I am altruistic. If I do not help, who will? One person who stands for what is right can make a difference. I am a Pastor; I serve the people. Altruism and a strongly held set of core values, informed by my understanding of the systems of oppression and how they affect disenfranchised communities, spur my interest in social work.
I grew up in inner city Los Angeles where substandard schooling forced driven parents who lived in poorer communities to bus their children to schools in more affluent areas to get a higher quality education. However, students like myself who stayed in the local schools experienced the lack of quality, current, relevant textbooks (e.g., in 1984, our high school history textbook had a list of presidents that ended with Dwight Eisenhower) as well as other deficits. Since there were not enough books for every student to have their own, we shared books while we were in class. At the end of class, the teacher collected the books; we did not have a textbook to take home for further study outside of the classroom. Inadequate educational resources in poorer communities is one of many systems of oppression and disenfranchisement that I personally experienced and that helped shape my core values.
My core values include service. Service is providing assistance to help a person establish and
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After retiring from the military, I vowed to earn a degree in Psychology to understand struggles in the human thought process. My current education has better equipped me to understand the challenges and need for social structures to provide support, guidance, and opportunities to those who are systemically disenfranchised. A graduate degree in Social Work will equip me with the skills necessary to change lives. As with professional experiences in the United States Marine Corps, I am determine to be
In the book, “Rereading America,” written by Toni Cade Bambara along with Gary Colombo and Robert Cullen, Bambara focuses on the challenges and desire to teach by contras of what you don’t have and what you can achieve. (Bambara, pg. 253-259) It is without doubt that even though a cookie cutter theory is used in most schools; there will be certain social economical neighborhoods in which a teacher or adult will have to vary the process of communication in order to get his or her point across with dedication and teach the love for learning. Ms. Moore had been a wise educated woman who did not avoid the challenging attitudes of children going up in a disadvantaged economical community.
Recently, I began a mission to find a great college to attend. After careful consideration and several reasons, I chose to start my process at Suny Empire State College. I majored in psychology fifteen years ago while attending Long Island University Brooklyn Campus but unfortunately, I did not complete. Instead, I chose to begin a beautiful family. Needless to say, I am not the typical age of a college student.
Unsatisfactory schools do not maintain suitable conditions for students to learn and they are not treated as well as students from other schools. An example of this is in Kozol’s Fremont High School when it states that, “Long lines of girls are ‘waiting to use the bathrooms,’ which are generally ‘unclean’ and ‘lack basic supplies,’ including toilet paper” (Kozol 707). Student who have the desire to go to college hit dead ends in the school. One of the most impactful parts of the passage was when Kozol quoted Fortino saying, “You’re ghetto, so we send you to the factory” (Kozol 710). This shows the distrust that students in low-income areas feel toward our education system.
Americans, when they think of Civil Rights probably think of the Civil Rights Movement. During the civil rights era African Americans fought to be treated as equals by fighting segregated schools, for their voting rights, and for their basic right that every American has today. To say that education is our civil rights movement of today is inaccurate. Antonio Alvarez’s narrative “Out Of My Hands” focuses on a financially struggling family, but proving that they can succeed. David L. Kirp’s article “The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools” reinforces the idea that even though a community might be poor, that doesn’t have to reflect the quality of education students receive.
CHM1 Task 2 A. Personal Values Here are my four top personal core values. 1. One of my personal core values is honesty. Being honest is personally meaningful to me because I believe that it is important for others to know that I am trustworthy and truthful so that they can feel secure that I will act in an ethical way. By being honest I gain trust, which matters to me.
Altruism is a special trait that some individuals have, but may not know it. For example, people might find that they will do more altruistic
In this paper, I will assess my identity and my personal history and how it relates to social work professions. I first address my personal history and cultural background, where I came from, as well as my experience in working in the community. I then talk about my overall strengths, both in personal and professional lives. My strengths are listening skills, open-mindedness, respect for diversity and eagerness to learn and improve my weaknesses. Afterward, I discuss my weaknesses, such as nonassertive communication skill and low self-esteem problems, and how I plan to address these issues.
In addition to that, there is a problem with the lack of necessary resource in a school. Whether this is seen in only a few schools or a lot, it is unacceptable and must be fixed. How can we expect these students to learn, work, and live on an equal playing field when they don’t even have books, while others have every resource you could ever want in a school? We have this idea of education being the panacea of world struggle, but is it really? When we have all these schools that are not fairly treated.
After conducting an interview, Dan W. Rea understands stereotypes from a different perspective after an interview with Pedro Noguera. Noguera, a student who experienced poverty first hand in Boston, states, “...we should not conclude that simply because a child is poor they won’t be able to learn as much or that they can’t be as smart or as intelligent. There is no evidence to support that”. Not only are the students having opportunities stripped away at home, opportunities offered at affluent schools are not available at schools in low-income neighborhoods. The country refuses to expand the budget for these areas.
Loyalty, respect, self-less service and integrity are the values that map the life that I lead. When in consideration of
Introduction Children in lower income areas, traditionally, do not have equitable resources, services and opportunities as the students in more affluent areas (Fram, Miller-Cribbs, & Van Horn, 2007). It is not a secret that poverty exists in America. It seems to be a common expectation that in, some schools, teachers will have extra books, supplies and snacks on hand for their students who lack these basic items. In fact, for some students, the lack of basic necessities is an everyday occurrence that extends far beyond the pencils and paper they need in the classroom. According to one article by Belfanz (2009), “in all minority inner-city schools in high-poverty neighborhoods, most entering students lack a good middle school education and
I am confident that the skills that I will gain from completing a social work master’s degree will help me collaborate with people in need and aid sustainable growth in their lives. My first introduction to social work as a profession came while living on a small
My passion for helping and supporting those whose economic and financial standings have hindered their growth in our society, has driven me towards social work. I feel I have exhausted every possible avenue in my current degree field. Pursuing a master’s in Social Work, will give me the diversity that I need, while aiding me in bringing my dreams of working more in depth with clients, by helping assist them with their individual needs and issues to reality. The Social work field also offers versatility which allows me to work in many dimensions, such as clinical, case management, and many other composites which enables me to help every population. Becoming a social worker gives me other benchmarks in which I can use to evaluate programs,
Before, I took this course my only interest for my future career was for becoming an elementary school teacher, but throughout taking this course I realized that I am interested in becoming a social worker as well. Being exposed to the content in this course, if I were to become a social worker in the future I would be interested in working with troubled youth and incarcerated youth, to help put them on the right path and to make sure that they do not end up spending their lives constantly being trouble or spending their lives being locked up. I have always had an interest with people who are incarcerated and watching documentaries about jails/prisons, and working with children but lecture four ‘The professions of social work’ engaged my interests even more because during the lecture child protection and the criminal justice system were talked about, not in great detail but it still engaged my interests because during that moment I realized if I became a social worker I would want to work with troubled youth and incarcerated youth because I would be working with the child to ensure that they strive to have the best life possible for themselves. For academic purposes, one theory that I would be interested to learn more about in my academic future would be the psychodynamic theory, although I have learned about this theory in my other classes as well, I still find it one of
I am a person that likes to help others now that is because. It puts you in a better mood so you can feel good about yourself because you know you did good and, helped someone who was in a tough situation. I also like to help people because you can change the way they think completely to make them see the good in the world. When I help people I think that I could be saving them because some people can be one bad thing away from making a bad choice.