Thursday, March 22, 2012

Chapters 11 & 12 The turning point I did not see coming.

The word "politicians" can be sweet or sour sounding. In this book for Mr. Conroy I was disgusted at how the things that he did got twisted and turned around in order to make him look like a thief. The boat and the gas, now we know that he was told that it was taking care of and he would not have stolen anything. Even the people of the Island wanted to help Conroy by having a strike and not sending the children to school. We know that this did not last very long, because the parent's would be sent to jail for refusing to sent them to school. They did mean well, and I'm sure Conroy was touched. The boycott had to end. After two months the case would start with some that should have been a friend and not against him and for the record I just did not care for  Ted Stone or Piedmont's character's. Mrs. Brown I now understood that she just wanted to be accepted by others and did not know she was a pawn against Conroy. The case appeared that they had won, but the Judge gave a different verdict. He lost his job and unable to teach again in South Carolina. Conroy has no hatred for any involved and believes that he did not change anything in the Yamacraw kids, but I want to believe that he offered them so much more than just living on the Island and not knowing what was on the other side.

3 comments:

  1. Renee,
    You are completely thinking exactly the way I feel about Conroy and his teaching experience. He offered the children more than he gives himself credit. If we go back to events in the book we can note that Conroy used different instructional tactics to get the children to learn academically. If we go back to events in the story we can see that Conroy used different opportunities to socially educate them. Yamacraw may not have changed by its geographical location but it has been changed by Conroy's presence. The only reason there was such a problem with Conroy returning to his teaching position was the demands he made for change. Today, teachers are scared to approach higher authorities because of fear of losing their job. Children are what matter in the teaching profession and Conroy was ready to do what he could to change the lives of many children.

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  2. I also thought that the school board was out to get Conroy and make him look likea theif. What really stuck out to me was the fact that no matter how bad Dr. Peidmont tried to make Conroy look, Conroy always had the backing of not only the students and parents on Yamacraw Island but also numerous members of the community off the island. That says a lot to me to have so much support especially from the parents on Yamacraw Island who seemed to not really care about their children’s education before. I found it very unfortunate that despite all of the evidence Conroy had in the court case that he had been done wrong, he still lost and was unable to teach in Beaufort County no longer. It all seems to be because of the politics of the school board and their unwillingness to see change occur. At least the children on Yamacraw Island got to experience Conroy’s teaching and know that someone cares about them and their learning for a little while

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  3. I felt Conroy's frustration as he dealt with the school system. It seemed like he was the only person who really cared about the children of Yamacraw. The support of the parents on the island show just how much of a difference Conroy had made. While I do not like Mrs. Brown's methods, I can see where she came from. Sometimes being a person of mixed races can be more difficult than being a person of one minority. Some mixed race individuals experience discrimination from both of their own races because they are not "full". I think Mrs. Brown grew up experiencing racism from all sides and she wanted to distance herself from as much of it as possible. She wanted to rise above the things she saw and if looking down on the blacks of the island by promoting her Native side could accomplish this, then that is what she was going to do. In many ways I think she was a victim herself.

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