Category: Education

Each student was asked to tell of an important event that has impacted their academic careers. After going over each essays from the members of my assigned group, I found a common factor for each of our essays. Each member told an experience they had that involved some sort of academic test/final. In Chris’s essay, he tells of the events that took place after he finished his SAT’s, he wrote “My friend that went to another high school in Brooklyn sent, “Highkey just cheated on my SAT…this dude did not give a single shit… gave up the concept of cheating because it affected me negatively as a student and a person, but after all I was defeated by the fact that people had cheated their way into College”.” Chris expressing his dismay at the fact that he studied for his standardized test yet someone else cheated and was given a better score than he was. In Micheal’s essay he gives his experience on what it was like to the SAT. Michale tells of how he was nervous for his junior year, mainly because of the challenges that he and his fellow Juniors had to face, “Focusing more on our classes , studying for the SAT , preparing to qualify to become the next team officers for our senior year . So how did I studied for the SAT by attending Saturday SAT classes which I did find it pretty useful as they had teachers from other schools that would help us prepare. We even had to go through many SAT mock test which everyone did find it annoying, well because it was mainly on Fridays but I guess it was kinda helpful.” He states that he had to take extra classes and take multiple practice exams as a way to make sure that he would score well on the SAT’s. In Christians Essay, he explained that he didn’t go to to a normal New York school and they weren’t required to take any Regents other than the Ela, like other schools in New York. Christian was given an essay to complete as a final for his Ela class and he wrote, “We thought it was going to be the most easy final because we did it for four years but the ela final was different from everything we learned…I had to restart my whole essay from scratch. The last three days of classes trying hard to panel my final project what went through my mind is I wasn’t going to graduate because of one class…And I passed it”.” Michale expresses his thought process that he went through during time. He explains that he wasn’t in the beginning of his Senior year but when it was around the time he had to turn in the essay he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to graduate, yet with the help of his dad and friends he was able to graduate. In each of our Essays we described an instance in which we have had trouble with a standardized test, and though it was difficult, we each found a way to persevere and pass our own respective academic difficulty.  

 

What I noticed in my groups’ reason on why we view education different is that we all share a similarity of bad environments and we all needed a push of motivation. In Neil’s piece, he explained how his environment was basically shitty. A shitty environment in most cases leads to a shitty outcome and I am a strong believer in that. When you live around people who are doing the wrong things and you’re growing up seeing that you ave two choices to choose the easy route or to choose something that gets you somewhere. Neil and I share being troublesome kids in school giving our parents and the teachers a hard time. Elayne’s and Rex’s pieces also talked about the environment. Rex felt discouraged to even come to school mainly because of social media. If you have folks around you and they are constantly talking about how they dread school you’re going to be so unmotivated and I am sure he was unmotivated when he couldn’t get into his dream college John Jay. Elayne talked about how shitty her school environment was and she exclaimed how the teachers didn’t really give a fuck and so she had to find her way . My peice was similar I gave up on my self after a while when I realized what I was good at, and then I became good at it until I got a rude awakening. In all we all needed the motivation to get us here now, whether it is me, my son or Neil, his teachers finally acknowledging him. We are all here for a reason.

In the Ebook “I Ain’t Gonna Lie”many of my fellow peers share our experience on what shaped your perception of school or just education so many factors were brought up. In my group Denisse, Luis, Assie and myself share the same idea that something happen to us we wanted to change it we either had someone help us or motivate us to change this could of been personal motivation  or family/ teacher motivation but someone along the way in our story motivate us to do better or beat the odds not let it define you but make it better you. In Denisse story she shared that due to language border her teacher felt like it was better for her to “stay in her country” and leave her behind a grade which MOTIVATES her to do better learn soak up the English language. IN Luis story he shares a special bond with his female teacher in his school almost like that’s his ” person” in school, this teacher was different because she wanted better for Luis and saw light inside of him that Luis never saw until his finally year in HS. Luis MOTIVATED to do better in College not in spite of someone but to make his HS teacher proud. Lastly in Assie story talking about the college process and how a teacher try play herself and put doubt in her ability to get into school and pay for it. Assie used the doubt that college advior had as  MOTIVATION to shoot for stars make herself and mother proud as any child should. Every last one of us shares a gladiator in black suit some it’s a person and some is not what keeps our chapter linked together is the MOTIVATION we share to keep us on track of our personal goals. nothing stopping or blocking the pathway to our successes. We all have came face to face to a teacher we felt didn’t meet our standards of a teacher. based on the fact he or she didn’t motivate to do something but under estimated you and your ability. you did it IN SPITE of the second grade teacher IN SPITE of college advisor IN SPITE annoying history teacher.

