Can't I be accepted too?

By: Shayna Butler 

                    In a recent TED talk by Sugata Mitra, his research in poor countries shows that children, from all backgrounds can learn. He focused his research in poorer countries, gave them a computer with a topic and walked away. Came back two months later, and the children had learned something. 

Anyone can learn! Given the right resources we all can learn and we all can succeed. A friend of mine grew up very rich, went to a private school, parents paid over 50k just for high school alone. She went on to college and dropped out, and ended up at the local diner as a server. She had every advantage to get her college degree at a great school and make good money. Just because you have the right resources doesn't mean you're going to do well. Now I have another friend who grew up in center city, went through the public school system and ended up going to med school. Why such a difference? My friend went to the public library every day and studied, read, and used the free computer to do her homework. 

However, at the end of the day there is still a huge line between the two. One is rich and one is poor. The rich girl graduated high school with a nice g.p.a and went to an Ivy League University for a couple of years. The poor girl graduated high school with a 4.0 and a ton of extracurricular activities. She ended up at a state college and graduating there at the top of her class! But why didn't she ended up at a nice ivy league school? There is was no funding for her to go. (She worked while going to school, saved up money and just made it to med school!)

Here is a list of Economic Diversity in colleges on who receives Pell Grants:

Source:http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/28/poor-students-at-rich-colleges/

There is something seriously wrong with this picture. Just because you're white and I'm not or you're rich and I"m not. Does NOT mean you should be able to be chosen over me or it doesn't mean I can't learn as well as you. I can't help but feel, that if the Ivy League schools allow poor people into them, then they won't be "Ivy League" anymore. Who the hell cares? Harvard has 20,000 students and only 14% of them need financial assistants paying for a $38,400 tuition payment and that's not including extra costs, or living expenses. 

Allowing someone ANYONE to attend ANY school and get a degree will allow people of all sorts to succeed in this country and make an impact! How can we change this? 

Education Reform, is it even possible??

BY: Cesar Mendez

In Philadelphia there is a notable difference between the Philadelphia school system and the suburban school system. Even though the two districts are only a few miles apart students that have attend one of these schools district can immediately tell that they are in no way equal. The education that a student will receive is vastly different. The evidence was made clear during class when it was brought to our attention that a student attending Lower Merion High School was receiving an education that was almost $7000 dollars more than one would receive at a High School in the Philadelphia school system. Another difference that I know of is that fact that the Suburban school system uses the block system which is a class scheduling system that is very similar to how college students schedule their classes. This class scheduling allows students to be better prepared to handle college and allows students to make the most of their years at high school.

 This makes me question why the Philadelphia school system hasn’t gone through an educational reform to better use the resources that are currently available to the students and make the most out of the system to give them a better chance of getting a quality education. The block system has proven to be the superior system and because of this it should be used more often. So why hasn’t the Philadelphia school system gone through reform to improve and give its students a better quality education. It is my belief that the reason educational reform hasn’t occurred is because the general public doesn’t know that there is a better way to educate students and they don’t know of the success that the block schedule has over the schedule the public school system currently employs.

Even though I speak from my own experiences and speak specially about Philadelphia.  I know that this is an issue that might be occurring everywhere in the United States as no educational system is perfect but some can be much better then they currently are. To get educational reform the parents of students everywhere must fight and protest for the advancement of their children. Education is now one of the most important things a child could obtain because those who receive a good education.

Education/Incarceration what is more important?

Isaiah Gay-Beal                                                                                  December 2, 2011

Education/Incarceration what is more important? 

What is more important than a child taking their first steps into a world full of knowledge? A world, in which, a child is able to explore the wonders of their young imaginary minds. With that said, what can be more important than a child’s education? Well, someone may say nothing is more important than a child’s education; however, another person may say education is only as good as the funding behind it. Furthermore, shouldn’t education in schools be where most of government funding should go? Yet, when we take a look at the criminal justice system, we see exactly how much money is placed into it and not in our schools.

