Learning from Facebook

The phenomenon of social networking sites (e.g., Facebook) requires researchers' consideration because the use of Facebook has spread dramatically. There are 55 million registered Facebook users worldwide (Facebook website, 2007). Due to Facebook's digital compositions, users can generate not only linguistic forms but also visual images (e.g. photos and video and audio clips) which increase their meaning transmissions in online communications. The digital composition of Facebook allows users to generate not only linguistic forms but also visual images which increase their meaning transmissions in on-line communications, especially across potential language barriers.

In fact, immigrant students' human, social, and intercultural capitals are intertwined while engaging in Facebook. Human capital is defined by Suarez-Orozco and Suarez-Orozco (2001) as education, resource, and skill. Social capital refers to networks and connections (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2001). Intercultural capital is defined by Luke (2004) as "the capacity to engage in acts of knowledge, power and exchange across time/space divides and social geographies, across diverse communities, populations and epistemic stances" (p. 229). Immigrant students' hybrid semiotic performances on their Facebook profile pages help them create transcultural identities, make friends with native and non-native English speakers, and connect themselves with the global audience. Through exploiting diverse linguistic and multimodal strategies, immigrant students are able to use Facebook to reach out in the mainstream society. In summary, Facebook provides immigrant students with a supportive and playful environment to build a strong social relationship with their classmates, friends, and even school teachers. In this spirit, the issue of how to integrate the advantage of this technology into teaching requires the attention from both school teachers and researchers.
-YEN-LIN CHOU, ED261

Cooling out in higher ed

The "cooling out" function of higher education is visible at the community college. The multiple missions of the community college such as transfer, vocational training, remedial education, and community engagement make an easy argument for some campuses to deflect from a transfer curriculum to that of a vocational degree. Specifically, Burton Clark in The "Cooling-Out" Function in Higher Education defines "cooling out" as the deflection from transferring from the community college to selecting a vocational training career. Students may voluntary choose to change their career choice to a vocational degree because of less rigorous academics, time of completion, etc. In Clark's argument reorienting students from a transfer track to a vocational track is still a success because the student will still have a return to their education and in his words, "the effect is to let hopes down gently and unexplosively." A student discouraged by grades and the length of transferring and completing a four-year degree may choose to complete a shorter terminal vocational degree and be "cooled out" from their original goal. The idea is keep the students by all means possible.

Arum and Howt in The Early Returns argue that in respect to economic return of vocational degrees, the time to degree and specialized training reflect the rate of return. Vocational degree recipients would earn less than a Bachelor's recipient but greater than a recipient of only a High school diploma. All in all, vocational degrees have positive labor market outcomes and increase social mobility.

A great community college culture accommodates to all its missions and creates a campus culture that is fluid and open to the mission's cross-sections. I heart the community college and its web of complexity and majesty!

-JOYCE ROYS, ED261

Can you wear cultural capital?

How is cultural capital signaled through dress? I had not given this question much thought until I met Dario and Dagoberto (pseudonyms) a little under a week ago. They are Juniors at a local high school and volunteered to participate in my qualitative study about Latina/o students’ perceptions of their educational environment. Both Dario and Dagoberto are successful students—they participate in a college preparation program, are taking AP courses, have high educational aspirations and a strong sense of direction about how to achieve their academic and professional goals. They interacted with me respectfully, they answered my questions thoughtfully and intelligently—I got the sense that they are ‘serious students’. Stop for a moment to recognize the image of a ‘serious student’. Who/what does that look like?

Dario and Dagoberto were dressed like “cholos”. Matute-Bianchi (1991) asserts, “students who affect the stylistic symbols of this category are frequently identified by others [students, school personnel, and police] as ‘gang-oriented’, ‘gang bangers’, or ‘gang sympathizers’. Some of the most common identifying characteristics of cholo attire can be generalized as baggy pants (often Dickies or Ben Davies brand), solid colored t-shirts (white, black, navy blue, etc), and perhaps a flannel shirt in the winter.

Through our interviews I learned that neither of these students were gang members. I also learned that they were aware that dressing like ‘cholos’ and being ‘good students’ was perceived as contradictory by their peers and their teachers. Dario felt it necessary to explain that “just because I dress like this doesn’t mean I can’t do good in school” and Dagoberto recounted an experience where he was confronted by a bona fide ‘gang banger’ who confused him with a member of the rival gang. I got the sense that they recognized their attire evoked negative reactions—that it was a liability. I also implicitly understood that the unintended consequences of their dress were simply collateral damage and that it was worth it to them. I got the sense that shedding their ‘cholo’ attire would leave them vulnerable—that they would also be shedding their hard image and this image was their protection.

Dario and Dagoberto are doing all the right things, but is their dress making all the wrong statements? What does ‘cholo’ attire signal to school personnel? Are they perceived as threatening and dangerous like the ‘other gang bangers’? Are they perceived as less serious about academics? Does it signal a lack of cultural capital in the schools and the right cultural capital in their neighborhoods? Are the social consequences of shedding this attire greater than the educational consequences? Are they compromising?

