Is Private School Better?

I cannot describe how ridiculous it is for parents to fight and brag over what tuition they pay for they're 8 year old to go to school. I grew up going to my assigned public school and never once stepped foot in a private school. However my best friend grew up going to one. Around sixth grade she started getting acne and her classmates started making fun of her. Her confidence was dropping in the fastest way possible. Everyone had that school seemed to have perfect lives and an unending amount of money and my friends life wasn't like that.

She swithed to yet another private school in sixth grade and still hated it. Her and her mm then came over one day and told my mom and I that she was switching to my school.

SHE LOVED IT. When you go to a school thats public and open to everyone, everyone is different. There is nothing to fit in to. You wear the clothes in your closet, not in the uniform drawer. 

By the end of middle school her mom bribed her with a puppy to go back to a third provate school. 

She went for two weeks, where she then transfered to my high school. Graduated on honor roll, and as member of three different clubs at the school. She was accepted to eery college she applied for.

Ive heard people say more that once, that private school are filled with rich kids who got kicked out of public school? I couldnt back up any of my information on that but it makes sense. 

I will happily, one day, send my kids to public school because I'm proud of who I am and who my friend turned out to be too.

GO BULLDOGS!

In the Basement of the Ivory Tower Reading Response

Poor poor Ms. L. That lovely lady who decides to head back to college after starting a family, lacking the knowledge of technology but knowing exactly how to make dinner, wash laundry, and pick everyone up from soccer practice and still get sleep at night. This is the perfect example of the newest trend: heading back to college. Professor X argues the issues with the middle-aged re turning to college. He has assigned a research paper and poor Ms. L doesn't even know what a link is, much less how to find articles and link them to her paper. I learned how to do this at the measly of sixteen, in high school just four years ago. Ms L went to high school long before you went to the Library for computers and not just books. So when Professor X grades her paper its comes as no shock to him that it barley deserves an F. He has a really hard time dealing with giving her that grade though. He says "her deficits dont make her a bad person, or even unintelligent or unusual. Many people cannot write a research and few have to do so in their workday life."

I believe Professor X is right. I think learning is just something thats more easily done when you are younger, and not to mention its a little confident killing when you sitting in a class with students who could be your children and they know exactly what the teacher means when he says "link." And it only backs up his argument more when he quotes Ms. L after she receives her F; "I cant believe it. I was so proud of myself for having written a college paper." But I am wondering what did he do to resolve the conflict with Ms. L? He just says "Everyone wants to triumph." Well yeah prof! But what did you do to help her? I feel like his constant pushing her to schedule a private session with the librarian kind of just threw Ms. L off a little.

I could agree with Professor X and his argument of the adults headed back to college. Every class I have thats scheduled after six is filled with half middle-aged, half still children. I just think it takes a different type of teacher to teach these people. They haven practiced school work in years, you know? I think maybe they need that little extra kind of help. Also as a student who pays her own bills and own rent and someone who took a year off, I look at school much differently than I did when I got out of high school. It is a privilege to learn and thrive and get a diploma. I understand the meaning of a hardworking dollar and what it takes to get there, so paying for college means I will excel to the best of my abilities. I believe that middle-aged students would do the same, but how do you teach someone who missed the kind of classes that I took. Maybe this calls for some classes that need to be taken prior to returning back to college english? Its something to think about.

I chose one line from this article that sets the tone of this new trend of "returning back to college" and why it is so exceptional. The golden line and the closing to this reading response is "America, ever-idealistic, seems wary of the vocational-education track. We are not comfortable limiting anyones options."

The Ideal Testing System

In a perfect world, there would be no tests and no quizzes and no homework and maybe not even school. Maybe in this perfect world, we would just have a chip that we plugged into our brains to download the information we needed.

However that world seems extremely boring with absolutely no challenges, ever. Studying for Tests and even taking them is rarely a fun activity, but the feeling you get when you make a good grade on something you've worked really hard for is rewarding. But what about those people who we call "bad test takers," this "condition" is very common. I myself suffer from it and it drives me insane every night before a test. I can study and study and study and still end up with a worse grade than that annoying kid who walks in class and yells "WHAT? We have a test today?!"

If it were up to me, tests wouldn't be done away with completely, then anyone could walk right through school without even trying. What I do think should be enforced, is something most angel teachers practice, and that would be test corrections. Ain't nothing better than learning from your mistakes! Receiving half credit for figuring out the right answer is a very full filling process I believe.

I would also change class schedules. Every week there would be a day where you can come and talk to the teacher in a smaller group, or even one on one, and they can help work you through the current lessons. You would gain credit for coming to these classes and help heighten your grade. Teachers like teaching and helping they're students excel. Most teachers are extremely open to give students extra help, but I know that most students are often afraid to ask or don't even bother because they feel they'll never get it.

