The video related to chapter 6 of our text because this conference was advocating for one religion only. It seemed to be discounting all other religions and values. Even though I am a Christian, this video made me uncomfortable in a few ways. I didn’t like the cheesy background music, lol. I found it was strange that they would acknowledge a former Islamic terrorist, which made me wonder what types of terrorist activities did he do? I didn’t care for the lady saying that our feelings and emotions don’t matter. It is my belief that God cares about our feelings and emotions because He even knows the number of hair we have on our heads. This source is conflicting with our textbook because our book is saying that the founders of our country argued over what to put in the constitution and that there were many diverse religious backgrounds. The YouTube video is saying that our country was based on God’s principles and we need to get back to that point. I guess my viewpoint was originally in line with what the video was saying. I thought that our country was founded on sound Christian ideas. After reading the book’s perspective, I think that religious diversity was the undertone of the founding principles of the United States.
I guess I wrote too much so it wouldn't let me post all in one clump. Here are a few more comments... Chapter 6: Many of te first colonies of the United States did not know how to deal with religious diversity. They wanted to designate faiths by established churches. Pennsylvania was one of the first areas to experiment with denominations. I found that interesting because now there are so many denominations that I can’t even name them all. Religious differences slowly began to emerge from our nation when ideas beyond Christianity, such as deism and atheism formed. Even though these new ideas emerged, that didn’t mean those groups were accepted. “Religious freedom was also not extended to those who rejected religious beliefs” (Koppelman 2008). In our Bill of Rights, it promised freedom of religion for people. However, many minority groups such as the Jews experienced limited power because of the minority status of their religion. As the USA began to receive more immigrants, there was more religious diversity. Catholic immigrants arriving to the US caused fears and distrust in Protestants. In public school textbooks, there were anti-catholic ideas. This caused the creation of separate Catholic schools within our nation. In Philadelphia there were Bible riots over reading the Bible in school. Protestants wanted their Bible read, while Catholics wanted the opportunity to read their Bible during that required time. People met and argued over this which led to riots, which led to churches, homes and a school burned, 58 deaths, and many injuries. This all seemed ridiculous to me when I read it. People are fighting over what Bible they want to read, why can’t every person decide for themselves which holy book they want to read? If it is our faith, we should be able to choose the holy book we want to read. Another thought I had was, wow, they were reading the Bible during the school day? I had no idea that was built into the school day. In 1900, a third of the US population was born in a different country. That fact astonished me as well because today there are approximately 10-13% foreign born adults in the USA; according to my online research of population of the US in 2000-2007. The Ku Klux Klan made a comeback in 1915 and I learned that they were not only violent and intolerant toward people of color but also “hostile to Catholics and Jews” (Koppelman p.149). When this group has been mentioned to me, I usually cringe at the thought of the violence they have caused. Religious stereotypes of Catholics may have been removed from school textbooks after riots, but new biases always seem to arise. By the time the Catholics weren’t the minority in 1870, school textbooks were prejudiced against Jews by stereotyping them as cunning and greedy. From 1890-1920’s colleges put a limiting number of Jews that could attend their institutions. That baffled me as well. Why would colleges profile a prospective student and not let them attend based on the number of that racial or religious group attending?
And a few more...sorry I was so wordy this time ;) Chapter 7: “It is imperative that Americans understand how we benefit from diversity and that we learn more about previous and current contributions of diverse groups in our society because the real threat to our nation is not diversity but ignorance” (Koppelman p. 165). I really liked this quote from the chapter. This helps to remind me to value all others, reach out to all others and embrace differences, not ignore them. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was an interesting concept. It is silly how hard we try to be the same when we know that we are all different; life would be so boring if we were all the same. Before reading the melting pot section, I thought about how I learned about America in elementary school. The melting pot was taught as a good thing in school, a blending of many cultures and it was idealized in those young years. I hadn’t realized that this was a negative approach because it emphasized oneness and colorblindness. That is why reading, research, and communication are important in uncovering our biases and opening our minds to other ideas. Pluralism is emphasized in a positive manner through the remainder of the chapter. A couple of quotes that stood out to me were (all from Koppelman 2008): “If people consciously feel proud of who they are, it is easier to set goals and to believe they can be reached.” This resonated with me as a teacher and reminded me that even though I am working with some tough kids, I can be the person who encourages their confidence to succeed. “Diversity is a strength as it relates to problem-solving.” Diversity increases the need for interdependence and the variety of strengths in a people group. “…American belief that each person is unique, and most of us our proud of those factors that establish our individuality. The United States has always consisted of people from different cultures, races, and religions. If we value our won uniqueness, it is logical and consistent to value what is unique in others. Pluralists value human differences.” Educators reject oppression by advocating for cultural differences and standing up against oppression. Authentic social change will not occur in a positive way unless we talk about cultural differences, advocate for differences, and form alliances. We need to be a people open to communication and learning about each other so that our communities don’t suffer in misunderstandings, prejudices and stereotypes which can lead to violence. Educators embrace oppression by not standing up against oppression, by not doing research, by not reading, by not communicating to try and reveal our biases. If there is religious acceptance in the classroom, an educator needs to accept all religions and not just his or her own. If an educator is teaching about religion, they should teach about many religions.
Hope you had a good recess. I really extended mine and didn't realize it was the next week until today. Mid-terms and pre-enrollment will do that.
ReplyDeleteSo, back to the book and Chapters 6 and 7. Your post is to analyze these chapters in light of the video (link is on the blog topics document).