The criminal justice system today has too much money placed into it. For example, according to The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, “Hundreds of millions of dollars are invested in incarcerating people”, this is money that could easily be spent on purchasing up to date text books, up to date technology (lap tops, computers), and extracurricular programs. More importantly, it seems as though America’s young youth are being left out. Why would or should these kids be left out of the equation? There’s no reason or explanation at all to explain this. Take my high school experience for example; when I was in high school, I often noticed teachers leaving left and right. I now know the cause of teachers leaving had to do with lack of funding. The ironic thing about that is the teachers that were being cut weren’t the history teachers or theology teachers; it was the art teachers, and language teachers. So, not only are children being hurt by lack of government funding, but so are teachers. Without teachers, how are children suppose to get a proper education? In addition to that, in Houston, according to The New Jim Crow, “ In the 2009-2010 academic year, State budget cuts forced the Houston Independent School District to manage a projected 10 million shortfall.”, ten million dollars is a lot of money to fall of short. So, where could all of this money have gone to? It is obviously not going to this school in Houston. Yet, in the same time frame 175 million was the amount of money that the state of Texas paid to lock up people in their community, according to Michelle Alexander. The fact that were even considering putting out that much money into a system that has been flawed for many of years is bewildering to me. It just doesn’t make sense.

           Education is important for our young youth. This is what prepares them to go out in the real world to

lead a way for the future. Also, teachers are necessary for a child’s learning. If there is lack of teachers how

is this youth movement suppose to ever amount to anything. In my personal opinion, I feel as though too

much money is spent into incarceration. Yes, it is great to keep criminals of the streets; however, it is also

great to help these schools out as much as possible. We shouldn’t be too concerned with filling up our jail

cells to maximum capacity, when most are already over crowed as we speak. So, why not take the initiative

to use the money that was spending for these people to stay in jail, and actually use it on our schools? In

conclusion, education is important and in order for our youth to have a great one, we must consider less

spending on incarceration. 



This is the headline that should be mailed to Washington today.

Why can't Robin Hood help every State???

Submitted by Allen Bradford

     In the state of Texas, there has been a long standing law dealing with the financial distribution of the money given to the public school system.  This law is known as Robin hood, which is the practice of collecting portions of property tax from wealthier areas and redistributing the money to poorer areas.  This has become settled law since it was introduced in 1993 and survived a repeal in court, which has also dealt with any chance that the law could be overturned.
     Living in Philadelphia for most of my life and going to boarding school I was able to see a stark contrast in how property tax affects schools in the surrounding area.  For 8 years of my life I went to Milton Hershey School in Hershey, PA which is nothing but rolling green hills and fresh air.  My school was privately funded by Hershey Corporation so we had the best of the best, but Hershey High School, which is a public school, was not far behind my school as far as features are concerned.  Our gyms were sepearte buildings from the actual high school, which rivaled some university facilities.  There were very few teachers in the are who had less than a masters degree.  Aside from the normal teenage scuffles, violence in the area was non-existant, even with the city of Harrisburg so close by.
Milton Hershey School:

  












Hershey High School:

 When I graduated from Milton Hershey to live in Philadelphia again, the reality smacks you in the face.
Martin Luther King High School:

Simon Gratz High School:

     Where would you like to go to school?  Where would you like to send your children?  These pictures give completely different images of what schools in the same state, not 2 hours apart, look like.  The majority of the children in these Philadelphia schools are black, I know because my younger sister was one of them.  Where I went to school I was surrounded by whites in the school and the surrounding areas.  The racial inequality due to where you live is prevalant in society today as it was when affirmitive action first came about.  I know my school personally has over 4 billion dollars itself due to the sale of Hershey's Chocolate, but Hershey high school also reaps the benefits of this being in the town where Herhey's Chocolate was invented.  The Philadelphia schools do not have a fraction of this money coming to them, rendering them stuck, looking as oppressive as the neighborhoods surrounding them.  I have lived close to Gratz and King high schools, have been in the buildings, and it was enough for me to know I would never send my children there under any circumstances.
     Back to the Robin Hood law in Texas, we have seen the funding per student of Philadelphia and its surrounding areas.  So why can't more states take the approach Texas has taken?  Taking extra money from these insanely rich areas will only help the struggling school system in Philadelphia or any other inner-city for that matter.  Better education leads to better learning experiences, which in turn will improve the wealth gap situation for the next generation.

The Importance of Education In America's Society today.

