Background Knowledge Book Thoughts:
I chose to read The War Between the Classes by Gloria Miklowitz as by background knowledge book. The main characters of the book are Emiko, who is called Amy by her friends, Adam, and Otero. Amy is a Japanese high school student who is going out with Adam, an upper-class White high school student. Both teens’ parents do not agree with their children dating because of their different races. Amy’s parents are traditional Japanese and feels she should only date Japanese boys because they are more respectful and hardworking than White people. Adam’s mother feels Amy is from a lower-class family and would like her son to date someone who is White and from a higher socioeconomic class. At school, Otero, a teacher, is about to begin his annual “color game” experiment which Amy and Adam have both signed up for. The game is designed to make students aware of socioeconomic class and racial prejudices. Students are split into a class based on the color band they get. Amy becomes part of the Blue upper-class and Adam becomes part of the Orange lower-class. In the game, groups cannot intermix, meaning that people in Blue cannot associate with people in Orange. Adam tries convincing Amy to get demoted to Orange, but Amy actually wants to succeed. However, as Amy begins to see how she has lost her self being with Adam, she realizes that everyone should just unite and fight against the separation of class and race.
The “color game” sparked ideas about how class is associated with race because people have stereotypes about the type of people who are from a lower-class or people who are from an upper-class. This idea led me to think about how race affects everyone. It was profound how students change when given the mindset that they have now become part of the upper-class, middle-class, or lower-class. Students playing the game in the upper-class felt privileged, therefore made sure everyone below them in class followed the rules of lining up behind people who are of a higher class, and bowing to everyone who is of a higher class.
The game made me think about how simulations are used to provoke thinking and understanding. The color game is not something I would use for first grade, but it did make me ponder about possible simulations for early learners. I thought about the simulation a guest mentioned. The guest speaker announced that the girls would get to do everything first today and the boys would be last. At the end of the day, the guest speaker had a conversation with the students about how they felt during the day. I think this type of simulation would be possible after some of the lessons I included in the unit. However, I would need to relate it to race and how preferences tie in. One other idea to create discussion is have students talk about a brown egg versus a white egg. The focus then becomes directly on the eggs and not the students. It could lead to a discussion on why one color is seen as better than another by some people in society.
When Amy asked her friends and minority students for help in uniting to extinguish the color game, no one was willing because they all liked where they were stationed in the game, or because they wanted to be good to move up in the game. I find it interesting that no one wanted to fight with Amy, until she moved to Orange, where she then focused on getting the group to promote unity. This reading got me thinking about the importance of action for change. Seeing how the students in the book united in the end to change the game was powerful because it made me want to promote anti-racism. From this book, I thought about having a collective action lesson where I can bring up ways people fought against racism. This is truly an intriguing book to analyze.
I chose to read The War Between the Classes by Gloria Miklowitz as by background knowledge book. The main characters of the book are Emiko, who is called Amy by her friends, Adam, and Otero. Amy is a Japanese high school student who is going out with Adam, an upper-class White high school student. Both teens’ parents do not agree with their children dating because of their different races. Amy’s parents are traditional Japanese and feels she should only date Japanese boys because they are more respectful and hardworking than White people. Adam’s mother feels Amy is from a lower-class family and would like her son to date someone who is White and from a higher socioeconomic class. At school, Otero, a teacher, is about to begin his annual “color game” experiment which Amy and Adam have both signed up for. The game is designed to make students aware of socioeconomic class and racial prejudices. Students are split into a class based on the color band they get. Amy becomes part of the Blue upper-class and Adam becomes part of the Orange lower-class. In the game, groups cannot intermix, meaning that people in Blue cannot associate with people in Orange. Adam tries convincing Amy to get demoted to Orange, but Amy actually wants to succeed. However, as Amy begins to see how she has lost her self being with Adam, she realizes that everyone should just unite and fight against the separation of class and race.
The “color game” sparked ideas about how class is associated with race because people have stereotypes about the type of people who are from a lower-class or people who are from an upper-class. This idea led me to think about how race affects everyone. It was profound how students change when given the mindset that they have now become part of the upper-class, middle-class, or lower-class. Students playing the game in the upper-class felt privileged, therefore made sure everyone below them in class followed the rules of lining up behind people who are of a higher class, and bowing to everyone who is of a higher class.
The game made me think about how simulations are used to provoke thinking and understanding. The color game is not something I would use for first grade, but it did make me ponder about possible simulations for early learners. I thought about the simulation a guest mentioned. The guest speaker announced that the girls would get to do everything first today and the boys would be last. At the end of the day, the guest speaker had a conversation with the students about how they felt during the day. I think this type of simulation would be possible after some of the lessons I included in the unit. However, I would need to relate it to race and how preferences tie in. One other idea to create discussion is have students talk about a brown egg versus a white egg. The focus then becomes directly on the eggs and not the students. It could lead to a discussion on why one color is seen as better than another by some people in society.
When Amy asked her friends and minority students for help in uniting to extinguish the color game, no one was willing because they all liked where they were stationed in the game, or because they wanted to be good to move up in the game. I find it interesting that no one wanted to fight with Amy, until she moved to Orange, where she then focused on getting the group to promote unity. This reading got me thinking about the importance of action for change. Seeing how the students in the book united in the end to change the game was powerful because it made me want to promote anti-racism. From this book, I thought about having a collective action lesson where I can bring up ways people fought against racism. This is truly an intriguing book to analyze.