Analysis to one aspect of Kozol's "Savage Inequalities."

In Kozol's "Savage Inequalities" one of the things that really upset me was the teachers that just don't care. It is hard enough to get children to care about their education, and when they grow up in an area where there is a lot of poverty and crime, they should really focus on giving those kids the best education possible to keep their hope up. While Kozol spoke to Mrs. Hawkins, a teacher in Saint Louis, about the other teachers in that school, she said "one of these teacher usually comes in around nine-thirty. You ask her how she can expect the kids to care about their education if the teacher doesn't even come until nine-thirty. She answers you, 'it makes no difference. Kids like these aren't going anywhere.'" To me that person should not be a teacher. Teachers are supposed to be role models that do everything they can to make sure children succeed. If my daughter had even one teacher that cared the way Mrs. Hawkins did, maybe she would still be in school. Fortunately, my other daughter has found many teachers that care and is doing well in school. In my opinion, schools need to get rid of the teachers that are just there for money and keep the ones who really love to teach.

Reflection of Task 3

Reflection of Task 3

I am having a hard time trying to decide what to write my essay on. In Sherry's , "In Praise of the F Word", she talks about how children should be held back if they don't pass. I agree, if a child doesn't try to do well in school, and they fail, that they should not pass. Our school system has become more into sports than the education the kids are getting. In turn I think the kids pick up on this, and they don't care about their education. My daughter failed everything for 4 years in a row, and the only thing they did was make her go to summer school, and then she would pass. After a couple years of that, she got used to not putting any effort in because she knew she would go to summer school and pass anyway. In Botstein's "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood", It is the same type of thing. I think if children don't care about their grades, or try at all they should be forced to move out and get a job. They need to pay their own bills, and see what it is really like in the "real world." I have a teenager that has dropped out of school, and doesn't care about anything but her friends. I think children need a major reality check, either get a good education and a good job, or forget the education and work crappy jobs where you barely make enough for your bills every month. As you can tell, I am a little bitter on the subject.

Do you ever reflect upon your experiences to high school and college?

Every now and then, I think about high school and the fact that I never tried very hard. I did just enough to get through each year, and that was enough as far as I was concerned. I didn't have very many friends so I had no one to study with. I believe children that have study partners or friends to help them they do better in school because they actually care. Now that I am in college, I think if I had studied more, tried harder, or cared about it at all I wouldn't have such a hard time with school now. I find it hard to study for tests because I never learned how to studied in high school. It has been a very long time since I got my GED and I haven't studied much of anything since then. I have tried to help my children with their homework and like my mother, sometimes I feel helpless when I look at what they are doing in school. Things have advanced since I was where they are now. They are learning things in fourth grade that I didn't learn till sixth grade, so by the time they get to high school they are doing things I never did. Every time I have a test in college, I panic a little because I failed almost every test in high school and I want so much to succeed in college and get really good grades. I think sometimes a person just needs to grow up and live life a little before they realize how very important an education is. Unfortunately for some, including me, it takes a little longer than it should.

Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

In Leon Botstein's essay, "Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood" he is writing to the adults who have children or teenagers. He talks about how the classes need to be restructured in order for kids to graduate earlier, and then get jobs or go into the military. I teenagers do either of these things then they should go to some sort of technical school or job shadow someone in a field that interests them. Botstein also states that children are growing up faster and developing faster so he believes they would be able to handle graduating two years earlier. I don't believe that. I think teens are not as grown up as they think they are. I have seen a few over the years that could have graduated early and done just fine, but the majority are too immature. I think that Botstein stated his case well, but I myself do not agree with it. I do think teens should be allowed to get some sort of job earlier than 16 in order to get a feeling of responsibility, but they still need to be in school. I could just be one of the people that they talk about in the book that hates teenagers though. I have two teenage daughters that almost drive me nuts some days, and I wish they were more responsible than they are. I do see where the essay is coming from and in some aspects I think for some people it would be a good thing. However, there are other countries that are more advanced than us in their education and I think we need to catch up to them. I am on the fence about the essay, not sure which way to turn.

