Reform

In this last section of the reading, we learn about the reform of education. We see what the final product is of everything that America went through for education. I would have to sum up the reading as one word, and it is reform. If I had to use a phrase, I would use "A Nation at Risk." And to sum it up into a sentence, or a few, I would say that “A Nation at Risk" shattered public confidence in America’s school system and sparked a new wave of education reform. This program explores the impact of the “free market” experiments that ensued, from vouchers and charter schools to privatization, all with the goal of meeting tough new academic standards.

There were a few important people in this chapter that I would like to reflect on. First, Ronald Reagan. He was president and opponent of the "public school monopoly," He wanted to raise the standards and quality of education in America, and also believed that schools needed reform rather than more funding in order to be successful. Next, George Bush. George Bush was another president, he was an advocate for vouchers (grants that allowed low-income students to attend private schools. Last, I want to acknowledge Polly Williams. Poly Williams was a Democrat and activist who pushed the Milwaukee voucher bill through legislation. All these people played a role in the reform era.

Although all these people were key factors, there were many other important parts to this reading. Here's a timeline of the reading! First, in 1974, The Choice experiment was implemented in East Harlem Schools. In 1980, almost all of the school-age population was enrolled and over 85% ended up graduating. Then there was the "Learning Crisis" declared, leading to an increase in efforts to improve public education.  

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In 1982, Educators required all junior high students to choose either an alternative or regular school. During 1983-1984, 35 states in America implemented higher graduation requirements, and the annual cost of standardized testing was known to cost $500 million. In 1987, East Harlem, that was previously known as one of the lowest ranking school areas, was outperforming half of the city's school district. In 1990, A few low-income students were allowed to attend private nonreligious schools at taxpayer expense. Then in 1992, New York began allowing students to enroll anywhere in the city. Coming up in 1996, (the year I was born!) Taking a look at Ohio, low income students in Cleveland became the first in the nation to use vouchers to attend religious schools.In 1997,  the state of Arizona created 12 charter schools. Also in the same year, congress approved 80 million dollars for charter school construction! Last, in 1998, The Wisconsin Supreme Court allowed Milwaukee students to use vouchers to attend religious schools.

Chalk Talk!

On February 14th, we were divided into two groups. We did a "Chalk talk"

During this, each of us had a marker and wrote topics on the paper, if the topic was circled, we were to elaborate more on the topic, and so on. The challenge of this was that there was no talking allowed. We had to depend on ourselves and our teammate's knowledge of the chapter, in complete silence.

After finishing we had a class discussion about the assignment we just completed, and we talked about how everyone can have different ideas about the topic, but come to the same conclusion. After a small discussion, we went back into our groups and cleaned up all the ideas and made them into general ones. Our group mentioned a lot of general topics of the reading, such as, Title IX, Civil Rights Movement, and Brown Vs. Board. We also mentioned important people in this time period. We mentioned President Dwight, Little Rock Nine, and more. Almost every topic was able to be broken down and defined further.

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When we all went back to summarize everything, and organize all of our information better, we decided to choose our main topic as the Civil Rights Movement. Following that was Brown Vs. Board of Education, Feminist Leaders, Title IX, and Crystal City Schools. We decided to elaborate further on Crystal City Schools by adding diversity acceptance, scholarship loan programs, and money. What really stood out to me was that segregation only really stopped because money became involved. If segregation was still seen in schools, there would lose their funding, and that is the main reason it began to end. Of course there was loop holes to it. You could sum it up to "separate but equal." Kids were allowed to play together, but not learn together. Black students were basically considered to be special ed, and were put in different classes than whites with the saying "The black kids were simply just not smart enough to be learning with the white kids."

                   

After learning about this chapter, I realized that segregation was really not that long ago. Segregation was actually very recent. It has really only been a little over 50 years. I know that personally I am not black, but I would have been classified as black. They judged the color of your skin based on a brown paper bag. I know my skin is not lighter than the color on the bag and I would have been classified as something I am not. It is wrong to even classify people in any category besides humans and mammals. We are very lucky to have the privileges that we have today. To be able to have the same education as any other person. America has had a completely break through with education. We have went from blacks and women not having access to everyone having an equal chance of education. America gives women a much better chance than in most countries. I am very proud to be from America now that the Civil Rights movement saved us.

The Story Of American Public Education

The American Story

In this part of the book, the time period is 1900-1950. In the year 1900, only about 6 percent of children in America graduated from high school. We later find out that by the year 1945, 51 percent graduated and out of that 51 percent, 40 actually went on to college. It is later recalled how much of an impact immigration, child labor laws, and explosive growth of cities fueled school attendance and transformed public education. For class we were to prepare the 4 As. The 4 A's were Agreement, Argument, Assumption, and Aspiration.

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I agreed that immigration and growth of cities fueled schools attendance. I feel this way because those who immigrated here did so for a reason, and were willing to work very hard for a better life. Someone people escaped areas that probably would have killed them if they had not migrated.  I also believe that the more people that are around, gives more of a variety. Some people may take education more serious than others, so have plenty of people can easy raise the amount of people that do take education seriously and can raise the attendance in schools. I argued that child labor laws really had a strong impact on attendance because a lot of those involved in child labor only knew about labor work. They were not used to exercise their mental brain, and focused more on their physical being. A child involved in labor may end up being more comfortable, as a sense of wellbeing, and may be less interested in an education, just based off what is the norm for them.

I assumed that education started to become more valued, and that is why the attendance went up. There started to be a change where having an education would put you higher than the person to your left and to your right. Back in the 1900s it was fair to assume that education really made a difference in life. A person going to school would be making the same as a person who was not. Now we have a hierarchy. Those who graduated high school, those who graduate college, those who go back for a masters, and those who go back for a graduate. The higher the education, the higher you are seemed to be placed in these imaginary standings. Lastly, I feel that motivation was probably the biggest impact on the attendance and development of education. I think this way because those who care about their education and who have dreams of having a better life, are those that aspire to get an education. They become the ones who value and education and believe it will allow them to achieve that dream house, that amazing car. The more that motivation spreads, the higher rate in attendance and achievement will be given.

This reading really made me think about how lucky I am to be getting an education. Yes, it may be hard to wake up at 7:30am and leave my nice warm bed to go to class. But I am so lucky to have the opportunity to achieve an education. I am fortunate to grow up in a time period where education is valued and I am encouraged to go to school and learn. Many kids growing up, including my parents, had to work as a first priority and then have an education second. It really affected them when moving to America because there is not much you can do here without an education (unless you're one of the few lucky ones). I am blessed to have 18 years of education and to be graduating and obtaining my bachelor's this summer! I cannot wait to walk at graduation!