Why go to school?

The reading for this week was very interesting and helped introduce me to an idea that I never considered. The way that children are taught in schools starting from a young age predetermines the type of jobs they can apply for when they get older or excludes the wide range of opportunities that they can consider. The education system has turned into a business and I feel that many of these corporations feel very little shame for what they’re doing. On pages 97-98, Kozol comments on how the head of a Chicago school replies to the accusation that the instruction style was turning these children into robots. Instead of denying it he tried to rationalize the situation by stating, “Did you ever stop to think that these robots will never burglarize your home?” and “will never snatch your pocket books…These robots are going to be producing taxes…” The fact that he would actually continue to call these students robots shows that he is dehumanizing them and therefore they don’t deserve what a human child receives. They don’t need to understand what they are learning, they don’t need nutritious meals to fill their stomachs, they don’t each need a desk, they don’t need books that don’t have pages falling out of them, they don’t need to be respected, they don’t need affection, and they just need to learn the repetitive motions that are being engrained in their minds without questioning the system. School officials rationalize their behaviors and actions towards students that attend schools that lack a lot of resources by saying that they wouldn’t appreciate it anyway and don’t even give them the chance to experience something new or to gain any kind of hands on experience. If people truly believe that all children or the majority of students in working class schools are naturally going to steal your purse the moment they get the chance or burglarize your home when you turn your back then it shows how ignorant you really are. There are so many factors that lead to children having to turn onto this dangerous path in life. I’ve never heard a child say that they wanted to be a professional purse-snatcher or burglar. Here's a link to a youtube video of kids in a kindergarden class saying what they want to be when they grow up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZP7MiflWcY.
These children have goals, aspirations, and dreams. It’s not fair that they have strikes against them just because of the type of school they go to and I know life is not fair but that’s the point. If other countries can guarantee their population quality education why can’t we? The Anyon article was an eye opener because I never realized the exact differences between certain schools such as working class and affluent professional schools and how the teaching methods differed so drastically. The main point that hit home for me was that in affluent schools the students reached answers independently and understood the process. They were allowed to question the materials and were honing skills that are applicable to everyday life. They’re given the tools necessary to excel in their fields while the working class is taught to follow directions and be submissive. I think someone said in class that the purpose of education is to ensure that there will be people to perform tasks that no one else wants to because the skills they are taught only allow them this option while others are taught to run these companies. In our country a thousand people have to be at the bottom so that one can be on top. So in education is important to get the right answer or to understand the process of reaching that destination?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZP7MiflWcY

Is diversity all that counts?

It would be nice to have completely integrated and diverse schools but many times during our attempt to make everything diverse we lose sight of one very important aspect. The quality of education. A lot of times people have this image of a perfect school where there’s a variety of different students of all shades and colors and backgrounds with great teachers that are wise, all-knowing, and that encourage us. Kerri Ann made a comment about not wanting to end the class on such a hopeless note but it’s not hopeless we just have to be a little more realistic. I’m not a pessimist but the idea of having all or the majority of schools look like a great world salad is far from the reality of today. Would that be nice? Of course and I would love to go to a school like that but I feel that we have to focus on improving the quality of education because what you learn in school matters more than who’s sitting next to you. Don’t take my words out of context please and say that I am advocating for segregated schools with great curriculums but it would nice if the resources were distributed a little better. I agree with the fact that we need to strengthen our community. I don’t know how but I know we need to! And the business world in my opinion is not as diverse as everyone would like to think it is. Just because we have people like Russell Simmons, Tiger Woods, and Oprah Winfrey on TV once in a while doesn’t make it diverse. I’ve walked into numerous offices (including on this campus) and only seen Caucasians. I’ve walked into law firms, stores, libraries, and so many other places and only seen one type of people. Our schools reflect our world so if a child goes to a school where there are 3,76 white kids, seven black kids, 12 Spanish, 3 Indian, and 4 Asian in my opinion they’ll find a lot of places that they go to with the same kind of diversity. If we as a society really want diversity than why do we have to force it onto people, why do we have quotas (they are illegal but they exist), and why do people send their kids so far away when there are great schools in their neighborhoods (Martin Luther King High School). Do we want diversity or do we want to be seen as politically correct in the eyes of other countries? If we really want diversity then why do we still have HBCs (historically black colleges) and many colleges where majority of the students are white?
Here are two different links about schools.
This is about historically black colleges: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1RLF4LvGKQ
This is about the American school system: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIgo25wePss

Who cares?

In class today, at one point Keri Ann mentioned if only these PHD holders knew what we go through to get them their twenty page papers on time maybe they would understand. I was just wondering why would they care what our reason was. If they did care would they understand or could they relate to what we were going through that prevented us from completing the task to the best of our ability. I believe that there are a few teachers out there that would give us the benefit of the doubt and try to understand why our paper would be late but I’ve never taken a chance or given anyone the benefit of the doubt. Whether or not I pass doesn’t affect the professor, that’s a situation that I would have to deal with by myself. If I fail I would be the one put on academic probation but the professor would still wake up in their bed, get in their car, go to school, and will still have their job. If the other forty students in the class can hand in their papers on time what makes me so special. Believe you and me there have been times when my life (Hard to believe I have one outside of school and work, right?) has prevented me from completing an assignment on time and I wished that someone would take mercy on me for the sake of my sanity but I’ve never felt comfortable enough to go to any teacher and ask for an extension. I wish more professors would take into account that life happens outside of class but I’ve heard too many professors already say that if it’s an emergency (a death in the family) I need a copy of the death certificate and that is the only way that you will get an extension.
Something that pushes my buttons is America’s view of itself in relation to other countries. The way that history is written is through the eyes and opinions of the victor. Once in my seventh grade class my social studies teacher said to the that class in reference to slavery, “Why would a master beat his slaves so badly? If he really believed that it was his property wouldn’t he take care of them? That’s why he feed, clothed, and sheltered them. History has just been exaggerated over time. It’s like buying a new car and driving it until you ruin the engine or pop all the tires. If it’s your property you wouldn’t that to it.” This was the opinion that my teacher had about slavery and at the age of 12 this is what I was exposed to. I don’t remember much of what I learnt in the seventh grade but that’s something I’ve never forgotten. No one said anything to her about it, no one questioned her, and no one contradicted her. The teacher said it so it must be true. This is how I thought in the seventh grade because I didn’t really know any other way to learn. If you asked too many questions you were obviously a trouble maker and you had to be moved to another class or transferred out of the school. This brings me to my next point about teachers. What makes a good teacher? A dipolma, a Bachelors, a Masters? On page 3 Kozol writes, “I had not credentials as a teacher, but I quickly learned that this did not matter…” It would be nice to have teachers that have graduated from college and that are qualified teaching in schools but does it really always work out like that. I’ve had teachers that have been teaching for more than ten years and that have gotten their masters but does that mean that they were good? A piece of paper doesn’t mean that they’ve actually learnt anything. They may have been able to memorize a certain amount of enough for a short period of time but does that mean that they can teach me what they’ve learnt. The one teacher that affected my education the most was the English teacher I had in high school my senior year. She was young and still going to school but her method of teaching was great. She made us sit in a U (kind of a circle), give endless presentations, write a thesis paper, and she graded harshly. She wasn’t afraid to shut us down or call us out on silly mistakes or BS papers. She had a horrible reputation and I wanted to transfer out of class but after spending a year with her I understand why she was so bad. She was bad because she made us work for our grade, she opened our eyes to different theories and point of views. I loved her. She didn’t have a masters but in my opinion she was the best teacher I’ve ever had.