Larsen 1

Amanda Larsen
Ft9158
Hon 3000
Honors Assignment for Soc 2000
October 31st, 10:44 am
The art teacher and I went to return artwork the various classrooms and as we were
walking through, she told me about how the school, Charles Wright Academy, was newly built
and combined several local schools. The other schools were old and falling apart and rather than
rebuilding several, they decide to combine them and build one large school. She also mentioned
how the other school that she taught at, Spain Elementary, was a very old building that was not
as nice as Charles Wright. This brought to my attention the state of Detroit Public Schools and
how many children are not given the same environment with the same opportunities as others.
Many schools in Detroit are crumbling and decrepit, with teachers forced to have large class
sizes. At Spain Elementary, an area of the school is condemned due to black mold from
rainwater. These conditions take away from the childrens learning environment, preventing them
from reaching their full potential as students. These conditions foster inequality and put a
largely African American population of children at an early disadvantage. In the online
reading Savage Inequalities Revisited Bob Feldman talks about the funding differences
between more affluent white schools and poorer districts with predominantly black
students. This puts students at an early disadvantage and perpetuates the inequalities that
black people face. Luckily, the children at Charles Wright are able to receive an education
without fearing sickness from mold or being afraid of the ceiling falling down.

Larsen 2

October 31st, 2:15pm

In the last class of the day, I met a little African American girl that thought I was so
pretty. When the 2nd grade class initially walked in they were excited to see a new person in the
room. The art teacher, Miss Kimberly said my name was Miss Amanda and a little girl said
more like Miss Beautiful. I was flattered to hear this and the same little girl throughout the
class continued to call me pretty. She made a comment about my hair, saying that it was so
straight and pretty and I told her that I liked her hair as well. Her hair was tied up with little
beads in it and she replied with its not really that pretty. This made me step back and think
about how these children viewed me. The art teacher and I were the only two white people in the
room and the little girl thought I was so pretty but was not confident with herself. Why are they
critical of themselves at such a young age already? There are definitely beauty ideals that are
ingrained into these little girls, even in 2nd grade, that consider white features to be the most
beautiful. I have never encountered this so clearly and it made me feel bad that these little girls
didnt think that they were beautiful as well. These views have been embedded into these little
girls minds through the media. In Women and Weight: Gendered Messages on Magazine
covers by Amy R. Malkin and others, they talk about how womens magazines were
geared towards improving appearance and how it will lead to a better life. The media
whitewashes beauty and rarely embraces the beauty of African American women, making
these girls feel like to be beautiful, they must be white. The way that the media portrays
beauty really has an effect on the way that these girls view themselves. Hopefully more
people will learn to embrace their skin color and welcome diversity.

Larsen 3
November 7th, 10:29am
I told the children that I was studying to become a nurse and Miss Kimberly asked all of
the children how many of them want to become a nurse when they grew up. Many of the
children raised their hands, but none of them were boys. I thought this was interesting because
nursing is typically perceived to be a female profession and these boys were giving into that
stereotypical notion. I later asked one of the boys if he would ever consider the nursing
profession and he said that thats a girls job. That made it very clear that these children were
very into gender stereotypes. I wonder why they are already so influenced at such a young age?
Perhaps this is due to the media and the way that each gender is displayed. Sex segregation in
the U.S. labor forces is a big problem in our society. In The Glass Escalator, Christine L.
Williams discusses mens underrepresentation in predominantly female professions such as
nursing, teaching, and social work. Sex segregation requires more than merely dismantling
barriers, these barriers are culturally embedded and we must further research how to
remediate this issue. In Detours on the Road to Equality by Jerry Jacobs, he discusses
how people are taught to distinguish mens work from womens work just as they are
taught right from wrong. These gender stereotypes are apparent to children, as shown by
the boys in the classroom and is self-perpetuating. Luckily, women are now pursuing
broader job prospects such as engineering and other science fields.

Larsen 4
November 7th, 12:13am
I asked a little girl whether or not she wanted to go to college and she said that she
wanted to go to Wayne State just like her mom. I thought that was so great that she has high
hopes for the future and her parent was able to go to college as well. Wayne State is a great
college with a very diverse student body, unlike some other colleges with one group of people
dominating the campus. I think that it is hard for a student to get themselves into such a system
where having a family history of involvement has such an impact on the admission chance. This
is the case at many ivy league schools such as Harvard and Yale. White privileged kids with
money and connections can easily get accepted into these ivy league schools while African
American students have a hard time getting an opportunity to go to a prestigious school.
These schools focus on alumni children and their rate of admission is almost twice the
general population, according to the article Droves of Unqualified Kids by John Larew.

Larsen 5

November 14th, 11:35am

After talking with the art teacher for some time, I learned that there was an after school
art club available to the kids. It is an after school program that is like an honors art class. The
children that attend these after school meetings show remarkable skills in art and are able to
continue developing their techniques and abilities through this program. I think this program is a
great idea because it allows the kids to continue doing what they like since many of them are not
able to create art at home. Miss Kimberly told me that attendance has even been shown to
increase on Mondays and Wednesdays, the days that all the children have art class. This made me
think about functionalism and how society is a living organism. This after school program
was created to fulfill a need, similar to how form follows function. This allows the children
to become part of a group and socialize with their peers. This social order is important and
has a manifest function of keeping the kids involved with the school and striving to achieve
more.

