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)