english final

Student Loans and how they keep us down

         In 2009, Denmark was ranked to be the happiest country in the world while the United States lagged behind at number 17. This information spread quickly across the U.S. through news stations that tried to understand why this was so. Perhaps it’s because half of the population in Denmark commutes by biking, which results in daily exercise and since exercise stimulates endorphin production, a neurotransmitter that help make a person happy, it is possible that their exercise habits could be the reason for their overall happiness and well-being. But this is nothing compared to Denmark’s low-income inequality and their social security. Higher education is free and greatly encouraged, and people rarely go into a career for its money. Students never say, “I have to drop out because I can’t afford tuition.” Here in America, the total student debt in 2012 has surpassed 1 trillion dollars because the cost of higher education seems impossible to pay unless a student’s parents are incredibly wealthy. Because student loans have become one of the largest elements to our worsening economy, it is the main cause of loss of the American Dream, and the only way to solve this crisis is to change this country’s mentality and political system.

The cost of education has become so ridiculously high that the American dream has become unattainable, resulting in a growing inequality between children born into wealthy families and children who are born into the less fortunate families. Rich kids in high school usually receive SAT classes to improve their SAT scores, yet the underprivileged students have limited resources with little to no classes. At the same time, colleges and universities evaluate these students as people of equal competition. The rich kids end up achieving high scores while the poor ones have to take out loans because their $74 community college classes cost too much for their family.  “While rich kids go off to college, America’s poor children drop out of school, wind up in the nation’s jails or prisons, or are destined to live the lives of the working poor – or worse” (53). Children are the future yet higher education disregards them because colleges seem to never stop asking for funds. A textbook is always around $200 and tuition for a UC costs $30,000 a year causing nearly every student that isn’t rich to take out student loans and have to pay interest on their loans.

It is well known that America is mostly capitalist, but such a system will never encourage education. Capitalism is a system where a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit in competitive conditions, but without the fancy words this is merely a system based on greed. Private ownership means more money for the individual. Profit becomes more money than necessary, and a competitive condition easily changes to selfishness because most competitors do not want to lose. President Woodrow Wilson announced in 1913 “there has been something crude and heartless and unfeeling in our haste to succeed and be great” (35). Capitalism generates new ideas and entrepreneurs, but this system emphasizes individuality instead of teamwork. It is often heartless and cold because such a structure lacks consideration for others and decreases community within the nation. Desperation for more money, more success, and more influence never stops no matter the sacrifice and unfortunately; the sacrifice is the education of children, of America’s future. A phrases like “I do not want to help pay for a lazy poor person’s education” is not rare. This gives birth to the lack of funds for public schools, which makes it harder for every student to obtain a degree.

            There must be a positive change in tuition fees and more programs to help pay or encourage higher education. Instead of investing a ridiculous amount of $700 billion in the military, investing a fraction of that amount is much more useful. Marian Wright Edelman, a Children’s Defense Fund founder, stated that “the greatest threat to America’s national security comes from no enemy without but from our own failure to protect, invest in, and educate all of our children who make up all of our futures in this global economy” (49). America’s enemies are not those outside our country, but the lack of affordable education within our country. At the moment, the free educational system found in Denmark seems impossible, but, instead, America should implement easily accessible programs that help inform students of bad loans. The tuition fees for colleges and universities should be reduced to sensible rate, and their money should mainly come from taxes collected by the government instead of a vulnerable student’s empty pocket. It is statistically shown that higher education results in a higher pay, which means more money goes back to the government to generate this healthy cycle, therefore there should be no complaint on taxes being too high.

            There will never be a perfect education system that satisfies everyone’s needs, but a system that provides everyone with the education should be basic. Instead of a greedy capitalistic country America should have a more unified and considerate mentality so the young college students don’t have to take out loans and pay them back with such a high interest. If the cycle were to continue the fate of this country will spiral down into a chaotic disaster.

