I wanted to say a few things about the video we watched yesterday. It was a great video, and I think it inspired some really serious discussions. I listened to what everyone had to say, and I agreed with everyone in some way or another. Like I said in class, I do think that it is harder to fit in if what makes you different is something physical. I may look at first glance like just another "white girl", but the truth is my mother is 1/2 Cherokee Indian (her father was a Native American). Growing up I did not look white. My hair was jet black and my skin was always darker than my fellow students. So I too know what it can feel like to be considered "different" because of your skin tone. That being said, I think that it is wrong to generalize that white people have it easy just because of the color of their skin. I'm sorry to say this, but I consider that racism like any other form of racism. If you look at a white person and automatically assume they have everything handed to them on a silver platter because they are white then you are generalizing about a race. Everyone is different and comes from different backgrounds. I am not saying that the Groton students did not have an advantage, but I am saying that not all white people have it that easy. I really enjoyed this video because it forced us to explore some serious topics, but I think we all need to be open minded about individual circumstances, and try to avoid generalizing about any group or race.

I definitely agree with Joni. I am white, but I am almost "too white". I am very pale and growing up kids made fun of me a lot. I still get made fun of. People of all ages do not understand what it is like to be so pale. I can never tan, I always burn so when I pull out the SPF 30 on the beach my friends do not understand. Another thing is that I get heat exhaustion really easy so I typically cannot be on the beach in the dead heat of summer for more than two hours. Growing up I felt weird and left out because I always burned or had to go inside in the middle of the day. I understand that it is harder to fit in when your differences are "noticeable". I may not be Latino, Asian, or African-American but I do stand out because of my skin tone. It's not just skin tones that make us different on the outside. Glasses, height, early puberty all make us different and hard to fit in at any age. I agree with what everyone is saying in class. I feel that it is important for us as teachers to know that every student is different whether it be in their physical appearance or their home life. It is also important for us as teachers to be able to embrace differences among students and get past judgmental views of students. It is our job to do that, model it, and help our students do it too.

I think it is so true that people of the minority are looked down upon a lot of times in high school. I have no clue what this is like because I am white and I have never really had a lot of minority friends, not because I don't want them but just because where I grew up everyone was white. My best friend is a missionary in Mongolia and she shares with me a lot about how out of place and secluded she feels because she is the only american amongst all these asians. However I heard a comment in class about a minority having black hair and dark eyes and my best friend has both of these characteristics and she is completely white. I think that video was very true of highschools and minorities and i think that as white people we need to be more sensitive to the fact that minorities really are discriminated against. It angers me to hear people talk about how they really don't have it that bad and white people go through just as much. This is not true! White people have it made and if a white person really doesn't believe this they need to step back and check themselves and their lives. That was one issue that really angered me in class on Tuesday.

I'm going to apologize if I came across negatively in class. I wasn't trying to say that minority just have it bad. I was just trying to comment on the fact that we cannot hide our differences. My examples were not the best b/c honestly I was very heated in class. I don't expect everyone to understand what I was trying to say in class, I was too upset to think clearly. I would just like to stress again the main point I mentioned in class. Everyone has it bad and are different, but some people do have a harder time hiding their differences. (this includes all social classes, disabilities, sexual orientation, religion, race, culture etc) I feel like the girl in the video was just trying to express herself, not complaining. She was just trying to find her identity like every other teenager. Because she was of a different culture it was just harder for her to adjust to the new atmosphere. I'm not just saying that "white" people have it good. I know a lot of "white" people who don't have it good. In the end, I think most people would just like it if we all got along and celebrate everyone's individuality.

