Personal Narrative: My Education In Colombia

What do you think of when someone says “Dominican Republic”? Do you think of spas, hotels and beaches? When I think of it I recall dirt roads, poverty and dilapidated shacks. My senior year of high school I went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with my basketball team with the simple goal in mind to advance our skills as basketball players and to help the people of the Dominican. Little did I know this trip would change my life completely.

Although the statistics are more than 10 years out of date, the reality of America school segregation has not changed. The barely functional buildings, lack of up to date text books (or in many cases any text books), overcrowded classes, non-existent lab and computer equipment, and low paid teachers create a situation of despair that leads to a drop out rate of more than 50% in many districts. And even those who graduate are often barely literate. Kozol draws the clear link between these schools and the imprisonment of the oppressed nations who, after dropping out of a dead end education, end up locked behind bars.

The day has finally come to go on vacation. My family and I departed promptly from our house at 4:30 in the morning. Our flight was scheduled for 7 in the morning at Pittsburgh International Airport. We had to arrive their early because all people flying international had to be their two hours before the flight would leave. We boarded the flight out to Punta Cana, which is located in the Dominican Republic. I can remember that I was so excited to go, that I was the first on the flight. I am pretty sure that it took about three hours to get to the Dominican Republic from Pittsburgh. It was a really long flight to me because I could not wait to get there and I just wanted to land. Finally, the moment has come and we landed. When we departed

The education system in America has a long history of struggle and change, as we have grown as a nation we have experienced an ever-increasing rise in diversity. This diversity has caused rigidities between groups and all stratus of society and has been a major impact in debates concerning the educational opportunities in America.

The American Education System is not meeting the needs of current students. If anything, the system is not building a sturdy foundation for the future working class. Schools have existed for many years and every period they have worked differently. However, every school’s main purpose was to educate students to be efficacious later in life. Modern day schools are corrupting students with added pressure, standardized tests, making less accommodations for special education students, not following laws, and take away individualism from the students’. The students of modern times are the people of our future and the future does not look too bright with the current American Education System.

The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.

America had never taken the topic of education as seriously as before, showing its want and need for education more than ever. In the 1850’s many immigrants from Europe had migrated to America to begin a new life. Moving because of famines or revolutions in the 1840’s, America was home to around three-million immigrants in total between 1850 and 1860. This massive wave of immigration caused a nativist feeling to spread over America. Americans began viewing immigrants as inferior to them and required them to go to school to “Americanize” them.

Andrew R. Deras Dr. Jide Osikomaiya English 100 8 September 2016 The Most Compelling Problems In American Schools As we delve back into a new year for students and teachers alike returning to school to continue with the daily life of academics and learning, we all must be understanding of what exactly we are sending our peers and children back to. It should be no surprise to most of us that throughout the years we have seen countless upon countless examples from the news and through others, that our school system is flawed in some way, shape or form. It is no longer a coincidence that our students are only achieving 36th from the top in all total curriculum (Arnett). This is also evident to anyone who may happen to own a T.V. and has been a viewer to these numerous articles describing these horrible issues we have within schools firsthand (ABC News). Not only that, but schooling can also be further compromised by politics and law related issues (Ravitch). What my goal for the essay I am submitting to you is; to give my opinions on the current situation of public schooling in America, discuss the issues, and back my points I will be presenting, with concrete evidence I have uncovered in my research. I would like to make it clear that my stance on the current situation is that there is not only a singular problem with public education, but a number of issues that inhibit students to learn properly and function as productive members of society. An excellent place to start would

In his article “Lost in America,” Douglas McGray focuses heavily on the problem of isolationism in the U.S education system in order to prove that changes in the education of young Americans must be taken. “Lost in America” was issued by Foreign Policy magazine in 2006, which reveals that McGray’s audience includes American legislators involved in the elaboration of the American curriculum policies. McGray, who is the Editor in Chief of The California Sunday Magazine and Pop-Up Magazine, discusses that America has an isolationist education system that fails to embrace worldwide perspectives. To support his argument in the article “Lost in America,” McGray builds credibility through the use of anecdotes that surprises and shocks his audience,

There are many controversies that American public education system does more harm than good. In “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto and “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, explains how school education destructively impacts us. Gatto states his experience as a public school teacher and why he “just can't-do it anymore”. He was tired how the schooling was programmed. He argues how school system are affecting students to be more like “childlike” citizens. Also, Anyon demonstrates her research on how there are many different kinds of education depending what “class” you were. She informs us that there is an inequality in “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. She tells us that this difference in

Education has been the subject of some of the most heated discussions in American history. It is a key point in political platforms. It has been subject to countless attempts at reform, most recently No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Ardent supporters of institutional schools say that schools provide access to quality education that will allow the youth of our country to gain necessary skills to succeed in life. Critics take a far more cynical view. The book Rereading America poses the question, “Does education empower us? Or does it stifle personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds?” The authors of this question miss a key distinction between education and schooling that leaves the answer far from clear-cut. While education empowers, the one-size-fits-all compulsory delivery system is stifling personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds.

Before thinking about going to the United States, you must know what are the differences between your country and the United States. Colombia is one of

When I was in eighth grade and my class was choosing our schedules for our first year of high school, I was told that for the diploma I wanted, I would have to take a foreign language. I chose Spanish, because I thought it would be easy. Little did I know that that decision would change my life forever.

It was the last day of my trip, and while I was washing plates in my grandmother’s house, the sunlight was reflected on the plates to my eyes. The fear going through my veins, my mind confused with everything that have happened two weeks ago. Uncertainty of what event would destroy or rebuild my heart. What would happen next ?. The future is unpredictable, so far that is a concept that now I understand. Considering the time spent in my country Colombia , vacations, friends, and parties were the words that stay on my mind for the first two weeks, otherwise the next two weeks were not what I planned. Firstable I was not supposed to be there for these last two weeks, but I am grateful. “No puedes viajar hoy” were the words asserted by the airline

Most likely, no matter where I end up at the end of the application season, I will be fine. I will receive a satisfactory education and will have a memorable experience. Frankly, I could obtain an exemplary education and great experiences from a myriad of schools. However, if I went to another school I would be void of the emotions that Columbia invokes in me. I would be void of the passion and fervor that the name Columbia brings me.