Human Relations/Multicultural Education And Culture Section Case Study Sample

UNIQUENESS

Eva – A third generation gang member who is very loyal to her community and family. She believes in doing what is right; she ends up telling the truth at the trial. Her father got arrested for a murder he didn’t commit.
Victoria- She is an honor’s student who chose to leave an advanced placement classroom in order to be included in the activities of Erin Gruwell’s class. She wants the mutual respect found in Gruwell’s class.
Marcus – He realized the importance of education. When he was younger, Marcus and his friend were playing with a gun and his friend accidentally killed himself. This life experience led Marcus into the gang lifestyle and a revolving door with the judicial system.

Worth

Erin Gruwell noted worth in the character Andre by having a hallway conference with him about assigning an F to his own self evaluation. She motivated him to work towards receiving an A on the evaluation because she knew he was worth the grade.
Erin noted worth in Eva when she asked Erin if she could stay late in the classroom to do her homework since the bus home to her aunt’s house is a long ride. Erin said she could and even offered to take Eva home on the nights she stayed late.
Jamal Hill was the victim of a stereotyping picture, which was handed around by Tito. Erin noted his worth by explaining to the class that labeling individuals by the way they look is not defining their worth. She compared this picture to the Holocaust because they used pictures of the Jews with big noses and grouped them as all the same.

Culture

Marcus- Primary traits: African American, Male, 14 years old.
Secondary traits: He is a gang member. Marcus comes from a single-mother home and has a failed relationship with his mother due to gang activity. He was forced to move out and learned how to survive on the streets.

Alejandro- Primary Traits: Hispanic, Male, around 14 years of age.

Secondary Traits: He is homeless and lives in a car with his family. He is the first to share his story in the classroom. He also called the class his family and stated that when he is in class he feels like he is home.  

Ben- Primary traits: White, male, 14 years old, minority in classroom which causes him discomfort.

Secondary Trait: He knows where to buy drugs. Initially he wanted to leave the class because he was the only white kid in class. After seeing a Civil Rights film he realized how strong he was for staying in Ms. Gruwell’s class.

Relationships

Eva and Sindy (-, -) (casual to casual): This relationship was unhealthy because of a fateful encounter at a local convenience store the two girls frequently visit. An additional student, Grant Rice is frustrated at losing an arcade game and demands a refund from the store owner. When he storms out, Eva’s boyfriend Paco attempts a drive-by shooting, intending to kill Grant but misses, accidentally kill Sindy’s boyfriend. As a witness, Eva must testify at court; she intends to guard “her own” in her testimony.
Eva and Sindy (+,+) (Personal to personal): The shift to a healthy relationship happened when Eva told the truth to the court during her testimony about what happened at the convenience store. This proves to be a shift in the relationship because Eva could have lied about what happened that night in order to protect her boyfriend. Sindy considers showing a friendly gesture or truce by offering Eva Covergirl eye shadow in her preferred color. Their relationship shifts from casual to personal because there is a level of trust that has been established.
Erin & Classroom (-,-): At first there wasn’t any trust between Erin and the students. (professional/casual): Erin’s attitude about the classroom changes once she found out she is teaching at risk youths. The students had a lack of trust because she was a white female and an authority figure. Erin attempted to gain trust by trying to relate through music, however the student’s attitudes still remained negative. The journals were the turning point in the relationship; it shifted the relationship from (professional/casual) to (professional/intimate). The students started trusting Erin with their most intimate and personal inner thoughts and experiences. A field trip to the Holocaust Museum was also a turning point in the relationship to a more intimate experience.  
Marcus & Meip (+,+) Both were positive because Marcus viewed Meip as his hero for hiding Anne Frank. Meip was positive because she did a good thing by hiding Anne Frank and said the students of the class were her heroes.

Prejudice, Preference and Discrimination

Eva & Erin (-,-) > (+,+):  Casual/Professional. Eva hates whites because of her family history with white people and the fact that her dad was arrested by white people when he was innocent. Cognitive prejudice is shown because Eva has a pre-judgment towards white people. She hates them because of their status in society. Also, Eva doesn’t think Erin is going to teach her anything important for her life. Eva’s hatred would be the emotional prejudice. Action oriented level of prejudice is in the tone of her voice and her overall body language towards Erin. Eva has the first two levels of discrimination towards Erin, verbal expression and avoidance. Eva is a type three on Merton’s theory on the relationship between prejudice and discrimination. Relationship changes to (+,+) and becomes Intimate/Professional because Eva trusts Erin with her story in her journal. After Eva confesses the truth during the trial, she is unable to live safely at home so she moves in with her aunt who lives across town. Because of this, she asks Erin to stay late in class to do her homework because the bus runs late at night. Erin is kind and offers to give Eva a ride home.

Margaret Campbell & Mrs. Gruwell’s class- (-,-) > (-,-) Relationship: Professional/Professional

Margaret believes the class is not able to comprehend the books. She also believes that you can’t get the students in the class to want to learn the course content; you can only get them to obey the rules and regulations while on the school campus. The relationship deteriorates as the students begin to progress in the educational program. Margaret does not like Mrs. Gruwell’s teaching methods and uses this as a reason to continue the status quo attitude. Margaret’s level of prejudice towards Mrs. Gruwell’s class was action oriented. This was shown when Margaret denies access to the resources already within the school. Margaret displays the third level of discrimination by maintaining racial segregation within the school. Margaret is a level four on Merton’s Theory because she feels she has a justifiable reason to withhold the materials from the class.

Ethnic Humor- Ethnic humor was shown in the movie when the drawing of Jamal was being passed around the classroom.

Self-Justification- Margaret would now allow Mrs. Gruwell’s class to have the books that were available for their grade level. While doing so, she stated that they would only destroy the books and would not be able to comprehend the information provided.