I didn’t think Jo was complaining at all. It was a huge privilege for her to be attending such a prestigious school and I certainly don’t doubt that she was aware of that. She just wanted the opportunity to succeed and get an excellent education without relinquishing her culture. She shouldn’t have to assimilate just to make everyone else more comfortable. She shouldn’t have to suffer simply because the school provided a lack of diversity. I imagine anyone in a similar situation would question who they were. I think some may have viewed her outlook on life as having some sort of ‘pity party,’ but that’s not the case. Regardless of how ‘equal’ human beings are in scientific or genetic terms, we’ll never truly be equal. Unless our ignorant, arrogant society can get its act together, there will always be those who have to work harder to achieve the same goals as some white guy. Changing the subject, I decided to check out Groton’s website. I would definitely recommend it. It’ll give you a nice 'poor and stupid' feeling. I’d say Groton’s kind of like Hogwarts for the infinitely wealthy. Cool!

What do you think the viewpoint is of the teachers on these students? Are they REALLY wanting them to excel as much as they say? Or are they just nervous to say or do anything otherwise because these students are so wealthy and have connections?

I think those teachers are probably pretty nervous to say anything to those students. They certainly are among the most connected people in the United States. But I just wanted to say that I feel in accordance, like Joni, with a little of what everyone said. I feel like white people have it easiest, because we're not the minority, but also, in a place like Groton, I wouldn't be the minority race, but I would certainly feel out of place and secluded. In a place like WSSU, I would be the minority and could then sympathize a bit with what minorities go through daily. Jo had a difficult time because she did not want to change herself to fit the picture of what the Groton students wanted. That's understandable. Like Maggie said, I don't think she was complaining, she just wanted the comfort of being around her people. We all know how it feels to go home: it's a comfort for most.

I love reading everyone's comments on our topics that we have in class. I hope that I didn't offend anyone with what I said our last class and the time before. That is not my intention at all, this topic really hit home with me. When we watched that video of Jo it reminded me of how hard it is being in a situation like that.
Growing up in a family, where my mom is Greek and my dad is Welsh, Scotch-Irish, Swedish, Cherokee Indian (White) I saw things from two different view points. My moms sisters both married Greek men who came from very traditional Greek families. My one uncle was born and raised there and came here when he was sixteen. The other one was born here and is Americanized. I use to spend my summers with them and I always got to here what they said and what my cousins would say about different things. I remember one summer my cousin and I were driving around talking about the guy she was dating and how she was afraid to tell her dad because he wasn't Greek. He always told his kids that if they didn't marry a Greek guy that he wouldn't pay for their wedding and basically not have anything to do with them. This was 7 years ago and he has changed his mind a lot since then and no longer says that and just wants them to find a nice guy who treats them with respect. My point of this is that my dad is American and the fact that my uncle thought like this about Americans bothered me because it made me think what does he really think of my family. He is always really sweet to us when they come and visit or if I go and visit but it hurts to know that your own family can be so narrow minded. For a very long time I was so ashamed of being half Greek and half American, I always use to wish I was full Greek or at least that my last name was Greek so people wouldn't know that I was half. From my point of view looking at Jo and her making that art project was a way to show that she is Puerto Rican and she has a lot of internal conflict with herself on what she is exactly.
Over the years I have realized a lot of things about people who are so close minded, they usually are so stuck on their view point and are afraid to think differently because it means that what they were raised to believe was wrong. I have also realized things about myself as I have gotten older, I am proud of my mixed background and just try to explain myself to my family that may not get me. My dads family has changed a lot too since I was younger. I am glad that I have been able to see things from a foreign and American point of view because you begin to see why people are the way they are.

I agree a lot with what everyone has been saying on the forum. We all have our differences. Some tend to be more easily noticed than others. Part of what we have to understand is that we are all a minority at one point or another depending on the circumstance, so we need to always consider that someone may not fit in as well as they seem to. Also, I wanted to comment about the scene concerning Jo's art. The way that boy was talking to her made me quite upset. Not only was he rude to her, but he obviously knows almost nothing about art because the whole purpose is to express yourself without censoring. That's what makes really successful, effective art. It is ridiculous to tell another person that they are not allowed to express their views because it makes someone else uncomfortable.

