Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover

“Seeing that we lived in a one-room house — a converted gas station with no indoor bathroom, no appliances, and a wood stove — Mrs. Elder responded with empathy, sacrificing her afternoons to teach me English.” (1)

“No,” I answered. “I’m saying that I’m sorry there is so much pain in history.” (21)

“The child develops the capacity for nuanced attention to the world and to his/her interactions with the material world. This attentiveness is not based in fear or wariness of the world, but in wonder and awareness of the potential to act and interact with the world.” (1)

What are each of the authors advocating for?
The point of these texts is to show, that there is always more to the story. By looking at someone you may assume anything, but not know who they actually are. Calderon explains “They often perceived me as mute or as having physical or psychological problems.”(1) because Calderon did not understand English, people just made assumptions about him without trying to understand him. I thought this quote was very powerful, in the sense that humans are quick to judge people without knowing who they the person is.

So What?
Rode argues for the importance of recognizing these social categories in order to build more democratic classrooms because ignoring the existence of these social categories is ignoring someone else’s history. Rode goes on to say “examining how these created realities frame our lives — and shape our histories and perceptions- is not easy work. This examination demands a willingness to live with contradictions, acknowledging that cherished beliefs must be relinquished and accepting that often what we’ve learned represents partial or distorted truth. The lion and the hunter, after all, have very different goals.” (22) These narratives and systems impact my community partner because people see the kids at AVID and will automatically assume because of their race and social background a stereotype that is not true. The kids at my community partner are extremely motivated to do well and go to a good college.

Now What?
The author whose points linked most powerfully to my community partner was Jose Calderon. Calderon is Hispanic and under a lot of stereotypes like the majority of the students at AVID. Calderon’s teacher that took the time to realize that he was not “special”, reminds me of the teacher who started AVID at the high school. She took the time to see what she could do for the students to help them get to college. Calderon says “Mrs. Elder took steps to learn about my world, visiting me and my grandparents in our home. Seeing that we lived in a one-room house — a converted gas station with no indoor bathroom, no appliances, and wood stove..” (1) All of the kids at my community partner fit in a certain category of either being low-income, single-parent household, etc. Having fit in this category they are in a way similar to Calderon, and like Calderon the kids at my community partner have a teacher who believes in them.