Covid-19 and Education

Covid-19 has a negative impact on education, due to the fact that going to school in person versus attending school online being very different from each other. For kids that are in kindergarten through 6 grades and special education students are affected the most , because they are not yet fully independent to learn stuff on their own. That's where the parents comes in, to help their kids learn. But the problem is some parents still have to work during this pandemic, which leaves them with a difficult choice of either staying home to help their kids in school or going to work to earn money so they can buy the necessary items to survive. Another aspects of it is that some parents have more than two children, because of Covid-19 they cannot hire a babysitter, which means they can't go to work. 

Also the single mom or dad who has more than two children in different grades, this will be a chaotic situation because they can do three different things at once. Since older students works as a due date it lives parents barely any time for teaching because he or she has to rush to make sure all the kids work gets done. From what I've seen so far on online classes, students usually spends half an hour to an hour talking to the teacher and they have to do the rest of the work on their own. If they don't understand something they either have to wait the next day to ask the teacher or wait till their parents comes from work. All of this is time-consuming, and to me I think it's slowing down the education process or in other words if the student could have learned something in 5 minutes now it could take them up to 15 minutes or more. As stated in the article by Simon Burgess, "Going to school is the best public policy tool available to raise skills. While school time can be fun and can raise social skills and social awareness, from an economic point of view the primary point of being in school is that it increases a child." I think we all can agree to this point because we learn a lot going to school. Not just going to class listening to the teacher but having human interactions can make us learn something different everyday. Overall we see all the negative aspects Covid-19ovid-19 have on our education.

charter school

      In the article "charter Schools" which mainly was comparing some of the differences between charter schools and public schools. For some teachers, they choose to work at a charter school because there are more independent and able to prepare their own lessons compared to public schools where they have to follow instructions. Another man reason why teachers choose that type of school is that they have a limited class size, and not everyone is accepted to attend those types of school. A smaller class size means less work that has to be graded which means the teacher possesses more time to prepare his or her lesson plans. The downside of the charter school is that teachers are not making as much money as to those in public schools. Because of that reason teachers tend to leave after a couple of months especially the best teachers who tend to go to a school that pays better preferably public Schools. 
           Another major point this article raises is that going to charter school doesn't mean the students are smarter then the students that attend a public school, they are equally the same. One part from the article that caught my attention is that "unlike, other public schools, charter schools can be shut down if their students are found to be underperforming." I think this will bring to bear many pressures on students to learn and perform because the charter school doesn't want to get close, so the sole option they have is to force the children to perform best on tests. This can lead to students that are underperforming to be expelled from the school. It could also be the reason why not many students get accepted in charter schools and also not many students last due to the amount of pressure there are facing, those students tend to go to public schools. Many of these students feel like they can not take this pressure anymore so they left with the decision to drop out of school. 
       Even one of the nation's most successful charter school network (KIP) Knowledge Is Power, where only forty-four percent of their students tends to scarcely complete a bachelor's degree, while fifty-six percent either didn't bother attending college or graduate from college. One question I liked to ask is: Would you rather send your children to a charter school or public schools? Well, the answer is based on the children abilities or characteristics, because not everyone can handle the pressure.

Board of Ed meeting

    The board of education meeting in which I attended was on February 27th, 2020. Due to the fact of February being the black history month and also a couple of Snyder High School students accurately representing the African culture with their dance moves. As the meeting continued the school district's superintendent talk about a Harry Moore school on which he stated that the school building is being repaired and that students should be able to promptly return September 2020. He also stated how NICU was willing to continue the program in the school.
 
    From what I would fondly recall the meeting was based on how they can improve the education program in Jersey City public schools and programs they can include that will help students get the proper education to be more successful. Members of the board of education talk about programs that can help special ed students and also programs to help students, in general, reach their full potential they will provide students with a web-based program that can help students no matter the culture religion zip code etceteras to have a better education such as writing and reading in cursive. Reading and writing in cursive is part of the program that they created which will allow students to understand and have fun reading old archives filed or history books.
 