Where College Fails Us

Questions for Reflection and Writing

So far in college it has been pretty easy, but I just started. I have not had many problems other than trying to balance school, work, and having a family. Sometimes it is a little harder than I thought it would be. The kids are always complaining that they don't see me very much, which is hard for me to hear. I am always trying to find new ways to spend time with them while I study, but unfortunately they don't like to help me study. Sometimes the studying has to wait till later at night after they go to bed.
I decided to go to college to better myself and my education. I want to be an RN and possibly a Nurse Practitioner when I am finished with school. I am tired of working two jobs just to pay the bills and never being able to take my kids on vacation. I hear people talking about where they went for their vacation and I have never been able to take my kids anywhere. I want my children to be able to go to school and tell their friends what they did that summer. I also don't want to have to stress about the bills every month. I hate having to tell my kids no to going skating or bowling because we can't afford it.
I definitely believe college is worth it, including the cost and time. In the end, I think I will be very happy with my decision. I never imagined that I would be able to go to an actual college, especially at my age. But now that I have made the decision and started I couldn't be happier. The cost might change my mind after I am finished but hopefully I will be able to find a job that pays well enough that I won't have to worry to much.

Self Evaluation for Task Two

Self Evaluation for Task-Two

* What is the thesis for your paper?
My Thesis is: It seemed not only was the educational system not helping her, but neither was her father.

* List the main points you make in your paper.
1. She had a learning disability.
2. Her father used to drag her out of school to babysit her sister and two of her brothers.
3. She failed every year and was still passed to the next grade.
4. She dropped out in the 8th grade.
5. She got married at 17.
6. She had three children.
7. Never went back to school or got her GED although she did try once.

* What was the most helpful advice you received from your peer evaluation?
I forgot to indent my paragraphs.

* What was the most helpful information you received in class for your paper?
I needed to give more information about myself in the conclusion.

* How many drafts of this paper do you think you wrote and how/when did you write
them? For example, did you compose at the keyboard, did you write lots of notes to yourself, did you pre-write or outline, did you write in small chunks of time or sit down and produce an entire draft at one sitting?
I wrote three drafts to my paper, first I made a list of questions, then I wrote my rough draft, followed by my final copy.

* What would you do differently with this paper to make it more effectively, or what did you try to do that you just don’t think you got a good handle on?
I would have asked my mother all the questions at once. I had to call her twice to get all the answers. If I had gotten all my questions answered at first, it wouldn't take as long to write.

* What are most pleased with about this paper?
I love that I didn't have too much to change after my rough draft.

Becoming Educated

My early expectations of college where that I was going to have to study every free second I had, and that it would all be very, very hard. Turns out that it isn't all that hard yet, but I am sure it is only going to get harder as I keep going considering this is my first semester. I want to receive good grades and do really well. I never cared much about school in High School and didn't study very often, so college seems a little harder to me than I am sure it does to some other people who did well in High School. Not to mention I am older than most of my classmates, and I not only have to juggle school, but also a job and three children. I am dedicated to doing my best at Missouri Western. I want to be a nurse when I graduate, and to do that I must have really good grades just to get into the nursing program. I also want to show my children that college isn't easy and if you want to succeed then you need to do well in all grades, not just college. I think Jordan and I have the same idea to study a lot and be the best we can be. I am not putting as much pressure on myself as Jordan did on herself, but times are different now and it is easier for girls in school now than it was back in 1959.

My interview process.

In my interview with my mother, we talked about her life while she was growing up. A lot of the info I already knew from past stories I have heard, but some of the info I had not remembered correctly. My mother has a very interesting past a lot of which would have been a lot different if she had gotten an education. I believe I have enough information for all my body paragraphs, although I did find out all my mom ever wanted was to be a mother and wife. Education wasn't that important to her back then, but I believe if her teachers had cared more and given her more help she would have had a chance to succeed in school.
I conducted the interview at my mothers' home in Kansas over the weekend. I believe I have enough info, although if I need anything else my mother will answer any questions over the phone. The only concern I have at this point is that my paper will not be much information about her education. I hope to overcome this by writing it around the fact that she never got an education. I learned that my grandfather was a large factor in her not staying in school. He was an alcoholic and would drag her out of school to watch her handicapped sister and two brothers that were nearly deaf. My grandmother worked a lot and couldn't do anything to help her. I believe I will be able to write a fairly good interview paper based on the interview I conducted.