Olsen's Chapter 8

The first thing about this chapter that grabbed my attention was the inconsistency of how the researcher said that the growth of immigrant and limited-English speaking students at the school was up to 24%, which is about 1 in 4, while the principal of Madison High School, George Pereira, said that it was more like 12 or 15%.  Later on, when the researcher checked the files, it had turned out that the Newcomer School "confirmed the 24 percent" (174).  This shows that the principal was not up to date on the growth of students of this level of English proficiency, which is connected to his understanding of need based this category of students are.  Therefore, the principal did not have the accurate knowledge of the amount of need required by this student population, nor the skills or resources required to accommodate.

Another thing that bothered me was the teachers' perception of Madison High and Bayview and how it's "diverse."  Several of the faculty make comments that include: "A lot of the cultures now don't value education," "We have more kids with family problems."  A specific instance is Lisa Stern's statment: "...It's the way schools are.  It's the way our society is... I think you just have to focus on your teaching, not get sidetracked..."  (177)  These comments are "rooted in the past, where there was more unity and more focus.  And concerns are expressed about 'groups' who are unwilling to adopt a common culture" (177).  This is problematic in that this perspective has expectations of these students from other places with different cultures to assimilate and drop a part of their identity.  We have found in our TESOL classes that it is vital in preserving a person's 1st language and not only respecting but giving value to their culture.  If not, these students will be turned off not only in the classroom, but we will be pushing them away and fostering negative feelings towards American culture.  They will have a much more difficult time learning English, as well as any language where teachers sort of take away a part of them, their identity, where they are rooted in.