 Smiley, Travis, and Cornel West. The Rich and the Rest of Us. Hayhouse Inc. New York. 2012. Print

Compassion

We should show compassion towards gang members because  although there are evil people in the gang world but there are those that want a change. Perhaps a six year old boy named William grew up i a household where both of his parents would beat each other and their son. And perhaps this innocent young boy did not know that was wrong. That those violent actions were a way to show affection because his education never taught him otherwise ten years later he has failed school and no teacher tries to help. They assume he is naturally stupid and that he is a helpless cause. He joins a gang and kills people and he does not understand what he is doing is wrong. He believes he is killing other gang members to save innocent people. He believes by killing a young child he could save them from a tragic life or erase another future opposing gang member. Although this is not every gang member on the streets some have similar stories. We should learn to be compassionate to these people so they can understand the meaning of life rather than that kind of dark tragic one. We should not forgo gang members wanting to change because a majority of them do not want to. testing.

poorly funded high schools

What affects do bad teachers have on a child?

            Teachers guide their students to obtain a mastery of a certain subject, to pass their knowledge to the future, and to help the children obtain happiness. They lead students to a future involving their passion, but when they receive a failing teacher they cannot grow in their knowledge. If the teacher cannot take care of their own career can they help a child find his or her? If student receives a bad teacher they fall behind in their curriculum. They would score lower compared to others not in that class or school and when they fall behind for one year it is greatly impacting. This motivates a student to dropout of school because they cannot understand a subject so simple to others but so difficult to them.

            Teachers are important, but a happy and encouraging family is the most important. Most teachers in a public school can only teach their students for at most two years. The people that truly help children in the long term are the parents. Parents that are wealthy and received a good education tend to have children that do well in school. These children have their own study rooms, easy access to the best technology, and have parents that have been in their situation in the past. This mostly creates an endless cycle of well-educated, wealthy people compared to their more unfortunate peers. Therefor it is essential that the parents understand their responsibility rather than their teachers.

            A good education does not focus on just teachers, but is a combination of all money, location, and environment. Having money means that there are more supplies to help a child with their studies. They can buy calculators, books, laptops, etc. They could buy anything to help them continue their studies to have a better understanding of a subject. In terms of location most students do better in a safe city rather than one where they could easily be mugged or shot at. Having supporting parents and being in a great school with kind peers is always ideal for any child to be successful.  

Are bad teachers just as bad as bad parents?

            Having even just one bad teacher for a year can have devastating effects on a child, especially in the early years. This is the same as having horrible parents. Many students look up to their teacher in admiration, but if a first grader receives an apathetic teacher what is he or she supposed to do? Any child that young can still understand the moods of the adults around them so it is crucial for children to have not only good parents, but also good teachers.

            Having a bad parent can never be as traumatic as having bad parents. If the parents are well educated they could help teach their child what the teacher lacks. If the teacher does not teach then the child could further his or her studies by reading. A library is easy to access and especially in the age of the Internet, people can know anything they want to know. Blaming a child’s poor grade should not be the teacher’s responsibility, but the parent’s responsibility.

            Children are all very different from each other. They learn, grow, and play differently. One method of learning may work for 10 children but not the others. When a child does poorly one cannot put all the blame on one person, but a mix of the child’s circumstances.

           

Do materials really matter? Why or why not?

            Materials are important. Teachers cannot teach without their textbooks and they cannot write notes without a board. Most public school teachers in America are underpaid and they are forced to pay for their supplies for the students. Students cannot learn addition without seeing it and practicing the problems. Just to do that they require papers, pencils, and textbooks. They cannot turn in formal MLA formatted essays without a computer or printer. It is essential for schools to at least have the basic supplies for their students.

            Materials are not nearly important as parents or teachers. If the parents are insensitive to their children’s struggles the child shall suffer. If a teacher does not help clarify the subject they teach then that person is useless. That person is a useless. He or she is a waste of space, money, and time in that classroom. To help any struggling child there must be a group effort from both the teachers and parents.

            Materials are not as important as a student’s mindset. In the age of the Internet anyone could learn anything at one’s will. If they do not understand biology they could always Google it. There are videos on YouTube that talk about the Pythagorean theorem and could be easily accessed by the library. The most important for a student’s education is not their supplies, but their perseverance. 

America's unequal school systems

America has some really great schools that are well funded with encouraging staff. This is usually because the community donates money to the school, but in East st. Louis that is not the case. The book Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol, describes the unfortunate situations of the children attending school there. The best high school in the area "has 110 students in four classes - but only 26 books."(37) That is for their history class.  There are around 28 students in one class and 5 of those students must share 1 book. That is horrible, not even the most basic supply like textbook is provided for the students. How can the children succeed? How will the escape from the horrible life of violence and poverty?

