, and manipulating this product into a symbol of hope, when really they are just making the rich, richer and the inequalities greater.

I agree with what the two authors have to state when what America needs to make it a more equal place. It is a series of thoughts that must occur by every American to make these systems dissipate and replace the injustices in this country.

Women and Inequalities

The articles this week are all excellent examples of women being suppressed by social systems that promote inequality. They easily lay out the inequalities that women face in this country in the workplace.

While the article I particularly liked was the argument of the minimum wage be increased to $10.10 an hour, along with a tip job minimum of 70% of that, it is time that not only Matt Rose see that waitressing and minimum wage jobs take skill that has not been compensated for since the increase in industry during the 70's and 80's. The statistics don't lie on how these jobs have not increased pay as the profits and economy's inflation has expanded.

The articles that addressed the double inequality of black mothers, and the black women who were effected by Katrina, and their lost history, they show the public the inequalities of their world, and assist in making this world a better place for everyone. The ideas of blaming the poor for their problem are not going to go away without informing those who might not be exposed to it.

Class and Education

All three of these articles worked well together. They gave three good aspects of ways to look at the education system as a series of values, privilege, and class markers. Anyon's article in particular was very interesting to read. The schools that he compares in this article is a real eye opener about how an education system can really deprive a child of critical resources to achieving "the American dream" while also showing how it can place students in a position of high privilege in resources and critical thinking. This is good in comparing that article to Gorski's "The Question of Class," which also compares children of different social/economical classes. While Anyon's article is primarily based in the classroom, Gorski's looks really at the time spent outside school and goes into depth about after-school activities that effect the resources and development of children. Gorski's article also went into more depth about race and how that can effect a child's learning ability, and resources; like when the black mother was concerned that her daughters were discussing their racists bus driver.

While Laureau's short article was helpful to see what teachers could improve on in not judging their students, and encouraging equal opportunity for the parents and children. Although it did not pose the system of privilege and suppression, which is a critical factor in getting people's attention that there is more of a problem then we see.