Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Administrator ALIPAC's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2004
    Location
    Gheen, Minnesota, United States
    Posts
    67,706

    peanut butter sandwiches are RACIST! Schools beat the drum for equity

    Published on Wednesday, September 05, 2012 | Written by Jennifer Anderson | |

    Student performance, achievements are focus of conversations


    by: JONATHON HOUSE/TRIBUNE PHOTO - Harvey Scott School Principal Dr. Verenice Gutierrez leads a talk about race with her staff just before the school year starts. Racial equity is a top focus for the school and district.

    Verenice Gutierrez picks up on the subtle language of racism every day. Take the peanut butter sandwich, a seemingly innocent example a teacher used in a lesson last school year.
    “What about Somali or Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” says Gutierrez, principal at Harvey Scott K-8 School, a diverse school of 500 students in Northeast Portland’s Cully neighborhood.
    “Another way would be to say: ‘Americans eat peanut butter and jelly, do you have anything like that?’ Let them tell you. Maybe they eat torta. Or pita.”
    Guitierrez, along with all of Portland Public Schools’ principals, will start the new school year off this week by drilling in on the language of “Courageous Conversations,” the district-wide equity training being implemented in every building in phases during the past few years.
    Through intensive staff trainings, frequent staff meetings, classroom observations and other initiatives, the premise is that if educators can understand their own “white privilege,” then they can change their teaching practices to boost minority students’ performance.
    Last Wednesday, the first day of the school year for staff, for example, the first item of business for teachers at Scott School was to have a Courageous Conversation — to examine a news article and discuss the “white privilege” it conveys.
    Most of the staff are on board, but there is some opposition to a drum class being offered to middle school boys of color at Scott School.
    Fifty percent of the students at Scott are Hispanic; another 15 percent are black and 9 percent are Asian. Eighty-five percent are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
    Chuck Barber, who also offers boys’ drum corps at Vernon and Faubion schools in Northeast Portland, approached Gutierrez last year to start up a lunch-time drum class for black and Latino boys once a week. This year, it’ll expand to two classes a week, to accommodate new boys as well as those with experience.
    At least one parent has a problem with the the class, saying it amounts to “blatant discrimination and equity of women, Asians, whites and Native Americans.”
    “This ‘club’ was approved by the administration, and any girls who complained were brushed off and it was not addressed,” the parent wrote anonymously.
    Gutierrez denies that any students were turned away from the drum corps, and vehemently rejects any suggestion that it is discrimination to offer a club catering to minority boys.
    “When white people do it, it is not a problem, but if it’s for kids of color, then it’s a problem?” says Gutierrez, 40, an El Paso, Texas, native whose parents were Mexican immigrants. “Break it down for me. That’s your white privilege, and your whiteness.”
    by: JONATHON HOUSE/TRIBUNE PHOTO - Harvey Scott School teacher Kim Wilson engages in a discussion about race relations during a seminar for faculty and staff at the school on Wednesday.

    Not for the weak

    Like many if not all of PPS’ leaders, Gutierrez has gone through California-based consultant Glenn Singleton’s “Coaching for Educational Equity,” a weeklong seminar on race and how it affects life; she’s also become an “affiliate,” certified to teach the equity curriculum; and she serves on the district’s administrative committee to address systematic racism, a group that meets every other week.
    “Our focus school and our Superintendent’s mandate that we improve education for students of color, particularly Black and Brown boys, will provide us with many opportunities to use the protocols of Courageous Conversations in data teams, team meetings, staff meetings, and conversations amongst one another,” Guitierrez’ letter to staff reads.
    Equity training aside, Scott School must teach the same number of students with fewer teachers and resources. Down five full-time positions this year, including two reading specialists, Gutierrez is trying desperately do more with less.
    “My first year as principal, I looked at the data and found that the eighth-graders that year, a third of them were going to Madison (High School) at about a third-grade level,” she told the Tribune. “I said, ‘This is completely unacceptable.’ “
    That led to her adopting what she calls the school’s “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”: that every student will make two years’ growth in one year’s time in reading, writing and math.
    Last year, teachers set out to tackle that goal, meeting in teams to look at data and coming up with creative ways to target their instruction.
    “We want to teach them to be critical thinkers,” Gutierrez says.
    The results, by the end of the year, were promising, she says. The biggest achievement was among the kindergarteners: All but three of the 63 students met their benchmarks at the end of the year.
    Among the other grades, there was “tremendous growth in pockets,” she says. “Now we need to make it happen school wide.”
    Despite that year of work, Oregon’s Department of Education just last month identified Scott as a “focus school,” one that performs among the state’s lowest 15 percent.
    Five other PPS schools are state-designated focus schools as well: Jefferson High; César Chávez K-8; and Rigler, Whitman and Woodmere elementary schools.
    The designation comes with $5,000 per school and a state-appointed coach who’ll work with each school team on an improvement plan.
    Another six PPS schools, which ranked among the state’s lowest 5 percent, are newly designated as “priority” schools: Madison and Roosevelt High; Ockley Green K-8; and King, Rosa Parks and Woodlawn elementary schools.
    “I’m excited by the fact that we’re designated a focus school by the state,” Gutierrez says. “It’s an added layer of accountability.”
    She’s so motivated to see growth that she’s adopted a new school vision: to be an “academic beacon” for Northeast Portland, where students achieve at high academic levels in two languages.
    “This isn’t for the weak,” she says. “We have less resources. We can’t impact that. I want to walk away from Scott when my tenure is done and be able to say that school is achieving just as well as Alameda or Sabin, or any other school in the city. Why not?”

