During The Last Couple Of Years, Chicago Public Schools

In the article “Fremont high school”, Jonathan Kozol describes how the inability to provide the needed funding and address the necessities of minority children is preventing students from functioning properly at school. He talks to Meriya, a student who expresses her disgust on the unequal consideration given to urban and suburban schools. She and her classmates undergo physical and personal embarrassments. Kozol states that the average ninth grade student reads at fourth or fifth grade level while a third read at third grade level or below. Although academic problems are the main factor for low grades, students deal with other factors every day. For example, School bathrooms are unsanitary, air condition does not work, classrooms have limited

Lincoln High School, which is located in a low-income neighborhood in San Diego, was a rebuilt after 50 years of failing to educate children. Rebuilding the high school was the answer the community had been looking for they were hopeful. Before the rebuild most students who attended Lincoln did not meet the standards for their grade-level, few graduated and even fewer went go on to college. After years of suffering and neglect there was little doubt That Lincoln High School deserved the $129 million it received from the city to rebuild. But was rebuilding the school the solution for Lincoln High School 's education problem? First we’ll examine, How the problem started, the decision making steps and if the plan was successful.

The Angel Network is a national effort to encourage viewers to make charitable contributions and to do volunteer work (Lowe 180). The Angel Network has helped educate, clothe, feed, and provide shelter for the children of Africa. During her travels to Africa, Oprah has provided the children with items such as books and clothing. Thanks to viewer’s generosity, over 16,000 children will receive the uniforms they need to go to school (Oprah.com Live Your Best Life). Also, the network has rewarded single, working mothers struggling to provide for their children. For example, due to the lack of transportation, one mother was awarded a brand new caravan for her and her children. Another accomplishment of the network has been helping the tsunami victims in Asia. After the tsunami caused mass destruction, Oprah’s Angel Network has responded by raising money to send to the people of Asia. Moreover, Oprah’s Angel Network has teamed up with three worldwide relief and development organizations that will be working in the area of Arugam Bay and the town of Pavolli, Sri Lanka and is donating $1 million to help (Oprah.com Live Your Best Life). Whether it is a continent, such as Asia or Africa, or a single mother in

The Oprah Winfrey Show is highly influential, especially to women because it allows them a forum to talk about numerous topics that are relevant of example, abuse, molestation and teenage pregnancy on a high rate and others. Winfrey has interviewed political and public figures during the past twenty years. In earlier times during the show, rather than offering a simple publicity platform, a celebrity would often be featured after a period of intense media scrutiny. She often interviews celebrities on issues that directly involved them in some way, such as cancer or charity work.

The reading I chose to critically analyze was written by Diane Ravitch and is named, “Essentials of a Good Education.” In the article, education activist Diane Ravitch, expresses her opinion about how the public education and schools in the United States are failing society. She indicates that schools are wasting their money and time on preparing students to pass state test instead of teaching them valuable life skills needed to succeed. She provides interesting support for this argument and explains why schools need to stop teaching the importance of test scores and focus on a full liberal arts curriculum, where students have a better chance to obtain an education they can take into the real world. Ms. Ravitch’s argument that the

Since prior to the 1980’s, the American education system has rapidly declined in all areas. The article, “A Nation at Risk,” written by President Ronald Reagan, depicts the many issues in the U.S. school systems regarding the content, standard and expectations, time, teaching, and leadership and fiscal support. This piece, apparently, has led the country into an extreme educational reform to improve all aspects of our school system. Based on my experiences in high school, student test scores, and current school conditions, I believe that while all issues raised by the commission in the report are not necessarily a problem anymore, issues with student growth.

