Summary Of Marita's Bargain

Malcolm Gladwell, the author of Outliers, a novel depicting success, provides different examples of how an individual can achieve success in every chapter of his book to show his audience that success, despite a variety of barriers, is in fact in our control. A very important chapter titled, “Marita's Bargain”, explains the flaws in today’s public school systems. He shows the problems with the solutions to fix them while showing the alternatives to the regular system such as the KIPP Program in New York. The KIPP Program (Knowledge is Power Program) is a new kind of middle school that selects students from less fortunate locations and uses unique teaching strategies to turn them around into fantastic learners. In the chapter, Gladwell is extremely descriptive by using visual words to paint the picture of the South Bronx in New York City. He describes the buildings that were built in the 1960’s as squat and bleak looking. Gladwell had an interest in this subject as it involves success, however he had no prior experiences to produce the piece. Gladwell establishes personal credibility through the use of knowledge, reason, and facts and figures. He comes across very knowledgeable on the subject presenting great data with excellent vocabulary. He is able to do this with no obvious bias as well. Gladwell shows authority because he is well known for writing novels that involve success. His intention is to teach and explain how schools need to change the length of vacation breaks

In Marita’s Bargain there is a school called KIPP. It’s located in New York City, and kids from poor neighborhoods attend KIPP. KIPP academy starts seventh graders off with high

During summer, many students forget what they learned the year before, and teachers must review material done last year. People in year-round schools believe that because of the shorter breaks, teachers have to spend less time reviewing material, and can move forward in their teaching. According to the National Education Association, “one of the main reasons for switching to year-round schools is to improve with student academics.” Although there is no proof, many schools believe a year-round schedule helps improve students academic skills.

Imagine a school year that never ends. A year without summer, relaxation, and vacations with family. Summer is the time of year that every student cannot wait arrive. But what if the playful time filled with friends, smiles, and laughter did not exist? What if school remained in session year-round? This is happening in 3,181 schools across America and is gradually increasing (edweek.org). The government calls it: Year-Round School. There are both many pros and cons to this controversial issue in today’s education; however, Year-Round School is not a good decision because of the social outcomes, the financial costs, and the academic effects that Year-Round School burdens on the students.

Many parents are busy in United States, and they do not have much time to teach their kid to become a successful person. Amy McCready is a great parent who has had a good experience, and she wants to share her experience with other parents: “One of the hardest places to let our kids fail is at school, and yet it’s one of the most important places for them to take charge of their own success. When students learn how to manage their own academics, they’ll set themselves up well for the future, but letting kids “sink or swim” can be terrifying — for parents! But don’t worry: even while handing over the reins, you can bolster your child’s efforts by offering the right kind of support” (McCready). I believe the best way is to let the kid fail and take some responsibility for themselves. In chapter six “Marita’s Bargain” from Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, he talked about a girl who struggled with her education. Marita is a twelve-year-old, and she has experienced failure in school. She decided to choose KIPP rather than her childhood, something that only happens once in a lifetime. KIPP is stand for Knowledge Is Power Program, and it is a school to help prepare students for success in life and college. Gladwell explained that, “KIPP is an organization that succeeds by taking the idea of cultural legacies seriously and giving a chance to

students can learn feel free. They take care of their students specially who are weak

Some advantages of year-round schooling include improved achievement, improved attendance by both teachers and students, reduced discipline problems, lower teacher stress, increased motivation due to frequent breaks, and increased opportunities for enrichment (Palmer and Bemis). During the two week breaks in between school sessions, students have the opportunity to take classes on karate, ballet, photography, cooking, and swimming. This intersession provides time for hands-on, big project classes that get kids involved in topics that interest them. Intersession can also be used as an intervention for students who are falling behind. “Karl Alexander, sociology professor at Johns Hopkins University, studied 800 students for more than 20 years in Baltimore’s elementary schools. He found that by ninth grade, low-income students had fallen 3 ½ grade levels behind their middle-class peers. And most of that gap was attributable to learning lost over the long traditional summer” (Schulte, 2009). The biggest driving force and proponent of year-round schooling is the effect of the “summer slide.” Students lose two months of achievement in math skills and students from low-income families lose more than two months in reading achievement according to the national Summer Learning

