How De We Keep Each Other Down? Research

There are several ways an individual can keep another individual down.  For example, one person can discourage the other person and then he or she can be less motivated.  I have had an experience where  a certain individual will doubt me.  However I persevered and I was able to prove the other person wrong.  Another way that we can hold each other down is expecting too much from one person.  The high expectations may be an overload for that certain individual and that individual may feel that he or she is not good enough because they do not meet that certain standard or the status quo.  We as a society are very judgmental of each other.  When we judge people, we place a category on them and we do not truly see the whole truth about that certain individual.  People need to realize that we should offer a helping hand instead of putting each other down.  In this country, people categorize each other into classes.  You are either rich, regular, or poor.  Sometimes the rich look down on the poor not even realizing how they got into their financial situation.  It is a messed up society where the theory of"survival of the fittest" is most relevant in today's society.

I want to research on how schools manage to make successful individuals.  I want to see how they gain their resources and what type of students attend.  I also want to see how they use their resources and where the schools are located.  I also want to research the reasons behind dropout factories.  In my personal opinion, I believe America should get rid of the dropout factories and turn them into even greater schools.  I also want to see how private schools and public schools compare and contrast.  I want to improve public education by researching what the true problems are and how they can be fixed so the future generation can thrive and be successful.

Waiting For Superman Documentary Questions

1.) In the documentary "Waiting For Superman" children across the United States are struggling to receive an equal opportunity across the country.  Adults can get in the way of change in education because apparently adults have more needs than children.  Adults have more bills to pay, and they rather have more support so they can provide for the children.  However the harsh reality is that adults really don't care for children's education because they have more important things to focus on such as work and bills.  Also adults have more say than children, but I believe that education must be the number 1 focus for children.

2.)  The obligation to other's people's children is to not care as much because it is not our child.  However society must realize that if a child is not treated like they belong in the classroom, they may not want to learn.  Teachers who show care often have good results from the students.  In my personal experience,  I have felt that teachers who treated their students as if they were there own children often I had a good experience in the class.

3.)  As seen in the documentary, some of the kids did not get accepted to the schools they wanted due to the unfair process of the lottery.  When the school fails a kid, they feel that they are not worthy or good enough for that school.  I believe that students should not feel that way.  The feeling of not being accepted to the institution they want, may stick with them for a long time.  The school system should be a fair opportunity for students and they should make the children their number 1 priority rather than the adults.

Waiting For Superman Documentary

  What really stood out to me in this documentary is how they portray a different lifestyle that society portrays of low income families.  Most of society believes that these families are low income due to the parents being druggies, however these parents are just struggling to maintain a job or they are either a single parent.  The schools that these children attend are struggling to educate them properly.  The schools do not have enough money to pay teachers or properly provide students with a proper classroom or the proper resources.  I found it very interesting that the worst reading scores are in Washington D.C. However I have heard that D.C. also has a very bad area compared to other states.  I also found it interesting that there are 2000 dropout factories across the nation.  I feel that dropout factories should not even exist within our country.  It just goes to show that our education system is really flawed.  Kids are not motivated to go to school because they feel like they have an obligation to not learn if they choose.  If teachers were better understanding of where the student came from and how he or she was raised, then maybe the teacher-student relationship will be improved.

Raise Awareness for The Less Forutunate

People may raise awareness for the less fortunate around the U.S. by showing people what the reality is in those cities rather than perception.  For example, In East St. Louis, a town where poverty is an issue as well as waste management, we as a society can raise awareness by showing the statistics to people and how the families are less fortunate in that city. Also people can show awareness by doing donations or drives that will help the schooling system out.  The environment,  in my opinion can play a huge part in education.  If a student experiences things outside of the school that is detrimental to them, they are not willing to go to school and find enlightenment there.  If only the government would take action to open their eyes and take a look at the struggling cities of America and offer a helping hand so they would be more productive in society.

The Coup-Underdogs Explained.

