Kozol Page 141
“Some people blame these racial differences primarily upon the values systems of black children and their parents.”
The values of a child are usually generated from their parents or because of their parents. They may not necessarily have the same values when they are adults, but they are definitely generated from who they grew up with. It’s unfair to not accept a child into a good school because of the child’s values or even the parents’ values. If a parent is trying to get their child into a good school, regardless of their race or values, they want what’s good for their child. If the values of a parent aren’t 100% what a school wants or expects from said parent, should it even matter? If it’s really the values of an African American parent that is not allowing a child into a good school, then that is simply ridiculous. Parents usually want their children to live a better life and that’s why parents are trying to get their children into good schools so they can start them off right. Right away, that’s discriminating others and this is why Stuyvesant has such a low percentage of African American and Hispanic students. If people are saying it’s most likely the values, clearly something is going on in the interview process where the school is turning away these parents that just want what is best for their child. Isn’t that enough, to want the best? I don’t think anyone would want to be turned away from anything for this son or daughter because of their values.
Kozol Page 144
“If other choices did exist, she said, they were not mentioned. Nobody had told her that the problems here were every bit as grave as those from which she thought that she had rescued him.”
This mother was trying to keep her son safe and transfer him to a new, better school so he can succeed without having to ever worry about getting beat up. The district office didn’t give her any other choice than to transfer him to this school in Harlem which is just as unsafe as his last school, if not worse. Why didn’t the district office give this mother any other options? Did they just assume she didn’t have the money to pay for a better school or did they simply not want her son to attend another school because of who they were? Elio was a “promising and happy child” when Kozol met him at the age of six. Now, this child is going to a middle school where the children are held like prisoners it sounds like and there are constantly fights going on in the school. Elio’s original school was shut down, so his mother had no choice but to transfer him to the Harlem school because she had no other options. The school district should have given every single option available to that mother no matter where she lived or came from. This mother wanted something better for her son and this school district dismissed her and her son’s life and completely changed his future most likely for the worse. If the school district is acting like this, how does any expect to have integrated schools and have children with equality?
Kozol Page 148
“”Lunchroom Hell,” as another New York student once described these periods in which they’re herded down for squalid feedings in the basements of their schools, does not come up too often in those intellectual deliberations on the reasons for collapsing motivation among students in these schools.”
I was appalled to hear of such a fiasco that happens every day during every lunch period in this school. How can anyone expect a child to get a great education and behave in school if simply feeding the students lunch is like a feeding frenzy at a zoo? First of all, the first lunch wave begins at 9:42 and the last at 2:19? 9:42 is breakfast and 2:19 is nothing more than a snack at that point! The children that are forced to eat their lunch so early in the morning most likely get hungry during the middle of the day and have to deal with no food until they go home. The children that eat the last lunch wave of the day have to deal with no food all day, it’s disgusting. This school has such a large population that they had no choice to break up the lunch wave like this and yet every lunch wave still has an abundance of people. A school cannot expect students to be well behaved during the day if they can’t even feed them properly. I know I wouldn’t be able to eat lunch at 9:42am and not eat anything else, yet work on homework and class work. I would lose focus just as a lot of other people I know would. Are there even any ways of going about fixing something like this? Of course, added onto the building or moving students to another school, but there’s most likely no money for an add on and the other schools are jam-packed as well.
Canestrari and Marlow Page 67
“Deven’s new way of understanding April’s behavior—that “lots of people need to move around in order to learn”—drew on Deven’s previous knowledge of multiple intelligences.”
I thought this “reframing hyperactivity” process was a brilliant idea and April was a great example of the amazing things it can do. If Deven had continued to dismiss April as he was and only think negatively of her, things would have only worsened throughout the year in the classroom and even as she moved onto higher grades. He saw a positive light in her and gave her some options to help her and she understood and her good behavior increased dramatically. If this process could be installed in every urban school for starters, that would be more than fantastic. Every urban school I’ve been to, all I hear is screaming from teachers in the classrooms, in the office, in the hallways, etc. Students are getting yelled at for things that can be solved with a small statement of even a whisper. Students are getting screamed at so much that they don’t care to even try to behave anymore because, what’s the point? Yelling at a student is the least effective way to get a point across. Why yell when a teacher can solve the problem to it either stops or decreases overtime? I understand that teachers get very stressed out in these schools and the yelling can simply come out of nowhere, but it is necessary to be all day every day? Any parent who would be able to sit in their child’s classroom would be quite upset with how some teachers treat their students. Just by simply talking to April and explaining what her options were, Deven didn’t have issues with her in the classroom again. If this could be installed to schools in urban schools, the atmosphere would change tremendously.
Canestrari and Marlow Page 166
“I found that letting the kids kind of give life to whatever the assignment was, even if it wasn’t initially the direction I had planned, worked so much better. And it was really kind of exciting but also a little bit scary for me. I remember coming in with these really structured lessons….But I had to incorporate the kids into them.”