Larsen 6
November 14th, 1:20pm
Art Road is a non-profit organization that came to Charles Wright to provide art class,
which was one of the things that was cut to maintain a tight budget. After talking with Miss
Kimberly about this during lunch, we talked about how happy the kids are to be able to have an
art class. The classes go by so fast and by the time the children are completely into the art
project, it is time for them to start cleaning up. The availability of such classes is great advantage
to the kids to facilitate their development and build their motor skills. One of the teachers told
me that she did not have an art class growing up and that it probably would have changed her
path in life had she grown up with that resource. In the article Savage Inequalities by
Johnathan Kozol, he talks about how children who grew up in a black neighborhood in
Boston are aware that there is something extra that they have been given to deal with. They
know that the system is unfair and there are obstacles that these children face. These
obstacles were put into place way before their time, perhaps from slavery and official
segregation. The effects of these inequalities are still clear today and these children face the
consequences of unequal education opportunities. Luckily, the children at Charles Wright are
given a fairly new building with art classes and science classes, which give them a good chance
to go far in life.

Larsen 7
November 21st, 1:05pm
I talked to the art teacher during lunch about how the different classes respond to art class
and how they view their art. She said that the younger children in kindergarten do not care as
much about the end result and just enjoy the process. The older students in third grade are more
critical of their artwork and are concerned with whether or not it is good. I wonder why there
is such a shift in the way they view their art? Maybe this is because as they are getting older, they
become more self-conscious about everything they do and compare themselves to their peers.
The art teacher said she enjoys working with children because they are less self-conscious about
their art work than adults. Many adults are quick to say that they are not able to draw and are
afraid of the judgement from others about their drawings. Adults are very caught up in the
looking glass self and imagine the way that they appear to others. Small children make
drawings from nothing, without any limitations or preconceived notions. The drawings
they create are representational without any concern for the accuracy.

Larsen 8
November 21st,
The art teacher and I walked through the hallways again to return artwork to classes.
While we were walking we encountered some children playing in the hallway with hula hoops
because the weather was not so good. They were all very excited to see her and came up to hug
her. When we walked into a classroom student would excitedly yell Hi Miss Kimberly!. I told
her that the kids seem to really like her and she said that she feels like a celebrity when she
walks through the halls. These children really enjoy art class and love to be able to express
themselves through art. We had the children work with paint and it was an incredibly messy
project but the children all loved it. She said that she wants to allow the children to experience
something like painting because they might not do it at home. Art Road was formed to keep art
class in schools because it was a program that was not seen as being as important as other core
classes such as art. This made me think about the importance of art and how it fosters brain
development and creativity. The motions of painting and cutting paper promote the development
of fine motor skills. The children in these art classes were all 2nd grade and younger. These
children easily respond to symbols and create their drawings through making symbols.
They attach a meaning to their drawings and are able to communicate with them. I am
taking a symbolic interactionism perspective and examining the society as a product of
everyday interaction. People assign a meaning to symbols and the meaning is defined
through the subjective interpretation attached.

Larsen 9
November 28th, 11:45am
While I was standing outside the classroom with the art teacher helping children put on
their smocks, a little girl said that the teacher and I looked the same. The art teacher and I are
quite different looking, although we share the same skin tone. We are both white females but I
have straight long brown hair while she has short curly blonde hair. It was interesting to see that
a little girl thought we looked so much alike. This interaction changed the way that I think about
other races. I never thought about my races as being the foreign one. The art teacher and I are
one of the few white people in the school, practically all of the students are black. This may be
because they have more experience with members of their own race and find it easier to identify
differences. These students probably do not have regular contact with white people and may
find it hard to distinguish other race people due to this unfamiliar contact. Peer groups are
an agent of socialization and not having white people around to socialize with on a daily
basis makes it a challenge for these students to socialize and identify things about people of
a different race.

Larsen 10
December 5th, 11:03am
During class I was sitting at the end of the table helping the kids paint. While I was sitting
there, a child came up to me and showed me their artwork. I replied that it looked great and
noticed that it said Kayla even though she looked like a boy. I didnt say anything about it but
one of the girls sitting next to me said that shes a girl even though she looks like a boy. I found
this very interesting because they were so young and so accepting of her gender identity. I
wonder why children are so much more accepting of this than many adults. Perhaps this is
because they dont know anything different and just accept it. The students were a second grade
class and I was very surprised that Kayla knew her gender identity was different than her sex at
such a young age. Gender is different from sex; gender describes the characteristics that
society has assigned to be masculine or feminine. Sex refers to biological differences and
hormonal profiles. A gender role refers to the characteristics and behaviors that are
attributed to the sexes in a culture.