Journal Entry #4.

1. Conscious, willed refusal of schooling for political or cultural reasons is not acknowledged as an appropriate response to oppressive education. (Kohn 5).

I thought a lot about the two quotes that I picked. They are similarly linked and it really gets me thinking about the way our education system is set up. We really have an education system that is focused on a certain race of people, whites. Now it’s important to get a well-rounded education focusing on all different groups and really, students are being exposed to a very closed mind education system and really by refusing to learn it’s trying to turn the tides and really force the school system to look at the root of the problem.

2. However, not learning is a healthy though frequently dysfunctional response to racism, sexism, and other forms of bias. In times of social movements for justice, such refusal is often turned to more positive mass protest and demonstration, and the development of alternative learning situations. (Kohn 5).

This really brings up what is going on in Arizona right now. Students are being forced to learn a certain criteria and really in order to try and get a more culturally rounded education system students protest by ways of not learning. They are rebelling against the teachers and really the criteria and this has happened a lot and is a way to peacefully protest.

I really am thinking about this concept a lot and what is going on in Arizona right now and both of these quotes have relevance to it in the sense that it’s really a way of silent, peaceful student protests against, like the quote stated, “racism, sexism, and other forms of bias.”(Kohn 5). A lot of these students whose Ethnic Studies classes are being taken away don’t really have ways of protesting and I think this way is something that they could do, to prevent racism, or if not prevent it but to open the eyes of teachers and leaders to see what is going on. Many of the students used this as a method before the Ethnic studies classes were brought in to show that really, the education they were receiving was very closed minded, directed for mainly “white” students in a sense that the education and criteria that was being taught was specifically for white students and didn’t quite share the history of other cultures and minority groups. Through the bringing in of the ethnic studies classes the graduation rate of Latinos/as has increased and students had found that passion of learning once again and let go of the “not-learning” state of mind. Once again their education is being threatened again I won’t be surprised if these students go back to protesting in the way they started hopefully opening the eyes of bystanders to really gain the support of others.