Education 3 points

School should be a place where people can gather knowledge from experts and through that process, find their passion. The goal of a high school should be to guide their students to find something they love to do and do well. High school should not just prepare you for college but for life. The staff should be able to confidently say the alumni have been properly educated to follow their passion or whatever good things they want to do in life. This responsibility should be mainly for the teachers.

            Some teachers in high schools feel apathetic towards their students. They only pay attention to the obedient ones and feel no responsibility towards their student. I have personally witnessed many teachers say “I am not responsible if you fail” or “This is your problem not mine.” It should not be acceptable for an educator to say this. This teaches the young adolescent that responsibility lies in only one person. That it is entirely student’s fault or the teacher’s fault. Eric Fromm wrote in his article that, “the teacher is satisfied if he succeeds in furthering the student; if he has failed to do so, the failure is his and the student’s” (Fromm).  This is the mentality teachers should have and they need to properly explain and carry out that statement. If they do not want to, selfishly believing that they what they do is right, these “teachers” does not deserve their job.

The occupation of being a teacher at a public high school is not well respected or well paid. Current teachers have no incentives to excel at their job because of the long hours, low wages, and continuous struggle from the school’s budget cuts. Many supplies are paid by the teachers and new statistics have shown that many teachers go into debt to start their careers. These people educate the precious children of America, yet why are the so badly mistreated and exploited. Nowadays one third of the student teachers quit this occupation recognizing these problems. In Singapore and Finland, high school teachers make high wages comparable to doctors. Actually in Finland the teachers can continue their education to a doctorate and still receive their wages. This gives a teacher more incentive to carry out their job thoroughly and effectively. Although this model may not be perfect it is very successful. Finland has many well educated people and this made them happier because they had a goal and passion in life.

Individual talents (Sir Ken Robinson Talk)

Today I watched a video of a well educated, humorous man named Ken Robinson. It was the first time I heard of him, this foreign man with an English accent. His words, "many people go through their whole life not knowing what their talents are,"  really stuck me. This is completely true. It seems that instead of people doing what they love they do what makes the most money. They don't have the freedom to explore and are looked down upon if they do not make a six figure income. I agree with Mr. Robinson, that there needs to be a revolution for education. A place that can cultivate a person's individuality, a place where they discover there passion. School should help the students learn to do what they love in life, for them to say, "it would be foolish of me to abandon this because it is my most authentic self." Every person is different. Different colors, cultures, sizes etc. and that diversity is beautiful. Different people have new ideas and have different responsibilities. A world with just innovators and no police would be chaotic and the other way around would be too oppressive. There must be a balance in the world and money should not be such an important part of life. The educational system should make that known and focus on the variety of talents and accept the various ways it can be nurtured. A revolution is truly needed because a reform cannot fix what is broken.

Reeling in Research

Diane Tran

Monique Williams

English 1A

3 September 2013

Passion

“Passion is a desire to do, or accomplish, or feel love without…without any barriers,” said by Samira in the Initiating the Passion Project. Passion seems to be something people look very affectionate at in the video. It is something that everyone needs to find and what we should follow in life. In the article, “why you shouldn’t follow your passion,” by Paul Michael has a slightly different, but relating opinion towards passion. It questions if people are doing what they love instead of what they are good at. The phrase, “follow your passion” is used as if, “the implication being that at the end of the passion rainbow sits a pot of gold full of happiness. (Paul)  It is true, not always, but it is true. Passion is hard to identify for some people and few understand what it means. A child could love animals and love working with animals. Being a vegetarian could be his or her dream job because it seems prestigious. The job saves animals with a very appealing pay and interesting gadgets. The child could want that job more than anything but does she have the necessary skills? He or she has to love animals and science more than anything to be a vet. They must continue school for many years and must stay dedicated. Paul recommends that instead of following our “passion,” a possibly changing emotional roller coaster, we should do what we do well. In conclusion he says, “Look at your interests, talents and skills and pursue excellence – your passion.”(Paul)

about me

The blog is simple and, to some extent, I'm simple. The title on my blog is mochi95 because I really love to eat mochi and i was born in 1995. Mochi is a Japanese sweet made from rice. It is very soft and squishy. It is important for me to graduate from college and get a degree. I'm very passionate about food. I'm in school to learn about things I'm interested in and hopefully it will get me a job. I hope to do well in this English class and to improve on my writing. I value my stationary because it helps for taking notes, homework, and studying.It also is a bonus that I think my stationary is cute.