Personal Narrative: The City Of Stockton

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.

For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused

The article, “Who benefits from failing urban school districts?” written by Martin Haberman, the authors influential piece expresses the concern for the current direction of public education. When the concept of who is benefiting from failing urban school districts is mentioned; one would believe that no one can possibly benefit from schools failing. The children aren’t benefiting, their parents aren’t benefiting, the community isn’t benefiting. The public institution is becoming a big business instead of an institution that helps children in their development. It is obvious that there are challenges in the schooling system. In this manuscript, I will discuss the issues with the bureaucracy in education. There will also be mentioning of how standardized testing and the lack of resources in urban schools are affecting children’s education in the urban community. Lastly, there will be a discussion about how parents and teachers have an effect on children’s education.

It was April of 1999. My family was at home. Children were running outside. The asphalt was burning. Cars rolled up to the entrance of the apartments and BANG. I grew up in Stockton, California. Surprisingly, as a minority, I wasn’t really a minority. There were, in fact, a large and diverse population of Asian-Americans. But, Stockton is not the ideal place to live. It was hot and dry, almost to the point of a drought. Stockton was also ranked as the one of the top 5 most dangerous cities in California. So, having a nice and safe family is kind of difficult. Eventually, my family decided to move to Crescent City, California when my dad retired. It was a world of difference. There were trees, plentiful water, and a nice cool temperature. This

Being a teacher who has spent the past seven years working in a “persistently low-achieving” school, I have gained an understanding of the inequities within Jefferson County Public Schools. Students, who attend schools with higher levels of poverty, are subjected to not receiving the same standard of education as those who attend schools with lower levels of poverty. Educational equity is an issue in our district and has become a main focus for improvement. JCPS has made it a goal to find ways to provide an equitable education to all students, regardless of their gender, socio-economic status or ethnic origin. JCPS wishes to create a system that not only focuses on high achievement, fairness and providing an opportunity in education but ensures every student receives a basic minimum standard of education. Achieving these goals, of course, is easier said than done. Our district, school leaders, teachers, parents, students,

The city of Stockton had a crime rate of 695 crimes per 10,000 residents. PBS Newshour states, “One thing builds upon another. The poor financial situation has forced the police force to drop by 27 percent recently. And that, of course, has made the already high crime rate go up even more” (PBS Newshour, 2012). Crime has been one of the biggest factors that has affected the health of the community in many ways by causing fear of assault, gang-related violence, and having it as a barrier to using community parks, exercising outdoors, walking to and from school, accessing local food outlets, and using public transportation, (SJC2HAC, pg. 31,

Jonathan Kozol’s book, Savage Inequalities, is a passionate testament to the shortcomings of the public education system in the United states. Kozol visits some of the most impoverished school districts in East St. Louis, Chicago, New York, Camden, and San Antonio. He identifies characteristic among all of these schools to include a high percentage of dropouts, a population of almost entirely non-white students, an infrastructure in disrepair, a startling lack of basic supplies, a shortage of teachers, and an excess of students. Kozol also visits schools in the vicinity that are in stark contrast to the poorest schools. They have an abundance of supplies, space, funds, AP curriculum, extra-curricular activities, and teachers. These schools were also predominantly white. Kozol explores reasons for these differences between neighboring schools and finds that those who are in a position to initiate change are largely apathetic to the inequalities.

I participate in a tutoring program for elementary students in Dorchester, an underserved community in Boston. Working with the children has helped me eliminate preconceived ideas that led me to believe schools were bad because the parents did not pay enough attention to their children's educations. I now realize that the problems in education have more to do with the amount of funding that goes into certain schools. Ignorance and distance from reality caused me to believe that struggling neighborhoods inherently produce bad students. I now understand that the problems within the school do not reflect the students’ abilities.

I don’t remember much, I just remember not wanting to leave. The place I would be spending the rest of my life I had only visited a few times. I, only being two at the time, was absolutely terrified of moving. Moving. It seemed like the worst possible thing that could’ve happened then. At first, when we left, it felt the same as the last time I had gone there. Then the realization that I would be gone forever kicked in, and the fact that this time, my dad wasn’t coming with us. Just my mom and I.

The city of Chicago has been displayed as a dangerous city in which all residents are affiliated with drugs, gangs, and misconduct of firearms. Whether someone fits into this stereotype or not, is normally based on their surroundings and their interactions with others. Growing up in Gage Park, named one of the worst neighborhoods, falling into this stereotype and becoming affiliated with drugs, guns, and gangs, would not be too hard for someone to do. However, I have lived in Gage Park my whole life and have not fallen into the status quo. I have had family members and friends fall into this realm of unpleasantness and watching them become another wrong kind of statistic is upsetting. I have been faced with the decision of continuing to have

As Mayor of Springfield, I will encounter a multitude of issues while trying to make this community healthier. One of the largest challenges is making sure that all people are able to receive a decent education. This problem was illustrated in the book when Wes Moore’s mother paid a large sum of money in order to send him to a more prestigious school. The schooling in his community did not seem to have teachers that wanted to teach the children or believed that they could succeed in going to college or receiving a job later in life. It is essential for our community to have good public schooling, so that even those in poverty can learn just as much and as well as those who are more wealthy.

The blaring noise of the wind through the streets mixed with the severe weather alerts on our cellphones. Through my window, I could make out silhouettes of trees blowing uncontrollably through the rain. This was not something that I was expecting during the holiday season. On the night of December 26, 2015, our family went into a safe room inside of our house and braced ourselves for the tornado that was tearing through my hometown.

"Well, those residents were homes of the, you might say, the elite of Los Angles, movie people, politicians and the like... They would kind of like, well like yourself, they would rent these places as a kind of getaway... I guess over time for some reason or other, like I guess all things, they lost interest, and the houses just set there abandoned. That was a long time ago... But about 50 or so years back, the city of Fresno got a grant from the state for infrastructure.... Hired a lot of workers from all over, Fresno not being LA, they got permission to convert some of these big houses into rooms and apartments... Cut em' up and redesigned them... Some they left the way they were, I spect they let these out to the bosses and their families...

I was born on April 24, 1994, in Los Angeles, California to Patricia Andrade and Francisco Javier Garcia. My father was an immigrant from Mexico, and mother was Mexican-American born in South Los Angeles. I was the first born in my family. I grew up in the small city of Walnut Park. Walnut Park is located near South Gate and Huntington Park. The demographics of the city were and still are predominantly Hispanic/Latino. Many of the residents were newly emigrated from various parts of Latin American, mainly from Mexico. I was brought up Catholic, which was the dominate religion in the area. I was brought up talking English and Spanish. I grew up in an environment that was rich in Mexican heritage but lacked diversity.

Imagine if all public schools in California, from high-income areas to lower-middle class areas, offered identical and equal education opportunities. A secure educational system that parents can feel safe for their children, and a system that can provide an equal opportunity to every individual in a community. Unfortunately middle class schools do not offer these kid of programs. California State is facing a lot of education problems, and we know that the key towards successful community and a country is an organized educational system. Frequently people misdiagnose that the teacher are the main character that teach education; however, parents are an important part of educational process, so they are the ones who can teach their children how