The Color of Bureaucracy The Politics of Equity in Multicultural School Communities

by Larson, Colleen L.; Ovando, Carlos J.

• ISBN13: 9780534582128
• ISBN10: 0534582125
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-25
• Publisher: Cengage Learning

Summary

Future educators must be aware of educational experiences that will challenge deeply rooted assumptions about communities different from their own and achieve an understanding of the realities of other peoples' lives. Since many educators misinterpret the social, racial, and political problems they see, and as a result, blame the minority and poverty-stricken students for not effectively adjusting to the norms and expectations of the educational system, the authors of THE COLOR OF BUREAUCRACY takes an inquiry, practice-driven approach to understanding multicultural issues. The text immerses the reader in social, cultural, and political problems through case studies told from multiple perspectives and presents strategies for effective intervention unlike any other multicultural textbook. Captivating case studies provide a vehicle for actively engaging students in interpreting, understanding, and responding to complex problems of practice. Opportunities for self-reflection and self-discovery are presented throughout and help future teachers see how they view their own roles and responsibilities and guides the development of their professional identities conducive to understanding multiple communities within the school.

Table of Contents

Foreword	xiii
Preface	xvii
Introduction: Institutional Inequity in Multicultural School Communities	1	(6)
Overview of the Chapters	5	(2)
School Communities: Real and Imagined	7	(24)
Historical Perspective on the Role of Minority Communities	8	(4)
Current Demographics: Implications for European American Hegemony	12	(1)
Diversity Within Minority Communities	13	(7)
Immigrant Families and Communities	13	(3)
Indigenous Families and Communities	16	(3)
The Socioeconomic Structure	19	(1)
Life World Gap	20	(1)
Decentering Color Blindness	21	(1)
Multicultural Communities and the Contested Effects of Schooling	22	(4)
Functionalist Images of Teaching and Learning	22	(2)
Conflicts View of Schooling	24	(1)
Interpretive Views of Schooling	25	(1)
Critical Views of Schooling	25	(1)
Concluding Remarks	26	(5)
Racial Conflict in a Divided Community: An illustrative Case Study of Sociopolitical Conflict	31	(30)
Land of Oz or Alien Nation? An Illustrative Case Study of School Community Conflict	32	(1)
Conceptual Framework and Rationale	33	(5)
Schools as Political Systems	34	(2)
The School Community Context	36	(1)
An Unauthorized Act or a Justified Student Protest?	36	(1)
The Jefferson Tradition	37	(1)
Trouble in the Land of Oz	38	(2)
Maintaining Order and Discipline: The Logic of Bureaucratic Control	39	(1)
Protecting the Land of Oz	40	(7)
Framing the Protest: Individual Pathology or Political Act?	41	(1)
The Facts: Telling Partial Stories, Revealing Partial Truths	42	(1)
Magnifying Dangers, Justifying Control	42	(2)
Administrative Loyalty and Teamwork in Times of Uncertainty	44	(1)
Framing the Problem to Win the Battle	45	(1)
Pressure for Action Amid Escalating Fear	46	(1)
An Alien Nation and a Dream Deferred	47	(7)
Alienation Born of Marginalization: The Logic of Resisting Inequity	48	(2)
Solidarity, Coalition Building, and Mobilization	50	(1)
Creating Disorder: The Power of Public Protest	51	(1)
Maintaining Control Amid Public Chaos	52	(1)
The Power of the Media and Public Aversion	53	(1)
Toward Deliberation and Communication	54	(4)
Reclaiming Institutional Character	58	(1)
Concluding Remarks	59	(2)
Color-Blind Institutionalism and the Logic of Rational Distrust	61	(38)
The Logic of Trust and Rational Distrust	62	(2)
Trust and Familiarity	62	(2)
The Politics of Universalism: The Logic of Difference-Blind Policies and Practices in Schools	64	(8)
