Author Archives: Anna Soboleva

The reading focused on the budget cuts in higher education.

As all of us who read these are students attending a public university’s this truly hits home for us. Many of us who have been at baruch for a couple of years have defiantly seen the jump in our school tuition.

For many students who are starting to apply to college this may seem like a deterrent because they cannot afford the schooling. This semester alone I have seen many of my friends complaining that their PAL or TAPP was cut and that they had to pay for a lot more school than they could afford. One of my friends mentioned that her freshman year she was paying about 200$ for a semester and for the spring semester she was only given 200$ in financial aid.

Something that I realize is that while the rise in tuition and lose in aid may be a deterrent for students entering college it can also shatter dreams of those in college who can longer afford their tuition.

We are also paying more for less class time, when registering for classes I noticed that statistics will now be offered with an online class portion. As a student I understand that people think “great less time in Baruch” what they don’t realize is that they are paying for the same three credits and losing out on professor involvement as well as a professor (usually an adjunct getting paid per class) is losing out on money.

While public universities are still a bargain compared to private schools the bargain is starting to come with a price.

The article for today’s reading really pertains to what we spoke about yesterday. While we spoke about parental involvement only concerning charter schools, this collection of studies focused on parental involvement as a whole.

During our class discussions we have spent a lot of time speaking about how parental involvement is lacking in under privileged and low SES neighborhoods. In a study done by Barrueco, S., López, M. L., & Miles, J. C. (2007). Parenting behaviors in the first year

Of Life: A national comparison of Latinos and other cultural communities. The findings showed that Latino families are much less likely to read to their children. In many of our previous readings we have read how low the reading levels are in underprivileged children. If parents had the time or could find the time to read to their children at an early age they would be able to foster a love for reading and if not that than just a general vocabulary.

In a pervious education class, we read an article that spoke about the word gap. While I do not have the figures in front of me I do remember the findings really shocking me. Children from a higher SES come into kindergarten with much larger word bank and grammar knowledge than children from a low SES,

In another study Robinson, G., & Fenwick, L. (2007). More than homework, a snack, and basketball: After school programs as an oasis of hope for Black parents in four cities. Spoke about how when parents were given a voice they really felt more connected.” Although this study focuses on the families’ view of after school programs, the researchers also state that these adults were excited and honored to be heard. Having someone listen to their ideas and concerns about their children’s education was important to the families participating in the focus groups”. This quote also really pertains to the involvement that parents have in charter schools. Children and parents become a community with their charter school and this really changes how they act and interact with their Childs education.

Lastly I would like to state that parental involvement is so vital to a child and while these articles come up with helpful plans, there is no direct solution because all of these programs need funding and just like with President Obama’s promise of “promise neighborhoods” that are modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, it is very hard to find the funding for these projects and it is essential to

The two chapters we had to read were very interesting and informative. Working backwards I wanted to comment on the chapter written by Deborah Meier. Meier mentions the issue of school boards and the fact that they have become so decentralized.  I can see the effects of that now. I remember as a young child in elementary school we were all aware what district our school was in and members of the school board could be found visiting schools. When I asked my sister what district her school is in she had no idea. I’m sure that part of the blame is her own ignorance but it is also the constant restructuring and the fact that there is no longer school involvement because the board has gotten so big.

The problem with school boards also includes the problem of inequality. Parents who are involved in their child’s education and have the time and financial means to go talk to school board members to make positive changes in their children’s lives, are probably parents whose children attend schools that aren’t on “the list”. Government action to fix troubled schools is lacking because they aren’t tackling the issue at the core and are only expanding on the underlying problem.

This idea of bigger or smaller schools and what works better is one that brings about a lot of controversy. Having gone to a middle school that housed three different academies inside I experienced the idea of small schools within a big school. I than went on to a large high school, where my graduating class was about 1000 students. Having experienced both I realize that while both have their negatives and positives, the size of the school makes no difference; the teachers and the administration do.  The NCLB act should not focus on changing physical properties in schools but changing how schools are run and how money is managed.