In his article “Go Year-Round: A Push for True Summer School”, Milton Chen, the executive director of Edutopia, urges readers to use the year-round schooling system. He explains in brief words what the summer vacation was for. “…when farm families needed young people home during the summer months to replace the three R's with the two P's -- plantin' and pickin' " (Chen). He carries on discussing that the problem with the school days is not only the amount, but the schedule of the school day. The curriculum is too tight; neither the students nor the teachers have the time to step away from the books and text and learn from the outside. The students do not have the chance to go into the outside world and observe what is going on in the society that they live in. Additionally, the teachers do not have the chance to decide how their time is spent because it is spent on the strict schedule of the classroom.

Year-round schooling is characterized by its 45-90 day periods of instruction (varying with different multitrack systems) separated by 15-30 day breaks (varying with different multitrack systems) (California Department of Education). There is no current scientific evidence to show that year-round education lessens the amount of material forgotten during the summer (McMillen 68); in fact, this memory loss is maximized as it occurs more frequently as it accompanies the shorter, habitual breaks. Constant breaks can also multiply some of summer’s negative effects. One common issue associated with summer is students’ loss of focus as summer approaches and trouble becoming accustomed to the beginning of the following school year (Worsnop 439). This would be a, though minimized, a recurring difficulty with constant breaks. Furthermore, teachers

A teacher who was part of a year round system recounts, “I found myself going through 3 school years without that opportunity for self-assessment and planning for the future of the educational program.” (“The Effect of Year Round Schools” 1999/22 February 2005). With a much shorter summer break, teachers will not have enough time to increase their education, which can benefit the learning of their students. For these reasons, year round schools are not as beneficial as the traditional school year.

Anaheim High School, a beautiful campus filled with intelligent students all around. You may tell yourself that but do we really have some of the best grades? Anaheim has too many days off for vacation and not enough school time for students to learn. In order to increase student success at Anaheim, we should have longer class periods so that students understand the material without having to be rushed and start class earlier or extend school release time until 3:30 or 4:00 pm. In the article, “Marita’s Bargain" by Malcolm Gladwell, he states, “The day goes from seven twenty-five until five pm” (9). Students at KIPP Academy are starting their classes at seven twenty-five and get out of class at five pm. They are getting longer classes which allows them to focus on their academics without having to be rushed to move onto the next topic. Anaheim High School is struggling with students being rushed and not understanding the

In the article “Doing School” by Denise Clark Pope , a senior lecturer and alumni at Stanford Graduate School of Education, Pope follows three students from Faircrest High through daily life as a highschooler, to see what it was really like. She then explains her thoughts and research on the different school dynamics and what kind of students they are producing.

Consider the following situation: A car is driving past the local elementary school on a hot and sunny July afternoon. As the car approached the school the driver notices some unusual things. Students are outside with the teachers for recess, and it looks as if school is in session. The school is on a year-round schedule. The driver is intrigued and decides to do some research. From the research, this person found that students are achieving more academically and the teachers are well rested.

While some might enjoy a three-month long summer break, it is in the best interest of the students’ grades to attend school all year long since this leads to a more motivated classroom atmosphere. Also, the students are more likely to remember material covered in class better if they are only gone six weeks instead of twelve weeks for the summer. As a result of retaining the material, students will benefit from better test scores. According to the NAYRE, “of thirteen studies of year-round-education performance since 1985…ten favored the year-round system over traditional schools and of those, seven found statistically significant learning gains by the year-round students” (Harp 2). The world we live in is becoming more of a global market, and American students need to be able to compete in the job market someday with people from all over. Their test scores and skills need to be cutting edge in order to be an active participant in this global market.

Unfortunately, Anaheim High School really isn't anything like KIPP. A Lot of these kids at Anaheim come from bad neighborhoods, poor families, and poverty just like KIPP students, but KIPP has their students start school at seven and end school at five, that pretty much says what kind of school KIPP is compared to school’s like Anaheim that starts at eight, and ends at two thirty. KIPP shows their students that their school is a privilege to attend, and students at Anaheim take their free education for granted instead of grasping it and doing something with it that is bigger than themselves. Most of the students at KIPP are guaranteed to go to college and half of the kids that attend Anaheim don't even graduate on time or at all. In order to