Many people in the United States would say that the Democrat political party liberal, plain and simple, the liberal meaning: free from prejudice or bigotry, favorable to or in accord with concepts of maximum individual freedom possible and have a philosophy about "recapturing goodness". Under the light of a halo, to be a Democrat means to commit to affordable health care for all American citizens, to represent and protect farmers, labor unions, ethnic and religious minorities, to provide well fare for the poor, cut taxes to appeal to the public and lend a kind, helping hand in immigration. However to every good there is a bad, like the flaws in the Dem's stimulus package, which was a means to jump start the economy. In the package, it plans to spend 825 billion dollars with an interest of 300 billion dollars but will cost more than 1.1 trillion dollars to pay it back, and it is probably going to be coming out of taxpayers pockets. The package also plans to spend 650 million dollars on digital TV coupons and 600 million for new cars for the federal government, because, of course, whats a government without pimped out Audi's and spiffy Lincolns. It also plans to establish 32 new government programs on a over 136 billion dollar spending limit. Wow! However, 79 billion is going to public schools and school districts, which is not a whopping 136 billion but its a start.
Part 1 K to College Give Something Back is a school supply initiative organization that sponsors individuals in many poor communities around America. It focuses on helping young, disadvantaged children who wish to commit to academic excellence and complete a college degree.
Just recently, and nearly every Sunday afternoon, I volunteered several hours of my time in order to help out the K to College Give Something Back. The hours were spent preparing and packing bags filled with different school materials. Some of the various components that I packed were binders, file sheets, erasers, sharpeners, scissors, glue, pens and pencils, plus highlighters. These really helpful and needed bags were for children of elementary and middle school grades are living in poverty stricken districts and could not afford simple school tools.
This upsetting state of affairs brings me to my issue of concern which is the lack of academic attention and help in the United States for tomorrows adults allied to the decreasing educational performance in the country. Across this relatively privileged nation many students do not have the proper framework or guidance to be prepared for college and therefore to be successful during attendance at their place of education and beyond their academic days. It is very important for them to get the proper guidance, mentoring and apparatus needed at an early age in order for students to increase awareness and be provided with opportunities of success. This in turn would lead to more successful careers and lives which would subsequently be of benefit to the nation as a whole for any number of reasons.
Such obvious examples are the development of America’s infrastructure, decreasing poverty and thus improving America’s present and future economy, its health statistics and many other positives. It would also have a great effect on the nation’s crime rates as surely a successful, advantaged and educated individual is far less likely to resort to a life of crime. Informed citizens are more likely to eat more healthily and make wiser choices in their lives. A more positive nation makes me wonder what achievements can be made in our short and long term future, not just for America but for the world as a whole which faces many challenges in terms of global warming, increased population with fewer resources and countless other dilemmas!
Back at grass roots levels though, it also matters to us as a community to lend a helping hand to those who need it, for a strong disposition and leadership. Starting at the bottom will ultimately lead to radical advancements in every persons life but I believe this simple scenario is lost to most of us who go about our lives thinking of ourselves in a shortsighted and selfish way.The United States, one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, once held its head high in being one of the most educated countries, with facilities and opportunities that were the envy of many. However, with us now into the 21st century, its standards have dropped tremendously.
According to Unicef calculations made in 2009, the United States ranks 14th out of 24 nations, whilst being an improvement from its 2002 calculations which had put US at 18th out of 24 still is simply not good enough compared to the advantages we should be exposed to. Graduation rates have also taken a steep fall compared to statistics from forty years ago. According to calculations made in 2002 the graduation rates has dropped the US into 19th place and has slipped to 70% during the past year. Why this drastic change in the system? Many point fingers at the No Child Left Behind law, which states that a student be required to be tested on reading and math, devoting less time to science, language, arts and other courses needed to reach graduation. The NCLB pushes students to meet standards on proficiency tests and encourages failing students to drop out in order to increase test average. Manipulation of results and figures surely is money motivated and as mentioned above is a shortsighted and selfish approach that is derogatory to the nation as a whole now and will increasingly be so in its future too!
Many also blame the insufficient amount of government funding to the development and improvement of the educational system. Between the prices for paying for tuition, textbooks and personal interests, students, especially those in poverty stricken environments, find it difficult to keep up with the expenses. It doesn’t take much thought to realize and shudder at the amount of money used to develop weapons and fund war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is obscenely wasteful and tragic too as we do not seem to have learnt any lessons from past conflicts. I do wonder when a time will come when Government addresses such things and channels resources into positive areas which help people not promote fear and destruction. A 2008 higher education report stated that:
"College tuition continues to outpace family income and the price of other necessities, such as medical care, food and housing. College tuition and fees, adjusted for inflation, rose 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, towering over increases in medical care, housing and food. Median family income rose 147 percent during the same period of time."