I think tests are important. However I think the level of effort you put into a class can be shown through homework, test corrections, and extra study days. That should be more percentage of your grade, rather then tests.

I think this is also a way for students to find their niche. Everyone has that class that no matter how hard they try they just aren't going to do as good as the kid next to them. But instead of focusing on a class and spending hours of studying to make a mediocre grade, they can focus on other things they are good at. Like theyre art class or english class.

My Ideal Testing System would be, to lower the importance of a test on your total grade, and heighten the value of hard work. We as human beings do not think on one level. We are differnt, we work differently, we walk, talk, and act differently and most of all, we learn differently, so why on earth should we all be tested the same and expected to excel the same?

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 Reading Response

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 includes laws where funding will help schools where students perform well on state assessments. It also includes certain penalties on schools that don't perform as well. It also states that there will be more choices of which school you may attend if your assigned school isn't performing correctly. It will be focused more on mathematics and reading with annual tests from 3rd-8th grades. The goal is to have every child reading by the end of third grade. This act is extremely focused on reading. The author of  "What 'No Child Left Behind,' Left Behind," is not afraid to speak her thoughts. While teaching every child how to read is all fine and dandy, he explains that "equity" should not be at the end of this so called "gap" that President Bush has designed.

He explains his point well because he is a teacher and she is able to prove Bush wrong in a way that shows him he has no idea what hes talking about. He's not a teacher so there is no way he knows how to control a classroom.

I agree with this author because money as a reward is not an answer for children who are having a harder time learning how to read

"There will be no excuses made for why we cant push all of our children across the achievement gap over to the fertile side and eventually, to equity, in the shining sky." I love this line because shes basically mocking the motivational speakers who are brain washed by Bush's new Act.

Dialogic Journal: Creativity in Schools: Every Story Needs a Picture.

I am reading this because it is an article we were given in class, I hope to learn more about where creativity in school is headed.

"Although on one level its just a game, I believe that it encapsulates the act of creation." (1st page, 3rd paragraph)
I like this quote because of the word encapsulates. It explains a child's game in an adult way and captures you attention.

"Everything comes from somewhere else, inspiration is everywhere." (1st page, 3rd paragraph)
This is very true, in art class we used to start out a project by looking through magazines and cutting out things we liked.

"Art for arts sake, was no where to be seen."(1st page, 5th paragraph)
This is scary true and kind of heart breaking.

"Something happens to our creativity when we go through the education process." (bottom of 1st page)
I would never think that the education in schools would be actually what is hindering the creativity in schools. This is a new point of view I think should be heard

"Chapter books." (2nd page)
The day I had to start reading my first chapter book was the worst when I was younger. I loved my picture books.

"If Children are encouraged to think that pictures are for babies and that to become educated and concentrate purely on words we risk creating a country full of visually illiterate adults."(Bottom of 2nd page)
UM WHAT. Love this part. Its the complete climax of his point and I think it really pulls the reader on to his side. It could not be more true and more sad, our poor schools, our poor children.

This reading is important to me because I remember in high school I was very passionate about art and not much of the teachers or other students were. Just a select few.

This article is also very useful, the author does a great job backing up each point he made and using the children as an example and then comparing them to himself.

Seven Ways High School Prepares You for Failure Reading Response

Kelsey Diaz writes an essay that completely explains how writing an essay in high school, barley compares to writing in college. She says that the regular five paragraph essay that was hammered into our brain for over four years straight, needs to basically be thrown out the window and completely erased out of our heads. She goes further and explains how professors may laugh at you if you write an essay in that format, however they know your freshmen and they're almost more than willing to help you succeed at writing an essay.

She backs herself up even more when she talks about rough drafts, she says "the more the better," and almost more often than not you'll be throwing out your first original essay every time. Diaz also backs herself up by making sure the audience knows that she's been through high school, and college and can understand the different writing styles you must learn.

My favorite line Diaz says is, "I'll 'restate the thesis' like your used to: Write in your own words. You're the writer writing, not your sources, so just grab a pencil and have at it!" I chose this line because she sets that detail of high school writing, because its something the audience understands and relates too, yet she's able to explain the new style of writing as well, in a way that it still comfortable to the freshmen audience.

My Response:
Because I've written a couple essays already in college I could agree with Diaz. She put what I felt exactly into words. I despise the essays I wrote in high school, so learning new writing techniques is actually exciting to me.

Classmates Response to My Response:
I agree with you, the style of writing that English teachers hammered into our heads in high school were a waste of time. Writing has no limit, especially not five paragraphs.

My Response to My Classmate:
Exactly! Why should writing be put into rules where the audience becomes bored because you can almost expect what your going to read.

Now I'm just really excited to now know, because it is set in stone, that I will never have to write those horrid five paragraph essays again. I get lost in my thoughts and really figure out who I am  when I put words on paper, and I don't want my feelings to fit into five paragraphs and be ruled by a thesis.