The Benefits Of Next Generation Youth

I teach first grade at Lowe Elementary School; my class is made up of twenty-four very diverse seven year-olds; they come from all over the city of Louisville, from a variety of socio-economic situations. Each student brings a unique personality to our classroom community, and they all work hard to become “smarter and smarter” and to “go to college”. Thirteen students are boys and eleven are girls. Of these twenty-four students, three of them are English Language Learners. Additionally, eight students receive tier two interventions and two receive tier three interventions in reading. In math, five students are tier two and four are tier three. I also teach one student who receives ECE services for a developmental delay. Within my class there is a wide achievement gap.

In order to meet the equal-opportunity challenge in education this mandate requires funding for all public schools at levels. This is sufficient to provide a rigorous curriculum in a wide range of subject areas, delivered by Highly–Qualified Teachers, with support by excellent school district leaders. This also, requires adequate funding for school districts that provide education for high numbers of students from low-income families, ESL students, including students with special needs (Baker, B. D., Sciarra, D. G., Farrie, D. (2010, p. 1).

Many of the parents have little academic attainment of their own, and are in need of academic support for themselves and for their children. Nearly all of the students come to the school from relatively low performing inner city public schools, where quality after-school and summer programs have not been available to them. They come to Freire Wilmington generally far below their peers in the state academically, and they are in need of more academic learning hours, more enrichment opportunities, and more opportunities to develop social skills and leadership abilities outside of the regular school hours. In short- they are caught in the cycle of poverty, and need a boost for themselves and their parents in the form of positive, extended, inspiring learning opportunities beyond the relatively few hours that can be provided to them during the school day and

Writer, Adam Clark Estes, in his article, “More Signs That American Youth Are a Lost Generation,” describes how America’s youth are the lost generation. Estes purpose is to point out that America’s youth are the lost generation. He adopts an opinionated tone in order to help describe how America’s youth are the lost generation in his readers.

Today, a school education is no longer an option or privilege, but rather a need in the United States of America. The author of “Against School,” John Taylor Gatto says, “Do we really need school?” (143). What if children will not go to school, then how will they learn to read and write? Education is the demonstration of learning things around us and helps us to comprehend an objective in life. Most people who believe that children need higher education in order to succeed in life. We often don’t understand why we have to go to school every day, but when we grow up we realize that children need to attend the school for a wide range of reasons, for instance; for new experiences, increased knowledge or career preparation. School

Lassiter High School is located in an upper-middle class suburban community and faces a reduced number of discipline issues with only 170 students receiving free lunch and 42 with reduced-pricing. In order to better support the students of Lassiter High School, the school has implanted a Plan for Academic Success that stresses the seriousness of academics while focusing on the development of each student. Lassiter High Schools primary resource was developed through their Academic Support and Enrichment (ASE) program which focuses on allowing access to academic assistance and co-curricular activities during the course of the school day. Each Monday-Thursday each student at Lassiter High School attends a special instructional period after 1st period to access increased resources. In addition to this special instructional period Lassiter High School has an incredible special education and non-native English speaker support

The diversity found in public schools are those who speak another language other than English, come from different cultural backgrounds, are different socioeconomically, have learning disabilities, physical conditions, have different sexual orientations or genders. Students that are not straight, European American, and come from a comfortable or high socioeconomic status, resulting in private schools or have accessibility to paid for tutoring, are not always at arm’s reach for help or proper resources regarding their education at home or school, in some cases. These students face challenges and overcome them in a plethora of ways.

The traditional idea of schooling has evolved throughout the course of history. Our diverse world commands alternative ways of organizing education. These alternative measures are designed to meet the needs of students who may not have an opportunity to be successful within the traditional school setting. Although, students are the primary constituents of education, they are not the sole culprits of reform in education. The needs for alternative educational programs include aspects such as population decline, economic issues, and the need for better learning experiences. Therefore, alternative methods are designed to meet the needs of particular groups of students in various ways that might be difficulty to meet in the traditional setting.