Side note to Megan: I understand about getting burned so easily. My skin isn't even all that pale and I can get burned up here on a 15 minute walk to class in the spring or summer and can still get burned at the beach despite wearing 45 SPF. It sucks.

After watching the video, I agree that it is harder to fit in when your difference is physical. If your difference is something internal then you can hide that from your peers/friends and still fit in with everyone else. I think it is very important to always be watchful over your students and make sure that they are accepting all of their peers and not leaving students out because of physical differences. This video generated great class discussions and it helped us to realize some intense topics.

I think that everyone has made a valid point about the Groton Prep School and I agree with most of them. I believe that many people are discriminated against because of their physical attributes, just as in the video. I also feel that in some cases people make themselves feel out of place when they really are not. I do not judge people by the way they look, and I think that most people are judged by their actions and the way they carry themselves. For example when I was younger I was the only white kid playing on AAU basketball team. I did not let that keep me from playing or allowed myself to believe that I did fit in with the other players, I was just myself and I was accepted just as all of my teammates were. My point that I am trying to get across is that in some situations “It is what you make of itâ€

During the class discussion about the Groton School made me feel very blessed to be who I am. I definitely felt out of place when we started talking about minority because I am considered the majority in our society. During the video there was a particular part that struck me and made me think about how it must feel to be a minority. When Jo was talking about her art to some of her peers and was getting ridiculed for being different, one of the other minority students said something that made me think. She said something along the lines of how being of the people in the majority don’t have to deal with the feeling of being different. There is a feeling deep down that people of the majority will never know about. This struck home to because it is something I have never had to deal with and feel as though it would hard for me to say, ‘I know how they feel’ because I don’t. With this being said, I hope to make children feel included and welcome in my classroom despite the differences they face.

I traveled to Guatemala this summer and it was an amazing experience but for the first time I actually had the feeling of what it was like to be a minority. I did not speak the same language that they did, and I did not look like anyone there. It was definately very had not being able to communicate with people and just flat out sticking out. But, I feel that I learned so much from this experience. I understand that it is a struggle for minorities but I feel that minorities and majorities can learn so much from each other. The girl in the Grotan video was struggling as a minority but I felt that the people around her had a big opportunity to learn from her as she did from them. Diversity is all about learning from each other and accepting each other:)

When I was in high school I traveled to Sri Lanka for 3 weeks on a mission trip. When I was there I was a minority. First off, I was one of the only white people in the area; I was also one of the only people that was not a Muslim there. In addition, I did not speak there language. This was a very uncomfortable situation and I had a really had time over coming all of the barriers while I was there. I felt like from that situation I could understand a piece of what the girl from the Grotan video went through. Obviously, I could never understand what her life is like, but for those few weeks I was treated differently because of my looks. I was also stereotyped as a "stupid American". I feel like I really learned a lot from this situation and as I look back on it and think of minorities in the classroom and how they are treated. As a teacher, I want to help students learn to respect each other no matter what there differences. I think students can really learn a lot from each other if they can get past the visual differences and really get to know each other.

I think some people use their diversity to hold them back at times when they are feeling overwhelmed or like an outcast. Jo in the video was obviously an outcast because the other students didn't understand a lifestyle that was different than theirs. In other situations, I think it's all about what you make of it and how you view yourself, not how others view you. This goes back to the whole thing of seeing a similarity in yourself and in others, and like Julie said, breathing is the most fundamental thing every human shares. Our connections to others might be hard to see at first, but it's there and we just need to take the time to find those connections.

I think its really awesome how a lot of people have told us about situations in which they are the minority. I can honestly say that I don't think Ive ever been in a situation where I was the minority (at least not a memorable one like Casy's and Tara's experience). For years I have studied different cultures and learned about diversity. I know it sounds weird- but I can't wait until I can be a minority some day. Things are always different once you actually experience them.