Final Reflection

Throughout the semester I often thought what is the purpose of this class, or what am I supposed to take away from this assignment. I couldn’t really answer that question, and for some assignments I still am confused about their purpose. However I feel that there are quite a few assignments, discussions, and blog posts that have made me reevaluate my own education and what I can do as a student to ensure that I take advantage of my education moving forward.

            At the start of this semester I had to make quite a few adjustments because of how different UNC is from my old school. The reason I transferred here was to get involved in clubs on campus, something my old school lacked. But when I got into these clubs my grades suffered in ways that I have never experienced. For example I struggled with updating my blog throughout the semester. Believe it or not I didn’t even remember to create the blog and post it on Moodle until the night before it was due. Instead I was busy fencing and playing video games with strangers. The funny thing about this situation is that I actually thought that I was doing well in the class because I didn’t find out that I wasn’t posting enough onto my blog until midterm.  At that point a sense of worry came over me because of how low my grade was and I began to make it a point to check Megan’s blog to ensure that I have done all of my requirements were meet. The downside to this is that I still struggled with producing quality work on a few of my writing assignments. Take my Writing History for example after my second rewrite I still had a boat load of changes to make. I struggled with this assignment because I never thought about how my academic writing has impacted me as a writer.

Being in school all I ever thought about was what can I do to get an A, after I get the grade for something it fades out of memory and has to be really special for me to really remember. So when I was asked to explain what kind of writer I am and how my academic writing supports that I began to panic and was like “I don’t know where to begin”. In hindsight I think that this assignment shows how I don’t have a serious value of education and that I may take certain classes or assignments more serious than others. The bad part about that is that I learn from everything I experience, in school it’s a lot harder to actual learn from everything because of the constant stress about meeting deadlines and getting good grades. This is why I want to strengthen my approach to me education, obviously I am not going to learn from everything except for how to follow instruction and accept feedback. But if I can consider the purpose from everything and get out of the robotic mindset of do this, change this, or meet this requirement then potentially I will be able to take something away from every assignment.  Recently I had to do write an Exploratory Essay that opened my eyes to a new type of writing. In an exploratory essay you have connect a single thesis with three different articles by three different writers, while explaining how each writer argued the same thesis in a different way. My issue with this assignment is that not only am I required to exclude my personal view of the topic, but I have to force one thesis through three different articles that may not have a lot in common. After doing this assignment I felt like I cheated myself, I didn’t really find any solid information within all of the articles that argued one thesis. As a result I would include certain quotes and tried to make the thesis very broad in order to make my information fit. That process should me how my education has turned me into a robot when approaching certain types of writing, there have been lots of essays that I have written just to meet a standard set by the teacher or a rubric of some sorts.  Me being a student I won’t see the long term benefit of ever assignment, however if I think of ever class as a stepping stone towards my bigger goals then I will be able to focus on every assignment as a crucial part of my education rather than just another assignment.

Overall I really appreciate the Inquiry Project I have worked on over the course of this assignment. So far this assignment has impacted my way of thinking and academic life in ways I didn’t even expect. My inquiry question was how do African American communities affect their students academically? Throughout my research I learned so many disheartening things, and I would always ask do I fit this category of black students or am I some of the few that have received a good education. One part of the project was the Joining the Conversation, which was an academic essay that attempts to answer your inquiry question. Throughout my essay I talked about how poverty has a direct impact on students, and how most of those students do not matchup to their white counterparts academically. I felt nervous, sad and a little angry because I grew up in a poor community and prior to coming to UNC I had never been around white students. By having those two facts about me I know that I can fall into some of those negative statistics about African American students, and by me not being around white students prior to college there was no way for me to figure out how I matchup to white students. I did really well in school growing up, but I don’t know how great my school’s curriculum was and if I would be able to perform well in a tougher school. So now I think to myself do I read at a proficient level, can I compete with white students and what can I do to ensure that my future education is a good one. As a result of that paper I not only reevaluated my high school education but thought am I putting forth all of my effort to obtain an education that will help me achieve my dreams.  

