Personal Narrative: My Conception Of Urban Schools

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.

Mayor Emanuel plans on closing these schools to save the budget of CPS and to save the graduation rates. The Mayor is pushing CPS Grads to create some sort of ‘plan’ to give CPS students to better educate themselves on which degree they are heading for. Mayor Rahm Emanuel stated,”"If you change expectations, it's not hard for kids to adapt". Mayor Emanuel believes planting a seed in these young educators heads of long term goals, and having Graduates with degrees assisting them in new CPS programs, is the right way of making these students trust the new process of rebuilding these Chicago Public Schools and the CPS graduation rate.

Public school is one of the primary sources of education for many children in the United States, therefore it should be the school 's sole purpose to teach them the essential elements they need to succeed in life. This means more than teaching math, science, history, and English. A school, primarily high school, must provide courses that focus on a student 's future career plans, courses that challenge a student academically, and courses that help a student navigate their life as adults. Without classes that help students expand and delve into their future career choices, they can limit their views of success. An excellent example of this can be found in Jonathan Kozol 's Still Separate, Still Unequal, particularly in his interviews with the students of Fremont High School in Los Angeles.

“It is my belief that all young people have the ability to achieve at high levels, and it is our responsibility to ensure that they do… This includes having high expectations for students to succeed academically, socially, in their college and career pursuits, and in life” –Antwan Wilson Superintendent of the Oakland Unified School District Community To Be Served For every seven students that earn a diploma from the Oakland Unified School District, three of their peers will never make it to graduation day. In a school district that educates more than 37,000 students, a graduation rate of 67% means that more than 12,000 will drop out before graduating from high school. A disproportionate number of these students are minorities and students

However, contrary to the media this community provides many jobs and academic opportunities to its population. Jane and Finch is filled with plazas that attract entrepreneurs to set up businesses which results in higher employment rates for the neighbourhood. The public schools also provide students in the area with many opportunities such as: scholarships, field trips, extra-curricular activities and programs to enhance the educational experience. The “FIRST” program is a strong example of a beneficial opportunity as it provides Jane and Finch with the chance to explore the world of robotics. This program piques the interests of many students that are thinking of a career in the engineering path and helps them gain experience of what they are getting into.

HFD 110 November 18th, 2015 60 schools, 30 districts, and 11 states that’s how many Jonathan Kozol visited after several years of watching and experiencing inner city children school districts. Back in the 1960s Jonathan Kozol was working with segregation schools in New York where Kozel was able to observe the students and the programs and was able to soon enough find out the problems that these schools were having. Kozel gives a lot of statistic through out to help the readers see how bad inner city schools have been over the years and still to this day the issues that they are having. One being while walking through the halls of one inner city school out of 2,000 children he did not see one white child. Usually these schools are made up of Blacks, Hispanics and even sometimes Asians barely ever you will see a white child.

Addison’s tone is also optimistic when she adds that “the community college system is America’s hidden public gem,” and that “they offer a network of affordable future, of accessible hope, and an option to dream.” Through this remark, Addison not only exhibits a hopeful tone but, also makes others optimistic that community college is an option for them. She does such by listing that it is “affordable,” meaning achievable for those that don’t have much, as well as, being a place to “dream.” This shows that in and after community college, there are opportunities

Speaker: The speaker of the article is Marc Sternberg, a former principal and the current director for the K-12 education for the Walter Family Foundation. He is a credible source because he has worked in the education system before and has turned a school with a 34% graduation rate to an 86% graduation rate due to him hiring exceptional teachers. Occasion: Marc Sternberg is addressing this topic because of the mayor’s recent decision to employ bad teachers. This is revealed in the beginning of the article. He is frustrated because he is a former principal and knows the effect of an exceptional teacher on the students.

Reflection 50 Myths& Lies To begin, the book 50 Myths& Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools covered a variety of topics such as why teachers are quickly blamed publicly along with their unions, how to make our schools better, equality of schools, money, and how schools make students college and career ready. With each of these topics were smaller sub-topics such as the importance of money, bullying, teachers’ abilities, and the various choices of schooling. With each topic/sub-topic the authors guided us through each subject uncovering myths and lies that surround them.

Reich supports this claim that not everyone can succeed in a four-year liberal arts college by bringing up three key problems: financial instability, lack of employment, and eventual obsolete education due to four-year liberal arts degrees.. Reich believes the main cause these issues are experienced by students are because of lack of awareness of gateways and the fact that very few gateways are opened to students. Reich argues that another gateway for success that won’t cause financial instability is to pursue technician jobs. In order to achieve mastery over technical knowledge only two years of study at a community college is required which can lead to a preference for students versus a four-year liberal arts college because of extremely low cost and time. Reich also believes that since technology is constantly changing specific knowledge from a four-year liberal arts college may become obsolete.

Many people think that most American schools are satisfactory. That is far from what is actually happening. The harsh reality is that schools that are unsatisfactory do exist. In Jonathan Kozol’s “Fremont High School”, he points out the flaws of a high school located somewhere in Los Angeles. This helps shine light on differences in the quality of education in various areas of the country.

Even Miss Luddy had some hesitation knowing her students would sound different to the suburban students and vice versa (259). In addition to this, the suburban students already had a negative mind set towards the city, as seen during a class activity. When the teacher asked the students to describe the city, they replied with negative adjectives, such as terrible, scary, and dangerous (279). These examples show how segregation has created a barrier between the urban and suburban students. The students know they are different from each other and talk about it

To truly say “Learning for All,” the school district needs to work on improving graduation rates for the students most at need. The connection between poverty and low graduation rates is nothing new and it is a problem James City shares with much of the United States. Messacar and Oreopoulos (2013) cited several factors for the low graduation rates including conflicts at home and financial difficulties. Students living in poverty often face issues outside of school that their middle-class peers do not which lead to disengagement and, eventually, dropping out of

One night, during the cold winter, I walked along the side walk to reach the local store down the block. As I walked out, before I can realize it, I was dropping down onto the concrete while bullets swiftly passed me. I then began to run back home, but I wanted to keep running. Away from Chicago, away from the west side. Growing up in Chicago, it was easy to assume that there was nothing different beyond the blocks of my streets.

Education is a huge issue that not only affects kids and their parents, but their community as well. Schools teach young kids to become the next generation of engineers, technicians, and political leaders, working towards creating a better future for their country and their community. Teachers have the unique job of creating the future leaders of the world, and preparing them for both college and life beyond, by putting a special push towards math and science, the so-called “foundation” of our society. The hard truth is, no one can be anything they want to be. Some people are simply not cut out to be engineers, doctors, or psychologists.