Not only has the increased amount of testing placed enormous pressure on teachers to perform, but on students as well; the pressure to do well on these assessments is causes young students to suffer from anxiety and stress. Brookside Elementary School in Norwalk, Conn., was just one of the thousands of American public schools classified as failing during the 2010-2011 school year, according to their standardized test scores (Berger). In "Raising the Curve: A Year Inside One of America’s 45,000 Failing Public Schools”, Ron Berler, a journalist who has written for The New York Times and Chicago Tribune, documents the year he spent observing students and educators at Brookside as they struggled to meet the demands of No Child Left Behind. “The

Chicago’s budget crisis has been one of the most unfortunate events of the decade. As a former student of Chicago Public Schools, myself and other students wanted the best for our education, but CPS school teachers and faculty are given the bad news that the City Council thinks we demand too much. Resulting in the Chicago Teachers Union strike of 2012, budget cuts, and many other events impacting things within the schools, it is no longer new to students, who also encounter what goes on outside, such as political news or neighborhood violence. Those in schools feel that it has been the place to be and to feel secure. Now that I have recently graduated, I have encountered a similar want for the best for my education through my college. As

Michigan’s students perform near the bottom in national rankings and are on a downward trajectory (Higgins). This is partially a result of curricula throughout the state of Michigan failing to put students in a position to succeed. Many school districts and teachers struggle with developing curricula and lesson plans given time and budget constraints; this is especially prevalent in low-income and minority school districts where teachers are younger and less experienced (French). A prime example of curricula hurting student achievement is a story told at a Michigan ISD assessment and improvement representative meeting of schools “teaching” by having students copy words out of the dictionary as the teacher did not have the skills/capacity/time to create a better lesson. Alarmingly, this type of experience is common as “there’s no support, you’re woefully unprepared, and you’re totally isolated. You’re trying to put these lesson plans together at 10 o’clock at night, and you have to be up at 5 getting prepped. You’re making this curriculum up as you’re going it alone.” (French). All of this in the face of ever changing state standards forcing teachers to constantly change their curricula.

Schools frequently cite a variety of social problems like poverty, broken homes, and bad parenting as excuses for their own poor performance (Greene, 289). In the article of The Myth of Helplessness it touches on a few reasons why it is believed that some schools have great reviews and others don’t. Greene talks about what others believe helps the school systems and what is believed that causes students to fail in school. I agree with author Jay P. Greene that, yes poverty, broken homes and other social problems pose a significant challenge but the evidence simply does not leave room for the conclusion that these challenges are insurmountable (290).

   Oprah Winfrey is a great example that "ANYONE" can be successful with the free enterprise system. She has proven that you can start from the bottom and reach the top! Today Oprah's net worth is at $3 billion, she is among 400 of the richest people in America.

For my entire life of schooling, both my parents and I would agree that I constantly complained about the educational systems in which I was enrolled. But when I actually take the time to think about everything I have been through, I realize that I have indeed had an excellent education. My schooling was full of opportunities and experiences, all of which contributed to the person I am today; adequate education has been an indispensable facet of my being. Sadly, not everyone has had this same privilege. And now as a college student, I am becoming even more aware of this sad fact. Looking around me in such a diverse city as Chicago, I find myself being more and more grateful. When I read Jonathan Kozol's Fremont High School, this these

“Shrinking state and local education budgets matched with the added pressure of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which sets rigid standards in reading and math that schools must achieve in order to receive federal funding, have created a new challenge for districts” (Van Harken).

Secondary education is a highly debated subject. Many critics of secondary education say that inner-city high schools and students are not receiving the same attention as students from non inner-city high schools. Two of the biggest concerns are the lack of school funding that inner-city high schools are receive and the low success rate in sending inner-city high schools graduates to college. Critics say that while inner-city high schools struggle to pay its teachers and educate its student’s non inner-city high schools don’t have to deal with the lack of school funding. Also students from non inner-city high school are not being given the opportunity to attend colleges once the

Public education in the United States is perhaps one of the most critical issues we face as a nation. Once pronouncing the United States as a “nation at risk”, the educational institution began to implement one reform strategy after another. In efforts to improve schooling for K-12 students, education reform has fiddled with class size, revised graduation requirements, and created standardized testing just to name a few. Unfortunately, traditional public schools are still failing to provide students with a quality education. This is disheartening as we learn that the United States lags behind in math and science compared to our international counterparts. It is safe to say that educational reform has spent billions of dollars over the