The video related to chapter 6 of our text because this conference was advocating for one religion only. It seemed to be discounting all other religions and values. Even though I am a Christian, this video made me uncomfortable in a few ways. I didn’t like the cheesy background music, lol. I found it was strange that they would acknowledge a former Islamic terrorist, which made me wonder what types of terrorist activities did he do? I didn’t care for the lady saying that our feelings and emotions don’t matter. It is my belief that God cares about our feelings and emotions because He even knows the number of hair we have on our heads. This source is conflicting with our textbook because our book is saying that the founders of our country argued over what to put in the constitution and that there were many diverse religious backgrounds. The YouTube video is saying that our country was based on God’s principles and we need to get back to that point. I guess my viewpoint was originally in line with what the video was saying. I thought that our country was founded on sound Christian ideas. After reading the book’s perspective, I think that religious diversity was the undertone of the founding principles of the United States.
ReplyDeleteI guess I wrote too much so it wouldn't let me post all in one clump. Here are a few more comments...
ReplyDeleteChapter 6:
Many of te first colonies of the United States did not know how to deal with religious diversity. They wanted to designate faiths by established churches. Pennsylvania was one of the first areas to experiment with denominations. I found that interesting because now there are so many denominations that I can’t even name them all.
Religious differences slowly began to emerge from our nation when ideas beyond Christianity, such as deism and atheism formed. Even though these new ideas emerged, that didn’t mean those groups were accepted. “Religious freedom was also not extended to those who rejected religious beliefs” (Koppelman 2008).
In our Bill of Rights, it promised freedom of religion for people. However, many minority groups such as the Jews experienced limited power because of the minority status of their religion.
As the USA began to receive more immigrants, there was more religious diversity. Catholic immigrants arriving to the US caused fears and distrust in Protestants. In public school textbooks, there were anti-catholic ideas. This caused the creation of separate Catholic schools within our nation. In Philadelphia there were Bible riots over reading the Bible in school. Protestants wanted their Bible read, while Catholics wanted the opportunity to read their Bible during that required time. People met and argued over this which led to riots, which led to churches, homes and a school burned, 58 deaths, and many injuries. This all seemed ridiculous to me when I read it. People are fighting over what Bible they want to read, why can’t every person decide for themselves which holy book they want to read? If it is our faith, we should be able to choose the holy book we want to read. Another thought I had was, wow, they were reading the Bible during the school day? I had no idea that was built into the school day.
In 1900, a third of the US population was born in a different country. That fact astonished me as well because today there are approximately 10-13% foreign born adults in the USA; according to my online research of population of the US in 2000-2007.
The Ku Klux Klan made a comeback in 1915 and I learned that they were not only violent and intolerant toward people of color but also “hostile to Catholics and Jews” (Koppelman p.149). When this group has been mentioned to me, I usually cringe at the thought of the violence they have caused.
Religious stereotypes of Catholics may have been removed from school textbooks after riots, but new biases always seem to arise. By the time the Catholics weren’t the minority in 1870, school textbooks were prejudiced against Jews by stereotyping them as cunning and greedy. From 1890-1920’s colleges put a limiting number of Jews that could attend their institutions. That baffled me as well. Why would colleges profile a prospective student and not let them attend based on the number of that racial or religious group attending?
And a few more...sorry I was so wordy this time ;)
ReplyDeleteChapter 7:
“It is imperative that Americans understand how we benefit from diversity and that we learn more about previous and current contributions of diverse groups in our society because the real threat to our nation is not diversity but ignorance” (Koppelman p. 165). I really liked this quote from the chapter. This helps to remind me to value all others, reach out to all others and embrace differences, not ignore them.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) was an interesting concept. It is silly how hard we try to be the same when we know that we are all different; life would be so boring if we were all the same.
Before reading the melting pot section, I thought about how I learned about America in elementary school. The melting pot was taught as a good thing in school, a blending of many cultures and it was idealized in those young years. I hadn’t realized that this was a negative approach because it emphasized oneness and colorblindness. That is why reading, research, and communication are important in uncovering our biases and opening our minds to other ideas.
Pluralism is emphasized in a positive manner through the remainder of the chapter. A couple of quotes that stood out to me were (all from Koppelman 2008):
“If people consciously feel proud of who they are, it is easier to set goals and to believe they can be reached.” This resonated with me as a teacher and reminded me that even though I am working with some tough kids, I can be the person who encourages their confidence to succeed.
“Diversity is a strength as it relates to problem-solving.” Diversity increases the need for interdependence and the variety of strengths in a people group.
“…American belief that each person is unique, and most of us our proud of those factors that establish our individuality. The United States has always consisted of people from different cultures, races, and religions. If we value our won uniqueness, it is logical and consistent to value what is unique in others. Pluralists value human differences.”
Educators reject oppression by advocating for cultural differences and standing up against oppression. Authentic social change will not occur in a positive way unless we talk about cultural differences, advocate for differences, and form alliances. We need to be a people open to communication and learning about each other so that our communities don’t suffer in misunderstandings, prejudices and stereotypes which can lead to violence.
Educators embrace oppression by not standing up against oppression, by not doing research, by not reading, by not communicating to try and reveal our biases.
If there is religious acceptance in the classroom, an educator needs to accept all religions and not just his or her own. If an educator is teaching about religion, they should teach about many religions.
The gremlins are in my computer again. I am having trouble posting so hopefully this works and I will try to get the post to post before the weekend.
ReplyDelete