12 - Annie Leonard, Chris Jordan, Lake Onondaga

Annie Leonard

Through discussing world processes by system, this video illustrates how everything is interconnected. Because natural systems are exploited by man-made or industrialized processes, there is no way to separate the different worlds systems. As a result of all this exploitation, our health is most definitely affected by pollution. Discussing the paradoxical nature of the world we live in, Ms. Leonard remarks, “That’s one of the ‘beauties’ of this system. The erosion of local environments and economies here ensures a constant supply of people with no other options.” This system is based on “the golden arrow of consumption” which is “the heart of the system, the engine that drives it.” Ultimately, we must keep the awareness that what we do in one system affects all the others at the forefront of our minds. Although we might be told otherwise, our actions aren’t limited to one tiny, inconsequential area.   

When reflecting back onto education, this video illustrates the importance of looking at issues from different angles. Now, this video has both practical and theoretical implications for the educational system. As the video states, processes like the exploitation of natural resources, consumption, and pollution are a part of our day to day lives. Because the world systems affect us on such a personal level, shouldn’t it be one that is openly discussed in education? If we are slowly being poisoned from toxic chemicals, what good is knowledge about math or literature or art? On a more theoretical level, this video demonstrates the importance of looking at an issue from many various lenses. Before she began her research, Ms. Leonard wanted to know where her stuff came from and where it eventually went. Just as this required analysis from many different levels, educational subjects should also be considered from different lenses.  

Chris Jordan Photography

While the photography is admittedly visually stunning, it serves the larger purpose of shedding light on issues that are common to all of mankind. Like the earlier discussion of awareness of global problems, Chris Jordan’s art implies a need that the academic community has yet to address on a wide scale. Although the finished products might seem complete and shiny, they need a closer look. When it comes to global warming or pollution or resource depletion, there are certain global issues that not only transcend specific academic disciplines but can also be presented in a way that is integral to the actual course material. The fact that students can go the entire time at college without hearing of these worldwide problems is utterly absurd. If these global issues are the most serious problems facing us today, how can we – in good conscience – neglect them?  

Lake Onondaga

Although Lake Onondaga is a Superfund site, pollution still remains a big problem. The lake, which is considered sacred by the Haudenosaunee people and used to belong to them, was illegally obtained in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Even though a treaty was draw up between the ethnic people and the U.S. government, the state of New York obtained the lake without federal authority. Because of this, the Haudenosaunee people tried to reclaim the lake but were unfortunately held back by U.S. courts. This is a ruling that hardly seems fair because New York is responsible for letting the lake “become some of the most polluted waters.” As Lake Onondaga’s original owners, the Haudenosaunee people simply want to reclaim the lake so that they can supervise clean-up efforts. Although the road to repossessing the lake will undoubtedly be a long and exhausting one, the Haudenosaunee are determined not to give up. <http://colorlines.com/archives/2013/11/the_native_land_claim_case_thats_too_disruptive_to_be_heard_in_the_supreme_court.html>

Blog Post 11 - Why School?

Chapter 1

Since I have already been researching and writing on the topic of why we need education reform, I was inspired to look at this chapter through a different lens. When it comes to education, “the economic motive looms large.” (Chapter 1, pg. 25). We say that students should not simply focus on the economic value of their education and instead pursue something that that incites a passion in them – but how are they going to do this in a world that already seems so predisposed against professions like artistry, philosophy, and poetry. In many ways, education in the United States has become formulized; this stems largely from the fact that “there’s not much public discussion of achievement that include curiosity, reflectiveness, uncertainty, or a willingness to take a chance.” (Chapter 1, pg. 27). Because of this, education reform is necessary – but how is it going to come about in concrete ways?  The answer is that real, workable solutions are based on incremental changes. Ultimately, we really do need education reform but I think that the solution has to start on individual level. Before we can change this unhealthy system, we have to raise awareness that it is, in fact, broken.

Chapter 2

In America, education shapes the lives of most people; indeed, “the question ‘why go to school’” (Chapter 2, pg. 31) is one that all students should think about. Whether we make the choice not to go to school or not to apply our best effort on the academic front, it is still a question that should be considered. The main thing that I got from this chapter was that students must have personalized academic experiences in order to become enlightened individuals, capable of making a positive change in the world. Education is the key to unlocking a door that leads to so many different opportunities and it gives “the competence and confidence to independently seek out information and make decisions” (Chapter 2, pg. 38). After reading this chapter and writing the long essay, I feel a renewed sense of sympathy for those who are unable to pursue higher education. Whether they are unable to go to college or actively chose not to do so, I think it stands to reason that those people are going to be at a disadvantage in life. If we lived in a perfect world, we would all be able to a decent standard of education.

