Homework for Nov. 19th Please accept late

Chayse Adams

Eng: 100-20

My Experiences with Reading and Writing

Before this course I thought I was a decent writer, and that I could manage college English classes, I soon realized that it might be that I had the right founding blocks for becoming a decent writer. I am defiantly not a decent writer, yet. It became abundantly clear that my writing skills would be pushed. They continue to be pushed harder and harder every week, but at a manageable pace, if you stick to what you are supposed to be doing and staying focused.

I started to be unsure that I would be able to cope with the ever increasing work load that my professors continued to pile on. Then I dug my way through it until I could see some light again and began to relax a bit. I have just now returned back to school from Fall Break, It was very pleasant and not shockingly, went by too fast. I took it pretty easy over the break, enjoying myself as much as possible. I just recently realized that was a huge mistake! I have fallen behind, procrastinated long enough that I have a few weeks to achieve what I need to get done, however, I feel I waited too long and now it’s going to be hell digging myself out of this hole. In case you were wandering, it was not worth all that free time because now I’m really regretting every second of it I spent doing anything else other than school work.

My Struggle

When I first made the transformation from high school to college English I noticed i was going to be in for a ride. We were expected to write a blog every day of class that was atleast 250 words long and that was the easyest part! It was tough and I did struggle for awhile, but over time my writing skills and abillity to push out 250 words increased and it became easyer every time. Then things got harder; the task papers were longer and the blogs more and more difficult but so far i have met what my instructor has demanded of me, pushing me to do more and better. It has been a struggle but I have rose to the challenge and will continue to push my self.

ENG 100-20 Task 3-Response to Blog, Mary Sherry’s, “In Praise of the F Word” (pg .215-216)

Chayse J. Adams

ENG: 100-20

10-28-2010

Response to Blog, Mary Sherry’s, “In Praise of the F Word” (pg .215-216)

Like in Mary Sherry’s, “In Praise of the F Word”, I too agree that the fear of flunking can be very motivational in school, and should be actually enforced in our public schools. Mary says that threatening to flunk students used to be a very effective was to motivate students to try harder and put out some effort because they knew that their teachers would actually do it if need be. Anymore the threat of flunking a student doesn’t hold much authority in a classroom because the students believe that their teachers wouldn’t do that to them and for the most part, they’re rite. No matter the case or circumstances, teachers not flunking students who do not deserve to pass aren’t doing those students any favors, they are actually crippling them. When they advance they will not have the needed knowledge to succeed, forcing the next teacher to make a decision of flunking or passing the student.

I always had enough motivation in my classes to complete all my work and learn the necessary information, but when my senior year rolled around and I had to take personal finance first semester and government second semester and that was the only way I could fit them in my schedule and if I failed one or the other I didn’t get to graduate, I was on them books like glue! The real threat of not graduating with all my friends and walking across the stage with my buddies a proud young man was terrifying! I probably would have done fine even if it didn’t matter, but the fact that it did, drove me to be the best student I possibly could have in those classes. I took it so much more seriously. We had a really fun teacher, who really cared and was just an inspiring and motivational teacher. He was so funny and we all loved him. He somehow managed to get everyone involved every class period, no matter how boring the topic, but he was one of those guys that when it came down to it, he would, and then like magic, it would rub on to us, and we got down to business! If all my classes and teachers could do that I would probably be able to become the president of the U.S. but being realistic, if all my teachers would enforce the Fail policy if a student didn’t deserve to proceed to the next level, would suck, but really be an effective tool to motivate students to get their heads in the game and really take classes seriously. This policy, just as a side note, would probably help solve a lot of other problems in classrooms such as tardiness, truancy, horseplay, and the list would probably go on and on due to the fact that students would have to focus on their work and school much harder and they would lack the time and want to do drugs and form gangs and fight and other things that cripple the development of many young students in our schools these days.

Analysis on “Save Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools” by Jonathan Kozol (57-67).

Kozol states that children from the poorer schools will never be able to get into the “magnet” schools. The biggest problem the children face is themselves, they are not dumb and see the statistics and know that they will never get in because of who they are and where they come from. I can’t imagine how discouraging it must be to those students who feel they don’t have a chance. The parents also play a role in getting their children admitted to the magnet schools. My parents are well educated people and if I had the opportunity to get into one of the magnet schools if I lived in the areas Kozol discusses, my parents could be educated enough to help teach and prepare me to get into those magnet schools, which is exactly what is happening while the less educated parents of children from the lower income areas were likely dropouts and cannot even read well enough to help their children do better to get better opportunities than they, the parents, had. It seems to me that the quality of the education received in these areas is like a never ending vicious circle, the upper class parents help their children, and their children receive opportunities and become the upper class, then they do as their parents did for them and the circle continues to leave the lower class behind and the students continue to dropout, and when they become parents, they are not well enough educated to help their children, and so the circle continues for them as well.

Response to Blog, Analysis of One Aspect discussed in Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities” (pg. 40-53)

Chayse Adams

ENG: 100-20

10-26-2010

Response to Blog, Analysis of One Aspect discussed in

Kozol’s “Savage Inequalities” (pg. 40-53)

            One aspect that particularly caught my attention and interest was where Kozol talked about the kinder garden classrooms. 3,000 infants from the Chicago neighborhoods are delivered with brain damage or other neurological impairments; however upon walking into one of the kinder garden classrooms, one wouldn’t have noticed a thing wrong with any of the children. They acted like normal kids when their teacher was trying to settle them down for nap time.

