Improving Education

Education of diverse students in public schools

Education is a vital aspect in creating strong communities. One of the challenges that is increasingly facing public schools, especially in America, is the difficulty of educating a diverse population of students. With the rise of globalization, the number of students coming to school in America from other countries is constantly growing. This can be hard, because schools are obligated to meet these students' needs on cultural, linguistic, and other levels. 

Working at a local elementary school as a part of a PLU mentor program, I have seen the importance of having programs that work towards getting all students fully engrained in the public school systems, such as English Language Learners (ELL).  ELL works to keep students who are learning English as a secondary language up to the same proficiency level as students who speak English as a primary language, or who speak English in their home. In my estimation, many ELL students benefit greatly from the program and are happy to use the extra help they are receiving.  Anthropology is important in the implementation of these types of programs. It gives an opportunity to study and learn about the other languages that the students are coming to school with, to learn about the cultures that these students are coming from, etc.

This helps in building tolerance, which is an important component in creating a successful, diverse school environment for all. Learning about the different lifestyles gives anthropologists a chance to teach other non-foreign students and teachers things about the foreign cultures to which their classmates or pupils may belong. Integration and the teaching of tolerance for other customs is the only way to avoid ignorance, discrimination, and negativity, which are all too common in diverse schools.

The Grapes (or, should I say, the oranges) of Wrath

Extra Credit # 3

One book that drastically changed the way that I viewed the world was The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I had to read it as summer reading for an English class that I took in junior year of high school. In the book, American farmers are forced to travel across the country to the West in search of work, land, and survival during and following the Great Depression. The region where they had worked had become useless because of drought, and they were forced to leave it in search of better chances.

There was one particular section of the book that had a profound impact on my life. It was the part of the story when companies where burning massive tons of oranges in order to keep the prices up, meanwhile people (migrants, or "Oakies", as they were called) were looking on in sadness, many dying of starvation. This was the first time in my life that I felt a real sense of injustice because of issues like this - and this is still a very real issue in some places. Food is constantly being wasted, thrown out because of excess, while it would be able to feed those who have nothing.  Of course I had seen all the commercials of the dying African babies, and had heard about the unbelievable amount of people in the world that live on less than one dollar per day, but I had not understood the major role that corporations and governments often play in these situations until reading this book.

Throughout the rest of the story, there were many other points that stirred anger and confusion in me. The book made me want to reach in and lend a hand to those suffering people. Although the specific characters were fictional, the reality is that these injustices did happen, and still do today.  The Grapes of Wrath helped me to know that whether or not the "fat and happy" people are paying attention, there are many people that are faced with horribly unfair situations daily. Now, in my everyday life, I try to be more aware of issues such as this that still continue.

Dancing y el arte

While watching the "Where the Hell is Matt?" video, I felt inspired and excited. Personally, I love to travel, too meet new people, and to learn about other cultures. What better way than to do this than by dancing and having fun? Seeing all of those different people going out and having a good time, regardless of whether or not they looked like fools, made me smile. The children and old people that danced were my favorites. They seemed so happy.

During the video I was struck by the commonality between all people on earth - from tribes in Papua New Guinea, to middle-class Americans from San Francisco; everyone looked joyous while dancing.  Although some of the styles were different, the evidence of the strong emotional effect that the dancing had on each person was strong. I believe that is why "the arts" are so culturally universal. All of the components of art (theater, music, dance, visual arts, etc.) tend to have immense effects on peoples' emotional well-being. Art can make people happy, sad, scared, surprised, and it can even help them deal with grief, among other things. From what I have witnessed, people seem to enjoy art because of this strong emotional connection that it invokes.  This ties in with other cultural aspects. Since culture is shared between many people in a group, art is one of the outlets through which people can share ideas, beliefs, and emotions with others in society. Because of art, different cultures can be identified by looking at their specific styles of art and/or art forms. Art helps to bind people together - both culturally, and universally.