Chapter 3                                                           

While I acknowledge that are some modest benefits to the No Child Left Behind Act, I believe that it has left some decidedly bad impacts. Because a lot of pressure falls on teachers to teach students how to pass the standardized tests and not to focus so much on the actual material, it is taking away schools’ abilities to actual impart lasting, useful knowledge to their students. On a broader level, however, the NCLB has not benefitted American students because it makes academic success one dimensional and flat. I get that test scores are an easy way to judge academic success – but can we really reduce real, flesh-and-blood people – our families, friends, and neighbors – into cold numbers? Educational success simply cannot be reduced to facts and figures. Although the law has done a fair amount of good for the country, it takes away the personal element from school and forgets “how far removed standardized tests are from the cognitive give-and-take of the classroom” (Chapter 3, pg. 48). Because testing specialists are not even sure “whether a test score … is an accurate measure of learning” (Chapter 3, pg. 48), how can the NCLB be a true representation of American students?

Chapter 4

Although I definitely do not find the intersection of business and education all bad, I can understand the points that Mike Rose makes against it. Yes, we will “need more than the one-directional reforms symbolized by a billionaire standing before a blackboard” (Chapter 4, pg. 63) but this is no reason to discount all the honest good that individuals like Bill Gates have done for many schools of many different backgrounds. While the status quo is at a decent place, there are some viable changes which can improve the current system. If philanthropists and business people want to accomplish more than a photo-op that makes them feel good about themselves and sparks some positive public opinion, they need to examine their individual motives. Ultimately, “if business is to help … it will have to understand school failure within a socioeconomic context” (Chapter 4, pg. 60). For real change to take place, they have to examine “their apparent willingness to create virtually any product and marketing campaign that will turn a profit; they will have to look beyond what is good for them and instead approach what they do for schools and the community as a whole from a higher level.

Chapter 5

While I could make a strong argument that many of my friends without college degrees are right on par with my friends who did pursue higher learning, I do believe that the world has already dictated a standard. Although it is not necessarily the case, we expect college graduates to be smart, well-cultured, and highly-productive members of society. For a majority of these people, others will be much more willing to open doors for them because most highly esteemed positions require degrees of some sort and, like Mike Rose states, “school knowledge … is respected and desired” (Chapter 5, pg. 69). Though they might not garner quite the same level of respect in the professional world, jobs that don’t require degrees – such as construction – can require a lot of expertise and can be reasonably well paying.  For many of these people, working requires a good deal of natural skill and “there is a deep respect for knowledge, know-how expertise” (Chapter 5, pg. 69). Ultimately, it takes both types for the world to be a well-functioning place. It is because of our differences, not in spite of them, that we live in a society that values the individual over the collective.

Blog Post 10 - Darrick Smith

The whole idea of the class struggle being real is one that has plagued humanity all throughout history. During the height of the Roman Empire, the divide was between the patricians and the plebeians; during the Middle Ages, class struggles were between the feudal lords and the serfs; and during the French Revolution, class tensions between the nobility and peasants resulted in a violent and bloody conflict. Today, class conflict takes a different form – capitalism. Through the advent of modern globalization, we have developed the idea that the global economy is locked in a system that uses education as a barrier to achieve greater things. This is a system based on exploitation, as Darrick Smith remarks, “You have a system established on slaughter as a foundation of all wealth.” While I don’t believe capitalism is all bad – in fact, it’s been quite useful to industrialized development – I, like many other greater minds before me, can’t help but wonder what the world would be like if every person had an equal shot. For people to escape the system, as Darrick Smith points out, "their education has to more complex … and combine both the intellectual and emotional requirements of someone in that context.” This is the only way modern class divides can be done away with.  

Blog Post 9 - Why School? Chapters 1 & 2

If there is to be increased academic passion and educational success in the United States, there must be a radical transformation of our educational system; this is main idea of chapter one. In chapter 2, the focus is on the individual. For the aforementioned transformation to take place on an individual level, students must self-reflect on “the question ‘why go to school’” (Why School?, Chapter 2, pg. 31). They must find out what education means to them instead of pursuing school as a sweeping means to ensure financial security. Instead of this, we must have education become “as source of meaning” (Chapter 2, pg. 32). If we want education equality throughout the United States, then “we need public talk that links education to a more decent, thoughtful, open society” (Chapter 1, pg. 28-29).  

                The ideas behind the first two chapters of Why School? are easy to identify with; the wording is very straightforward and there is little to disagree with. So many college students these days are burned out, tired of learning and absorbing facts that are seemingly useless. When it comes to education, as author Mike Rose declares, “There’s not much public discussion of achievement that includes curiosity, reflectiveness, uncertainty or a willingness to take a chance, to blunder” (Chapter 1, pg. 27). I look at my friends at school and I see people who have too many obligations – family, jobs, health, etc. – coupled with no clear educational or employment goals. This is what makes the academics difficult for them.  For this to change, there needs to be a transformation in our educational system.

Blog Post 8 - Bill Gates Video

In today’s society, education is the way of the future. When examining countries like China and India, one thing is increasingly evident: the rising countries of the international community are ones that encourage and invest in education. The reason I chose this video was because I believe that it shows the urgency of education reform in the United States. Although the U.S. is investing an increasing amount of money in education, too many kids are dropping out of schools and failing miserably on the academic front. This means that something is terribly wrong. Success in school is a combination of effective teachers and motivated students. As Bill Gates said, “My success as an engineer is because I was good at math and I had good math teachers and, yes, I memorized the tables and learned how things worked. Gaining those facts helped me think about the patterns in those facts.” Only when there is a synthesis of good teachers and willing students will education reform be truly possible. Although America needs to be more competitive on the education front and, as Bill Gates remarked, “it’s not a bad thing that the rest of the world is improving their education systems. It’s not some zero sum game … It’s good that human potential globally is being tapped into.” 

