HW 46 - Research and Writing

For my book i read Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It was about a firefighter named Guy Montag, only firefighters in that time aren't responsible for putting out fires, but starting them. They are responsible for the burning of books. Books are against the law and might spark some form of revolution. They made it a point to throw people who were found in possession of books to be thrown in jail and their house to be burned. This was all fine with Montag until he met a young girl who wasn't under the spell of television and opened his eyes to the world around him. It was when she met her untimely end that he really began to question everything around him. The story is about how we are so quick to absorb what is right in front of us but refuse to look past it, especially when we are being spoon fed the "truth."

This connects to my thesis because although it doesn't directly deal with success rates or anything like that, it gets into the mind set of someone who had an education under the government and someone who didn't and offers extraordinary contrasting points that will be extremely useful when i write my essay. I can use how the government mindset is so easily upset when it comes into conflict with the free thinking mind.

I wanted to be able to look at education and see how the schools in urban areas compare to suburban schools and how that can effect success rates. I thought that race would play a big part as well as income. I figured inner city schools wouldn't fare as well as rich long island schools. The reason that the book helps with this is because it addresses the types of education and without looking at race or income it attacks this man's life and how easily his perfect balance can be thrown off when he comes into conflict because he doesn't really understand life because he was never really taught, he was more along the lines of forced memorization. These tactics can leave you unprepared for life which is exactly what happened to Montag. He didn't know how to respond to change so he shut down and did what he was told. Even in scenes where he should have made his own decisions he had someone else make them. He was never truly alone throughout the book, it was always someone Else's thoughts or words that were guiding him, he was a puppet. I want to be able to base what i write off of something like that. I want to be able to understand the school systems like i understand Montag.

HW 45 - More Big Thoughts on Schools

Theodore R. Sizer as we know was the founder of the coalition of essential schools of which we are members along with over 600 other school across the country and internationally. He believed that if students were allowed to more freely use their mind then they could develop more intellectually. He thought that by giving us minor structure that we would be able to grow beyond what we could have if we had stuck to the structure. He thought that we were like a plant, if you keep putting us in bigger pots we can grow more because if we were a big plant in a little pot then we can only grow as much as the pot will let us. He wanted to leave room for change and because he believed that with change came growth. E.D. Hirsch, on the other hand believed that by learning facts about American and other countries that we will be more prone to success because we know what is necessary and that is what will help us more when we apply for colleges of jobs. In the books he published he stated that every grade level should have certain lesson plans that should be followed more explicitly and then after that the rate of success will be much greater.

I believe that freedom is necessary for change and that you can't progress without change. The problem with that is that progress and change are things that need to be kept in check. You cannot allow a plant to grow freely and expect it to stay within certain boundaries. The idea of untethered change can be scary to many because it is unpredictable and has the ability to get dangerous. If total and complete freedom is offered to today's youth then what control does the powers at be have over us? How can they possibly control us and make us do what they want. What i would do if i had to run a school, as predictable as it may be, i would mix the ideas of Sizer and Hirsch. I think that freedom is necessary to grow and learn but there needs to be some sort of root that can be built off of. It would great if people could hold an intelligent conversation and interject their own ideas, but they need to be able to understand what is being talked about. The Bill of Rights is something that should be taught in schools. We need to know the history of the planet. I think that if there could be a mix of Political sciences, World History, and Social studies in public schools, then there would be a great increase in the people produced by that education system.

E.D. Hirsch said: "Such is the case for the fundamental, inescapable importance of substantial, broad background knowledge for reading comprehension (and for performing well on reading comprehension tests). But agreement on this begs the next question: Knowledge of what? What knowledge should the schools be responsible for teaching to all kids? I believe that part of the answer is quite straightforward, and I hope uncontroversial—and to teach it ought to take about 40-60 percent of curricular time. " (Building Knowledge-http://archive.aft.org/pubs-reports/american_educator/issues/spring06/hirsch.htm). He wants the students of tomorrows youth be able to hold a conversation. It isn't necessarily a bad thing. He bases his knowledge off of comprehension tests which isn't right so i think that his ideas might be skewed from the beginning but he does have some valid points especially with the fact that we need more background knowledge. Ted Sizer said : "Few of the young soldiers who served under him had completed high school, but when treated democratically, as members of a cohesive group, they learned new skills readily, he found.“Whatever troops you got had to deliver,” Professor Sizer told Phi Delta Kappan magazine in 1996. “If one person didn’t do it, he put everybody’s life at stake. That made a deep impression. There was no tracking in the Army, just the beliefs that somehow these young men had to be trained and had to be reliable and that all soldiers can learn.”(Obituary Works-http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/education/23sizer.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all). Again just like Hirsch, Sizer recounts ideas from personal experiences and plans that to work accordingly with all people. Both of these people didn't ever investigate the other side, because if they did then it wouldn't be a problem right now because they would see how they could use each other to cover the flaws in their own ideas. But that is because they didn't take advice from each other, at least thats what i think.