Oregon CUSD has experienced a rapid increase of free and reduced students over the past decade. This demographic has increased from 18% to 51% of the overall population (table 1). This represents a 154% increase over the last ten years. During this same time the teachers in the district have raised concerned about a number of issues that can be attributed to students from low-income homes such as increase in student’s lack of readiness, students expressing learned helplessness, and a decline in parent involvement.

The opportunities to make a difference and shape a different future for students of color is possible. Breaking the cycle of a negative start on education, gives children a substantial head-start early in development years. Providing students with specialized subject matter teachers and linking home and school are ways to start to close the gap on education. One amazing fact that I learned is currently in my daughter’s high school 14 percent of African-American student have D’s and

Students who live at or below the poverty line are often lacking in their reading and math skills, often do not have enough food in their homes, and often do not have the parental support needed at a young age to help students be successful in the classroom setting. There are ways that the administration and teachers at Hendrix Elementary School work to reduce the effects of low socioeconomic status in the classroom. For example, students who stay for the after school program receive a free meal before going home in the afternoon. Free food is placed in students backpack over the weekend to ensure that students do not go without food while they are not at school. There are math and reading tutors that come into the classrooms and work with students who are below their grade level or who are at high risk of falling behind their grade level in these two subjects. The school has built a relationship with the parents to the point that parents feel comfortable coming to the administration or to their student’s teacher when they need help with caring for their child or help providing necessities for their child’s wellbeing. These are just a few examples of how this school tries to help all of their students be the best that they can possible be regardless of their socioeconomic

If there is no hope to enhance their education there is the hope that it can give the students a support system, they were lacking and decrease the chances of students forming unhealthy habits and behaviors. If the system doesn’t work in the academic sense it can still work in the behavioral aspect. Using MTSS can diminish and replace problematic behaviors, thus creating more time on task and teacher involvement to help the whole student body learn. Education continues to work on “Closing the achievement gap using multi-tiered academic supports requires best practices for universal screening and diagnostic assessment to understand youth academic needs (Benner, Kutash and Nelson)”. The key word in that sentence is focusing on student’s needs. Thus, creating more teachers who work to emphasize and understand the lives of their students and creating the “Down Teacher” that Dance describes and implores teachers to strive to be to meet the needs of their students. This is the best system that has been created yet to work with students. Placing this pedagogy in the hands of teachers and psychologists who work in urban education could change urban education for the better. Focusing on the students’ needs is at the fore front of a student-centered approach. To accommodate and adapt has and will always be a student-centered approach. Teachers who do not adapt and ignore the needs of student to teach required material fall under the teacher centered approach which doesn’t

This program succeeds for two major reasons: it focuses on children 's development, and supports a change in the school culture. It addresses their total development, not just their speech, language, or intelligence. Children attend school throughout a significant portion of their early lives. The schools mission must then be inline with their social, moral, physical, and psychological development.

Generation y is faced with a whole new reality in today’s world with the increased cost of housing and tuition, my generation [y] is faced with a web of issues that we need to correct. Also, my generation faces the increased cost of tuition, and faces difficulty when trying to find and maintain a job after completing post-secondary education. “We find that because of the difficulties facing millennial [generation y], they are delaying these important life decisions, like getting married, buying a home, starting a family” (Goodman, L., 2015, para. 8). Generation y is loosely defined as the group of kids in their early teens to young adults (Miedema, 2012).

The current youth is the future. The minds that are still developing are the ones that will be shaping the way the world will continue to progress and what that kind of progress will look like. The world is currently progressing towards power and control, and has been since the beginning of history. The way to achieve power is what has been changing. Whoever has the most bombs, nuclear weapons, or who is feared the most has the most control. Terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, and other jihadist groups have developed in order to gain control. Their followers are the youth of these developing countries; the youth that are shaping our world are being taught to exploit gaping security voids, how to use military grade weapons, and participate in endemic corruption. SSG-Advisors is working to end the extremism violence that is taking over the youth in Sub-Saharan Africa.