An Interview On Urban Education

Pedro Noguera, a phenomenal urban sociologist and a professor at New York University confronts the problems which exist in our nation’s education system in his book, City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education. Noguera describes what he views to be the main problems facing urban education and suggests strategies for improvement. From years of experience as a teacher and school board member, he reflects on what he believes to be the real problems. Noguera blames the school’s failures on students, parents, and teachers which leads to blame local government officials or policymakers. Noguera states in City Schools and the American Dream, “The central argument of this book is that until there is a genuine commitment to address the social context of schooling — to confront the urban condition — it will be impossible to bring about significant and sustainable improvements in urban public schools” (pg.6). Noguera believes that we must address the central problem to make any type of solutions for improvement.

From 1890 to 1920, cities in the United States experienced a rapid growth that was unprecedented in years previous. This growth was caused by a number of factors and resulted in both positive and negative consequences. Such factors included, industrialization, technological advances, migration and immigration. Although American cities greatly improved by the expeditious urbanization, these factors also developed numerous challenges including pollution, sanitation problems, a need for environmental reform, political corruption, overcrowding, high crime rates and segregation.

The type of school children attend affects the priming of college for low-income students. Many of low-income students attend public school due to the fact that most of the parents cannot afford to pay for private school like students in high-income families are. Privates school can be the best in the top of schools because of all the resources they are able to receive while in the public school where most of the low-income students attend can be ranked down because they do not get enough resources needed to help the kids better succeed. In the book, Embracing Risk in Urban Education: Curiosity, Creativity, and Courage in the Era of "No Excuses" and Relay Race Reform, by Alice Ginsberg, it provides the negative effect public schools have accommodated

I personally think many minds are going to waste in our urban environments, minds that could be reinventing the world, but are, for some reason, only keeping themselves out of a culture that needs them. Why are there so few college-bound kids graduating from our urban schools, and why are the ones who do go to college so ill-prepared when they arrive? We live in a nation where education is a prominent force of succeeding in life. Children learn critical and analytical skills for twelve years in school to prepare to graduate high school, and go on to receive a two- or four-year college education. Being educated is an integral part of society. School helps children learn social norms and teach them how to be successful adults in society. The communities that some youth live in molds their future education and how much they succeed. Are they truly getting the best education for them to be successful college students and have a career? Or it is their education determinant of failure and going into the system? Manyof my minority students are not getting the proper education that they need to succeed. Urban students experience the lack of structure throughout their daily routine and do not understand the deficits in their education system. Urban students face many challenges: many come from neighborhoods or communities where alcohol, drug, sex, continuous violence, and poverty are rampant. [include introductory sentence here: The issues in communities of color are exacerbated when those with the most resources leave the community.”] “The highest costs of the white flight areborn by the children left in segregated, almost entirely poor neighborhood schools. [The lack of resources in the community have a negative effect on the school.]

Upon first entering college, I struggled deciding at such a young age what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Through babysitting and volunteering with pre-school aged children at my church and through a school program called STARS, it became evident to me I had a love for helping children. It fascinated me to see how they viewed the world around them and how quickly they learned new truths everyday. Nevertheless, I knew I would not get the full enjoyment interacting with children as a schoolteacher because the teacher to student ratio is so large. Classroom demands would make it much more difficult to devot individualized attention to each student, and I did not like that concept. So

The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While

As a senior in high school, I have been questioned about where I am going to school and what degree I plan on getting. Up until about November of 2015, I was very indecisive. I was torn between a career in healthcare and what I knew I was passionate about. I wanted to be a teacher. I have taken health care classes since my freshman year of high school.

For me, the decision to become a teacher is more of a way of life than a career. I have always loved school, practicing at being school marm from a young age, and voraciously devouring every shred of education offered me in my career as a student. If it were possible, I would be a student for the rest of my life. And then I still would not have learned enough. As a teacher, I hope to instill this appetite for knowledge in secondary students. They are, after all, the future leaders of the world, and what better place to expand the minds of the generations to come than here in Appalachia where education programs, especially the sciences, which I plan to teach, are poorly funded and children’s dreams

Williams and a number of other teachers who seemed quite happy to see me. The environment at the middle school was happy and welcoming, which truly only improved my outlook on teaching. Mr. Williams and I walked to an empty classroom in which the interview was held and I began to ask him the questions I had written up earlier that week. I started off with a number of questions mainly about how he knew he wanted to be a teacher. So, naturally, he explained that he went to Duquesne University intending to become a lawyer. In his junior year of college, however, after taking three years worth of pre-law classes, he decided he wanted to switch his major to education. When I asked him what made him decide to change his path, he said he worked at the zoo one summer in their education department, and he liked it so much more than any experience he had in law. I found it extremely interesting to see how one small experience, such as a summer job at the zoo, impacted his entire life and career path so dramatically. After this realization, we began talking about what education he actually needed to become a

Over the years, I met so many Shavons—Black teenage girls, most of whom were experiencing multiple traumas in their personal lives. They all had their voices silenced, their actions demonized and ultimately punished for speaking up. My master’s studies helped answer a lot of my initial puzzlements and what I learned made me a better educator but, most importantly, I believe that it has led me to a greater opportunity to contribute to our society. I am deciding to pursue my doctorate in (degree/program) because there is still much more that needs to be unlocked about the reality African-American girls currently face in urban education settings. If we as a nation want to truly transform our public education system, we have to invest our girls.

Urban Public Education is a concept and movement within public schools all over the nation. With these urban public schools there are many trials and hardships which those institutions have to work through. Ranging from poverty, funding and the never ending cycle of bullying. Bullying is a form of making another feel lesser for their race, background or sometimes just personality. Throughout time bullying has been seen as a rite of passage for children in these schools. The myth I would like to bust for you today is the one where we end these motion because it is in no way a rite or beneficial to any student in any academic situation. My second goal is to try and make you as the educator or mentor aware of detrimental things one might say when it comes to issues such as bullies.

In ‘The One Best System A History of American Urban Education,’ David B. Tyack discusses how education has changed from the 1800 's to the 1900 's. He talks about the history of urban public education, as well as the progression of the one best system over the years. In part I of the text, Tyack discusses the increase the number of government in the rural education system and the issues that the education system faced such as lack of space in classrooms because of overpopulation, poor facilities and undertrained teachers who were not receiving adequate pay. The National Education Association (NEA) attempted to urbanize the rural education system. With this change, children would be taught values and skills by trained teachers, who would follow a more structured curriculum which deviates from curriculum they were used to. The rural community opposed this new system of education, perhaps because they felt they would lose control of how they taught their lessons because with the new system, they would have to follow the State Course of Study. Today, we still see this happening in schools where at the beginning of a school year, teachers are given a curriculum that they must follow in teaching their lessons as opposed to teaching what they want whenever they want to.

Urbanization and Industrialization brought millions of people to growing cities, these growing cities were ill equipped to deal with growing population rate. While some might argue that Industrialization had primarily positive consequences for society because of a surplus of job opportunities, faster production, and more amenities, it was actually a negative thing for society. Industrialization’s negative effects were angersome working conditions, poor quality of life, and child labor.

Mrs. Kobesky is my favorite teacher, She would teach to us like a renowned preacher. Gave us knowledge every day - as she always use to say, “‘To give our best shot, to give it all the way.” While teaching ELA, Math, and SS too, she would always say: “It’s almost time for Science, hooray!”

I like that she speaks her mind, she does not sugar coat the truth. I think if I let my students speak their minds I would be able to help them more because sometimes students are afraid to ask questions and I want my students to feel comfortable when they are in my class.