    They stated how funding realistically is a unique key that will generously help them reach those ultimate goals. Necessary funds allowed them to design programs that will provide students with the option to take advanced courses and funds can help them get better-qualified teachers to help educate the students and also to motivate those children and be a role model.
 
    During the meeting, one of the guest speakers raised a huge point in which I agree with. He stated that the school district kept saying that they need more funds, but they never look at the bigger picture which is to save money. If they save money, they will possess the necessary funds to help those children or those students. He also points out how they can save money by purchasing supplies from different vendors instead of buying from one typical vendor which might be providing them with supplies that cost two to three times more money.
 
    Another guest speaker which point out that one of the board members leaves the meeting very early last time because he didn't agree with the opinions of the guest speakers or in other words, he didn't like what they were saying, he was against there ideas. He later posted on social media that the speakers were very hateful. From my point of view, I think the school district has to put many efforts and more thoughts on ways they can save and spends money, which will help them in the long runs. That way they won't have to keep demanding extra funds to provide to their students' education.

Bottom Line

Throughout 1980 – 2000, schools in America were becoming more well developed. In some cities, many schools were controlled by business leaders in which they use it as a way to advertise their products, while some of them invest things like computers and other class materials.
While reading the passage I’ve agreed with two things. The first one was: “Parents have far more choices among schools than they did a quarter-century ago” p.180. I agree with it because if look back a quarter-century ago, school’s education systems didn’t have that much growth. Especially to the eyes of many African American parents and students, which didn’t have that many choices in choosing a school that would best fit them. But now, if looking past that time, they can choose any top school that will benefit them in the future.

I also agree with the “Nation at risk” act which wanted school’s year to be longer, more test, increased high school graduation requirements and also asked American students to rank first on international tests in Math and science” P.177. I agreed because if look back a couple of years ago the education system wasn’t challenging enough, in other words not well structured to help America’s future. That’s the main reason why they passed this act, to help America regain control of their economy which was hurt by student’s who didn’t get a good education. This the main reason why I choose this activity because it will help the country grow and it's economy.

I also disagree with the act because I believe that if the students are required to be ranked first, in math and science. It could mean that many students won’t be able to enjoy their education, because not everyone can perform best when there’s pressure. This can lead to a nation being at risk.
Another disagreement I have is the” voucher program” P.192. I disagreed with it because it will jeopardize the schools, it comes to the point where another loss is another school gains. And also if most students from that school use the vouchers to go to private school, it can lead to the school shutting down and a lot of unemployed teachers.
Two parts of the text I wanted to act upon is when Annette Polly Williams said “I’m not in this battle on education to save any institution but I am here to save the lives of children by any means necessary” P.193.  While her goal is to save children live is a good thing, but I think her choosing that kind of way will eventually hurt the lives of those children. Because what if those children parents work for an institution and they lost their job due to the voucher, it will be hard for them to support their kids. Another part from the text I wanted to act upon is “Many schools in Baltimore were overcrowded and underfunded” P.200. One I believe the school in Baltimore could have prevented this is by only allowing certain amounts of students, which could force the city or the government to build a new school. We can see that even though school systems were evolving but they were facing some major setbacks.

Blog 4

Throughout the 1950s till the 1980s inequality plays a major role in American society. Till today I still think inequality seems to play a role in this modern world. As I was reading a passage from the book one part that caught my attention is that, many people from various communities had to risk their lives and future for equal educational opportunities. Their lives weren’t the same no more as they were facing many death threats, violence, etc…

The question I asked myself was, why were the white people afraid of equality? What’s the reason? If you look on page 134 in the book, where an elementary school named Topeka in Kansas had eighteen public schools for white children and four for African Americans. Then I asked myself, what were the four schools like, how was the atmosphere and what kind of teachers did those children had?
I think those schools had less qualified teachers and books that won’t teach them anything serious or things that could benefit them in the future. The school also had separate proms, sports teams, cheerleading squad and student government. The book informs us of the inequality that was happening in Topeka, but they failed to provide us with more details about the school. For example, what were differences between the sports teams, like equipment quality and locker room and also what were the proms like the budget, etc. from my perspective inequality wasn’t only about quantity but quality.

