Praxis through Pedagogy??? Day 22

Today the journal prompt was

Isaiah Berlin said that the civilized person ought to care about "how they came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether they wish to go there, and if so why, and if not, why not." Explain what the quote means. do you agree with it? Why or why not. Where do you think you appear to be going. Is that where you wish to go?

In my Asian American studies class I pulled sticks and asked questions and then we continued with the readings on Perpetual Foreigner syndrome. One of the hardest parts for me in school is knowing how long things will take. I think that this point I just have to realize that I don't know what I don't know. And that I will only learn as I do it. Plus I need to develop my own routines and style better and that takes time.

In my US history class I pulled sticks and reviewed and then we read more from Zinn. This section is really interesting because it is all about the racism in US thinking with regards to the Philippines. All the racism, paternalism and crap. I told them anecdotes about how Filipinos used to tightly wrap their bodies in bandages to act as tourniquets and take some herbs to numb pain, then they would go into US camps and slaughter US troops. The US troops would shoot the Filipinos but they wouldn't leave their friends behind with the US and so stories went around that the Filipinos were ghosts or demons because there were no bodies. So to keep a running tally of Filipinos killed the US would cut off heads from the Filipinos that they did kill and that's where the term head count came from. We also started to get into how the US soldiers called the Filipinos nigger. Also, the internal struggle among African Americans that went to the army to improve their situation and be patriotic, but recognized the problem that they were in the Philippines killing brown people that the white US forces called nigger.

In my 3rd period we went to a rally to "Take back our schools". Today is the 51st anniversary of Brown vs the Board of education and there was a student led protest that was going on. There were also student led workshops being held. We went to the protest which had a lot of different schools attending and from there we marched over to a church that held the workshops. It was a good chance to get the students involved in the community and social justice. I was worried cause my 3rd period is...raw and young. So before we went I told them there was a 1 pg. homework assignment on the workshop that they went to. They would have to tell which one they went to, what happened, what did they learn and what did they think about the whole thing. Also I threatened them saying that they were representatives of the school and that if they embarrassed me or the school that I would make it my personal mission to make their lives miserable. They did well. Some kids were acting like the immature young boys that they are, but for the most part they did ok. It's a good experience for them. I also mentioned that the principal didn't want certain students to go but that I stepped up for them to make sure that they did go...so those students shouldn't embarrass or let me down. I have to say though that the student led protests and workshops were pretty good. The students did a good job with it coordinating a lot of people.