Submitted By:  Dekontee Wah

              

             America’s workforce is competing with other countries like China, India, Europe, and etc.  As the years go by, America’s workforce is becoming more demanding.  Today’s workforce is different from the workforce many years back and it will be more challenging in the nearest future.  The economy is changing and it’s becoming very demanding, in order for society to compete with other countries, America needs to be creative. And if America does not compete, there might be problems; there will be insufficient jobs available, low education rate, and increase in poverty.  Some of the strategies that need to be used in order to make America’s workforce a viable source of competition are: higher education, companies, and teamwork skills.  The Higher the education the more money, more companies more job availabilities, and teamwork is important because a group prospective is better than an individual.  America needs to get out of their comfort zone and approach the workforce with a new competitive attitude.

   

                   This video anaysis the important of education, and how Americans should take education seriously if they want to compete.  Education is one of the strategies that will make America’s workforce competitive in the future. America has some of the best Universities and Colleges in the world that Americans need to take advantage of.   A high school diploma is not enough if Americans want to compete with other countries.  A majority of the new jobs in the market today require college degree or some skills.  Most manual labor jobs are vanishing and are being sent to other countries where those jobs are pay for less money.   The United States used to be manufacturing-based economy many years ago, but it has change to an economy based on knowledge.   Education gives people better options and more opportunities. If majority of the people living in America have a higher or some college education, the poverty rates will lower. If America’s workers do not educate themselves or continuously educating themselves, it will be a problem for them because they won’t be able to compete with other countries and this will cause a problem.

          In addition, companies are another strategy America’s workforce needs in order to make it a variable source of competition.  Companies should train up coming workers by hiring them as an intern before graduation.  Companies need effective managers who will make good decision towards the growth of the company.  Companies need to hire those who are critical thinking and problem solving to maintain the company from falling during crises or recession.  American’s companies workers who are willing to adapt to changes without being thrown of the edge. Companies should be able to create new jobs or come up with some ideas of how to make jobs more available for workers.  If companies create new job, that means more opportunities for workers, and workers will be able to support their families. 

          Furthermore, America’s workforce needs teamwork skills.  Doesn’t matter your race or skin color, but your skills and how creative one can be.  Everyone in the workforce should be able to work outside their comfort zone and be able to work with others.  Office workers need to collaborate.  They need to work together as one team.  Individuals have limited perspectives or opinions on problems, but when people are joined together to work as team, there’s a larger set of ideas, wisdom and judgments that can pooled together.  Team work should not only be applied at workplace, but also at home and school. 

 

          In conclusion, the economy is changing as well as the workforce. America has to make some adjustments in order to not get left behind.  Some of the strategies that are needed to be used in order to make America’s workforce a viable source of competition are higher education, companies, and teamwork skills. The Higher the education the more money, more companies more job availabilities, and teamwork is important because a group prospective is better than an individual.  America needs to get out of their comfort zone and approaches the workforce with a new competitive attitude.  If education is not taken seriously, the poverty rates will keep going up, and America’s society will face problems and find it difficult to compete. 

    

Ready...Get Set...Fail!

By: Alyssa Feudo

           Imagine, going to school everyday, walking the hallways, and seeing classrooms filled with shaky, old desks, ripped books, and outdated technology. For children who attend suburban public schools, this is nothing less than a nightmare, but for inner city kids, this is a scene from everyday life. More than 49.4 million students have been enrolled in public schools as of fall 2011, those of which that are located in urban areas, where the education is poorly funded, are made up primarily of students who identify themselves as black or hispanic. For people like me, who have attended private school their whole lives, the question of why this is happening arises. Long story short, it all comes down to money and discrimination. The economic value of a public school education is based on property taxes of particular districts, and, because of past discriminatory actions, such as redlining and blockbusting, minorities tend not to own expensive houses in suburban areas. Therefore, property taxes for rich whites are contributing to excellent educations for privileged white children, while poorer inner city minorities are being forced to settle for significantly less. Take for example, the video below. Heartbreaking pictures show a comparison of the dirty, unfortunate conditions that these inner city students deal with everyday, and the beautiful state of the art schools that suburban children are privileged to attend.

