Larry+Critical+Theory

Larry Critical Theory The Sotomayor Hearings as a Lesson in Critical Theory  The Sotomayor Hearings are a case study in critical theory. In terms of power relationships, we have a Latino-American woman being questioned (grilled, interrogated) by a majority of WASP males who are incapable of understanding her world and demonstrate an absolute lack of sensitivity towards her. The Republican senators were especially interested in her controversial 2001 remark that a "wise Latina" judge would often make better decisions than a white male. (If one actually looks closely at the remark, she may be right.) The article attached to this post recounts one Senator invoking the infamous Cuban-American Ricky Ricardo slang "Lucy you have some splainin to do" phrase to question her. (It would be like using the infamous "what you talkin about Willis" in questioning a black nominee.) The racism that underlies some of the questions and the hearing will be overlooked by many white Americans, but it is unsettling to anyone who goes deeper into meaning and actions. After reading some accounts of the hearings, the gender and diversity articles are extremely pertinent and valuable for their insight. Anderson's article on hidden meaning is also appropriate.

Read this article and look closely at the picture of Judge Sotomayor. Look at the diversity in the audience.... []

This article provides a solid account of the "wise Latina" comment. []

=Sotomayor II=

The article attached to this post details the quandry of Lt. Ben Vargas, a Hispanic firefighter who joined in a reverse discrimination law suit aimed at overturning a ruling made by Judge Sotomayor, The point of this post is not to evaluate the ruling itself, but to focus on Lt. Vargas' poer relationship predicament. On the one side is the white firefighters who challenged the ruling and on the other side is the Latina judge who made the ruling. Look at the last line of the article to see the quandry that Vargas faced.

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=Critical Theory and the Achievement Gap=  As one who sees economic and political factors determining power relationships, I thought Richard Rothstein's book, //Class and Schools// // Using Social, Economic, and Educational Reform to Close the Black–White Achievement Gap // was a really interesting treatment of this issue. His fundamental premise is that the achievement gap cannot be narrowed by education reforms alone, but needs large influxes of resources in order to create the policies and programs that will adequately address the needs of marginalized students.

The attached article indicates that the achievement gap continues to be a major obstacle to success in Wisconsin. []

=Obama's Address to the NAACP=

Obama's recent address to the NAACP contained some language that should begin to start sounding familiar to Dr. Scanlan's growing cadre of critical theorists. Obama contrasted the civil rights era with today's "structural inequalities between races that persist today." He focused on high unemployment rates and the absence of good health care for African Americans. He also talked about the potential of education to create opportunity and linked education and the economy. He said that "he state of our schools is not an African-American problem; it's an American problem. If black and brown children cannot compete, America cannot compete." []

=Barrett versus Bonds=

The whole conflict between the mayor (Barrett) and the school board (Bonds) over the role the mayor's office will play in the decision-making process to select the superintendent of MPS contains elements of all three organizational approaches. There is the structure of positivism, the shared decision making of interpretivism, and a debate about control and power that has many elements of critical theory.

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