Analyzing My Text's Cultural Setting

Every piece of writing is written in a cultural context. In the following blog post, I will be examining the cultural context of my article for this unit by answering three questions provided by Writing Public Lives. 

1. What values, ideas, norms, beliefs, even laws, of the culture play and important role in the text?  
            
                  In today's culture in the United States, there has never been as heated a conflict surrounding racial equality since the Civil Rights Movement. Today, all eyes are on local and federal governments and how they treat the minorities of the nation. Most people favor the overall equality for all the nation and press for change in the areas which fall short of that expectation, such as law enforcement,

                 The second most pressing cultural idea that is present in the text, though less so than the prior, is the political party debate of education funding. The conservative party is less concerned with  changing the overall structure of education and its funding, whereas liberals are highly concerned with the current state of the system and find it in desperate need of reform.

2. Does the text address these cultural values, beliefs, etc. directly (by mentioning them) or indirectly (by presenting a scenario to address them)?

                  The article tends to steer clear of loaded terms like race and ethnicity. It's key source Arne Duncan generally address minority groups as poor or underprivileged. However, the author does not shy away from leading the reader to more direct articles on racial inequality in education with hyperlinks. In general, however, it does maintain a tone of directness toward these cultural values as it analyzes their direct relation and other implications. When addressing

3. What is the relationship of the texts to the values, beliefs, etc.? Is it critical of these aspects of the culture? Is it supportive? Does it seek to modify these aspects of the culture in a certain way?

                  This article is a summary and extension on an address Arne Duncan, the democratic secretary of education, made to the press in March. Since this article is more or less an elaboration on Duncan's address, it stands in favor of most democratic standpoints.

                   This article goes into a more obscure, but, nevertheless, pressing issue of inequality between the majority and the nations minorities in the education system. The beliefs of the general public is geared toward the general equality and just treatment of all citizens and this article brings to light how the school systems fail to do just that through funding discrimination. The article, as well as many of its compelling sources, presents how poorer, less privilege schools receive 33% less state and local feeling than more privileged schools. The article clearly agrees with the idea that racial inequality needs to come to an end.

                   In regards to the political debate in the article, Duncan takes the democratic approach and views conservative action as harmful and counterintuitive. The author is also prominently liberal as the elaborate on the harmful nature of conservative legislation.

Marescotti, Marco, "Idea!!", 9/22/12 via Flickr.com