2/20/14

 

  In this technological era that we live in its much easier to get a message out. For example, social media. Social media is one of the most effective ways to get peoples attention to whatever you're advertising. We can definitely put up a website or create a page to advertise the need of supplies, books, or equipment to a school. We can ask for monetary donations through a fund or direct supply donations. This is what I believe we can do to help schools that don't have the necessary supplies. Sometimes we can't wait for someone else to do something first but we can. For example in the book it talks about Mrs. Hawkins, an elementary school teacher in Chicago who thought it was up to her to do something if the school wasn't. She said, "All this stuff"-she gestures at the clutter in the room-"I bought myself because it never works to order things thought the school system..." (pg. 59/60)

 

  I believe that we should hold teachers to very high standards when it comes to teaching. Teachers are like second parents to all students at any teaching/learning facility. To me a bad teacher is someone who doesn't bother to get to know his/her students at any level. Who instead of getting students engaged in the activities going on in the classroom, bores them with the lack of enthusiasm and creativity being passed on by the teacher. Someone who simply doesn't care for the overall success of the students.

Instead a good teacher should be caring, compassionate, enthusiastic, energetic, and understanding of the learning that the students are developing. A good teacher can be unique in many ways. For example, quoting Jonathan Kozol he says, "But what is unique about Mrs. Hawkins' classroom is not what she does but who she is. Warmth and humor and contagious energy cannot be replicated and cannot be written in a standardized curriculum."(pg. 62) We cannot write a curriculum to be like Mrs. Hawkins but we should see it as an unwritten requirement to which we should hold teachers to.

 

  I believe that protecting the wealthy by providing a lesser education to the poor is a big problem. I believe it's a problem because if we protect the wealthy to stay wealthy then we are not promoting a democratric society that we praise we are. Many business leaders do want low-income children to have more opportunities but others openly say that, "training kids like these for nothing more than entry-level jobs their corporations have available."(pg. 91) Entry level jobs are always going to be there as much as highly level educated jobs, and we should all have the opportunity to be educated individuals and move up in these positions.