Chapter 3 by Stan Karp really layed out a lot of things about the assessment testing that I was unaware of.  Things such as the way the tests are given, also what really struck me was the requirement for special education students and how they are forced to take the exam. I was also interested in how unfair the test is and that with the data done by the ETS no one has taken into consideration how unfair the testing really is.

Chapter five of Meiers- written by Alfie Kohn book really gets into ripping the no child left behind act apart. Meier is obviously a big advocate against the NCLB act and for reasons that I have never noticed seemingly good reasons.

            This chapter devotes itself to explain some parts of the act especially when it comes to turning public schools into privately run organizations. From what I understand this can benefit schools, which is a topic that Meiers glosses over, but it can also harm schools and students.

            Personally I would like to note that I have seem good aspects to come out of the NCLB act, a school in a neighboring area of where I live was closed and completely restructured because of its terrible performance rates, after the restructuring many things changed for the school and it was really turned around. This may just be a euphoric look at the school and the program.

            Having many teachers as friends I can not even begin to count the amount of time I have heard complaint after complaint about the immense pressure put on testing and how they really do not get to teach what they think is useful and are just “ teaching to the test” which is something Kohn mentions very often in this chapter.

I see the hesitation with privatizing schools, I just don’t know why it’s something that would be so terrible to try and since it does work in some areas maybe it could be helpful with others?

The final chapter of the Spring book really attempted to tie up all the loose ends of the book. The only fault I found with this is that American education is a bunch of loose ends. It’s a bunch of programs that were never fully enacted properly.  Our students are still struggling to meet not to mention surpass other nations.

The chapter spoke about schools and prayer and how it is no longer there. Someone in our class discussion mentioned that when schools held a moment of silence it was really time for prayer and that everyone knew that.  I completely disagree since a moment of silence is just that it is a moment for students of all denominations to say a Sanskrit mantra, to pray or for an atheist to just reflect on the moment.

The Nixon idea of busing is something that goes hand in hand with the reading we did by Kozol last week. Busing might be a way to fix the inequalities that he mentions.  The idea of busing fixing things is also very utopian since parents of children who are in the better school would probably fight tooth and nail to bus their children to another school.

We have also spoken about consumer behavior taught at a young age.  This is something that should be kept out of schools, in my opinion. Things like box tops for education put pressure on students to ask their parents for things that they may not be able to afford. Pressure is put on students by teachers as well since box tops add to school funding.

Something that the book never touched on but I thought would have been nice to see is the idea of uniforms in public schools and what effects that could have on students in a school?

I also feel like education keeps getting pushed to the back burner, even if you look at news coverage it was breaking news when Obama’s birth certificate was released but it is not breaking news, no one stops your broadcasting to tell you that our nation’s education is failing. Why is that?

Kozol’s book brings about so many interesting points. When comparing the two schools in Riverdale I was struck by how different the schools were and what a blind eye did the department turn.

Kozol is correct when making his points about the unjust differentiation in wealth when it comes to school, and with the unjust wealth differentiation a racial differentiation usually comes with it as well.

Most NYC public schools are zoned schools until you get to the high school (where as far as I know students are allowed a choice or to apply and take tests for specialized high schools). I understand that this idea of giving students a choice is an attempt to break down the differentiation, but I am also aware that you still get first priority at your zoned school and that students who have struggled and been dealing with a school that has severe over crowding how can they really make a fair play for a spot at a preferred high school?

I understand everything the author is saying, and agree who heartedly that it is unjust; I just don’t see how one should fix it? Should it be a nationwide change or would small steps make a difference?

Part 1

A lot of things in this part of the book were very interesting and some of it felt like a review from my black history class. I did appreciate the way she tried to differentiate between the different types of racism and that many white people find themselves benefiting from an overt racism.

I had mentioned this in an earlier post about schools being segregated by neighborhoods and the make up of the neighborhoods. The neighborhoods that these schools are in usually wind up being schools with high graduation rates.

I am sure that in ways that are blind to me and things that I do not notice I have benefited from racism. I am an immigrant yet before my parents open their mouths that are something that goes unnoticed. My skin color allows me a certain anonymous clock about who I am and what my nationally I am.