Although the presidential administration has made available financial aid and grants, research shows that due to a staggering economy, states and students are still struggling with budget shortcomings.
Other claims made are that many students fail to realize how important education is in their lives and get distracted and consumed by their Facebook, Myspace, television, video games, personal issues and any number of things. That sort of claim though can easily be turned toward parental guidance and every individual can cite mitigating circumstances for any given scenario instead of actually getting down to the job in hand. On average, a teenager would spend 20 hours a week watching television and for those who live in low income settings, it is even more, whilst reserving half of that allotted time to their studies. Some students also have to struggle with balancing family commitments, academics depending on culture. For example in Latino culture, family trumps education with priorities laying in the family as a whole unit, not an individual. Like Cindy Garcia in CNN’s documentary Latino in America, many students are pulled out of school to help their parents with shop keeping, child care and household chores and are not able to graduate on time with their peers.
However the fault does not only lay at the feet of the student’s commitment and government funding. A 1986 Texas study details that there was a link between low teacher and low student test scores. Thousands of instructors statewide have failed at the least one certification test and many do not even take the test, resulting in students lagging behind their peers eventually to drop out because they are unable to keep up with the system. Even though codes have been put in place to try and prevent weak teachers there are many loop holes. For example in Illinois there is the “Chicago- only loophole” that allows substitutes to teach regularly without being required to pass any certification tests.
Part 2
The Obama administration realizes the importance of a good education and has come up with strategies to “combat the dropout crisis” and ensure that students graduating from high school are well prepared for college. President Obama speaks out and states:
“This is a problem we can’t afford to accept or ignore; the stakes are too high – for our children, for our economy, for our country. It’s time for all of us to come together – parents and students, principals and teachers, business leaders and elected officials to end America’s dropout crisis.”
The president’s administration has put 3.5 billion dollars in funding for America’s low performing schools and in addition to that 900 million dollars were put into place to support School Turnaround Grants. President Obama also stresses the importance of investing in dropout prevention, making educational studies more engaging and effectively persuading students to seek higher education. Obama has already suggested putting 100 million dollars in College Pathway programs, which advocates college preparation and awareness while still in high school. (The College Pathway programs allow for students to get college credits while still attending high school). President Obama has also discussed using the intervention strategies in low performing middle and high schools to make them aware of their faults and improve methods to help students become more college and career ready.
Besides the dropout rates, many states like California face budget cuts, Californian public schools face over a nearly two billion dollar loss. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says in his address:
"The current tax and budget system is cruel. It is cruel because it is forcing us to make a "Sophie's choice" amongst our obligations. Which child do we cut? Is it the poor one or the sick one? Is it the uneducated one or is it the one with special needs?"
As a result of this budget situation, California has fired hundreds of teachers and cut down on many extracurricular classes offered in schools, such as musical education and leadership courses. Governor Schwarzenegger has given his “Sophie’s Choice” to the education crisis in California: protect the state’s educational system by making cuts in healthcare, public transit and social services. He also proposes to make a constitutional amendment which would limit state spending to no less than 10% on public higher education and no more than 7% on state prisons, which takes in more government funding than the public education does. He states that:
"Thirty years ago, 10% of the general fund went to higher education and 3% to prisons. Today almost 11% goes to prisons and only 7.5% goes to higher education. What does it say about any state that focuses more on prison uniforms than on caps and gowns?"
Mr. Schwarzenegger is right. It is not a state’s wish to appear to be more focused on its criminals rather than the young developing minds. However, the public is already enraged at tuition increase and crowded classrooms, and are verge of revolt. Again as mentioned before, implementing strategies to stop individuals choosing the wrong social path would lead to resources being diverted to the right places.
Part 3
Even with newly developed and improved technology that is supposed to be used to enhance learning methods; much cash still is directed towards the purchasing of textbooks, which is quite unnecessary considering the less expensive alternatives. Extra money that could be saved from the textbooks can be used to buy assessment and intervention tools, which would help students get the academic support and guidance that they need, improving student achievement and ultimately changing school culture.
I once read a book about life in poverty and the struggles that an individual had to go through in order to gain a decent education. In the book the school hired a teacher from a well off community and that teacher has a big influence. This may seem an obvious statement to make but simple strategies and solutions are often the best ways forward. Therefore, I believe that if the best teachers were brought to the neediest schools the students then results would significantly improve. Whilst this is not practical, it is still an innocent student wish for a better chance to be granted to the less fortunate. Additionally, for help in low income schools, the government could divert funds for extra help, training teachers, counselors and tutors.
