Promt 2: Johnson

I loved being able to use infoworks to compare and support my classroom observations with statistical data. The classroom I am tutoring in is made up of mostly Hispanic and African American students. When I looked up the breakdown on infoworks I wasn’t shocked to find out that the student population at this school is 64% Hispanic and 24% African American. There is one white student in the classroom and only 6% of white students make up the population of the school. English is a second language for 27% of the students and while infoworks says that these students receive bilingual education services, I have yet to observe this. The only reference to Spanish I have observed is in the pronunciation and sounds of what they are reading, but I’ve never heard anyone speak it outright. A lot of the students come from low-income or poverty backgrounds with 86% of them being eligible for free or reduced lunch price. From what I understand of the students that I tutor, their parents work multiple jobs and tend to be in and out a lot. Most of them have older siblings that look out for them in between. It tends to be the same students who miss class most often and who almost always neglect to have a parent signature on their school papers.
The most prominent assets that the children bring to the classroom are their open minds and open hearts. Johnson talks about needing to see the world for what it is and he believes that once we can do this that the issue of power and privilege can finally be addressed. One day a boy named Derek came walking into class late and was crying. He took off his backpack, settled into his desk, and began working, but never stopped crying. Mick, the boy I had been working with at the time went over to Derek and gave him a hug. Many of the other kids followed suit one at a time until almost everyone in the classroom had made an effort to console him. I did not ask Mick to explain, but he did regardless. He whispered across the table to me that Derek cried because he really missed his mom and that it’s hard because his sister is now in the hospital. He continued to say, “He’s my friend because I know how he feels sad.” They aren’t really close so I saw Mick’s statement and display as him stepping off of Johnson's so called "path of least resistance". In catholic school crying was ignored. A student may pat another on the back, but it was not discussed; it was more so glossed over. I saw a change when I transferred into the public school system, but unless you were good friends with the person it was still, for the most part, ignored. Though the kids in this situation are choosing to recognize it and are taking steps at addressing it. The privilege Johnson refers to has always, in my experience, been given to those that do not allow their emotions to show or those that do not let another's emotions effect them. These kids, however, have deemed it necessary to show support no matter what the differences may be between them. This is the lesson that Johnson aims for in a more general regard. He wants us to recognize when something is wrong and be willing to do something about it. The kids are the future and it seems as though it will be a bright one with open minds and hearts leading the way.