In the book, the author is described what had happened on how they took the easy way out and how on the day when the sat came he realized he couldn’t cheat. They also explain that education is being taken advantage of and the author is correct. There are many people who are able to get good jobs because they don,t  have the proper education . Even if they do most people can remember half the things taught to them  and on test in is the worst part test is said to see if we remember the information that was taught but it effect a person self confidence. The author said when she failed one test it made them feel stupid like the didn’t know anything . This is the problem with the education system they expect a person to rennet every that is taught but the teach in in such a dull way that your brain doesn’t care it retain the information. Which in most cases lead people like the authors to cheat. Which is the sad truth that makes  people think that have to cheat to do better. The author realize that they are going to fail which only isn’t the student fault but the education system fault to because the still teach the way they toughen many years ago. While the world it self is changing the way teaching is in the same way that is not moving with the time . This story is just showing that education is being taken advantage of and how the author is realizing all the mistakes in their educational journey.

The education system has been around for a very long time. The main objective for this system is to give students good quality education . In order for the students to earn that education they would have to go through various amount of courses and take a variety of exams that would test their learning capabilities. But what we are always wondering is that are we still getting good quality education we deserve? But I think the system needs to have an upgrade. As the system is very old and it needs to be either changed or needs to be updated.  As when I read others work we can all relate to each other that the system needs to be changed. Im not saying the system is bad or terrible or anything like that my point is that there should be some other form of criteria that should be added to system that way the system is updated regularly. I know many people especially in NYC can agree the same thing too . You will every time hear something on the news commenting on the education system is out of date that there should be new topics or new criteria that should be added . Or possibly trying to update in a way to make the system more fair and that there should be more equal opportunities for kids . But overall we can all agree that the education system needs to change  or things needs to be added. As the system needs to be improved

There are obvious reasons as to what needs to be improved on in the education system but in our chapter, we briefly expressed a point we can all agree to.  We all relate to the feeling of care in one way or another. Neil emphasizes on how he practically gave up on the education system until he related with the excerpt we read from Giliyard. “Their love for me made me wake up and realize that I deserve to graduate, just like Gilyard, when and effort was made to improve my life by others, I decided to take it and make my way through the hardship” (86-89). Elayne realized she was on her own and had to take care of herself in order to succeed in the highschool she went to. “Education and school has to be something you want and are willing to work for it will not be handed to you all the time. Sometimes you have to work for it. (78-81). Shania is moving herself to succeed and her mission to move forward by motivation of her son that passed away, may he rest in peace. “…he had a large impact on my life for the little time he’s been here. He gave me a purpose and he is the reason for my change in behavior and the way I view education” (101-105). In my own essay I used college as a comparison from highschool that it’s way more important and I have to actually care for how I succeed. “College feels a lot smoother than high school and I cherish that completely and I have high hopes for college than I have ever had for high school” (71-73). We can all relate with the feeling of caring for ourselves in order to succeed in our education and get somewhere. It’s definitely going to be a hard journey but considering we are all in college currently and facing it head on, we can finalize with what we want.

