Stuart Hall Lecture - Race, the Floating Signifier [Part 1/7]

Stuart Hall is the father of Cultural Studies, an interdisciplinary field that looks at the power structures in modern societies and critically analyzes the positionality of human subjects through varying lenses. This is a YouTube clip of a Stuart Hall lecture that explained race, racism, and racialization in such away that I was in complete awe. In summary, he argues the concept of "signifying" and how race is discursive. Similar to language race signifies. The black body represents oppression and a barbaric history, which is a visual representation of meaning.

Click on link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRk9MZvOd2c&feature=email

On McDonough's "Choosing Colleges"

Some thoughts on this text thus far: The 10th grade cut-off for exposure to college is very compelling since our after school programs are targeted to students from 7th - 10th. In addition the number one influence on what colleges students choose is social class. I was surprised a bit because I thought that academics guided where you apply, but that is one of the other leading factors. McDonough made an interesting example in that two students with the same strong academic background will choose different colleges based on their SES (socioeconomic status). The higher SES student will choose IVY and the lower SES will choose public colleges. Hmmm. This is extremely of interest to me since I am intrigued by how low SES students pigeon hole themselves into less challenging situations. It seems that fear, and social, familial factors have a huge impact on their college decisions.

Future Research Thoughts: (1) 10th grade cut-off premise effects college choice, the amount of colleges applied to and if students even apply. The pre-10th grade exposure can be further explored in a study regarding Latina/o students. (2) Latina/os dual language skills and cultural capital when applied to the premise above will show what? Positive: That Latina/o students do not correlate with the general rule, they surpass the standard. Without college exposure they do well in 11th and 12th grade and apply to colleges because of the language skill issue and cultural capital influences. Negative: (somewhat influenced by Cisneros statistics of Latina/o education) Latina/os are the lowest achieving high school students in the country. They drop out more and are less likely to attend college. Hence, then the 10th grade premise will show with a study of Latina/o students that they do worse than non-Latina/o students in reference to college exposure or that they are equal to non-Latina/o students in reference to applying to college, the amount of colleges applied to, and if the sorts of colleges applied to.

So I would like to study bi-lingual programs in Rochester and/ or Latina/o students in Rochester in there 10th, 11th, and 12th grade years and compare them to non-Latina/o students during these years and see how much this college influence premise effects the outcome of college choice.

The Latina/o Condition - Ideas for education research

So, I have been accepted to pursue a degree in education with a concentration on higher education. Furthermore, my interests lie specifically in Latina/o Studies. So what about this study interests me? First, the argument about Latina/o vs. whatever nationality you are prior to being a hyphenated American is compelling. I tend to rather than divide, to unite. So I believe in the Latina/o argument and that there is a need to combine varying Spanish-speaking populations into one group in order to have a political voice in America. Then, the case regarding research would probably lie more in issues of Latino Critical Theory. In my masters thesis, (1) I found it interesting that there is a black/white binary that can neglect other ethnic minorities that are not black like Latina/os. So the Brown vs. Board of education landmark was or was not a real stride for Latina/os in education or was it? (2) The issue of immigration with reference to documented vs. undocumented stigma in the American education system is interesting since being undocumented turns immigrants into deviants. So how does this relate to higher education, well I would like to do a study on the varying Latino groups in Rochester, specifically high school seniors schools with bi-lingual programs, to see how varying nationalities that do not have immigration documentation issues par against Latina/os who do have documentation issues. Or even, a study of these same high school seniors that are spread across various urban clusters that have a high concentration of Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Cubans and see how the compare in reference to college access. It would be something like Mexicans and Dominicans (undocumentation higher) on one side vs. Cubans and Puerto Ricans (undocumentation lower, one group is American citizens) on the other. I am interested in the dynamics because I hypothesize that the the group who has less documentation issues does better than the groups that usually has documentation issues.

There needs to be cultural programs in "Latinidad" at a collegiate and secondary level. Spanish Language inclusion programs like teaching urban city school students in half English and Spanish would be a good idea too, there has to be research on how Americans lag behidn their European counterparts in having dual language capabilities, and how having two languages early in life can increase your intelligence.

On Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers

There was a chapter in "Outliers" that focused on a school called KIPP in New York City and a 12-year old girl named Marita. It was a very interesting chapter that addressed how students in urban settings need longer school hours and need to dedicate themselves to hours and hours of homework a day. By doing this, 80% of KIPP students went to college.

Longer school hours and simulated academic environments at home or in the community would help motivate students. There are so many city students (even racial minorities in an suburan environment too) that lack the motivation of working at length on their reading, writing, and learning: things they do not enjoy or understand well. Since I work in an after school program, which provides these students with more academic help and support after school hours, it is tough to get them motivated. They dread having to do the work, and always state how they are tired from doing it in school all day. I believe the students have to have a deep drive like this young girl in the book Marita, but how do you create drive in 12-year old students? Maybe consistent positive mentors and life planning has something to do with it?

Ph.D. in Education Thoughts

So I am more comfortable in my plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Education over a Ph.D. in American Studies. I feel like I have a personal stake in what I am doing at the Urban League, and furthermore, my research interests will always be linked to my own personal struggles with inner-city education:not completing high-school and obtaining a GED. A Ph.D. in American Studies while will fuel my passion for criticism and global literature,requires a 2-hour commute and no possibility of working at the same time. The Education Ph.D. I can do part-time while I continue to work in and reasearch, at the same time, the instillation of urban collegiate pipelines.