The Governments to Blame For Public Schools Down Fall

The Governments to Blame for Public Schools Down Fall

When talking about education in the California system one of the main concerns is the budget and how it effects the students and the schools. Education reform is a huge problem here in American and should not be put on the back burner for any reason. Our Children’s future and educational outlook should be our main priority to government funding. Thats why its outraging to read an article that blames the public school teacher for the down fall of the schools while in reality its the government’s guidelines.  The article “Teacher: Step-by-Step guide to how “reform” is harming public schools”, by Valerie Strauss is an eye opening piece to how government wants to handle the education system problems. Rather than taking responsibility for their lack of sense, they would rather take the easy route and blame the hard working teachers who put in long hours for little pay. The problem is when you look at the bigger picture you can see that its not the teachers at all its the government and how they are choosing to spend their funds on charter schools over the public schools.

There are obvious ways to try and fix the failing education system in public schools, if only the government would allow such things to take place.  Elizabeth Walters reports in the New York Times, “All it would take is some new textbooks, better technology and some classroom supplies followed by allowing the teacher to teach how they believe students will learn the best. No more of this we can only allow teachers to teach what is on the STAR test, and prepare students to only succeed on those tests instead of in higher education”. The Government solution to the failing system is to just blame the teachers and start funding charter and private schools because they have a better score report on the STAR test. They think that just because its a charter or private school that the teacher are automatically better and only the best students must be there. “Well thats not it at all, the reason charter school and private schools do so much better is there not stuck to a specific style of teaching that they have to do, or a set of guidelines that they have to follow when they are teaching”, reported by Elizabeth Walters, New York Times. Public schools suffer not because of the teachers, but because of the pressure the government puts on the STAR test.  So instead of blaming the teachers we should consider the reasons they system is failing in terms of the government. 

In fact, it’s not the teachers that make the difference between the charter schools and the public schools at all, and the students even agree.  It has to do with the environment of the schools and the types of children that attend the two different types of schools. Also the charter schools are granted better equipment and have more to offer their students in terms of educational support. The question is why do these charter and private schools get such better support from the government? Larry Miller’s explains in his blog,  “By analyzing the Department of Education databases for the 2007-2008 school year, the researchers calculated that the charter school network received $12,731 in taxpayer money per student, compared with $11,960 at the average traditional public schools.”  Now if the government put just as much funding into the public schools and allowed the teacher to teach different things and not just the STAR requirement than Public schools could be in just as good condition as the charter and private schools. Its not the teachers to blame for the failing education system it’s the government for giving more support to one community over the other.

Op-Ed Piece

The Governments to Blame

Education reform is a huge problem here in American and should not be put on the back burner. Our Children’s future and educational outlook should be our main priority to fix. Thats why its outraging to read an article that blames the public school teacher for the down fall of the schools while in reality its the government’s guidelines.  The article Teacher: Step-by-Step guide to how “reform” is harming public schools, by Valerie Strauss is an eye opening piece to how government wants to handle the education system problems. Rather than taking responsibility for their lack of sense they would rather take the easy rout and blame the hard working teachers who put in long hours for little pay. In the community of educational programs let that be sports, honor groups, clubs, and even different types of schools like private and charter, there should be no one community that is more valuable then the other. 

There are obvious ways to try and fix the failing education system in public schools, if only the government would allow such things to take place.  All it would take is some new textbooks, better technology and some classroom supplies followed by allowing the teacher to teach how they believe students will learn the best. No more of this we can only teach what is on the STAR test, and prepare students to only succeed on those test instead of higher education. The Government solution to the failing system is to just blame the teacher and start funding charter and private schools because they have a better score report on the STAR test. They think that just because its a charter or private school that the teacher are automatically better and only the best students must be there. Well thats not it at all, the reason charter school and private schools do so much better is there not stuck to a specific style of teaching that they have to do, or a set of guidelines that they have to follow when they are teaching. Public schools suffer not because of the teachers but because of the pressure the government puts on the STAR test.  So instead of blaming the teachers find other reasons for why the public school system is going down the tub and lets try and offer some good solutions. 

In fact its not the teachers that make the difference between the charter schools and the public schools at all, the students even agree.  It has to do with the environment  and the types of kids that attend the different types of schools along with charter schools are granted better equipment and have more to offer their students. The question is why to the charter and private schools get such better support from the government? “By analyzing the Department of Education databases for the 2007-2008 school year, the researchers calculated that the charter school network received $12,731 in taxpayer money per student, compared with $11,960 at the average traditional public schools”(Larry Miller's Blog). Now if the government put just as much funding into the public schools and allowed them teacher to teach different things and not just the STAR requirement than Public schools could be in just as good condition as the charter and private schools. Its not the teachers to blame for the failing education its the government. 

- Let me know if i am on the right track. the whole idea of writing the op-ed piece kind of confused me. 

