"Privilege, Power, and Difference" by Johnson

Due Wed 5/15: ASSIGNMENT A: Annotation, Talking Points and Argument

1st Article: "Introduction: Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice"

(Rethinking Our Classrooms)

2nd Article: "Privilege, Power, and Difference" by Johnson

Notes on Articles:

• In Article 1, interesting to have both words perpetrator AND victim in same sentence describing teachers on social inequities...
• love how article alters "mindset of reader/educator" to positive one in which they explore options in their control: it's "not about what we cannot do; it's about what we can do" (para 2); addresses the need to self-reflect on our own practice
• LOVE the quote from article 1: "critical teachers requires that we admit we don't know it all" 
• Johnson right off the bat admits he is in the dominant gender/race/class upon writing this article, makes for interesting perspective how he will "bridge" his own voice and experiences with others of differences, as well as use extensive research 
• I love how the Article 1 introduction addresses the theoreticians (or administrators/politicians) who are not speaking from real-world experience in the classroom when stating their beliefs, and it makes me wonder: how can we at the ground level connect at all with these people? How do we as a society shift the visionary thinking toward more of the practical and real-world experiences, in order to make better meaning of it?

This article snapshot shows the essence of everything I feel we need to do when teaching, and connect it all to the students' own lives to make it valuable to them. The students need this connection just as we do!

Talking Points:

1. (beginning) The article by Johnson discusses how we are in a paralysis because of the heavy weight of this social justice issue, and do not know how to make a move. How can we find practical ways, big or small to create necessary changes, address differences or resist the injustice? I admit, it can be severely uncomfortable and challenging when faced with hearing about racism happening in my own school between students and teachers, and how to best approach it/hold those accountable.

• Johnson addresses this when he states, "For many, the answer is some variation on 'human nature.' People can't help fearing the unfamiliar--including people of other races, goes one popular argument." (p.3)

• "The truth of this powerful force is everywhere, but we don't know how to talk about it, and so we act as though it's always somewhere other than here and now in the room with us." (p.7)

2. (middle) The fact is, we need to start these conversations about what justice looks like as early as those primary years (3-6 years old)! I was reflecting on Dr. Bogad's anecdote about how she was explaining the confusion of the "homeless man" to her son, and why he didn't have a home, go to a job, etc. We will encounter so much of this inquiry inside and outside a classroom, and need to be prepared and empowered to address it. This will allow their own perspective to open wider and grow more accepting of new, different thoughts/concepts (like a growth mindset). How do we encourage/embed these deep honest conversations in our students' daily lives so they receive them more than the vague or unfair messages our society perpetuates?

• this change in practice would then trickle down to create the democratic and just society we all want (*This connects to Article 1 since I 💜the label "community of conscience" from Asa Hillard and Gerald Pine in it, where students are truth tellers and change makers!)

3. (end) Toward the end of the article, the powerful message that "solving the problem" of privilege must be taken responsibly on by ALL parties on both sides of the line, not just the disadvantaged stood out to me. But how can we create opportunities to expose this awareness of the problem and motivate everyone to feel obligated to get involved and do something about it?

• Johnson says at one point, "The simple truth is that the trouble we're in can't be solved unless people who are heterosexual or male or Anglo or white or economically comfortable feel obligated to make the problem of privilege their problem and to do something about it. For myself, it means I have to take the initiative to find out how privilege operates in the world, how it affects people, and what all that has to do with me....Understanding how to bring dominant groups into the conversation and the solution is the biggest challenge we face."

Argument:

Johnson argues his deep concern and desire for a movement that seeks to uproot the complacent terrain of our current society (filled with privilege, inequities and "human nature"), and redesign the landscape for a more thoughtful, active, empowered, and open-minded one.

• Connective quote: "We can take in the strange and unfamiliar and learn to understand and embrace it, whether it's a new language or an odd food or the mysteries of death and dying or the person sitting next to us on the crosstown bus who doesn't look like anyone we've seen before." (p.6)