A Solution to Segregation in Texas? (SumBlog 7)

This week in class we talked about how to solve the problem of segregation within education.  More specifically, we discussed how class, race, and ethnicity are not necessarily equally represented in different school districts.  One of the biggest factors impacting the predominate race and social class represented within an individual school is the economic opportunities for the families within that district.  The general trend is that the higher the class of a neighborhood, the better the test scores of the students in these districts will be.  It has also been found that in areas that face economic disadvantages, the students are predominately racial/ethnic minorities.  This, in turn, has led to a system in which our schools remain segregated (which was described in our textbooks).  Also, it has led to a system of inherent inequality.  However, one county in Texas thinks that they have the right solution to this problem.

A solution?

The theory behind this counties attempt is that if all of the schools have equal monetary resources, they will all be just as successful academically.  However, this is not necessarily true.  According to class material, funding makes little difference in test scores.  Diversity, on the other hand, makes a much larger impact on the test scores of students in public school districts.  Just because students are given more academic resources in the working class, cannot change the fact that they are from the working class.  Families in this class generally do not put the same emphasis on education as the middle and upper middle class.  However, by diversifying the student population, students could gain from the positive influence of their peers.

I did not pick the video that I chose just to say that it was not valid.  I simply picked it to show one real-world attempt at solving an obvious flaw in our education system.  I also chose to share the link because it demonstrates how complicated changing institutions in our country can become.  This was made evident by the fact that both parties are suing the state over the matter of the proposed change.

Defining Exploitation in America(SumBlog6)

Video Link: Walmart Strike

This week we spent a considerable amount of time discussing Karl Marx and his theory of exploitation.  I believe that a lot of times when people think of exploitation, they think of sweatshops in third world countries.  This is a valid thought considering how terrible the conditions are in many of the factories that produce our clothes and technological accessories.  However, there are also examples of exploitation right here in America that should be considered.  I chose to include the above video because it demonstrates how exploitation occurs here too.  This domestic example may not be as severe as those in third world countries, but that does not mean it should continue to be overlooked.

Exploitation, by definition, is a rather complicated thing to understand.  The first important concept involved is that employers purchase our labor through our wages.  However, they also gain from our labor through the capital that they gain from the finished product.  In the end, the employees are being exploited because they are not gaining the full benefits from their labor.  Also, many people end up giving free labor to their employers because the employers get more profit out of their employees than what they pay them.

Walmart is a department store that has yearly fiscal revenue in the hundreds of billions of dollars.  Yet, according to this video, many of their full time employees make below the poverty line (of a two person household).  The video clip attached to this post shows a group of employees that feel that they are being exploited by the corporation that they are working for.  Even though they make above the federal poverty line for an individual, they argue that they deserve to be paid more due to the immense profit that Walmart makes each fiscal year.  I like the perspective of this video because it shows exploitation from a way that most people don’t see it.  People can still be exploited without being poor or working in terrible conditions.  All it takes to be exploited is a system that demands a specific number of hours of labor that results in the employer making more capital off of each employee than they are paying that employee for their services.

Giannis Antetokounmpo and Double Consciousness (SumBlog 5)

Since very few people know who Giannis Antetokounmpo is, I will begin with a little biographical information.  Antetokounmpo is a 6’ 10” 205 pound rookie forward for the Milwaukee Bucks (yes Milwaukee still has a basketball team).  He was drafted 15^th overall in the NBA draft out of a second tier Greek basketball league (more on that later).  Giannis was raised in Greece but born in Nigeria, which has caused a case of double consciousness.  We defined double consciousness in class as a phenomenon that occurs when people from minority groups have multiple identities that can be very conflicting and thus create an identity issue.

According to a recent interview with sports illustrated, Antetokounmpo has always seen himself as Greek. He had been raised in Greece, so it was natural for him to identify with that culture.  However, the natives viewed him as dark-skinned, and therefore as something other than Greek.  Thus, his personal identity did not match the identity that the rest of society had given him.  This led to social problems throughout his younger years.  Antetokounmpo never felt like he belonged due to the racism and inequality he faced growing up, yet he was unsure of what he could be other than Greek.  Regardless, his lack of citizenship led him to be ineligible to play on club teams regardless of his talent.  This ineligibility to participate also explains why he went from a second tier team in a foreign country to being a first round draft pick here in the states.

The irony of the situation is, now that Antetokounmpo has become a serious contender for the NBA rookie of the year award, Greece has recently granted him citizenship.  Apparently now that he has achieved some fame his salient identity is now that of an NBA star rather than a minority.  This has led him to gain the privilege that has so long eluded him and his family.  Now Greece can feature “their” budding star on their national team.  It seems that Giannis Antetokounmpo has multiple identities, and that they will continue to develop and change as his career and life course continue.  It’s rather impressive to me seeing Antetokounmpo refuse to let any identity issues hold him back from his dreams.

An interview has been included for any of you that do not know anything about the Buck’s new star, or for those who are simply curious about his quick rise to fame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I906fd_6ww

The Land of Opportunity? (SumBlog4)

I am just one person, an individual, and therefore my life story is unique.  I have chosen to do a personal narrative because the topic is something that I am very passionate about, and something that people should be exposed to while they are still relatively young.  I think that everyone, especially those raised in a privileged social class, could benefit from the perspective I can provide.  I have several traits that have led to privilege in life. I am a young, able bodied, white protestant male.  These factors led to a relatively oppression free lifestyle.  I was also raised in an upper middle class household for the majority of my childhood years, which allowed for me to achieve a college education and to gain a good summer job.

Like a lot of people in my hometown, both of my parents worked in unionized positions at the local paper mills.  This allowed for me to have an exclusive opportunity to work at the mill during the summer in a vacation relief position.  This was a high paying job that was only offered to the children of mill employees.  Because of this restriction, there were a lot of individuals hired that had little to no work ethic or motivation.  They were given a privilege that they essentially did not earn or deserve.  This privilege was granted to us that allowed us to make a considerable amount of money, which in turn furthered our opportunities.  The company suffered from the sub-par performance of their employees’ children, yet they did not change their policies.  This is just an example of a nationwide structural issue: those that come from privileged families are given unfair opportunities to become privileged themselves.

These summer jobs paid for many of our educations, yet I always struggled with the fact that there were people out there that could do so much more with the opportunity than many of my coworkers.  There were a lot of kids in our community that would have killed for an opportunity to work in a job that could essentially pay their way through college.  I found it incredibly unjust that these kids were not even given the opportunity that we were to get the summer jobs working at the mill.  As a direct result, many of these kids were unable to attend secondary school.  I feel like this happens too often in our country, kids who are capable of great things are often held back due to a lack of opportunity and the oppression that coincides with it.  There is a romanticized view that our country is the land of opportunity.  However, in truth, this is only the land of opportunity for those that are already privileged