Learning Genre

Pick 2 articles and figure out there Genre. Opposite the Editorial = Op- Ed
First Article Playing the Violence Card
1.The point of this article is to inform and pursued people about the type of violence going on in todays country.
2. it takes the format of an news article, is not to long.
3. This is written from the point a view of one man but backed with lots of statements and seemed to be pretty good facts. Its written from third person point of view. The writer is trying to show that its not fair for people to be playing the race card in violent situation because most of the time its the same race who is causing them the pain.
5. It is an evidence piece, it is using different people to back up the points that he is making. He is not summarizing another article, he using new facts to prove is point.
6. He is trying to inform the public of what is going on in the community involving the different races and the violence that being delt with. Most time people try and blame other races for accident or crimes when in reality most the time its the same race as you.
the writer is using very educated language, larger words and good grammar.

Next Article

Can Privatization Kill?
1. An other informative piece, its purpose is to share its knowledge of the bad things that are going on with immigration and how things could be handle differently when handling people who you are escorting back to a country.
Its laid out in a clear and effective formate that makes it very efficent and easy to understand. He uses facts and a very firm voice to make it clear that he knows what he is talking about. Its an argument piece because he is trying to get his information across to people and make them understand.
Using facts and statistics. Journal piece

Sources

This paper is so difficult, because picking a community you belong to that relates to the over all conversation of social class, the american dream and the issue they face is more challenging that you would think. I don't really connect with any community that is facing social class issues or that is struggling to reach the American dream in a bad way unless I talk about the middle class and I don't want to thats to broad. So I picked a community with in Fresno State the NSCS which is an honor society for the most part that, I am hoping to learn about the different social classes with in it, how important education is and if it make a difference in there future and the ability to reach there American Dream.

The first sources I will be using is the official website of NSCS, I am hoping to get the basic history of when the group was created, who created it and what the purpose of the group was when it was first created. I also really hopping that it will shed some light on the racial break down of the group and the social classes that are influenced by the higher education needed, and the fee you have to pay to be a member.
-"NSCS exists to recognize and elevate high-achievers. We are dedicated to the ideals of Scholarship, Leadership and Service; ideals that are evident in every benefit and scholarship we offer." This is one of the quotes I am going to be using in my paper, bacause it shows that this communite values educationa dn hard work but that you don't have to be the top class to be successful becuase thats what scholoarships are for. I will be focusing on that.
"We encourage academic achievement, but also provide opportunities for members to develop leadership skills, positively change their campuses and communities, as well as prepare for future endeavors (internship, grad school, career)" This is the other line I found interesteing that is more than just grades its aboout producing a well roundedstudent and preparing them from there American Dream.

Now my other source is a personal interview with Heather Do she is the president of the Fresno State community of NSCS. She has a lot of insight to offer because she has been a member for a few years and can really describe what this community has to offer and how it help reach the American Dream.
" She mentions how it has helped her pay for her college tuition through scholarships, and now she doesn't have to worry about student debt after college". This is important because its putting her that much more closer to the American dream and she wont have to be in debt before she even starts life.
"Next she talks about how race and social class aren't a huge issue because the fee is only a one time thing unlike some other honor programs".

These two source will be very helpful in writing my paper about community success and the American Dream

Annotated bibliography

So in the last post I couldn't decide if i wanted to write about fresno state as a community or the NSCS and after thinking about it I am going to try and challange myself and write about the NSCS. My goal for this paper is to see what this community is made up of. Let it be the upper class, the middle class the lower class or a mix of all and most focused on the highly educated and hard workers. I want to point out that the value of education not based on race, social class or religion is what makes the American dream come true and that this community its separated based on this dividers.
https://mynscs.secure.force.com/MyChapter
This is the official website for NSCS, and I believe it will be able to offer me great dealt of what the history of the organization is about, and so important facts on it. I also find that it will be able to introduce to me all the member here at fresno state and also around the country at other schools. This will allow me to see the difference races and and maybe social class of the type of people that belong to this group. I am so hopping to find what the group values most and how it will help people reach there American Dream.

Personal Interview with the Chapter president here at fresno state. (Chapter President Heather Donat hdonat@mail.fresnostate.edu)
By talk to her and meeting up with some of the different members I will be able to get there take on the whole aspect of the group and what it has to offer its members. I will be trying to find out why people join the group?, how being a member is helpful in reaching the american dream and if different classes effect this group or if its a mixture of every thing. I am also hoping to find out if the different locations are connected or if its  a solo thing.

http://her.hepg.org/content/h0m026p670k618q3/fulltext.pdf
This is an article that talks about how in general social class and effect education starting in the first grade and will shape kids from there on up. Based on your social class will decide how the teacher treats you which will determine how you learn and if you become better prepared in school and life. I will than relate this back to the NSCS and how its not so much based on race but of on the environment and the social classes that the groups located in and how the kids were raised.

http://www.publicagenda.org/press-releases/americans-view-higher-education-key-american-dream
This is just a tool to get my mind thinking about how different classes view education and the idea of reaching the American Dream. How lower class find education even more important as a tool to get up from the bottom to middle class. They see it as the only way to be able to better there life and by doing this and becoming a member of this group it allows them scholarships and even more chances to better there education and reach that american dream.