I remember when I use to work for ups on my senior year of high school, where I use to get paid $10.50 per hour. But with that hourly wage, I used to do a lot of hard work, more than I should. I use to do work like loading, unloading, Air sort, etc. But then I find out that the people that were before me are getting paid more and doing less work, while they had me slaving myself. When I look back at it now, I see that they were using me because I was new, that’s the same thing many businesses use to do to new incoming immigrants, they had them doing the back-breaking work for low wages and it still going on today as many of them hires undocumented immigrant for very low wages.

Similarly, to the “Black student movement in the Boston public schools” where black students couldn’t do anything that portrays their African culture, such as their hairstyle, clothing, etc. basically, it seems to me like the school was trying to turn those students white. The dress code at English High seems to only favour the white students because they were able to do anything the blacks couldn’t, not only that I remember at the beginning of the article where a black student raises his hand to ask the teacher a question, but the teacher ignored him. To me, this shows that the African American students were locked in a cage, because they couldn’t learn from the teacher, nor have the ability to explore to have a clearer vision. As I said above the quantity of school didn’t matter but the quality of education did.

Blog Three

"Children learning by doing, exercising their bodies as well as their minds, and venturing out of the classroom to explore the world of work and the wonders of nature." (77)

 In my opinion, I believe that the term "learning by doing" to be an effective way to learn faster. Because you get to engage in the activity that's presented. I believe that everything we do in this world or in life, in general, is from experience, whether it's a job, riding a bike, a new language, etc…

 For example, let's say that I wanted to learn how to build my own computer, I can easily go on YouTube and watched all the videos there is and still won't know how to build one, I will be able to learn some components but not enough to help build the computer. The reason is that I'm only watching without having the physical components in front of me if I had done that I would have been able to learn more and recall most of the stuff.

 I also believe that learning is an experiment, you will never learn until you try, for example building an aeroplane, science project, Rocket launcher etc. When I think of the term "learning", I think about how did mankind were able to build an aeroplane and make it fly or how were the Russians were able to launch the sputnik. All these things require a lot of experiments and learning from failures.

John Dewey was against of how students were being educated and schools in general. The reason might be because students were being taught things that would barely benefit them in the future. If you look back at the early 1900s where kids would have to go to school and work to help support their family.  At school students were in cold classroom with a bad atmosphere. This makes learning very challenging because the children are uncomfortable, and they have to sit in a cold classroom for long hours. The students were definitely wasn't able to focus in class because their brain is focusing on finding warmth. That's why the majority of student's during that time period would rather work than going to school. Because school doesn't benefit them in terms of getting a better job, even though their workplace might have the same atmosphere as their school, but it benefited them in helping out their families. I know you guys might think how does "learning by doing" falls in that category, well because if all the students were being thought that way they wouldn't choose to work instead of going to school because the school would have been fun and benefited them more. Because students will get to interact with their environment to adapt and learn.

Education

Education: SWEDEN VS U.S.A

“Thomas Jefferson said in a democracy people vote and choose their rulers and that means you have to learn to read and write, you have to learn enough of the foundation of education to be a citizen”.

    In both readings, education plays a key role, from a country like the United States and Sweden. But what set them apart is how far they have come to their development in education. In America school was very different compared to Sweden. In America an individual needed to be educated to be considered a citizen, the reason is because when it comes to choosing a leader, for example, a president or a mayor, etc.. that person would be able to understand the role that leader is intended to apply or changes they are intended to do, this would allow those individuals to have a better understanding, or in other words a stronger point of view, not only that, it will allow the country to have a better future.
America wanted to have a brighter future so they created free public schools where your education is depended on your social status. Public Schools was only benefiting the whites, while the blacks and the Native Americans were struggling to get a proper education.