          So, what exactly does this mean, and why should we care? Essentially, it means that inner city school children are being set up for failure, by society and their own government. The school boards refuse to give more funding to schools whose test scores are below a certain average, but if funding for books and more advanced courses is never provided in the first place, then these students won't ever reach that specified testing average for sufficient funding. If we, as a whole, do not petition our government to fix this problem, then we all have a role in contributing to the vicious cycle of failure these children will face. They will continue to be forced into classes that prepare them for low-paying jobs and management positions.
            In this world, where equality is supposed to be established and honored, it sadly is not. Education, which was one of the key aspects of human development, is now depriving students of their full potential. If the discrimination among poorer inner city students and more financially stable suburban students does not stop soon, the future for these children will not be a bright one. The only real thing this "education" will do is break down an individual's self esteem and diminish life goals, fueling a rat race among minorities for minimum wage jobs. Ready...get set...fail!

Today's education and the incarceration system

Jose Ortiz

Today I will be talking about the so called importance of our education and our country's incarceration system.Many say that the American dream is basically to sum it up and make it long story short is to be successful and have an equal opportunity at at a somewhat perfect life like everyone else but they is far from what the reality is. The system is designed to keep the rich rich, and the poor poor. Which brings me to my upcoming concern about this self contradicting situation of how it is explained to us how important ones education mainly because of the inflation of the cost of everyday living. First, what is education? Education is a formal process of learning in which some people consciously teach while others adopt the social role of a learner. Even though education happens to be one of the major industries of the United States, it also coincidently is the social institution that socializes members today of our society. With that in mind if you didnt at least graduate from high school to make the least. But, again since cost of living has inflated dramatically but not the minimum wage which I personally think should have risen up a bit more with the cost of living obtaining a high school diploma is not enough if you want to so called live the great american dream. Here is a graph explaining the yearly earning depending on a individuals educational level.  Here is a link to get a better view of the picture of the Annual Median Earnings by Educational Level ->Annual Median Earnings by Education Level

As you can see from the graph above that the better education a person receives the more anticipated of making a year. However, if the United States is so called "obsessed" with making sure everybody especially particular the youth of today has an equal shot at education so they can be successful then why is our government spending much more money on incarcerating our youth then spending it on schools that actually need the money.Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in locking up hundreds to thousands of young blacks and latinos these days in many cities or areas that are predominantly minorities. Sixty six percent of the lowest performing high schools are put together very near the neighborhoods that also happens to have the highest rates of incarceration, where some of the biggest taxpayers investment in imprisonments is being made up until this day. From reading a couple pages from the  book entitled "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander it has opened my eyes and taught me much more on how the government so calls cares about today's american citizens. All the government cares about is money and thats one of the main reasons why taxes were created. Our government goes and spends BILLIONS of dollars like its pocket change and taxes all of us for everything we got in order to gain some money back that it spent. I am personally surprised we aren't even taxed or charged for breathing everyday smh. Quoting from a text from the book "What we learn from Los Angeles, Houston, and Philadelphia is that our national priorities are misplaced, and with devastating consequences." What she was referring to was that not just those specific places but many other cities filled with many different neighborhoods send more teens to jail than to college which is reflecting how much money is invested into prisons. In a number of neighborhoods the large investment into the penile system that overthrows or overshadows the investment on education correlates with the lowest performing schools. Quoting from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger noting in his 2010 State of the State address: "Spending 45 percent more on prisons than universities is no way to proceed into the future. I also like how Michelle Alexander labels her book the "The New Jim Crow" simply because today's penile system is seen as a legal way to keep non white races or ethnicities at or at least below the poverty line. People do have to remember that back in the early to mid 20th century there was the Jim Crow laws which segregated every other race from whites especially African Americans. Any school outside of a white school was horrible, with few teachers, and very old and if any textbooks, and also a very poor possibly worn down school buildings. Blacks were capable of voting but were forced to first answer questions that were back in those days nearly impossible to answer in order to be capable of voting. So to make it long story short non-whites have had a chance at obtaining a good education but were given the short end of the stick which made it truly difficult to become successful and live the made up american dream. Now they have the penile system which legally makes ex cons and people with criminal to not being able to vote and its not that whites don't ever get incarcerated but the majority of the races that do are blacks and latinos. So in my opinion even though many blacks and latinos do become successful there is still a bigger percentage that don't and those that don't are either in the poverty line or below it working very low paying jobs or are in prison. I see it as somewhat like a system that is set up to now legally keep blacks and latinos or any other non whites on the bottom and the whites who they see as their selves as the superior race, on the top.