final blog post

I wanted to write about something interesting I thought about while writing my paper. I wrote about literacy and race, and how minorities do not have the same access to educational resources as European Americans have. In the readings that I wrote about, particularly Duncan-Andrade's and Ogbu's, I realized how big of a role teachers play in the success of the student. Both readings touch on how students have a disadvantage, whether they are first taught with "false hope" or whether they are involuntary minorities that refuse to conform to the "white"ways. Both Duncan-Andrade and Ogbu give strategies that help reduce these disadvantages and try to guide the minority students down a smoother path. These authors explain how important the teachers willingness to be effective is for the student. They need to learn how to connect the material to the students' lives and make it simpler for them to understand the vigorous curriculum. Being a role model for their students and also have more parent/community involvement is beneficial. While most people believe that students are responsible for achieving educational success, the teacher plays a huge role as well, and can provide a lot of assistance to minorities.