            Their classroom was not filled with any books, art work, and works of their writing or anything the students had done. The walls were blank except for a few posters of the seasons and zoo animals donated by some a few companies. The small bookcases and cubbies were painted brightly and colorful as you might expect of any kindergarten classroom but was still rather cheerless.

            The statistics about what will happen to this seemingly normal class is very depressing. The high school they will attend has an 18% graduation rate. If the neighborhood statistics of this class hold true, 14 of the 23 will have dropped out of school by their junior year. 14 years after kindergarten, 4 of the students will be going to college, and 18 years from now 1 of them will graduate from college, but 3 of the 12 boys in that class will already have spent time in prison. As Kozol believes, I agree that it is very depressing and sad to see kids in our own country suffer all over our country like this in our public schools and we as citizens of the U.S. donate loads of money to Africa and other places around the world. It would be so much more beneficial for our society if that money was devoted to solving our crisis of public schools here in the States. The return in such investments would be very great as well.

Response to One of the Questions Asked to Us about Task 3, after reading (pg. ix-7) in Kozol’s- “Savage Inequalities”.

Chayse Adams

ENG: 100-20

10-24-2010

Response to One of the Questions Asked to Us about Task 3, after reading (pg. ix-7) in Kozol’s- “Savage Inequalities”.

            A teacher’s role in a classroom is to teach the students, not only just from the curriculum they are required to teach from, but also as the particular students in each class needs. In my opinion, if a teacher only reads from a book and does nothing else to help their students in a way they feel they can contribute to their education and life, they are simply there to make a paycheck. Every class, every individual student in those classes, learn best in different ways and at different paces. A teacher should be someone who is devoted to help their children learn however their individual circumstances may vary. If a teacher is not willing to bend to help their children succeed, why are they teachers.

In my experiences as a student, I have thankfully had the privilege of having most of my teachers possessing qualities that are powered by the motivation of helping their students succeed, however, on a few occasions I have had teachers that frankly, just don’t give a hoot! At those particular times I liked those kinds of teachers who did not go the extra mile, and if we completed our busy work we were done for the day, and those who were pushovers and the ones we considered an easy class, an easy A. I have come to realize that those teachers weren’t doing us students any favors by doing that, it was more than likely for their personal gain that they would not have to do any extra work simply because they were just plane lazy. As we proceeded to the next level and had a teacher who did care, he or she would find that we did not know the necessary information and I cannot begin to imagine how frustrating that must have been for those teachers who did take their job, or role as our educator, seriously and to heart.

I believe there is no such thing as a bad student, only bad teachers. If it’s not the teachers fault in a classroom that their students do not have the motivation to learn and succeed, then it comes back to their parents who are their teachers in installing the importance of education, motivation, and the work ethic needed to become a successful student, employee, and a productive member of our society. The role of a student is only to take in the knowledge that our teachers, whoever and wherever they may be, are willing to give to us.

“Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood” (pg. 205-207) For You To Analyze

Chayse Adams

ENG: 100-20

10-20-2010

“Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood” (pg. 205-207)

For You To Analyze

            The author of “Let Teen-Agers Try Adulthood”, Leon Botstein, discusses some problems with the United States’ high schools that he assumes the audience will understand and agree with. Well, I do. I believe that high schools these days do not offer much to their students or the economy. At my high school, our football team flat out sucked, we were the laughingstock of the entire conference and we had no support from our students or our community. People were generally not proud of where they went to school. It had been this way for around ten years and the school had built up a stinky reputation.

My sophomore year our school hired an entire new coaching staff. It got people excited and finally some kids started coming out for the team and other students wanted to come watch to see what all the hype was about. We won a few games that year, not much to brag about, but we only won one game in the previous two years. Next season rolled around and more kids tried out and we got better. Then my senior year we finished our season with a .500 record, we won half our games and homecoming two years in a row. Three years before that, it would have been completely insane to talk about achieving something of that sort. This year, the year after I graduated, my old school has a record of either 6 or 7 wins and only like 2 losses! We have a great since of pride back in our side of town and say we go there with no shame in our voices. However, this is exactly what Botstein was talking about schools getting their stature and all on how well their varsity sports perform.

I think at every high school there are clicks and different groups ranging from jocks, nerds, and whatever other ethnical groups may be attending the school. I agree completely with Botstein that the “real world” functions nothing like that. Since ive been in college, which is not very long, however I have really not saw too much of that kind of grouping. I have saw a group of football players hanging out in the student union but just like that they were all splitting up and talking to people of other ethnicities, social groups, clubs, and classes. I believe there will always be grouping of some sort but in the “real world” people don’t limit themselves to one group, you just can’t get along doing that like you could in high school.

I also agree that we should get rid of middle schools because there was too much time wasted, if we could cut what you learn in six years counting middle and high school down two only four years, I believe that one the time would be better spent because the students are focusing on school and knowing people that can help them pass and complete school rather than which groups make them look the coolest because they have nothing better to do with their time. Cutting two years out of pointless schooling for ever student would also help the economy in tax paying as well. There would no longer be a need for an entirely different school to be operated other than the high school for its particular area and any of the expenses that come with the middle school. It would take less of the tax payer’s dollars to put a child through schooling in addition to the buildings costs. A list of benefits could go on and on, however, a list of reasons of why not to remove middle schools could probable go on as well. I am agreeing that there would be great benefits to Botstein’s plan but I am ruling my decision indecisive due to the fact I would like to hear all the downfalls to the plan first.