This is something that a lot of teachers seem to forget and it’s unfortunate. It’s hard to bring life into lessons that are only originally there because of “the test.” Students will appreciate the hard work a teacher brings when going out of the box when making his/her lessons. They will learn so much more and have fun at the same time. Students love to learn about life and always have questions about it, but because of the way schools are today “life” is just shoved aside. Who would want to sit in a desk and stare at the board listening to their teacher talk about how to do some math problem for the test? After doing that, fill out dozens of worksheets for the rest of the day to see what they remember? If the teacher isn’t having fun, the students are most definitely not having fun. It’s difficult to make lessons all be fun and creative, but no one has to do that. Just bringing some real life into the lessons can make them interesting enough for the students to stay awake. Teachers also need to remember that just because it’s on their lesson plan, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. They need to go with the flow of how things are working in the classroom and what the students can bring to the lesson. Sometimes the lesson may even turn out better than planned, sometimes it may be worse, but that’s a learning experience for the teacher just as well as the students.
Spring Page 52
“In fact, because of special funds for high-poverty areas, children going to schools with the highest percentage of poor children spend more per student than other schools except for schools with the lowest percentage of poor children.”
I thought this to be a very interesting fact. Usually I just hear how schools with a high poverty rate have less money spent on their students than with schools with a low poverty rate. It was interesting to see how they have more money spent on their students than all the other schools other than the one with the lowest percentage of poor children. There’s special funds applied into that budget, but for some reason I would have never guessed it. When comparing schools, the other schools seem to be better off in a sense than the school with more money going towards the students. Is this because the schools had less to begin with and giving them this extra money they still don’t have much to show for it? I feel as though that’s the only explanation I can think of to come to a conclusion of why these schools still seem below all the other schools even though they have more money. How much money is usually given to a school when they start? Maybe that affects with how the schools are today.
Katrina,
ReplyDeleteIn response to your topics about the application process for private schools, there are many things that Kozol says skew the opportunity for students to get in. Sometimes, it's the simple and well-known case of who do you know that can get you into the school. Knowing people that have a high position in the private school a parent is trying to get their children into gives them a better chance of getting there children in. However, it is often the higher class that associate themselves with people of power, because people in the lower class are usually busier working, etc. Racism also comes into play during topics like this: economic and racial racism.
Also, when applying for private schools, alot of parents spend money on getting their children tutors, etc to get them prepped for the admissions process. This is because the admissions process can get very competitive. In this circumstance, people who don't have alot of money can't afford the tutors to give their child a better chance to get in.
This relates to the readings we had from Spring this week. He talks about an equal education being one that allows for equal opportunities and equal learning for all children when they enter into the school system.. already, in Kozol's examples, we see that this is not the case. Could our country ever have equal education for our students? Or has the issues of race and segregation set up a permanent gap?
Kara,
ReplyDeleteIn a way, I think in order to have equal education in our schools, our nation itself has to be equal. Someone in our class last week mentioned that while there’s money and power, there won’t be equality and I definitely believe that statement. But, there’s always going to be money and power, so now what? Should we just work on having equality in our schools first? I feel like there is a chance of this at least happening, but everyone needs to want the same thing in order for any progress to be made. I hate to say it, but it does look at if racism and segregation have set up quite a sturdy gap. For starters, maybe the parents with the money shouldn’t be allowed to have their children tutored before applying for a private school? Better yet, there should be tutors that the government will pay for to allow parents with less money to give their children a chance at a upper class school. This is just one small example of what could potentially be done, but do you think this could ever work?
Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI don't know what could actually be done as steps to start making our country more equal. When we step into these things, we then bring up questions of freedom of speech, freedom in general, etc. I think that to begin with, people need to first become aware that these problems exist. If more people were like Kozol and actually made their voice heard, I think that small changes could start to be made. Until then, however, I don't think anything will ever be done about it. In class we have also talked about how it's become such an innate thing, racism. Most people are not aware that they are racist, have racist thoughts or discriminate against others because they look at racism of 40 years ago and see that that same thing isn't happening today. Kozol also talks about the lack of action by the government to help stop segregation. If we don't have our government making any changes in the laws, our country won't change.
When it comes to private schools and the unfair demographics that are within the schools, if it is always based off of money, then our low-income class will never be able to go somewhere our higher-income class can send their children. i wonder if there is a way to make it so that all schools don't cost any money at all. Doing that would probably help those private schools to be more diverse, but I wonder if it would make ripples in any other aspects of society or the government.
Kara,
ReplyDeleteI feel as though if the schools were to cost no money whatsoever, then the government would have to agree to giving all the schools the same amount of money in each district as well. That way, a school doesn’t get less money or more money depending on test scores. People need to understand that racism is still going on today and this is something that must be changed. Like you said, if people were more like Kozol then maybe it would help. Or, maybe it’s simply people should listen to Kozol more. There’s a lot of books and speakers out there that speak the same things Kozol does, people just need to listen and understand. I think understanding is step one to making a difference.