There are quite a few factors to misdiagnosed students. First off, part of the blame is to fall on those doing the diagnosing. How willing is the doctor or teacher to really figure out what it that is wrong with the student? Or is the overseer just going through the motions? At the end of the day, it comes down to what is expected of the child through the eyes of those judging him. If there person diagnosing him cannot see themselves working with the child, they may that much quicker to write them off as disabled. Race also plays a factor in how the child is diagnosed. If the child was white, maybe the teacher or doctor, would spend a bit more time really finding the root of the child's learning difficulties.
If a white child has a hard time learning, maybe they're just need a bit more time with the material. If a black child has the same issues, he may be more likely to be written off. Perhaps because he is not expected to rise to anything greater, his disabilities are almost expected.
Depending on the ethnicity of the teacher, race can be a huge bias in terms of how the student is diagnosed. A white child may seen as more capable, and thus, a disability is seen as less likely to be attributed to said child. A black child may be seen as already lesser, and thus, lesser learning capabilities are almost expected.
Race an LD are seen as pegs down in society. In other words, once someone hears that you have a disability they already will begin to think differently of you even if they havent even met you. Race, as we have seen, has this same inherent effect on people. People may beging to form thought about your skills and potential even if you havent really done anything. Stereotypes are all the same. If you're dyslexic, then you can;t read at all. Just like if you're black you steal. They are stereotypes all the same.
Medicine can be seen as a scape goat to many of the problems we see. Perhaps a child of color is very creative and has a massive imagination. Something of this magnitude should be capitalized, and yet, if a teacher goes on to misdiagnose the child, he can be restricted to Adderal to keep him quite. A potential artist is now confined by drugs to become normal. A true waste of human potential.
Race and LD can interlock because they can be seen by outsiders as equal parts to a dovetail. If they are colored, they are lesser, and thus more prone to disabilities of sorts. This mistaken thinking can really overload the LD system and under equip people of color for the upcoming future. Thus the vicious cycle repeats itself.
WC:472
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Pre-Reading Questions: Week Six
To play the game of life as a white straight male is preached by John Scalzi in his blog Whatever as easy mode. In other words, to be anything but is to raise the difficulty level for your life. The darker the skin, the farther the slider goes from easy to hard on the difficulty scale. The smaller minority you fall into, the farther you will be pushed away by the majority.
I see things a bit differently though. In my opinion, to be a white male is to play life on the normal difficulty setting. To be a minority is to try and achieve positions commonly held by white males in society is hard mode. Easy, on the other hand, is to be a minority, but to play the roles given to them by the others.
To explain, fitting into the puzzle is simple when you are the perfect piece for the spot. It is change that is difficult. To mold yourself into something society does not expect of you is truly hard. To grow up in a ghetto with poor schools, lack of guidance and terrible mentorship, it's easy to fall in with bad crowd, drop out, or resort to drugs as means to happiness. It's a vicious cycle of life that spits out the same product it consumes. Whites have had a head start in this country. They conquered it with nasty tactics, and have been in control since. As a result, they have been able to define themselves as the norm, while every other race has had to play catchup in a system created by whites, for whites. Naturally, minorities are seen simply as supplemental to the process. Not much is expected of them, practically cast off to carry menial jobs. It would be easy to assume the role handed to them by whites, it's ultimately a cop out. To break the cycle, and inject themselves into the system, become the round peg in the square hole, is hard.
So, if a minority can adjust his/her difficultly level, then could a white person?
I really do believe they can, in fact, I think a white person can possibly put themselves on the hardest difficult level of all. This can be done by representing the minorities. Not only are they becoming a round peg in a square hole in the only way they can, but they are immersing themselves with many people who are not like them at all. This people may even resent them, be intolerant of them. These people are social workers, whole hearted teachers in the ghetto, supporters of civil rights that they are not apart of. These people hope to change the system, level it all out. As of now, it may seem meek, but it had to start somewhere.
Cherríe Moraga was a feminist poet who earned a master here at SFSU. She specialed in her free writing about her chicana heritage. Her work has been widely recognized, even earning her recognition and monetary supplementation by the United States artists.
Audre Lorde was a writer and poet, she was also a lesbian. known for her rigid stance and outlook, she was even known amongst other feminists as an outsider. She would die of cancer, but not before creating one of her most well known works, The Cancer Diaries.
In terms of political organization, a minority must have as wide of an umbrella as possible to really gain momentum. By this i mean that it shouldn't splinter off into such a niche that it doesn't have a good foundation. Strength in numbers rings true. OInstead of a gay asian men organization, why not a gay minorities one?
Yes, privilege can be gained through race. That being said, one can give up this privilege by sending themselves into a society not built around them.
Some questions I have: Do women feel different then man of the same race? Also, what are some of the differences they feel in society?
Word Count: 665
I see things a bit differently though. In my opinion, to be a white male is to play life on the normal difficulty setting. To be a minority is to try and achieve positions commonly held by white males in society is hard mode. Easy, on the other hand, is to be a minority, but to play the roles given to them by the others.
To explain, fitting into the puzzle is simple when you are the perfect piece for the spot. It is change that is difficult. To mold yourself into something society does not expect of you is truly hard. To grow up in a ghetto with poor schools, lack of guidance and terrible mentorship, it's easy to fall in with bad crowd, drop out, or resort to drugs as means to happiness. It's a vicious cycle of life that spits out the same product it consumes. Whites have had a head start in this country. They conquered it with nasty tactics, and have been in control since. As a result, they have been able to define themselves as the norm, while every other race has had to play catchup in a system created by whites, for whites. Naturally, minorities are seen simply as supplemental to the process. Not much is expected of them, practically cast off to carry menial jobs. It would be easy to assume the role handed to them by whites, it's ultimately a cop out. To break the cycle, and inject themselves into the system, become the round peg in the square hole, is hard.
So, if a minority can adjust his/her difficultly level, then could a white person?
I really do believe they can, in fact, I think a white person can possibly put themselves on the hardest difficult level of all. This can be done by representing the minorities. Not only are they becoming a round peg in a square hole in the only way they can, but they are immersing themselves with many people who are not like them at all. This people may even resent them, be intolerant of them. These people are social workers, whole hearted teachers in the ghetto, supporters of civil rights that they are not apart of. These people hope to change the system, level it all out. As of now, it may seem meek, but it had to start somewhere.
Cherríe Moraga was a feminist poet who earned a master here at SFSU. She specialed in her free writing about her chicana heritage. Her work has been widely recognized, even earning her recognition and monetary supplementation by the United States artists.
Audre Lorde was a writer and poet, she was also a lesbian. known for her rigid stance and outlook, she was even known amongst other feminists as an outsider. She would die of cancer, but not before creating one of her most well known works, The Cancer Diaries.
In terms of political organization, a minority must have as wide of an umbrella as possible to really gain momentum. By this i mean that it shouldn't splinter off into such a niche that it doesn't have a good foundation. Strength in numbers rings true. OInstead of a gay asian men organization, why not a gay minorities one?
Yes, privilege can be gained through race. That being said, one can give up this privilege by sending themselves into a society not built around them.
Some questions I have: Do women feel different then man of the same race? Also, what are some of the differences they feel in society?
Word Count: 665
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