HW 44 - Big Expectations for School

In my professional opinion i think that President Obama's speech on school is really the best out of all the articles. He doesn't say that school is there to transform you into something that you aren't. It simply says that if you try your hardest then you will be in a better position to help yourself in the future. Although it is the most generic and designed to embrace the path of least resistance, he still does an excellent job of getting his message across. He doesn't say that if they try to be something that they aren't then they will be better, but if they try their hardest then they will have more opportunities then if they just drop out. On average the people with the college degrees have a higher salary (http://www.all4ed.org/files/u1/TaxesGraph.gif). Albeit that race does place a significant role in these topics, that is not what i am discussing now. What Obama was basically saying is that if you try your hardest and stay in school then the chances for success are much higher.

My beliefs in the school system are quite simple. I believe that school should be mandatory but for those who are going to go and just make it harder for the people who went there to learn then what is the point. Things don't always happen like they do in movies. There isn't going to be a new white teacher in every bad school in America who goes there to miraculously change the lives of the students by reaching them through various trust exercises. Some of the students will just be dragged through school and just barely graduate if they don't drop out and then find a job that they can do. That's what i think at least.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2010/02/column-we-need-two-school-systems-.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/opinion/23herbert.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/03/opinion/03friedman.html?em

Those three articles seem to understand what i am talking about. The first address the fact that people are different and that there should be schools to address the different peoples needs so that they can be more effective to this country and be more successful in life. The second article states that schools are more successful when they are more stern with their students and mold them to follow their rules and do what they say. They make the children submissive and because of that they are more successful and therefore more able to adapt to our society. Terrible but true. The third article is about how we are beginning to have to outsource more and more because although we may be leaders in most aspects of the world. We are beginning to let the rest of the world catch up with us and in complete honesty. They are just plain cheaper then us. They can produce the same labor and basic needs for a fraction of the price and be the same quality. These three articles are all really important because as cheesy as it may be, they all connect back to the original Obama speech. They all basically say that we need to step up. We have become lazy! I am no exception, i have had all week to write this and i am doing it the night before it is due. I don't know who is to blame the school, my home, my friends, my teachers. Maybe it might just be my fault. At least i am willing to accept it.

HW 41 - Initial Internet Research on Schooling

Golba, Amy. "How Does Education in Urban Schools Compare To Suburban Schools?." Indiana University Of South Bend 1.1 (2006): n. pag. Web. 24 Feb 2010.

Basically what this article is saying is that children who attend urban schools are under privileged and we need more money because we don't have enough and because of that we are not graduating and not making enough money to support ourselves. Amy Golba had this very interesting chart that compared drugs, theft, violence, attendance and bad class behavior in urban and suburban schools. What made this chart so interesting is that in every case the urban schools were worse (had higher numbers) then the suburban schools.

This is a good source for my topic because i am looking into how successful students are in graduating high school and then their future achievements based on whether they go to a urban or suburban school. This was interesting because it brought some very negative light onto urban schools and i like to see how it compares to suburban schools now. (http://www.iusb.edu/~journal/static/volumes/1998/Paper5.html)

• Mone, Lawrence. "Little behavioural difference between urban and suburban teenagers." City Mayors Society 1.1 (2004): n. pag. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .

Basically what this paper said is the exact opposite of the last article. It said that Urban and suburban schools are just as bad as each other. They both promote, smoking, drinking and recreational sex. All of which can hinder future success. Or at least distract you from the task at hand.

This connects back to my topic because it shows that peer pressure plays a part in both urban and suburban schools and because of that neither one can really have the finger of blame pointed at which one may have the more successful students.

(http://www.citymayors.com/society/urban_teens.html)

• Jordan, Jennifer. "Suburban, urban school gap remains." Rhode Island news 1.1 (2008): n. pag. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .

This article is slightly different then the others because it has more specific examples and is talking about rings of schools in Providence Rhode Island. It is talking about how the "urban" rings are incredibly below average and if they cant bring their averages up then they are facing severe budget cuts and even school closures which can be incredibly bad and cause many children to go without an education.

This relates back to my point because once again it shows how the students grades are failing due to peer pressures. Although not directly stated in this article it is made clear by the simple fact that these students in urban areas are failing.

(http://www.projo.com/news/content/SCHOOL_CLASSIFICATIONS_08-20-08_27B8U6T_v47.3f5f96b.html)

• Noguera, Pedro. "San Francisco: Improvements are rooted in local initiative and leadership." Achieving Success Through Shared Accountability in Urban Schools 1.1 (1997): n. pag. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .

This is an old article and the reason i chose it was because from the very beginning of when San Francisco was starting to turn around its school systems and this article was published which made this article that much more valuable. It showed how the urban areas were beginning to turn themselves around and by doing that they were making it a better place.

This relates back to my topic because it shows that even though urban schools were bad they still had the ability to improve and the social situations and social hierarchy's still had room to change.

(http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/pnsf.html)

• Knudson, Brigitte. "A Liberal Education." Wordpress.com. 15 Jul 2008. Wordpress.com, Web. 3 Mar 2010. .

This article said that the difference between urban and suburban schools and which ones do better depends on which ones have less "underprivileged children" because they tend to not do as well on standardized testing and that is what schools are usually marked by for their success.

This article is helpful because it gives a very close minded and almost racist view into the success rates of school. She says that suburban schools are better because they have less poor kids and they don't do as well as middle class kids. She didn't bring race into it but i think that would be next. I think that this article does give a urban outlook on success/failure rates outside of their own little bubble.

(http://brigitteknudson.wordpress.com/2008/07/15/education-in-urban-vs-suburban-schools-comparing-apples-and-oranges/)

Basically what i learned from these articles is that upbringing and personal background and such play very important roles in your personal role at school and no matter what area you live in those things will still be key.

HW 42 - Significance

How does the social hierarchy in urban/suburban schools connect to the success failure rate of today's youth?

The reason that this topic interests me is because i have a good number of friends who go to school on long island and what they learn is incredibly mundane and usually straight from a textbook, but yet they all seem to do quite well in college and get scholarships whether they be academic or sports related. Most of the people who i know who went to college from the city don't seem to really amount to anything like that, they go to decent colleges and jobs that get them by from there.

I want to know if it is a trend that this is between urban and suburban schools or is it just the people i know. I want to know if this is a pattern. Since i am presented this opportunity then i should take it and maybe see what the cards hold for me for my future. I really don't want to end up in some dead end job that gets me by because i didn't do everything i could in high school. I want to do something that makes me happy. I know i need to work for that but i want to know why it seems that suburban kids have such an advantage.

HW 40 - School Interviews x 5 & Synthesis

Person #1:

When i asked myself what did school do to me? I had a lot of answers, none of them were particularly happy. I have done plenty of stupid things in school and i have had bad friends and good friends and i have had good teachers and bad teachers. All of these things put together make me who i am for the most part because i spend almost as much time at school as i do at home (saying i sleep from 11 to 7). These people that i spend 6 hours a day with have a lot of influence on me. They made me paranoid and much more sheltered about my personal information. But at the same time, some of them proved that people are good and that even when you are mad at each other they can forget about that to help you out and that leaves just as lasting as an impression as anything. It may be sentimental or whatever but i think its pretty true.

Person #2:

So first i Interviewed Kate, i asked her about how school affected her social outlook. She said that that people suck, because people can be petty and catty. School brings all types of people that you generally would never talk to together, which isn't always a good thing. Honestly, the school i go to and the people i go to school with made me a less social person. If i could change one thing about my school i would change it to have more good electives because most of the classes i take now are fake and honestly will not really ever help me once i graduate high school much less college.

Person #3:

For my second interview i talked to my childhood friend Alex. When asked about the experience of being a student she said: "Well...on the experience of being a student, i actually like school, i just think we get so much homework it ruins the experience. i think the motivation of school is to create a well-educated population, so the intentions are good, and although its difficult sometimes, i think it has good intentions and its overall motivation is, for the most part, fulfilled. i do not think school is a sorting machine, at least not my school, because we all want to be well-rounded so we all do everything so no one is "sorted" into a particular genre. However, we all have talents and activities we are usually associated with. I am lucky to be somewhere that allows for students to pursue multiple areas of interest and therefore not be sorted."

Person #4:

For my third interview i talked to my 8 year old cousin Zachary. I wanted to talk to another generation and see what they had to say about how the social situations and how school affects his social persona. When i asked him about what he thought about his school and how it helped him make friends he said that he liked school because it helped him makes friends but it also made him be with people who aren't cool, and who he wouldn't want to be with outside of school. He was convinced that he was in school to be tortured because of how "annoying" some of these people are, yet he is pretty popular. He leads his kindergarten class and makes the people around him want to be like him. Yet he is pretty annoying to me at least, but he is a cool kid, he took what he saw in his friends and made it his own and everyone loves him for it. He may be only 8 but he is very smart

Person #5:

For my last interview i talked to my brother Eli who is starting his first year in high school at Beacon. He said; "School gives me the chance to meet girls and hang out with all my friends in an organized environment. And this time has allowed me to develop very quickly and efficiently as opposed to the time i spend away from school. Sitting with 30 kids in a class 6 hours a day for 180 days a year has helped me to learn how to interact with them in a way that feels more natural and allows me to better understand and control other social situations whether they be in school or outside of it."

