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Review Questions
For Beals | Fadiman | Chabris and Simons | Chatterton Williams | DiAngelo | McGhee | Loewen

Each student will choose one of the optional books (listed below) and prepare written answers to the questions posted to this web site. On the date your book is due, you should come to class prepared to discuss what was important in the book with others in the class. Your answers to these questions should be written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book. Don't summarize...analyze. You may earn up to 10 points for answering the questions and participating in the in-class book review/discussion.

Please answer the following questions--approximately 300 - 500 words (about one-typed double-spaced page) per question. Please include the text of each question along with your response to each question.

Review Questions for:
 

Beals cover

  

Beals, M. (2007). Warriors don't cry: A searing memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock's Central High. New York: Pocket Books.

Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.

  1. Beals writes, "The effort to separate ourselves whether by race, creed, color, religion, or status is as costly to the separator as to those who would be separated." What might she mean by this? Do you agree with her? Do you think other blacks would agree with this? Explain.
  2. In your view, why does Beals write to her diary that, "Freedom is not integration."
  3. Over the course of 1957, the Pattillo family begins to question Link's motives for helping Melba. Why? Do you believe that Link was heroic for helping Melba or do you think he was cowardly for not being more open in his support for the Little Rock Nine?
  4. Why was Lois Pattillo fired from her job? What does she do to get it back? Why is that tactic successful? What does this tell us about more general social attitudes about race relations in the U.S.A.?
  5. Some observers have commented that the fact that the story of the Little Rock Nine is not more widely known (had you heard about it before you read this book?) is evidence of lingering racism in the U.S.A. Explain. Do you agree? Why or why not?

 

Fadiman cover

  

Fadiman, A. (2012). The spirit catches you and you fall down: A Hmong child, her American doctors, and the collision of two cultures. New York: Noonday Press.

Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.

  1. Dr. Dan Murphy said, "The language barrier was the most obvious problem, but not the most important. The biggest problem was the cultural barrier. There is a tremendous difference between dealing with the Hmong and dealing with anyone else. An infinite difference" (p. 69). What does he mean by this?
  2. How does the greatest of all Hmong folk tales, the story of how Shee Yee fought with nine evil dab brothers (p. 170), reflect the life and culture of the Hmong?
  3. The Hmong are often referred to as a Stone Age or low-caste hill tribe. Why is this? Do you agree with this assessment of Hmong culture? Does the author?
  4. What are the most important aspects of Hmong culture? What do the Hmong consider their most important duties and obligations? How did they affect the Hmong's transition to the United States?
  5. The concept of "fish soup" is central to the author’s understanding of the Hmong. What does it mean, and how is it reflected in the structure of the book?


Chabris_and_Simons cover
 		  
Chabris, C. and Simons, D. (2011). The invisible gorilla and other ways our intuitions deceive us. New York: Crown Publishing Group.

For each of the following questions, please clearly define the term and then go on to give examples of this issue in teaching and learning practice. Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.
  1. The illusion of attention.
  2. The illusion of memory.
  3. The illusion of knowledge and confidence.
  4. The illusion that in a series of events, event one causes event two.
  5. The illusion that certain mythical processes - such as hypnotism - can help one reach their full potential.
  6. The illusion we can do many things well all at once (multi-tasking).

 

Chatterton cover

  

Chatterton Williams, T. (2019). Self-portrait in black and white: Unlearning race. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.
  1. When Chatterton Williams says he wants to, “unravel” the “idea of race,” what is he attempting to do?
  2. From where do the racial categories we experience come from, according to Chatterton Williams? What purpose(s) do they serve?
  3. How does Chatterton Williams describe the difference between racial and pan-ethnic identification? What's the difference and why does it matter?
  4. For many Americans (and many others around the world), ancestral ethnic identity means a great deal. How does Chatterton Williams account for these tribal affiliations? Do we abandon them? Keep them? How and why?
  5. Chatterton Williams calls for, “seeing and relating to each other that operate somewhere between the poles of tribal identitarianism and Panglossian utopianism.” How do you understand this polarity and how might it impact your teaching?

  

DiAngelo cover

  

DiAngelo, R. (2018). White fragility: Why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism. Boston: Beacon Press.

Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.

  1. DiAngelo says white people suffer from “white fragility.” What is "white fragility"? How does it operate and how might it interfere with inter-group cooperation/communication?
  2. DiAngelo discusses some underlying beliefs that she believes interfere with understanding and dealing with racism. What are these underlying beliefs and how does she propose to deal with them?
  3. Can you recall examples of white fragility in your experience? What was the situation? How did it play out? What might you have done differently knowing what you know now?
  4. According to DiAngelo, "racial comfort" is upheld by the premise that only white people are considered to be standard examples of normality, universality, and goodness. Can you think of examples from your own experience that illustrate DiAngelo's concept of "racial comfort"?
  5. What strategies and actions does DiAngelo propose using to deal with white fragility? How might you incorporate them into your teaching?


McGhee cover

  

McGhee, H. (2021). The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. London: One World.

Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.
  1. When McGhee argues that American society deprived itself of public swimming pools, subsidized higher education, equitably distributed wealth, healthy natural environments, affordable housing and fair terms on mortgage loans, she says that history shows U.S. society repeatedly refusing itself goods like these on racial grounds. Better not to have them at all than to allow people of color to enjoy them. Please explain and give examples from recent events.
  2. Quoting W.E.B. Du Bois, McGhee writes, "(Whites) receive what W.E.B. Du Bois long ago called the “psychological wage” of Whiteness. What is this "psychological wage"? Please give examples of this phenomenon.
  3. Compare and contrast McGhee's approach to dealing with systemic racism and the social psychological approach to attitude change about which we are learning in this class. Do these theories overlap? How? Do they conflict? How?
  4. In class we have discussed the irony of the statement, “I don’t see race.” McGhee writes, “(b)lindness to race is blindness to racism,” and if you’re blind to racism, then you must be simply blind. Please explain, using illustrations from not only the McGhee text but also our other course content.
  5. McGhee also offers an invitation to hope. She meets some Americans who have come to understand "what racism costs us" and have tried to do something. Discuss at least two of these examples and analyze how effective these efforts are likely to be in addressing systemic racism.

 

Loewen cover

  

Loewen, J. (2007). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Make sure your answers to these questions are written in such a way as to highlight your careful understanding, reflection, in-depth analysis, and evaluation of the concepts discussed in the text, not simply copying what the author says and repeating the ideas in the book.

  1. Why might it be important to review facets of our history that don't portray our national heroes in a perfect light? Won't this hurt our sense of national pride? Why or why not?
  2. What is the difference between the living, the sasha, and the zamani? Within which realm(s) does history lie?
  3. Perhaps more than any other issue, race and race relations seem to be at the heart of what the "American history textbooks got wrong." Why is that? Can you give at least three example of profound misunderstandings related to race in U.S. history?
  4. How is social class portrayed in American history textbooks? Do you think the textbooks give a balanced view of class and economic conditions in the U.S.A.? Why is it important for K-12 teachers to be aware of class issues in their classrooms?
  5. How could you change the way you teach to correct the sorts of misunderstandings outlined by Loewen? Give specific examples of methods and materials that would provide an antidote to the "lies my teacher told me."

  

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Main | Course Syllabus | Supplementary Readings | Learning Analysis Journal
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