Every day in class we would typically start with a journal writing which would consist of a response to a variety of different topics. We called them “Writing into the Day” and I enjoyed most of them at the early part of the class because of the interesting topics that we would discuss. The very first entry we did was a response to, what do you think when you hear the word school? Initially I thought that the purpose of school was to prepare students for different careers, as well as give them general information to progress further academically. Looking back on that journal entry I now think that school is here to give students tools to not only thrive in the workforce but socially as well. I believe that in school the humanities that this country values are not being taught in addition to the regular curriculum. Things like effort, which is very important in school is not being taught which leads to some students falling short because they are not trying hard enough. These Writing into the Days have made me think that schools are overlooking so many of the smaller issues in school and fail to address them in class. By nature humans learn to interact with one another however in a place like school they way in which we interact with each other could differ. Students could become bullies, or feel like social outcast because they may not perform well in school. If schools are not teaching the humanities of the real world then we must rely on other outside sources to do so, and in some communities that alternative may be more harmful than helpful.

Over the course of this semester both in English and throughout my classes in general I felt as if this school is more rigorous than what I am use to. English class however helped me figure out why certain styles of education are not effective. I found it very interesting that I was taking a class that allowed us as students to learn about ways to be effective both as the educator and the educated. My Annotated Bibliography is a tool that i had never used like this before, and quite frankly I prefer it this way. By requiring me to think ahead of time of how i will use this information, the essay is essentially laid out in a well structured manner. That assignment alone opened my eyes to different ways to approach future essays, and kind of made me think why didn't I learn this in high school. From this experience I have learned that I need to put more effort into my education because as I progress the classes are getting harder and the outside distractions are increasing as well.
 Thinking back to all of my assignments it kind of reminds me of a video game. A video game in which you do a lot of smaller things that inevitable help you overcome the big thing at the end. This semester I was overcoming myself and the thought that college is easy. I’m not saying that college is hard, just that it can be easy or hard depending on how well you prepare for it.

Final Draft: Joining the Conversation

Across the nation predominantly black communities coupled with poor parenting have directly influenced the success of African Americans in school. The issues that plague most black communities also have an impact on students from those areas. Violence, drugs, and poverty, to name a few, play pivotal roles on the success of their students. Unfortunately the African American’s struggle in school has been a historical problem simply because of how complex the situation actually is.

            Black communities generally struggle financially along with the families within those communities. As a result the parents have to focus more time at work and less time with their child, which prevents them from reinforcing what their child learns in school. According to Janice Hale, “The overwhelming majority of African American children come from single-parent households. African Americans work longer hours often for less money than whites earn (Toppo 2000); often they are minimally educated and have substantial constraints on their time”(Hale, pg. 8). Young children are greatly affected by the way their parents raise them. Parents who are too busy at work send a psychological message, that money is essential to survive not education. That is why in most African American communities going to college is not the norm. That message is why students don’t see the value of education or respect the institution they attend.

Most parents do want to spend time with their child and instill all of their values within their child, however because of their love for their child they have to choose between providing for their family and spending time with their loved ones. One might ask how a parent’s involvement directly impacts their child in school. Marcia Caton states “A study of 19 middle schools in the Midwest, found that Black males were sent to the principal office more than their counterparts for more subjective reasons such as “disrespect” and “perceived threat” (Wallace, Goodkind, Wallace, & Bachman, 2008).” (Caton, pg. 4) If most black students are being documented for disrespectful or threatening actions then it would fall onto the parent to correct that behavior. However in a household where the parent does not have time to deal with their child, then that prevents them from disciplining, or rewarding their child based on their academic performance.

I personally disagree with the notion that parents have to spend a certain amount of time with their child in order to ensure that they succeed academically. A few of my friends lived in a household where their parents had plenty of time to spend with them and were very involved with their school. However they struggled through school because their parents were so involved and concerned that it almost seemed suffocating. As a result, when my friends got to school they felt free and instead of doing what they needed to do to succeed in school they focused on having fun. This example shows how delicate a young child is and how too much is just as dangerous as too less. This is where the community’s influence becomes more important on the mindset of the child.

            In a community that is plagued by violence and drugs, the youth are often the ones committing those types of crimes. In a community that struggles, people try to survive in any way they can. This may involve stealing from others or selling drugs. Most people who do not grow up in a community like this believe that the criminal activity that consumes most of the community seem appealing to the young, when actually those actions are seen as the only option to survive and move forward in life. A simple way to remedy this is to push the belief that education will lead to success. Unfortunately in these communities this is not the case. Schools fail to demonstrate how successful students could be if they obtain a good education. Gail Thompson states “This preoccupation with getting rich quickly stems from at least two sources. The first being is the high unemployment rate in urban communities. In many cases, the education system has failed to prepare young blacks for the workforce or for college” (Thompson pg.21). Thompson’s statement connects directly to the communities he talks about in his book. In a community that struggles financially, schools are typically vandalized, and under-funded. The students who attend these schools are not given the same opportunities like someone who attended a school in a wealthy community. As a result these students grow up without experiencing the type of exposure that connects the student to life beyond their community. Without getting out of their community they only experience the type of struggle that has consumed their community. School is more than a place of learning. It is also responsible for connecting the things they learn in class to the positive aspects of life. That second part is essential because it shows how valuable education is and keeps the student involved.

Another important aspect of the community’s impact on African American students, is white students. Quite often black students compared to their white counterparts. For example within most black schools, children who show great or high levels of intelligence in ways such as talking with a good vocabulary, or taking a lot of time to study are often told that they are “acting white”. This creates the mindset that students must conform to the white students that they may have never actually been in class with. This leads to the belief that whites are believed to be academically superior to African Americans. Gail Thompson quoted that “In other words, these students infer that they have to reject their home culture to succeed academically” (Thompson pg. 17). That statement is totally agreeable, so often are children told not to be like the people they see in their communities and do not receive a lot of positive influence from the things they experience from their community. The stereotypes that surround black and white students also affect the type of education these two groups of students receive. In some instances schools tend to give a more advanced curriculum to white students and give black students a remedial curriculum. For example Janice Hale stated “Although, in theory, magnet schools were designed to integrate the schools, there are bizarre instances in which they too, are being maneuvered to disproportionately enrich white children and remediate African American students” (Hale pg. 176).  This information shows how schools themselves have conformed to the stereotypes of black students, which is why the communities must crack down or ensuring that their children are being given a fair chance at a good education.

Positive influence plays a pivotal role in the education of the youth, because of the social aspect of growing up. Janice Hale quoted “Most white Americans understand that education is the key to obtaining the skills for entry and success in mainstream society. Their status is determined by the work they do, the neighborhoods in which they live, and powerful because they dictate the social circle in which a person will move and whom he or she will socialize with” (Hale pg. 174). The last part of that statement, “They dictate the social circle in which a person… and whom her or she will socialize with”, is very important to this argument. It proves that the people you socialize with will inevitably control how you progress through life. Your friends not only represent you but have an impact on the type of person you will become. Which is why growing up in a community, that shows the positive side of life, is so important.

                         Furthermore, in these predominately black communities the N word is very popular when referring to other black people. The history of the N word explains why it has become so popular in black communities (Thompson pg.150). The N word comes from a sense of self-hatred and is also used to insult others. Another reason for why blacks use the N word is to show a negative view of black people (Thompson pg.153). Children who grow up in a community where the N word is very popular quickly understand the meaning of the word and its history. The N word was seen as a popular insult amongst it quickly transitioned, comedians, and politicians began using it in their professional lives (Thompson pg. 151). The sense of self-hatred resonates within black students and their opinion of their black peers. As a result black students do not see a lot of potential within themselves, which translates to their performance in school (Janice Hale pg.111). Confidence is a very important part of life and if a student is not confident in their ability to do well in school then not only will they not perform to the best of their ability but they will be comfortable with achieving the bare minimum.

Children’s performance in school directly connects to where they will end up when they enter the real world. Students who drop out of school or finish school with low grades are less likely to be able to support themselves or a family, and are more likely to end up in jail (Hale pg. 43). The ironic twist to this is that the criminals and bad influences that are present in the community create students who will end up in a situation similar to theirs, it is like a cycle (Thompson pg. 19).

In essence the community’s impact on their students is monumental. Children grow up being exposed to the negative aspects of life ultimately conform to what they see, because they believe that to be the norm. Add in parent’s lack of involvement or too much involvement, leads to a student not seeing the true value of a good education. As a result students are more likely to be interested in the negative things they see in their communities than how they perform in school.         

Final Draft: Annotated Bibliography

Thompson, Gail L. Through Ebony Eyes. San Francisco, California. Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint. 2004. Print.

            Through Ebony Eyes is an in depth analysis of the many factors that play a role in African Americans and Latino’s education. Gail Thompson explains how the traditional ways of both the government and school system has created an environment that makes it difficult for African Americans to succeed in school. He also discusses the ways that educators and interest groups have attempted to close the gap between students of color and their white counterparts. Thompson includes in input on where he believes schools and the government went wrong in addressing students of color in a country that it designed to address the majority. Through Ebony Eyes is his way to inform educators and anyone who hopes to become an educator on ways to become more effective when teaching the minority here in America.

            Thompson’s argument is broken up into different chapters throughout the book. In each chapter he addresses a different reason for why African Americans struggle academically. It almost seems as if he is attempting to argue his opinion on all of the factors that he has come across in his studies.  The author does a great job of connecting all of different aspects he discusses back to the student, while including how it impacts them academically. In the introduction he claims to discuss the issues that affect minorities academically where in actuality he focuses on African Americans and only include other minorities if they happen to fall into the same boat as African Americans. The book is structured similar to that of a textbook, which shows how the author hopes to truly educate the reader in ways to teach minorities more effectively. He breaks down the different factors into “theories” and backs them up with personal examples as well as hypotheticals.

            From reading the introduction and first chapter I can already tell that this book will be the driving force behind my research because of how well it has been structured. The main thing about this book is that it may connect to other things that I pick up later on in my research. Seeing as the author includes his opinion of a variety of different topics I may be able to find different authors or researchers that may disagree with what he states in this book.

·         “In other words, these students infer that they have to reject their home culture to succeed academically” (pg. 17)- The Acting White Theory

·         “During previous eras black youth were more likely to derive values and identity from family, church, and school…. Today, the influence of these traditional purveyors of Black culture [has] largely diminished. Now media and entertainment are among the major forces transmitting culture to this generation of Black America”. (pg. 20)

·         “This preoccupation with getting rich quickly stems from at least two sources. The first being is the high unemployment rate in urban communities. In many cases, the education system has failed to prepare young blacks for the workforce or for college” (pg.21)  

Hale, Janice E. Learning While Black. Baltimore, Maryland. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 2001 Print.

           Learning While Black is a book about the impact that the community and life outside of school has on African American students that live in an urban environment. Janice Hale explains how politicians and news reporters, who discuss education and its impacts on African Americans, lack experience which makes them less fit for discussing the solution to the problem. She then includes her solutions to the issues that most educators see in African American communities. Hale mentions that if the school is not the center of the program or institution that hopes to reach out to African American students than they will not be able to reach those students who struggle academically. She also talks about the relationship between school and family is essential because students don’t stop learning when they leave school so everyone involved must be on the same page for the student’s sake.

           Throughout the book the author uses personal examples as well as things she has learned throughout her research to strengthen her point. From reading the first chapter the reader can tell that some of the issues she has addressed may seem obvious but when she goes in depth about the importance of each issue, the reader will see an entirely different way at looking at the same issues. That allows the author to include more solutions and explain why educators are the best sources for truly understanding what issues African American students face within an academic environment.

           This reading is not ultra-useful because Janice Hale uses this book to solve the issues that affect African American students. My research is purely to find and analyze the issues that African American students face. However the author explains how her solution will fix the academic struggles that African American students face, which means that she will mention and explain the issues she has come across.

•“The overwhelming majority of African American children come from single-parent households. African Americans work longer hours often for less money than whites earn (Toppo 2000); often they are minimally educated and have substantial constraints on their time.” (pg. 8)

•“Parents whisper among themselves, expressing their frustration with this situation, but is never brought into the dialogue on school reform” (pg. 9)

•“At this writing the state of Michigan spends $35,000 a year to incarcerate one African American male. For maximum-security incarceration, the cost to state is about 65,000 a year, and to the federal state about $75,000. Compare those costs with $8,000 it cost to enroll an African American male child in a two-year Head Start program.” (pg. 38)

Irvine, Jacqueline Jordan. Black Students and School Failures.New York. Greenwood Press. 1990.

           Black Students and School Failures is a book about the different connection between African American students performance in school, and their personal lives. The Author Jacqueline Irvine connects every aspect of an African American, who grew up in an urban environment to how well they do on a national scale. She also discusses how the mindset of these students change throughout their school experience and all of the driving factors that lead them to a horrible conclusion. This book also includes a lot of stats that relate African Americans to whites in different categories such as: standardize testing, graduation rates, poverty, and teen pregnancy.

           Irvine does a great job of explaining what schools in poor communities lack and how a failed school system creates poorly educated students. She then connects that with the added impression that students get from their environment. This book breaks down the aspects of educating a student both from the academic point as well as the cultural point of view. The level of analysis that the author shows throughout her book prove that she has not only looked at this issue from a numbers stance but a psychological stance as well. It is as if she has stepped in to the shoes of the student, teacher, and researcher.

          

I can use this book in multiple ways. For one I can use this information to strengthen things that I have learned in other parts of my research. Also my main topic may be altered because I am learning about the issues that cause African Americans to struggle in school; however this book may lead me to focus on a more specific area. The author provides detailed examples of how each issue can cause a snowball effect of failure or misfortune in a student’s life. That will allow me to use the book in multiple ways depending on where I go with my research.  

·         “There is a strong relationship between black student achievement, teen parenthood, and poverty. Poor black students usually score lower on standardize measure of achievement and are overrepresented in the ranks of dropouts and pregnant girls.” (pg. xiv)

·         “The hidden curriculum is the unstated but influential knowledge, attitude, norms, rules, rituals, values, and beliefs that are transmitted to students through structure policies, processes, formal content, and social relationships of school”. (pg. 5)

          

·         “One factor related to the nonachievement of black students is the disproportionate use of severe disciplinary practices, which leads to black students exclusion from classes, their perception of mistreatment, and feelings of alienated and rejection, which result ultimately in their misbehaving more and/or leaving school”. (pg. 16)

Almond, Monica R. "The Black Charter School Effect: Black Students In American Charter Schools." Journal Of Negro Education 81.4 (2012): 354-365. Education Research Complete. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

           This source focuses on the Black-White achievement gap and the different factors that affect both blacks and whites academically. The reading explains how over the last decade or so the gap between blacks and white has been linked to poorly trained teachers, low curriculum standards, and a lack of appreciation for Black culture. There are more factors mentioned in the reading al based around the ways that the school fails to adjust to the requirements of black students. The article also discusses how many people are unsure on how to go about some of these issues related to black student’s struggle in school and how this issue causes a rift between people who are looking to address this issue.

           This article does a great job in giving a background on the Black-White achievement gap. By going into detail about the history of this issue and where the country stands on it now allows the reader to get a full understanding of what researchers have learned about blacks in school. However the pages that are used to discuss the change in black students in charter schools are a waste because they do not connect back to how this is affecting black students academically or the difference between black students in charter schools and traditional schools. In fact it takes a while for the article to even come back to the question of “Why African Americans perform lower than whites academically”.

           I can use this source in order to connect the factors about the black-white achievement gap to other things I have learned in my reading. This source also explains the way that schools in poor communities fail to educate black students and mentions the reasons for why these schools are ineffective.   

•“Roxbury Preparatory Charter School in Boston, Massachusetts boast achievement scores that are higher than their peers in Boston Public Schools, and higher than the average of their peers in the state of Massachusetts overall. With a student population that is 61% African American, Roxbury Prep's mission is unapologetically college-driven (Merseth, 2009).” (pg. 7)

•“All ñve schools examined in the Merseth (2009) study were identified as having high expectations for their students. Researchers found that the students were expected to perform at high levels, manage their behavior, and be full participants in the classroom.” (pg. 7)

•“But is racial segregation problematic for Black students? Today, a majority of Black students already attend defacto segregated schools, as a result of White-flight and other policy related issues.” (pg. 9)

Caton, Marcia Theresa. "Black Male Perspectives On Their Educational Experiences In High School." Urban Education 47.6 (2012): 1055-1085. ERIC. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.

           This source discuss the perception of black males in high school and some of the punishments that are based around that perception. Marcia Caton states that black males are the majority of students that are expelled or suspended from school. She also believes that public schools in black communities are a micro version of the penal system because of how their ways of punishment are used to isolate the misbehaved from the rest of the academic community. The author argues that the school’s disciplinary standards make it more likely for a black male to be prosecuted rather than given an “in-house” punishment.  The black male perception in high school is also linked back to their mindset and explains how they are more likely to conform to the negative opinion they have been labeled with because that is the type of culture they have been exposed to.

           This article is well structured and does a great job in introducing how the black male perception in high school is derived from the vast majority of black males that receive disciplinary punishment. Also it ties that notion back to the idea that black students who go to urban public schools are more likely to conform to the way others view them because of the way that those public schools are disciplining their students. The author structures her argument well, however she doesn’t seem to have a strong argument because of her lack of evidence and poor job of connecting her thesis to those pieces of information.

           I am planning on using this information as an appetizer so it can open my eyes to how the perception of black students could have an effect on their performance in school. In my research I hope to use this to explain the social aspect of why blacks struggle in school; however that depends on where I decide to go in my paper. All of this information makes it difficult to narrow my research towards one aspect of blacks struggling in school.

•          “A study of 19 middle schools in the Midwest, found that Black males were sent to the principal office more than their counterparts for more subjective reasons such as “disrespect” and “perceived threat” (Wallace, Goodkind, Wallace, & Bachman, 2008).” (pg.  4)

•          “Black males have been marginalized from mainstream society because of historical, economic, and political forces and therefore do not benefit from the resources of this country” (pg. 24)

•          “However, the ways in which schools balance discipline with a nurturing and caring environment are reflected in the ways that schools treat their students. Urban school administrators should invest more in providing teachers with professional development on classroom management.” (pg. 25)

Final Draft: My Writing History

Throughout my academic career I believe that my writing skills have improved in correlation with my thinking skills and overall knowledge. A lot of my teachers who involve writing as a part of their curriculum say that writing is similar to the way you talk and think. I agree with that statement 100%. Personally I believe that I am a critical thinker and can delve deep into any topic because of my thinking process. My mother always told me that my writing has strong concepts but I lack in the grammar department.

            I always thought that I was a decent writer because of the good grades that I got on most of my essays. A decent writer to me is someone who can answer the question while including their own way of thinking into the essay in some way, while also including some type of proofreading. It wasn’t until my 11^th grade year that I actually thought that my writing is a strong skill of mine. In the 11^th grade I took an AP U.S History and every month or so we would write papers about important topics that related to what piece of history we were discussing. I didn’t get A’s on all of my papers in that class but I began to see that writing is much harder than I ever thought and that I had to step up my analytical skills. On particular paper showed growth in my writing skills. In A.P US History we had to write a paper about the Vietnam War while using the information that the Pentagon Papers released about the horrific things the U.S were doing to the Vietnamese people who were not a part of the resistance. In my paper I related the things that we did in Vietnam to what the Nazis did during the Holocaust and how ironic it was that we would use the same tactics that we once deemed as inhumane and sick. I believe that a great writer not only explains a certain topic but shows how much he knows about that topic and can prove his argument throughout the entire paper.  So in my writing I try to teach the reader and certain topics that I may feel passionate about I want the reader to also feel how passionate I am about that particular topic. In my opinion to teach with your writing requires the writer to include facts and analyze them in order to bring together those ideas under one thesis or topic. Also the essay or article will have some type of bias to it because you are supporting one side of an event or topic while including some information that will serve as the “but” to your thesis. I never was taught what I could writer is outside of having a well diverse vocabulary and proofreading effectively. My idea of a decent writer came from the mistakes I have made, and the articles that I have read that stand out to me by how that article has opened my mind to new ideas.

            Now as far as writing techniques such as metaphors, repetition, and other writing tools, I didn’t really start to use them effectively until my 10^th grade year. In my 10^th grade year we were actually required to write about how other writers use those techniques. By doing so I began to understand how to use them myself and better my writing skills overall. These techniques may be things that writers do without even knowing it. However by learning about these techniques not only does it allow you to point them out but gives you some ideas on new techniques that you may have not known about. For example  Even though I use writing techniques I would like to take a course to potentially learn or review all writing techniques because I feel as if I would be more effective with my writing if I knew more techniques instead of just using them without knowing.

            A bright spot in my writing history was my Neighborhood project. This project was my first research assignment in which I chose my own topic and really used a variety of sources to learn all I can about that topic. Throughout this assignment I started to find an interest in doing research simply to answer a question. As far as my writing goes I want the reader to see that my writing was both a learning process for me as well as a way for me to educate the reader. In my Neighborhood Project I learned about the cycle of gentrification that is in constant affect in my neighborhood. This assignment was so amazing to me because I learned that my neighborhood started off as a economically stable predominantly white town. I actually think that my writing expressed how shocked I was to learn this because growing up in that same neighborhood which was the total opposite of what it used to be, I found it quite difficult to believe that prosperity and a strong economic flow use to exist here.

            During my time in high school quite a few of my teachers affected me both as a student and as a person. I couldnt really distinguish which one had the greatest impact on my life but I can think of one example that really stuck with me. My Algebra 3 teacher Mr. Council, on certain days he would dedicate a class not to math but as to bettering all of us as black people. He would bring in some reading that would talk about how well African Americans tested in certain subjects as compared to our white counterparts. Throughout the class not only did I become a better math student but I really made it an effort to go an extra mile to learn all that I can.

            

Final draft: Exploratory Essay

In my English class we have delved deeply into education in the sense that schools across the country do not prepare us for success instead they fill our minds with facts, numbers and general information. During our deep analysis of that matter we have read a few articles that argue that humanities and learning how to interact with others are essential to having success.

                For example in the article “On the Uses of Liberal Education” by Earl Shorris the writer identifies how humanities, which are prominent in rich communities and foreign to the poor social class communities, is a major factor that separates the rich from the poor. Shorris states “The absence of politics in their lives was what kept them poor. I don’t mean “political” in the sense of voting in an election but in a way Theuydides used the word the word to mean activity with other people at every level”. This statement shows that in poor communities people are not as united as people who live in rich communities. In life we hear a lot of reasons for why those who work together can prosper much more than those who try and do it alone.  Historically the great people we talk about in the classrooms and are written about in textbooks or articles all had a support system to back them up, to help them become great. Shorris’ statement connects the must of cooperating with others to the prosperity of the entire community. Shorris argued that rich people know the importance of humanities because of their educational background. In the article Shorris states “Rich people learn these humanities in private schools and expensive colleges”. That statement shows a cycle that allow the rich kids to grow up and be rich and cause the poor kids to grow up and be poor. Not all schools teach the humanities that help students become successful and by Shorris’ statement most of the schools that do teach these important humanities are the expensive schools that only the rich can afford to go to. That leaves the poor students to attend schools that won’t prepare them for a successful future.

                Earl Shorris continues his argument by relating the acquisition of power to the rich and how they do it so effectively. Shorris believes that in our country the rich have all of the power because they have all of the money. Shorris sees humanities as a way to understand the everyday obstacles that come with living in this world. Shorris states “The humanities are a foundation for getting along in the world, for thinking , for learning to reflect on the world instead of just reacting to whatever is forced against you”. That statement shows that Shorris believes that humanities help people understand the thought process of others and how to go about handling situations that can greatly impact your life. But I wonder how do the rich get the power and what does money have to do with it? Shorris states that “If you want real power, legitimate power, the kind that comes from the people and belongs to the people, you must understand politics”. I understand that Shorris thinks  politics in the sense of people communicating with others is the sole reason for why the rich have power. But I don’t understand how cooperating with others allows the rich elite to have power. I mean in the U.S the rich elite is the smallest of the social classes and they compete amongst themselves when it comes to business and money so where does the cooperation comes into play?  Earl Shorris used this article to show how the simple things we look overlook in our everyday lives like communicating and cooperating with others and connect that to a pressing issue that could plague those who will one day run this country.

                Jean Anyon, another writer who also believed that humanities are very important to the success of all people in our country, showed how education differs between social classes and how that structure prepared students to live in whatever social class their school is tailored to.  In the article titled “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum” Jean Anyon separated schools based on social class and focused on how each school’s teaching effected the thought process of their students. For example in the article Anyon states “Scholars in political economy and the sociology of knowledge have recently argued that public schools in complex industrial societies like our own make available different types of educational experience and curriculum knowledge to students in different social classes”. That statement shows how our education system is like a factory and the students will be formed into the type of citizens that is common to the citizens in that area. This make sense because in our country there isn’t one school curriculum for the entire country, each state gets to create their own standards for their schools and then you have private schools that can have their own curriculum. Anyon doesn’t argue if allowing schools to differ from each other is a good or bad thing instead Anyon just shows how this effects the kids that will one day impact this country.  Anyon states “In the two working-class schools, work is following the steps of a procedure. The procedure is usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice. The teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance.”  The two working class relates to the students who come from poor families, and in their schools they are required to only record and remember the answer to the questions and are not asked to think about how to get the answers or ways in which the answer could be different. In this article the writer states “The products of work in this class are often highly valued by the children and the teacher”. In class the productivity of the class is determined by the material the teacher produces and what knowledge the students take away from the class. In our country that essentially is what categorizes students and show how successful they are becoming.

                When Jean Anyon talks about schools that are tailored towards the rich elite he shows how the students are able to express their personality through their work and truly find their own way of thinking. For example in the article Anyon states “Children are continually asked to reason through a problem, to produce intellectual products that are both logically sound and of top academic quality”. This statement shows that students discuss their work in search for more than just the answer, students leave schools with more than just information they also take away a personalize way of thinking and understanding of how others thinks which improve social skills and leadership. A common question that I don’t think that these writers are answering is how do you get the student to take an interest in their education? Also should the country allow states to create their own school system or should the government step in and crack down on the schools that are struggling to produce productive students?

                According to the Association of America Colleges and University liberal education is “Liberal Education is an approach to learning that empowers individuals and prepares them to deal with complexity, diversity, and change. It provides students with broad knowledge of the wider world (e.g. science, culture, and society).” Liberal education is the learning of humanities based on that definition. The college argues that individualism is a key aspect of liberal education because of how it prepares the student for the world outside of school. Culture and society are things that are apart of schools but not taught in the classroom. Students create a society within schools and that typically comes from influences from their communities. Schools have to include that within their curriculum if they hope to teach the students the difference from what the society they created and the one within their city or state.

Letter to My Pen Pal Riley P.

Dear Riley P.

It's funny that you had such an interest in starfishes, and that you use to write stories about them. Me, I am a big fan of heroes, all kinds even the real ones that help people in the real world. Back when I was in high school I had to write my own short story. I chose to write about an alternate world where my friends and I all had superpowers and we went to a school designed to help kids control their powers. I was so excited about my story that I tried to turn it into a book. Let's just say that I didn't get far, but hopefully I'll get my creative juices flowing and I will finish it one of these days. What about you, do you have any writings you are working on? I also want to know what do you want to be when you grow up?

Your Pen Pal,

Calvin K. 

Workshop Reflection (joining the conversation #3)

What advice did you receive from your group members?

The group all pointed out grammatical errors, and asked that I add more citations, I show where I added my own analysis of the information.
2. What was the most helpful advice? Explain.
The grammatical errors, I think it is very helpful because it allows my paper to flow better.

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3. What was the least helpful advice you received? Explain.

Nothing was not helpful and I feel that everything mentioned added to betterment of my paper.

4. How will you revise this assignment? Be Specific.

I will proof read my paper, add more information and make sure the paper flows well.