  Boots Riley possible means that "they" meaning the government would tear their house down if they really loved you.  But in reality, the government would rather oppress us rather than help us.  For example when Riley says, "Somebody's getting strangled by the systems and its tentacles Misconceptions raise questions to be solved."  The system that was made by the government does not really help the poor.  People on welfare are still struggling in debt.  However the government may have money for different things such as war.  The underdog in this poem is the people who are struggling in the working class.  They are also the people without jobs struggling to pay bills etc.  When Riley says ,"This is for my folkers who never lived like a hog, Me and you, toe to toe, I got love for the underdog." The "hogs" may be also known as the rich, since they have so much money, they are a hog.  Riley agrees that he has come from the same roots as the "underdogs".  What stands out to me in this poem is how relatable it is.  I grew up in Oakland, and I witnessed some of my friends go through this struggle.  For example, they would not have enough money to even get a bus ride because of insufficient funds.  Even some of my family members struggled to pay their bills while residing in Oakland.   Overall a very relatable poem that shows the true side of our government and how they are not willing to solve the problem of national poverty.

Recycling The Gift: The Passion Project II

            In the opening sequence of the film, there is a JFK quote that starts by saying, “Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, we all breathe the same air, and we are all mortal.”  With that quote being said, JFK basically gives the whole theme for the film.  We as a society must look at each other as human beings rather than separating ourselves from each other by placing each other in a “category”.   I truly agree with that statement because if the more competitive the world is, the less productive society will be.  One interesting quote that caught my eye was Eric Heltzel’s quote.  He says, “It’s survival of the fittest, you adapt or you literally die, you won’t survive.”  I find that very true in today’s society.  We as a society have become so competitive, that everyone must fight for his or her own good, and if they fail is their entire fault.   

            The topic of comparing the classroom to an ecosystem was intriguing to me.  The ecosystem must contain an “organic learning” system that allows individuals to interact with each other.  While with “greater diversity within an ecosystem or classroom means a bigger buffet, thus the healthier the ecosystem of classroom can be.”  This theory of the classroom being a diverse ecosystem can really help the school system.  Individuals with different opinions and interests will interact with each other and always learn something new or hear something that they have never heard before.  

            However on the other hand, I disagree with the problem posing method of teaching.  When the teacher acts as an “authorial figure” that tells us to think, it is more of memorizing important information rather than processing the info that was given to us and learning for ourselves.  When a teacher implements a system that is more “discussion based” I feel I am able to learn new things that spark my interest.  In one particular section of the film, they talk about Adam Smith’s narrative about how the system of education leads to people being “simple and redundant”.    To me creativity is everything.  Without creativity, individuals would just be plain and boring.  Carmen Johnston offers a very interesting quote when she says, “Creativity is about humanness and I think that our education systems are about dehumanization—they are not about being more human.”  With that said, our system is flawed so much, that it restricts our creativity to thrive in this system.   Without creativity we become “robots” to society.  Creanna Shine quotes, “It just creates this system that turns into more of a robotic process rather than an actual, creative self-fulfilling, learning process.”  Our system prepares us to be working “robots” that are designed to sit in an office from 9 to 5 and be dull. 

            In my own experience, I tended to learn so much with a discussion-based class rather than a non-discussion based class.   I have learned things from different people with different backgrounds and it opens my mind to the world.  Everyone is distinct in their own way, and when you can share different information from different backgrounds, the classroom can flourish with diversity and just be simply aware of the different backgrounds of individuals.  Also in my experience, I had a teacher who was more interested in learning about us so he can teach us based on how much he learned from the class.  Every class he would take notes and interacts with us so it would be a fun and productive class.  I strongly believe that if the teacher and the student work together, society would be a much better place. 

Learning Revolution

     As Ken Robinson pointed out in the beginning of the video, "we make very poor use of our talents".  I agree with that statement because, we our limited in our abilities to express our talents in this school system.  Robinson explains that you cannot "reform" the system because it is already a "broken model".  A revolution in education should occur to help improve lives of future students.  One of the interesting parts of the talk was when Robinson brought up Abraham Lincoln's quote.  Lincoln partly says that "we must rise with the occasion."  I noted the word "with" instead of "to".  Everyone must do something in order for change to happen.  As the video goes on, Ken talks about how people must follow a linear plan in order to go on with their life.  I believe that a linear plan only restricts our creativity and things may get in our way as we try and follow that linear path.  Also the topic of conformity is another problem.  Robinson talks about how people are greatly conforming to fast food and how it destroys our physical bodies.  Passion is another key topic.  In my personal experience, if the subject bores me, I do not enjoy thinking about it or dealing with the subject.  I must have a strong passion for anything I do, or else I would not even bother doing it.  With that being said, the topic of revolutionizing education is very important because it will affect the world as a whole in the future.