Answer some/ all of the following questions:
Week 7-Specific Questions:
What role do Bajaj et al. suggest bullying plays within schools? What might a sociological understanding of bullying be?
What connections do the authors suggest or imply between racialized tracking and racialized school segregation (considering the work by Du Bois and Lewis & Diamond last week, and Hannah-Jones this week)?
Considering readings from Week 7 and Week 6, who are the actors maintaining social hierarchies, and how does this manifest (i.e., what role do various actors play)? What does this suggest to you?
Considering readings from Week 7 and Week 6, at what level(s) of context (macro, meso, micro) do you see racialized and class-based hierarchies operating? What does this suggest to you?
Weekly Questions:
What do you think of the authors’ arguments? What is compelling? What flaws do you see?
How does this fit into the theoretical frameworks we have discussed?
How do you see your own educational experiences fitting, or not fitting, into this picture?
Please feel free to tell a story, write a poem, etc. about this or present your discussion in another non-traditional manner.
What questions do you have or would you like to explore in class discussion?
Be sure to summarize each reading/ video/ podcast in 1-3 sentences each. This can be done in an integrated discussion (so, I encourage you not to list the summaries for each item before diving into your discussion, but to rather incorporate your brief summary where appropriate within a response to the above questions).
Assignment Formatting/Word Count Criteria
The reading response should be between 250 and 1,000 words. Identify the readings you are referring to and/or include in-text citations so that it is clear which work you are discussing. Provide a reference list for any readings/video/audio not assigned on the syllabus. Upload your response in a Word document
WEEK 7 (): PARENTS, TEACHERS, STUDENTS &
HIERARCHY MAINTENANCE
(45 pages reading + 2 hours of podcasts)
Bajaj, Monisha, Ameena Ghaffar-Kucher, and Karishma Desai. 2016. “Brown Bodies and Xenophobic Bullying in US Schools: Critical Analysis and Strategies for Action.” Harvard Educational Review, 86(4), 481-505. (21 pages)
Calarco, Jessica McCrory. 2018. Negotiating Opportunities: How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School. Oxford University Press. Pp. 1-30. (24 pages)
Hannah-Jones, Nikole. 2015. “The Problem We All Live With: Part I”. [Interview conducted by Ira Glass.] This American Life Episode 1.
Joffe-Walt, Chana. 2020. “1: The Book of Statuses.” Nice White Parents.