Blog Post 7 - Jeff Duncan Andrade

Education in this country is in a critical state. Although we are spending a lot of money on education, it doesn’t seem to be enough; not all students are getting the level of education they need to be successful. Duncan Andrade’s philosophy seems to be that education should be more personalized and suited to individual communities. As he said, “The ways in which we approach schooling in this country with poor kids – particularly poor kids in urban environments would never be tolerated for middle class or wealthy children.” Duncan Andrade advocates changing this system. To this end, he asks, “What’s your curriculum for? What’s the purpose? Is the purpose to get kids to pass the test? Or is the purpose to give kids a set of skills that they can actually use in their lives?” The focus of education should be less about passing tests and more about developing life skills that can serve students in the future; instead of encouraging students to memorize a set of useless facts for a test – which will then be promptly forgotten the morning after – education should be transformative and less about students regurgitating information. As Duncan Andrade remarked, “Figure out what’s really important in your young peoples’ lives and start from there.” This is how education reform will happen.

                On a personal level, this philosophy hits home. Since I was homeschooled, I’d never had to deal with an educational system that seemed pitted against me. Growing up, my education was personalized specifically to suit my needs. If I had difficulties with algebra, my mom could spend hours going over specific problems with me. If I didn’t understand biology, I could take a class with other homeschooled kids. If I needed additional support with my essays, I could take classes at Chabot as a concurrent enrollment student. In short, my education illustrates Duncan Andrade’s idea of figuring out what “really important in your young people’s lives”. Because of this, I understand how vital it is to have active support from teachers. That being said, I understand how difficult it must be for teachers with 30+ kids in a classroom to help each child individually. Teaching my sister and me was a full time job for my mom – so I can’t imagine trying to give the same amount of attention to twenty eight more students. However, I don’t think that means that teachers shouldn’t try. I have had plenty of excellent teachers at Chabot, teachers who have to deal with many classes and hundreds of students. Ultimately, this philosophy hits home with me because it encourages an individualized educational system. 

Blog Post 6 - Remediation

Although the case is different for community colleges, most four year schools usually vet their applicants before accepting them. Because of this, I think that these schools should work with their admitted students regardless of their level and need of remediation. Essentially, because the remedial student was admitted, the school has an obligation to get the student to where he or she needs to be. With this in mind, I think each school should be allowed to make a decision on how to conduct their remediation programs. This is seen through the benefits of allowing schools to figure out what is best for their students, rejecting the idea that there is a formulized solution to every remediation problem, and adopting solutions that best suit the needs of the community.

                Although remediation can often seem tedious and unnecessary, remedial programs shouldn’t be cut from every school; schools should be allowed to improve their programs and remedial curriculum to fit the needs of the student. In Why School?, Mike Rose writes about a remedial student named Kevin for whom “the traditional remedial writing course” which “begins with simple writing assignments and includes a fair amount of workbook exercises” was entirely ineffective (Chapter 10, pg. 128). Instead, Kevin benefited from a program “that held a different set of assumptions” which had arisen out of “current research on language and cognition and from … experience in the classroom” (Chapter 10, pg. 128).If schools could only spare a little time for each student, they can tailor their programs to be wildly effective.

                Because each school is different, a uniform solution can’t be applied to every single American school. Colleges are unique and individual; they can have massive differences in their purposes. While some schools might need extensive remediation services, others might be able to cut down on some of their programs. For instance, I would not assume MIT has a remediation program that reteaches students basic math skills. As the costs of unnecessary remediation services can be quite high, students who are admitted to that particular college should know the very foundational ideas – if they don’t know the basics, something has gone wrong at the admissions level. At the same time, I would definitely expect a two-year community college, like Chabot College, to have many remediation programs.

                Finally, colleges should serve the needs of their community. Although this statement seems fairly obvious, it is one that often gets lost in the nitty-gritty side of school and local politics. In the Bay Area, there are many ESL students, many people who have graduated from academically ill-prepared high schools, and many people who simply need a refresher- remediation is for all these hard-working academic strugglers who just a push to help them succeed. America is a truly “a nation that prides itself as being a ‘second chance’ society” (Chapter 10, pg. 135); we have to invest in people to succeed as a larger collective. As Rose aptly notes, “… when done well, remediation becomes a key mechanism in a democratic model of human educational development” (Chapter 10, pg. 137).   

Although remediation programs have their own problems, they are a necessary part of the society we live in. Until the actual educational system in the United States is radically reformed, we can’t take away all remediation programs – because they are so crucial to the success rates of so many students. As each school is different, I believe that colleges and universities should be allowed to make individual decisions on how to conduct their remediation programs; they should not entirely be done away with. This post has supported that position by examining the benefit of allowing schools to figure out what is best for their students, rejecting the idea that there is a formulized solution to every remediation problem, and adopting solutions that best suit the needs of the community.