Another method to improve the educational system would be to simplify, promote clarity and transparency in the financial aid process, making it easier to understand for both the parent and student. This would obviously eradicate one reason to give up on college because of financial aid confusion. It would also be helpful to guarantee tuition at an early age, preferably around ninth or tenth grade, which would promote less stress and pressure. The student will also have a chance of a higher education and again as pointed out earlier, help change the world in many, many different ways.
Education is key to the future of the world, not just the United States. More time, effort and funding needs to be implemented by government, states, students and family. If we as a nation work on improving the system then the United States will show the world the correct way ahead into all of our futures.
After getting the idea from a film in Australia, Irish travel agency have decided to recreate "The Best Job in the World". All ready more than 1000 couples have applied for the opportunity to be sent to parishes around the world. People are expected to blog about their experiences aand be paid 20000 euros which is about 27000 dollars. Sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me...
Even the wealthy are struggling with getting children in good schools. It is said that Arne Duncan, who used to be secretary of education and cheif executive for Chicago Public Schools, had kept a list of local politicians and businessmen, whom he could hopefully get their children in a benevolent school. However rumours flown about how Mr. Duncan and his aide, David Pickens, list was putting a pressure on principals to which they both denied saying that the list was created to reduce principal pressure. Peter Cunningham, assistant secretary of the Department of Education and Mr. Duncans former communicator comments:
“Arne Duncan asked David Pickens to respond to all of these requests, some of which came from him, some from lots of other people, as a way to try to manage a process that was putting a lot of pressure on principals, this was an attempt to buffer principals from all the outside pressure, to get our arms around something that was burdensome to them. It was always up to the principal to make the decision. Arne never ever picked up the phone.”
The list was primarily set as a guide and not something set in stone. It was only asking that Mr. Duncan look at it and see possibilities of things he could do. As many people know admissions into top schools in Chicago has been very difficult and the people on the list were only trying to look out for their own and try and secure a better higher educated future.
As math skills have appeared to be improving through out the years, the reading segment does not appear to be going anywhere at the moment. According to a nationwide reading assessment the score remain on the same path, as they have been for 17 years. This might be because of the improvement in technology and the invention of devices such as the computer, television and USA network, has taken up the interest in people that would have been for reading a good book. People tend to get the mentality that the movie is better than the book and faster, so what is the point of reading it when watching it would be so much more "enjoyable". Others however would say that it is because of the "undemanding curicullum". English expert, Susan Pimentel commented saying that:
"American schools were fairly efficient at teaching basic reading skills in the early grades, but that as students matured they need to be consistently challenged to broaden those skills by reading not only complex literature but also sophisticated nonfiction in subjects like history and science. And we're not asking them to read nearly enough"
As an experienced high school student myself, i find Ms. Pimentel's statement very true. My english class requires that we read books but due to the advantages of the interent and other electronics it is not difficult to find a way around the norm...
Once a upon a time it used to be that if you moved to the right area, your children could be guaranteed a spot in a good school, but in New York school districts that myth is being challenged. For two years now has families in New York's finer areas, such as Upper West and East Side Manhattan, receive letters stating that their child has been put on a waiting list for the local public elementary school. According to statistics shone in the New York times, many schools have nearly as allowed admitted on the waiting lists, one school in have 111 people on its waiting list when there is only space for 130. However, the remaining children are not going to be ignored, according to Maura Keaney, the director of external affairs for the Education Department,
children on a waiting list would be offered a spot at another nearby school by the middle of May. Two new schools with 75 kindergarten seats each will open this fall in existing buildings in District 2 and 3 in Manhattan, and could absorb some of the children.
And also for the waiting list students, even if their parents chose an alternative school they would still be able to keep their place on the waiting list, just in case. However, parents are still stressed, like Michelle Hankin who stated that:
“I am trying to find out what I am supposed to do and what our options are, but I really feel helpless,”
As this phenomenon progress, people begin to question if there are enough progressive schools readily available. People seem to get more critical about the education of their young uns but with a shortage of good schools America is losing a lot of intelligent minds to something that should be guaranteed. What people should do is get down and dirty in the education system and tweak it a bit so that people are allowed the advantages of a well rounded curriculum and in turn a good education.
I found this very interesting while surfing youtube. I give props to the driver for controlling the car beautifully, which is believed to be a Mustang, but not for running away from the law which is plain stupidity
Part 1 