-IRENE VEGA, ED261

No subject left behind

“In 1942, Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” is a phrase that many of us are familiar with, which was ingrained in our minds since elementary school. Surprisingly, a survey showed that one in four students thought that Columbus sailed to the new world after 1750. 17 year olds in a phone survey were asked to answer 33 multiple choice questions about basic history and literature facts. Sadly, the results show that 25% of students could not correctly identify Hitler and 80% could not identify the basic plot of “To Kill a Mocking Bird” a reading done in most schools. The most recognized figure by students was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Following this study educational reform is moving towards an emphasis on teaching liberal arts in public schools. Since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, education has focused primarily on math and reading skills. Because schools are held accountable for reading and math, history and literature are neglected and often ignored. The article discusses the importance of reading and math skills, but the need to cover all subjects.

I believe this can be done by changing the standardized tests. Instead of being held accountable for only reading and math, other subjects should be included. Since teachers are now “teaching to the test” because of accountability the tests should become all encompassing. In other words the tests should include more of the other subjects so that they would be covered and not overlooked, because they would be included in the tests.

History and literature are vital parts of education. Knowledge of past mistakes can make our society better equipped to deal with the issues of today. Literature is important in building one’s cultural capital. Reading and literature give us a broader sense of the world, and gives us the ability to take the perspectives of others. In essence literature helps us know the system, it also gives us the opportunity to gain social networks in that it creates a common ground. There is no denying that reading and math are imperative, but history and literature are just as important. As the article says “if you can’t read, you can’t read anything at all.”

-CATHERINE CHING, ED175

Education, Social Mirroring, and Immigrant Students

In the United States, unfortunately, many immigrant students receive negative social mirroring from the classroom and outside world. Immigrant students tend to feel segregated and discriminated against in school. In comparison with European immigrants, Latino and Asian immigrant students tend to have a hard time assimilating into mainstream society due to their skin color. Some immigrant students believe their skin color is the barrier keeping them from fitting into the mainstream society. Some have experienced being laughed at for their foreign accents and non-fluent speaking skills. Immigrant students consider "being white" and speaking "correct," "fluent," and "native-like" English as pathways to success in American society. Their painful experiences usually lead to negative feelings towards school and then contribute to their low academic achievement in comparison with white students.

Moreover, as white students regard receiving higher education as pathways towards higher socioeconomic (highly-paid) occupation, immigrant students have a tendency to believe that many doors are closed, many job opportunities are limited, and social stratification exists in the society even when they obtain educational credentials. In fact, immigrant students tend to get low-paid jobs and the least desirable jobs because of the class stratification and restricted social mobility. Limited job opportunities may hinder immigrant students' motivation towards going to school, and they may consider going to school as a waste of time. Developing the above perspectives, the issue of to what extent formal education can help immigrant students succeed in the society should be taken into serious consideration. How can schools provide all students with a supportive environment and offer them equal opportunity for future development? Could the supportive school environment compensate for negative social mirroring that immigrant students receive from the outside world?

-YEN-LIN CHOU, ED261

Possible blog topics

For those of you still looking for a topic to post on, here's a summary of a new study on mentoring for men and women who earned PhDs Chemistry in the early 1990s. The gender differences here are pronounced, and they stretch from undergraduate education all the way through graduate school. Men report getting more help from professors as undergrads and they seem more satisfied with advising that they received from the dissertation advisors.

Do you think that these mentoring gaps persist in higher education today? What do you think their implications are? What can be done to do away with them? Post away!

UPDATE: Hey! Here's another blog-worthy article. Education Week takes a close look at the subtle differences between Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's approaches to educational policy. Do any of the debates that we've entertained during the course of this quarter shed light on any of the issues that the candidates disagree about?

-TD

Deconstructing whiteness

Following along with our discussion of race and how it relates to education, I just read an article called Deconstructing Whiteness as a Part of a Multicultural Framework (Rhoads & Ortiz, 2000). This was a fascinating article in that it looked at how we as educators on a university level should approach multicultural education. The authors challenge the "universalization of whiteness" and propose a framework where "deconstruction" of whiteness is important when taking a multicultural approach.

One of the main claims of the article is that "whiteness" is often overlooked as a race or ethnic identity, and that we don't talk about the social construction of the white race. The authors propose that in order to effectively engage in discourse about race and truly enable multicultural education in classrooms that there must be a discussion about white race as well as other racial and ethnic identities. In addition, there must be a critical evaluation of how whiteness has been socially constructed and become seen as the "dominant" race and associated with power and privilege. Finally, they propose a multistep process to deconstruct whiteness and implement a multicultural educational plan into college campuses.

I found this article fascinating and important because the white race is often "universalized", or seen as the norm, while not ever really being talked about. White people in America are not normally thought of as having race and the authors assert that this reinforces whiteness as the dominant culture. I agree that these issues must be addressed, in particular in college classrooms as they suggest in the article.

-JIMMY LEAK, ED261