Difference-Blind Institutionalism in Schools	65	(2)
Difference Doesn't Matter: Silencing Race and Ethnicity in Schools	67	(2)
Avoiding Issues of Difference in Decision Making	69	(3)
The Politics of Difference: Rethinking the Universalist Stance	72	(2)
Constructions of Difference: Schematic Thinking and Problems of Perception	74	(7)
Cognitive Constructions: Unpacking the Role Schema	75	(2)
Surfacing Distorted Schemas and Everyday Bias	77	(1)
Distorted Schemas in Multiracial and Multicultural Schools	78	(2)
Distorted Schemas and Acts of Resistance in Schools	80	(1)
The Logic of Resistance: The Dissolution of Trust in jefferson Heights	81	(1)
Trust as a Social Contract	82	(14)
The Other Side of the Social Contract	84	(1)
Being Treated as Legitimate Members of the Community	85	(1)
Caring for Children in the School	85	(1)
Educating Children	86	(3)
Rejecting Social Stereotypes	89	(5)
Accepting Responsibility for Inequities in the System	94	(2)
Concluding Remarks	96	(3)
The Roots of Institutionalized Inequity	99	(66)
Institutional Thinking: The Operating Scripts of Legitimation in Schools	99	(8)
What is a Public Institution?	100	(1)
The Process of Institutionalization	101	(6)
Institutionally Sanctioned Systems of Inequity	107	(1)
American History: The Sedimented Roots of Institutional Inequity	108	(5)
Images of White Superiority and Goodness	109	(1)
White Dominance, White History	109	(1)
Reframing His-story	110	(2)
Redressing Bias: Creating a Parallel, Multicultural Curriculum	112	(1)
Institutionalized Construction of Racial Hierarchy	113	(3)
Constructing Thomas Jefferson: Acts of Omission	113	(3)
Institutionalized Logic of Racial Hierarchy	116	(7)
Sustaining Racial Domination	119	(4)
Institutionalized Racism in Communities	123	(1)
Defining Institutional Racism	123	(1)
Maintaining Racial and Ethnic Hierarchy Through Segregation	124	(4)
Rationalizing Systems of Discrimination	125	(3)
Sustaining Patterns of Segregation and Hierarchy in Schools	128	(9)
Separate and Unequal: Structuring Inequity	132	(5)
Bureaucratic Control: Unpacking the Established Logic	137	(4)
Norms of Stability	138	(1)
Norms of Hierarchy	139	(2)
Countering the Normative Logic of Bureaucratic Systems	141	(1)
Logics of Inequity in Schools: More Lessons from Jefferson Heights	142	(12)
The Logic of Racial Segregation in School Communities	143	(1)
The Logic of Hierarchy in School Communities	144	(1)
Norms of Closed Decision Making	145	(2)
Norms of Privileging and Excluding Parents	147	(1)
Norms of Preferential Hiring Practices	148	(3)
Norms of Sorting and Segregating Students in Schools and Classrooms	151	(3)
The Lingering Myth of Universal Fairness	154	(6)
Norms of Silence on Racial and Ethnic Issues	158	(1)
Norms of Silence in Teaching and Learning	159	(1)
Concluding Remarks	160	(5)
The Logic of Collective Sensemaking	165	(54)
Recapturing the Purpose of Public Sensemaking in Schools	167	(22)
Putting the ``Public'' Back in Public Education	166	(3)
Rethinking Conflicts in Classrooms	169	(4)
Seeing Schools Through children's Eyes	173	(5)
Challenging National and State Control in Local Education	178	(1)
Deinstitutionalizing the Logic of Closed Systems	179	(1)
From the Logic of Mechanical Control to a Logic of Critical Inquiry	179	(8)
Opening Schools to Corrective Feedback	187	(2)
From Maintaining Roles to Entering Relationships: Rethinking Alliances Between Schools and Communities	189	(11)
Reframing Leadership: A Socially Critical Stance	190	(6)
Rethinking Relationships Between Classrooms and Communities	196	(4)
Bringing Communities Together	200	(6)
Understanding Culture	200	(3)
Prejudice Reduction	203	(3)
Talking Across Differences	206	(6)
Postscript: Jefferson Heights and Lessons Learned	212	(7)
Implictions for Teacher and Administrator Preparation Programs	214	(5)
Appendix A: The Case Study of Jefferson Heights: Methodological Framework	219	(4)
Appendix B: Deconstructing Prejudice Through Videos	223	(4)
Index	227