Project 2 ideas

Project 2 Brainstorming

1. I have two ideas of what I am think about doing my paper on, the deciding factors will be  which one will provide the most information and be the most interesting to write about. 

1. My first idea is to write about Fresno State, as a community. It provides plenty  of thing to discuses, like the class make up of the school based on how many kids are financial aid verse having to pay tuition, or there the values that make up college students and how they all equally value the idea of education and success. For success we could talk about the amount of kids who graduate with honor, regular or faster or slower than others, there so many things that makes this community different from others. 

 B. Or I am thinking about a much narrower community, my only fear is not having enough to say about them, I would have to talk about the idea in general and than focus more on the specific group of the community. I was thinking about writing about The National Society of Collegiate Scholars, I am currently a member of this group here at fresno state, but its not only here at Fresno State, all college offer it is on a National level. I was thinking though that to be a member you have to get really good grades witch puts you in a certain community that other students at your school, you either value education more, or are more dedicated to school. I am going to find out if class, race or religion play a roll in who is a member of the community or if its a wide mixture of all. I am predicting its going to be mostly upper middle class because there is a small fee you have to pay, but I that might not play a roll at all. 

These communities both value you a lot of the same thing, hard work, education, success and reaching your goals to the best of your ability the second option just might be a little more focused or dedicated on all these topic. 

2. For Fresno State I would say it has a features that resembles the lower class and the middle class, I would guess at this moment that it has few participant from the upper class due to it only being a state school and its location kind hurts it. It has a wide range of race and religions among the students, Mexican, Asian, African American, Caucasian, Middle Eastern, and much more all In different presents of course. Were a group in the fact that were a organized institution of people all after the same goal, to receive a higher education. What makes Fresno state different from others groups is location it gets a lot of students form different towns but yet all still pretty local. If I looked it up I would guess it would say most student are from the surrounding towns, not from out of state. It has a wide mixture of cultures and different people unlike church communities might have, or specific races or organizations. The member all face the same struggles of being classified as a college student and being lazy or poor. 

1. The same goes for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars it has a the mostly the same aspects as Fresno State does, they might just be more narrow because it a more specific classify group there requirement to be a part of it, and the results of its member could demonstrate a change in class, race or religion.

3. I am interested in Fresno State because I am a member of this community and the results will be interesting to no, that if social class effects the kinda school this is, and if were better for it or worse off for it. 

1. Along whit the NSCS this is a very specific group I belong to and aim interested to find out the social class background, the race ratio and how all those things effect the way the program runs. 

4. I would say both my communities are focused on the success rate of how well there member do and where there able to get in the world, determine how well the communities functions. To be successful I think they would say graduate will the highest GPA you can, the most connections and the best experience to pre-pair you for the real world. There barriers would consist of money, budget cutes, class cutes, temptation that take them away from studying. There ability to make to graduation. 

5. For Fresno state I need to find out more about the college and its student population, the percent of races, amount of students on financial aid. The graduation rate, how many kids graduate with honors, or two degrees, how many kids come from out of state.   I need to figure out what success means to college student.

1. Than for the NSCS, I need to find out the amount of students at fresno state belong to it, the race ratio, class ratio, finical aide ratio. Than I also want to compare that to the nation records and see if location has an effect of the records. Maybe see what fresno class background is to compare that. I also need to find the average grade point average and see how there success rate out of college is. 

This is my basic idea for my project two I just have to decide which group to do, your opinion would be very helpful. 

SO What, Who Cares

Chapter 7 They Say I Say.
The main aspect of this chapter is about answering the question who cares, and so what, these are the main things that needs to be answered so you don't leave your audience lost and unsure of what was just read. You want your reader to feel connected to what your trying to say. By naming researcher your providing a connection to the bigger overall question and it provides more reliability to what is being said. Its nice to bring up who would challenge an idea or who would support an idea to show why and how it is related. The so what aspect relates to making your idea relate to a topic that people already find important that way it relates more to someone and gives them a reason to believe in it. These are all ways on how to make people interested in what you write about.  How this relates to what we have been talking about in communities is we need to relate it in are papers in the aspect of who cares about the problems in the communities who does it effect and how would we make people believe what were trying to say. Now the so what involves us explaining what the meaning of this paper about communities does for use and why its so important that we take time to talk about it and inform people.

Articles
I read an article from New York times about Mr. Kony and its hard to say where it states the who cares. i don't believe it does because it doesn't make any reference to village people, psychologist or any person or group of people, t just say what the president said, or what some journalist said, and that might county but i don't believe it shows me who cares.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/times topics/people/k/joseph_kony/index.html

Next article
In another New York TImes article, this time about immigration, I found only one part where there was an particular person backed up the evidence and that was a legal expert, it wasn't even a whole group. unless it counts when say the Obama administration is backing up the steps and work, that could be a group that cares. So i feel this one did a little better job in showing me the idea of showing the who cares part and the effect it has on how i read the article in a more in depth and believing way.