Part B:

From what my friends and family have said it is very true that school does in fact suck for the kind of work that it makes you do but we all agree that it is worth it for the friends. It helps make friends and they are what make school worth it. School needs to prepare us for what real life holds and that means dealing with people we don't like and making people that we do like be our friends and stay our friends. That is useful for job interviews and for just anything that really involves the workplace. But that is beside the point. What i am trying to say is that no one likes to work but they need to learn to deal with it. What everyone does like is making friends and for the most part i do too. Sure they make drama and cause problems but we all do that. It teaches us how to deal with ourselves and that is probably the most important thing when it comes to living on your own.

HW 39 - First School Assignment

Questions:

• How does school's views on everything change or corrupt our views on everything?
• What kind of impact does home schooling have on a child versus public or private school?
• Is the School system corrupt? Is there such a thing as an unbiased point of view?

Ideas:

• School isn't completely socialist, i thought that was pretty interesting
• We are here for multiple reasons, because legally we have to be and because if we weren't at school we would be at home watching TV or playing video games, but that gets boring after a while and honestly, going to school usually means seeing friends, so its nice to go and see them.
• The people we are subject to everyday are the ones who impact us the most, and we spend more time in school then with our families a lot of the time, so the people who aren't even related to us are the people who play some of the biggest roles in our day to day lives.

Experiences:

• I come in everyday and sit down and pretend to care about what is going on when in reality, the majority of what i will learn wont help me in any job i get, it will just help me get there but become completely useless when i get there
• I've been both sides of the "cool" coin, i have been picked on and i have picked on people. Both of these relate back to who i know and who i was friends with. If i didn't go to this school then most likely everything would be different. But i think that being able to see both sides of everything is pretty important
• School has stopped becoming interesting and has started becoming a chore which is teaching me what the rest of my job life will become, i hope it doesn't but i don't really know anymore how possible all my dreams may be.

One Aspect Of School

School has its ups and downs of course. I wake up the same time everyday, go through the same morning routine, walk the same route, take the same trains and report to the same advisory every morning. It becomes almost robotic the daily actions that i take to get to a place that i hate to quite an extent. But if i didn't go, my social skills would be nonexistent. I wouldn't have any friends and not really many memorable moments to my life.

As much as everyone may hate school for the amount of work it may make us do, or the stress of having to wake up early to get there on time. Or just sitting in class for hours on end having someone make us do work. But thats what life is, which sucks, but it pretty true. The good thing is that is teaches you more then useless information about calculus. It teaches how to cope and work with the hand that we are dealt in life. We have to make the best of it and make it work for us. So if that means making new friends or learning how to take an insult, so be it. It all makes stronger because as many times as it may beat us down we still have to get back up and keep on going. That is what makes stronger. All that i am saying is total and complete bullshit, but it what i was taught by my school to do. I give the answer that makes sense regardless of how cliche it may be. I should be writing the answers that you want to hear, but that is just too conformist for me, and of all the things that i have been taught, i think that going with the flow completely is just kind of a waste of time. Take that as you may, i think you get the point

HW 38 - Art Project Cool

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I thought really long and hard about how to summarize this unit into a picture because i couldn't think of a video that wouldn't be cheesy. This picture depicts a man in a brand name t-shirt, nice jeans and Nike's. Now this man doesn't have head, he is holding it on a string like a balloon and right above him is a rain cloud. These are all metaphors of course. The man is supposed to a conformist by dressing in "fresh" clothes and trying to impress, even when it is raining "insults" on him. The rain cloud above him is his peers making fun of him and picking on him. The balloon is his face and he keeps it on a string so it wont get wet and that it can stay clean because he needs to protect it. But by keeping it on a string he may keep it free of rain, but he also has to worry about loosing the string and loosing his face which is his only connection back to the real world and who he is. This picture may not be the most beautiful thing in the world, but i am not the best artist. I have good ideas but the problem for me is putting them on paper and this is the best way that i could do that. The whole point of art is to be able to get a message across, some people may see it differently then i do. They may get different messages, but what i am trying to get is to get them to stop and think for a second as to what it could mean. Looking at art creates inspiration within people and makes them want to maybe create something themselves. It could push us to think a little deeper within us and pull something dark out and make it light. It may be cliche and admitting it is cliche is cliche which leads to an infinite loop, but the fact remains that just looking at the pictures creates some new thought process. I hope whoever is viewing this can experience that too. That is all