Which brings up the point of the second chapter and how racism and skin color doesn’t give people the anonymity that white skin does.

The author brought up many interesting points in the first two chapters that I am interested to see if she will reflect on further in the book.  I do feel that this book is a loaded gun kind of book, the author strikes me as abrasive and believes that if you are not agreeing with her points you are wrong.

One of the things that bothered me was the way she spoke about the young man who said that he wouldn’t make an effort to change things and compared it to other students in her class. I have taken a black studies class and found that when I wrote a paper that was not what my professor wanted to hear my grade was lower than I deserved whereas when I wrote a paper with my political and racial ideals showing that my mind was changed was my grade. I understand that she is trying to make a point about how you can change minds about racism but maybe a classroom with graded papers where most students will write what they think there professor wants to hear is the best way to do so?

Chapter 14 really focused on trying to summarize everything that we have previously discussed. Yet it left a lot of things unanswered.

On the topic of racial segregation, while there is no longer de jure segregation, a lot of de facto segregation still exists in the public school system since children are zoned to their schools by where they live. I looked up the student ethnicity rate of the high school I went to, a public high school in one of the five boroughs and found that out of over three thousand students 82% were white and only 2% were Hispanic. The high school also has a graduation rate that is 30% higher than the NYC public school graduation rate. While I am not saying that this has to do with the makeup of the students, but the fact that the school is so racially segregated shows some the of the racial disparities of nyc public school systems.

The chapter also spoke about ESL and Bilingual education; this is something that is still a struggle and a problem in the public school system. I have friends who came out of ESL excellent English language speakers because they came to the states at a young age and other friends who remember ESL as one of the worst times of their lives and think it made school and learning the language very difficult. I wonder if there is any way to aid the process of learning the language for students without just thrusting them into ESL programs and if the extra money should be spent on bilingual education (which many schools have cut since it is expensive and personal)?

This chapter was very interesting follow up to the class discussion that we had pertaining to things like sesame street and censorship. It also touched on the National Science Foundation. What’s very interesting about the NSF was that it was started as a reaction to the cold war and the lack of scientific advances made by the United States. Now the NSF is one of the funders of shows on PBS as well as funding many science programs. It is also interesting to note that the US still lags when it comes to Science and Math.  Is there a way to fix this problem? Is there a reason why it is problem in the United States Educational System?

While the chapter did not touch much on the GI bill, the GI bill is one of the things that many associate with a growing disparity between the middle class whites and blacks. When African American soldiers came back from the war, they were very limited into the colleges that would accept them. They also were not allowed to buy the same homes that white GI’s could, homes in such developments as Levittown and the like. This lead to much disparity between education and income in further generations.

What’s interesting is the books focus on Sesame Street and it’s idealistic examples.  While the book takes a condescending tone when it comes to that. I think it’s one of the things that make Sesame Street enjoyable for children and parents comfortable with them watching it, knowing that at least for an hour their children are protected from all the evils.  Sometimes I do believe that sesame street goes to far in its censorship in items such as the Katy Perry skit that they didn’t air last year (http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/sesame-street-pulls-katy-perry-video-from-show/) because her chest was overly bouncy.

Chapter 12 is another chapter that really shows how history repeats itself. While this chapter spent a lot of time focusing on the censorship of movies and the radio. This can be seen nowadays with many parent groups fighting for the censorship of the internet and also many groups fighting to “protect children” on the internet because of all the evils it has.

This chapter also touched on teachers unions fighting for things that may not be a teacher’s cause.

I wasn’t surprised at all while reading this chapter about the amount of censorship that was put on American movies. America is known for being very big on censorship.

The chapter also touched on children as consumers and creating the teenage market. While baby boomers are still the largest consumer market in the United States. The tween and preteen age group is one of the biggest in the United States and it was very interesting to see how items began to be marketed solely for them. Even know some of the largest grossing cable television channels are ones that are geared towards teens (MTV) and children/ preteens (Disney and Nickelodeon)