Summary Of Julia Alvarez's Daughter Of Invention

Education is a contested field of study because its purpose relates to associated political implications of either providing curriculum that critiques and analyzes history of the Americas, or, that which emphasizes and promotes a support of the American meritocracy and the righteousness of a representative democracy. Paulo Freire (2000) made the distinction that education is a combative arena, and that there are many different arguments jockeying for power. As a result of the contention, student-centered decisions are not always made and oftentimes the decisions are ones that benefit the political arena far more than the religious or social one.

In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez situates his individual experiences with education in such a way as to expose what he sees as the fallacious logic behind bilingual education and affirmative action. He uses arguments to propagate the systematic problems with such programs. His autobiography explains in great detail the entangling problems all American children face by instituting bilingual programs and affirmative action endorsements.

It has become common today to dismiss the lack of education coming from our impoverished public schools. Jonathan Kozol an award winning social injustice writer, trying to bring to light how our school system talks to their students. In his essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal," Kozol visits many public high schools as well as public elementary schools across the country, realizing the outrageous truth about segregating in our public education system. Kozol, cross-examining children describing their feelings as being put away where no one desires your presence. Children feeling diminished for being a minority; attending a school that does not take into consideration at the least the child’s well being. Showing clear signs of segregation in the education system.

In his article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto criticizes America’s system of schooling children, arguing that the whole system is bad and unfixable. In the majority of the essay Gatto relies on personal anecdotes, historical examples that do not correspond with modern day society, and bold unsubstantiated claims. Due to this, instead of convincing parents to take their children out of school and rethink our societies schooling structure, he just leaves the reader confused over what the problems he’s criticizing truly are.

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 PTA meeting was coming up so Charles became an excellent student. He assisted the teacher pass put crayons and became a favorable helper to his teacher. Charles knew if he acted amiable before the meeting his name would not be mentioned by his teacher to his mother. On the other hand, he “said the evil word himself” (349). He still continued his unacceptable behavior and had a girl in his class’ mouth was cleansed with soap for saying the same bad word. Charles was a disruptive child that was smart enough to avoid being caught at the PTA meeting.

Haskins, Ron, and Marta Tienda. "Children of Illegal Immigrants Deserve Better Educational Options." The Children of Undocumented Immigrants. Ed. David Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt. from "The Future of Immigrant Children." The Future of Children (Spring 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 11 Apr. 2014

Julia Alvarez is an acclaimed American-Dominican poet and author. She has written many successful books and poems, many of which reflect directly on her life and personal experiences. Because of Alvarez’s American-Dominican background, her poems display diverse, cultural themes. These include what it is like to be American and Dominican and the struggles of moving from the Dominican Republic to the United States. Alvarez has received praise for her ability to write a wide variety of styles, including poems, children's books, young adult novels, and essays. Her success, however, has come from her poetry collections, like Homecoming. These collections show her life in the Dominican Republic and her transition to the United States.

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.

She discusses the importance of respect between the teacher and student. Those who may not be familiar with a respectful relationship between an adult will learn it at school by the teacher providing acceptance and assistance to their needs. A teacher is not to provide passive displays of aggression to show that they are disappointed or frustrated. The best would be to pull a child to the side preferably when other children are not around to discuss how a respectful relationship would work. A teacher should form close relationships with those in his/her classroom. Making sure that children feel loved helps encourage them to learn.

In the week's reading it offered a unique perspective education of segregated school by the percentage of black and hispanic students. The arguments that can be mafe about the myth of educations and empowerment in the reading "Still Separate, Still Unequal" by Jonathan Kozol, is still being affected by funds. The author speaks about statistics present the overpopulated schools are filled with minorities. "Whether the issue is inequity alone or deepening resegregation or the labyrinthine intertwining of the two, it is well past the time for us to start the work that it will take to change this." "We do not have the things you have," Alliyah told me when she wrote to ask if I would come and visit her school in the South Bronx. "Can you help us?"

According to Lily Galanis-Olaez (494), she examines Latinos involvements in their Children school have difficult of involving themselves in their children’s education process because the schools do not help them in effective way. She writes that “parents of Latina/o children, who have different cultural linguistic background, find it difficult of involve themselves in the child’s schooling when vehicles do not exist to encourage their participation” (Lily, 2015, p.494).

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.

“Education is the single most powerful tool in the fight against poverty and disease, and that the point of greatest impact is the primary education level where simply placing a pencil in a child’s hand is the first step toward unlocking the promise of a self-empowerment and a higher quality of life” (Braun, 72). Comparing education to a dominant tool did just that. Somewhere in the world, a child still stands with an outstretched hand asking for nothing more than a pencil. According to the Unesco Institute of Statistics, over 57 million children does not have access to education. Braun’s informational tone tells the reader that it’s a crisis that urgently needs to be solved.

It is our job to lead and guide children to have respect for others. She realized as a teacher that she had the ability and responsibility to guide the children towards moral autonomy by teaching them to be intentional about being nice to others. One point that Paley expressed that stood out to me was, “We vote about nearly everything in our democratic classrooms, but we permit the children to empower bosses and reject classmates… We still allow children to build domains of exclusivity in classrooms and playgrounds” (22). One-fifth grader response was, “…You’re not going to go through life never being excluded” (22).