      From Thomas Jefferson Perspective, education was only to be offered to white males, while only three years for female but none to the slaves. In my opinion, I think Jefferson didn’t want women to have the same amount of education as men because he doesn’t want them to feel or be more superior to men. He wants them to be at a point where they can be controlled. The slaves on the other hand which wasn't proposed to get educated because he feared of them becoming smarter, brighter, powerful and also part of society. “Knowledge is power”, so without knowledge, the slaves will be weak in the mind and always relying on their masters for guidance. But with education, the slaves could have gain confidence and breaks down barriers to opportunity. Education would have open the door for a better life, a better future.

       While America is trying to tackle all of these conflicts at once, Sweden, on the other hand, is vastly creating more schools. Sweden main focus was to have has many schools as possible so every citizen can be educated. This allows the country to evolve not only in education but in the country as a whole.

       Jefferson opinion about having educated individuals was a very good idea but I disagreed with his decision where he specified who get to be educated. Education in Sweden was developing more rapidly than America’s because they didn’t have to worry about a large number of immigrants coming to their country. If they had faced the same conflicts as America, the education system or structure could have been different.

Literacy Autobiography Blog #1

              My journey of becoming literate was very amazing of how I began to learn very easily. I remember myself being in my kindergarten class in Haiti, where the teacher teaches us songs with the words written on the board and we had to read it word by word. This made learning very fun and was excited to go to school every single day. Whenever the teacher decided to repeat the song in the following week, the song is already at the tip of my tongue. I felt like I was the king, I taught I was really smart. But that wasn’t the case when I move up to the first grade.

        

This was the book where I learn how to read

    In the first grade, I began to feel very frustrated, school wasn’t fun anymore, it was a real nightmare. In the education I came from, when you’re in the first grade you are assigned a book which contains about 200 pages. Every day the teacher will assign one to three pages as homework. So that the next day you can read it in front of the class. If by any chance you can’t read a phrase, you’ll get the same homework for the next day and so on. It was tough for me because in that grade you must learn how to read, write, and spell. Writing and spelling wasn’t a big issue for me but reading was. Remembering the pronunciations of a word was a bit difficult. I remember my aunt who use to help me with my homework. When she helps me I remember the words and how to pronounce it. But the next day when I go to school for some reason I forgot everything that I’ve read when the teacher calls me up to come read, I blank out, I wasn’t able to read a word. I ended up barely passing the class that year. I remember in the community I used to live in, most kids were very smart and top students. And they get presents from their parents because they bring in good grades.




         So the next year when I started second grade, it was even harder because there was a lot of reading to do from different subjects like science, history, geography, etc. not only that, you would have to memorize every single word, to recite the next day. I didn’t like this at all, but it forces me to learn to read and retain pieces of information. This is extremely difficult because a chapter is assigned from each subject which is a lot of information to remember. The only way I was able to retain all these information was because I used the method my kindergarten teacher taught me, “singing”. So I began using this method in my reading which helps me memorize a lot of information. Even though I remember all the stuff I was very anxious once I come to class. Because if the professor specifically asks you a question from one of the chapters assigned and you don’t know the answer to the question, you get punished and if you tell your parent’s you get punished even more. This situation motivated me to always do my assignments because I didn’t want to deal with the sort of punishment the professor had waiting for us. Because of that, I was ranked as the top student every school year. And that’s how I learned how to read efficiently.

        As a literate person, I feel like having basic literacy skill help me to express my ideas, to process information and to also exchange information’s and point of views with others. I use literacy mostly every day. for example, when I watch soccer I chose a player that plays in my position and I take notes on things I can apply to my game. With the desired and passion to become a better player, I read books and takes notes of things that can help me become a player, a better life and a better person