Ashley’s Education Blog

To clear up the point I made today on the discussion of Kayla’s article for the daily news, I don’t think tagging a GPS to a juvenile student’s belt will make a difference.  The kids can show up and still be absent in mind, or disturb other students and keep them from learning.  If a child misbehaves so much in class that he/she has to be given a choice between juvenile detention or a GPS belt, in my opinion, he/she shouldn’t be in the school.  If an adult misbehaves so badly that they have to be put in jail, you don’t strap a GPS to their belt and send them back into society.  There is a reason why they are removed from society.  I know that it’s not such a great metaphor, because children are different from adults in the sense that they still need to learn a great deal more and get guidance and direction.  These children do deserve an education, no matter how bad their behavior is.  Maybe a solution would be for the children in juvenile get an education as well that is more strict or structured towards behavior issues and provides children with counseling to help the child?  I don’t know if this would work, but I wanted to throw an idea out there.  I just disagree entirely with tagging a human being.  I think it distances the children that have to wear these belts even more, and takes away some of their freedoms.

Today’s video really struck a chord inside me.  It really hit me hard and made me feel shameful for not seeing how our white-dominated society really makes other people feel.  At the risk of sounding naive, I knew that racism affected people of color, but I never realized how deep the feeling went, or I guess I’m trying to say that today I felt a sting inside my heart from realizing whites, especially in American culture, unconsciously oppress people of color.  I’m sure I still have only seen the tip of the iceberg on how people that are not my race live and feel everyday.  I used the word “shameful” as our check-in word near the end of class today.   I guess it goes back to the article in class about “White Privilege”, and how we (speaking as a white person) don’t realize the privilege we have to not have to consider how it is for people of a race other than mine. 

In the video, I really liked the part where one man (that had a collar on) said that he was afraid one individual can’t make a difference.  Then, she asked “Have I made a difference in you?”, and he said, “Yes.”.  And she said, “How many people do you think I am?”  Making the point that just one person can make a difference.

I had an after thought on Michael and Jessy’s workshop on Friday morning.  Michael talked about before the Civil Rights Movement and integration, there was strong Black schools.  Then after busing and integration took place, Black students were mistreated by their White teachers and students, and they were not getting a good education. 

I think that whenever a big change comes in society, there will always be growing pains.  I’m not excusing or saying we should forget about how the Black students were treated in schools, but to realize with change, it might get worse before it gets better.  We might, as teachers, have to make some personal sacrifices, and experience some growing pains for the greater good.

To add to today’s activity of writing on the large pieces of paper, I thought of another item to add after class.  For the paper that was ”What would you change if there was unlimited amount of funds for education”, someone write down ‘competitive pay’ for teachers.  I thought of an item to add to that idea.  I was thinking, in Corporate America, if you exceed at your job, you get promotions, and pay increases.  If you have an incentive, you are more likely to do well in your job.  What if there was an incentive program for teachers?  For example, if you were rewarded “Teacher of the Year”, you would get a 5% increase in your salary, or a one time payment of $2,000 (just a round number).  Or another example, if you had a program in place were 85% of your class received A’s, you would get some monetary reward, and 90%, you would get even more….

I know we are all here because we care about the students, but I think in the back of all our minds, we worry about money and how we are going to support our families.  I think if there was some sort of incentive program for teachers, it would motivate more teachers to become more involved in their students success. 

 On a different note, does anyone have as much trouble as me trying to figure out FAFSA?  I think the whole process is so confusing.  I applied for the 2008-2009 school year, assuming it would include this summer.  I found out today that I have to fill out a 2007-2008 FAFSA to get a loan for this summer.  For all the students that need loans, I would think there would be an easier process in place.  If anyone has advice for me, I would really appreciate it!!

 See you all tomorrow, bright and early:)

Hello All!  I want to say that I very much enjoyed today’s conversations, and at times debates.  I hope that all of us, with the guidelines we created today, can learn and grow with each other as a group.   I really enjoy talking about all the topics we covered today, and look forward to discussing more with you all in the future! 

If you remember me telling the story about the multi-racial couple that had twins, one black and one white, I have made a link where you can read more about their story and see some pictures.  Click here to read on!

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