As I read our chapter of the I AIN’T GONNA LIE one reoccurring motif is apparent. A struggle that both  I and my peers partake in within the chapter was adjusting to a new environment. We all struggle to make a change in our stories, this highlighted an issue that is present in all high schools. The issue of “fitting in” where do we all fit in the grand scheme of things. We all struggle to fit in when we are bombarded with new social norms and expectations from our peers. Many try to stray from the status quo only to be alienated or be perceived as weird for being themselves, my struggle was trying to find common ground with someone, trying to find someone who  I can relate with became more of a mission than anything. While reading Rex’s piece I felt a moment of joy and thought, “BRO THAT’S A FUCKING FACT”.  Rex talked about his struggles of finding motivation and how different the atmosphere of high school was compared to college. One quote that resonated with me was, “single day just felt the same and it was exactly the same, waking up every morning for school, go home and do the work assigned time that’s due whenever, shower, sleep, and repeat.” Rex talks about the monotony of high school, how mundane it can all be and I had this exact mindset going into my senior year. The same boring routine over and over, all I wanted was a break, an escape that can allow my brain to receive a new wave of information or a new routine. Rex’s quote really hit close to home, because this mindset leads me to believe that there was no purpose in life and this didn’t help with my depression.

There has always been issues with the education system  and always will be. People have a lot of opinions about it  and regardless of what people go through, there’s never really any change. There were a lot of similarities in my group because we had different stories but really the idea at the end was that we all  had a certain someone at our school who motivated us to do better , regardless if we were motivated through a negative or a positive experience. For instance, Luis explained that he had a teacher who really cared about him & his education. Having that kind of support motivated him to do better. That’s an example of a positive experience. Amaya wrote about a bad experience with her teacher, a teacher who always took anything she said as a bad thing and negative thing. It motivated her to want to learn how to ignore the bad things her teacher would say & other people. Assie wrote about financial issues & how her counselor would bring her down & discourge her simply because of her financial situation. This taught her not to care about any bad things anyone told her. It taught her that even when people try to bring you down, if you really believe you can do something , then it’s not impossible. One problem with the education system is that there’s a lot of people in the education system that honestly don’t do their best to try to motivate kids & help them out. This is what ties our stories together.

I think a majority of the group wrote a balanced positive and negative viewpoint towards the education system. In my group consisting of Michael, Christian and Jonell, we have similar viewpoints on some aspects of education and some on other things. For instance, Michael and I both wrote on the blessings of education and how it affects those with and without it.  We also wrote on the events following the SATs and how it effects both of us in different ways. Christian also had his remarks on high school following his struggles and how he managed to overcome them and succeed. Christian’s reflection explains how he wasn’t as proficient as others in English but still managed to pass. These were both positive articles written by Michael and Christian. Last but not least, Jonell’s essay describes her journey in admitting into a high school. Despite the harsh regulations required by multiple schools, Jonell kept her head up and ended up achieving her goal. In the process she also witnessed discrimination in which affected her deeply.  Which motivated her even more. One obvious thing we all have in common in these articles is the stories of our high school experience. Each one of us included our high school stories in which some of them shaped us into who we are.  Positive or negative, we all learned something towards the end of our stories, which to each one of us is important and valuable.

In the education system we’ve seen a lot and still continue to see a lot. Not any drastic change has really happened. What ties to all of our chapters together is the fact that we have all had a specific person in our life that tells us something. Some may have motivated us and encouraged us, some may have just discouraged us, humiliated, and never seen any potential in us. But above all that like Maya Angelou said “I still rise”. I can relate when Denise’s teacher told her some very negative words. She used that as a motivation. One problem about education in the United States specifically is that it’s set up like a prison. It’s a system with rules that you have to follow. You cannot think for yourself. You have to follow standards and guidelines. Thinking freely does not exist in the American education system that we have here. This idea of going to college, getting a degree, to Get a job is also apart of it. Growing up I was told you have to go to college to be successful. Getting an education does not guarantee you a job, but  it also with no education means less income. Schools are turning children into robots. Controlling the mind. Sit up, do this, do that. Nothing has changed in the education system from back in the day til this very 21st century. One thing we can all relate on is that education saved all of us. We all had that one person.