    http://portlandtribune.com/pt-rss/9-...rum-for-equity
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  2. #2
    Senior Member southBronx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    4,758
    Hello
    now Peanuts butter is racist . what the hell going on . why we had this sandwich in school & with jelly
    also. it was a good day we all had this . you for got PS 43 that on 135 & 136 street bet willis ave & Bp
    & PS 9 that school 138 street . & St Jerome's that on Alex Bet 137 & 138 street yes we all had this Peanuts
    & jelly sandwiches. I for got along with Pea soup. is this all racist
    Get your head Out of the sand .

  3. #3
    Senior Member oldguy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    3,208
    Public education long ago ceased to function IMO liberals run the show while we have some good teachers they are feed propaganda to hand down to our children, we will continue to fail as a nation unless we change public education.
    I'm old with many opinions few solutions.

  4. #4
    Senior Member Kiara's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Rhode Island
    Posts
    2,393
    I havn't met a kid yet who doesn't like peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches, no matter what race they were. Racist? Are you friggin kidding me???

  5. #5
    Senior Member southBronx's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    4,758
    you are 100 % right kiara
    No amnesty Or dream act

  6. #6
    Senior Member 4thHorseman's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Gulf Coast
    Posts
    1,003
    now Peanuts butter is racist . what the hell going on
    I don't know what the hell is going on, but George Washington Carver would not agree that peanuts are racist. The man responsible for the development of the peanut as a significant food source and industry would either be aghast or laughing his head off at how ludicrous this assertion is. What next? Will Iowa State University have to rename Carver Hall? I wish them all Montezuma's Revenge.

    [QUOTE Racial equity is a top focus for the school and district. ][/QUOTE]

    Why not try reading, writing, American History (the real version, not the Muslim one), basic math and basic science? Think how refreshing that might be. And how courageous, You might be the only school district in the country with the fortitude to do so. Or how about something really radical like teaching the kids to think for themselves and how to apply basic logic instead of brainwashing them?
    "We have met the enemy, and they is us." - POGO

  7. #7
    Senior Member artclam's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2006
    Posts
    728
    George Washington Carver must be turning over in his grave.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Ratbstard's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    New Alien City-(formerly New York City)
    Posts
    12,611
    Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet must then also be racist.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  9. #9
    Senior Member ReformUSA2012's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,305
    This teacher needs to be strung up by their toenails.

    Seriously how is peanut butter sandwiches racist? Its an American classic and Americans are made up of many many races many of which consume these peanut butter sandwiches that are now racist? Maybe these kids from other cultures simply need to adapt or bring their own lunch to school. The school can't afford to have 50 choices available for every possible culture that may be at the school. It is still an American school and assimiliation is the key.

    Now just show me 1 kid that doesn't like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches who isn't allergic to say peanuts or such. The kids eat it and have no thoughts of it being racist or bad for them...

  10. #10
    Senior Member ReformUSA2012's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,305
    Quote Originally Posted by Ratbstard View Post
    Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet must then also be racist.
    Guess this means making a fair wage, workplace safety, fair working conditions, welfare, free education, free emergency medical care, and so on and so on as well must be Racist because they are all American things.

    Guess if they don't like our racist culture they better pack up and go home because if peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are racist so is everything else they came here for even money.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •