The book Schooled, by Gordan Korman is about a hippie named Capricorn Anderson, or “Cap” who gets thrown into a situation where he is out of his element and that he is not prepared to handle. Cap goes through middle school with no clue on what to do. Cap lived on a secluded farm with only his grandmother because Cap’s parents had died in the Peace Corp in New Guinea. One day, his grandmother fell out of a plum tree where she was picking plums, and broke her hip and had to be in rehab for eight weeks.
In the article, “Savage Inequalities: Children in U.S. Schools”, by Jonathan Kozol, discusses the inequalities that exist in class differences. Money is spent more in wealthy areas than in the poor or low class areas. The schools located in the wealthy areas are funded more and receive more supplies and better teachers. The schools in the not-so-wealthy areas do not have the best teachers and they need better teachers than the students in the wealthy areas. Kozol displays how schools are still segregated as they were in the past.
Her concept of labeling schools arises from two important points. One, it’s a very huge investment and second, increase in annual tuition rates by 125% over thirty years. She conveys the canonical facts of inflation indebtedness students lug after completing college or joining a job. Government and Education policymakers should be acutely aware of the plight of a student coming from a lower class or lower middle class family. Being educated from Harvard in English Literature, she has developed and researched the topic and laid out the facts and figures very beautifully for the
In “I Just Wanna Be Average,” Mike Rose explains the experience being part of a school system that had no prior knowledge to have educators to teach students. Rose supports his claims by describing the different situations he had to encounter with the lack of the school system, the hopelessness of the teachers and his peers, that lead those students with no support to lead them in a direction of success. Rose purpose is to point out that; all that it was needed was a teacher that cared enough to teach and to influence those students to succeed and to never hinder the student’s learning experience because anything is possible with an little of an encouragement. In the 8th paragraph in “I Just Wanna Be Average,” Rose describes what it felt like
In preparation for this paper I chose to read Fire in the ashes: twenty five years among the poorest children in America by Jonathan Kozol. In this book Kozol has followed these children and their family’s lives for the past twenty five years. In his writing Kozol portrays a point of view most from his background and standing would not be capable of having. He portrays what life is like for those who have been let down by the system that was meant to protect them. Kozols writing style can be very blunt at times, not for shock value, but for the sake of portraying these children’s realities, and not sugarcoating the inequalities that they are faced with.
"From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of work" by Jean Anyon, explains in her essay how she looks at the courses and the student's teacher to see if they interact with the elementary schools in their community. She puts an effort in to find evidence between the student's that work in the school in a poor community and those students that are in a wealthy community. To support her arguments, she goes to a variety of five different elementary schools to provide different knowledge and educational experience in the different social class of the child's life. Anyon went to five elementary schools to observe what the working class schools focused on, how the homework related to other assignments or real life and how the ideas were laid out.
In James W. Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” he states that social class affects the way children are raised. He discusses the inequality in today’s society and how the textbooks in high school do not give any social class information. The students in today’s time are not taught everything they should be taught. He states that your family’s wealth is what makes up your future. Loewen discusses that people with more money can study for the SATs more productively and get a better score than someone who has less money.
Fremont High School is located in Los Angeles, California, “sprawled across a city block.” The school enrolls about 5,000 students every year but only 3,300 are in attendance every day. The students read at an elementary school level and are not provided the necessities to succeed. The school is lacking many resources, such as, classrooms, restrooms, and lunchrooms. The school lacks at least 15 restrooms that the law requires.
7th grade" by Gary Soto entertains the reader about Victor getting a girlfriend. Victor has started school and already has his eyes on a girl. Victor is in english and the teacher asked him for a noun and Victor said Teresa, the girl he likes, and some of the girls snicker at him. When Victor goes to lunch he tries to find her, but he can't so he goes outside and then there she is. He sites at the nearest table he can sit at by her then the bell rings and he gets up and she smiles sweetly.
From her investigation, she discovers that “low-income children growing up in states that have greater income inequality are dropping out of high school at higher rates than are children living in states with less income inequality” (Kennedy). Given that the wealth gap is constantly growing, many people in the lower and middle class will struggle to climb the ladder to wealth. Many students that struggle economically would drop out of school if they “perceive a lower benefit to remaining in school–even if they aren’t struggling academically” (Kennedy). This is horrible for those who study well in school, yet they have to drop out since their family is in need of financial assistance. Students are not at fault of this since they cannot choose where they grow up.
The idea of classroom causing problems for America’s society is elaborated when President Johnson explains that many children in America don’t have enough money to afford school. “There your children’s lives will be shaped. Our society will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan the farthest reaches of thought and imagination.” In order for a society to be great, education is the foundation; schools are where child learn about their world, and what it is they will do in the future to earn money to live a good life. And to better prove his idea Johnson states, “Each year more than 100,000 high school graduates, with proved ability, do not enter college because they cannot afford it,” then questions what will happen in years when time has become elapsed to conclude any efforts are needed to come into play for there to be a Great Society.
Anyon article discussed students of different social class background is exposed to different types of educational knowledge. Anyon used four distinctive schools; working class, middle class, affluent and executive, located in New Jersey. The education the students received reflected the social class level. In the working class school, the principle had did not know the history of the school building. The teachers did not motive or believe in their student’s success.
In Carl Singleton’s article, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s,” he argues that students aren’t receiving the failing grades they deserve. School systems are to blame for the lack of quality in America’s education. No other recommendation for improvement will succeed. The only way to fix the American education system is to fail more students. According to Singleton, the real root of the issue is with the parents.
Mike Rose shares his personal story to the public in “I just wanna be average”, as he reveals the many flaws within the educational system of a high school in an economically depressed neighborhood in Los Angeles. He effectively directs his arguments towards both educators and parents by utilizing emotional and logical appeals. By convincing the audience to fear that children placed on remedial tracks are being hindered rather than assisted, the author causes both awareness and a feeling of duty to change the way we handle teaching children. Rose presents his argument by aiding the reader through the eyes of his younger self as he retells the story of his years in high school.
Mason White Ms. Edoff Writing February 13, 2017 This short story is called “7th Grade” by Gary Soto. This is a short story about a boy, Victor, who is going through seventh grade. He likes a girl, Teresa, and is trying to impress her. He tries to impress her by acting tough and pretending to know french in French class.
