Author Archives: Rob Joyce

During today’s economy where it is so hard to find a good job because not many companies are actually hiring, it is important to get the highest degree of education that we can get.  I understand that higher education can be really expensive if you are going to a private institution where you can spend potentially $50,000 a year on tuition and there are certainly not a lot of families that can afford that.  I believe that the state and federal governments should step up and help out students who are interested in receiving a higher education, because who is to say that a student from a poor family does not deserve the same opportunity to a higher education like a student from a wealthy family gets.  Thar poor student could work really hard in his higher education and be someone who makes a significant difference in the world one day and without the state paying contributing to that education, that student probably would not have been able to do much with his life.  We are not all fortunate enough to live in a big house or have wealthy parents, I know that I don’t but it does not mean that we should not have a chance to receive a higher education like all the other people do.

During today’s age where kids do not really want to go to school because they see it as a job and not as much fun because they have to learn things that they do think are important, I think it is really important for parents to be involved in their child’s education.  The emphasis that the parents can put on the education is very significant because the child looks up to them as being a role model and thus will listen to the parent’s advice.  Kids need to understand that there is a reason as to why they are going to school and it is not just a free babysitting service.  School at all levels helps prepare the children for their future and it must be taken seriously by the students.  It really is an important time for the parents to be involved in their child’s education because if they are not involved at a young age, then the children may fall off course and not live up his or her full potential.

President Nixon is a well known figure in American history and some of the reasons that he is remembered are not to good. One thing that did not know about Nixon is that his administration promoted the idea of going to school to get a job in the future. This is a very important notion of thought because we receive our education that gives us the tools to complete our jobs in the future. Education teaches us to work hard and complete the work that is given to us in a timely manner and these are all prevalent aspects that we need in the workplace. Without education we would not learn the tools and issues that we will encounter in the work place and we would not be able to understand how to deal with these issues in the event that they happecto us in out future. It is also an important point that many jobs no require a high degree such as a college degree and these standards have increased over time. More and more employers are looking for a higher degree of education because employers always look for thebest of the best. Education is clearly important for the future of the working American and must be taken seriously by all school children.

Racism is a major problem in the world that we live in today. But it is not only based on races, it is also based on the differences between sexes as well. I completely agree with Tatum when he says that racism is still alive and thriving in today’s world, as we can see evident in cases and examples throughout the world, not only in the United States. There are wars between other races in the Middle EAst due to differences in race and I think it is absolutely horrendous. Segregation was supposed to end with the joining of the schools and luxuries that both blacks and whites enjoyed with the end of the civil rights movement but it clearly hasn’t. It would be absolutely foolish to say that raise between races is over, because that would be completely false. Will differences between races ever end, I really don’t have an answer for that but my guy feeling says that it will end in our lifetime. Racism between sexes is another problem that we have in our world. It is obviously seen that there are cast differences in the way that men and women are treated in society and in the work place and this is obviously wrong. Women are paid less, less likely to get certain jobs and other discriminations, this also needs to end immediately. There is no evidence that shows that men are better than women at being lawyers, bankers and other jobs. The only exception where I see the discrimination of women is in physical labor jobs such as construction, an I don’t see that being debatable. Racism needs to end immediately in order for us to grow for a society and have a better future.

This was a very important chapter to be read because it talks about a very important topic, segregation in the school system. The civil rights movement was a very important time in the history of the united states because it joined the citizens of America together so we had actually become “united” because we surely were not before. The integration of schools was very important because now both white and black students were being leaning in establishments with the equal materials and the same advantages. No group had an advantage over another group. The only thing that I don’t agree with about segregation is that I don’t think it is actully over. I can see grimly own experience is that my grammar school and junior high school was basically all white. There were a handful of llatino kids but there were no blacks student in my school. So is this just one unique exampl or or does segregation still exist? I think zoning laws in the education system play a big fault in this problem because kids are bot brought by bus to schools far from where they live and that results in segregation. My question is, do you think that segregation is actually over and did anyone else go to a grammar school or junior high school that was basically all one race?

I am very glad to see that I am not the only person in the class that thinks that the SAT should not be used to get into college. The only issue that arises is, what should be the measurement that should be used to get into college? The chapter stated that the SAT was created to measure a students intelligence and was an excellent method to determine if students were intelligent enough to get into the college that they wanted. The problem that arises is that the SAt doesn’t measure intelligence, it just tests knowledge on the ability to define a word or to figure out a math problem. It makes you write an essay on a topic that I guess can gauge the ability of the person to write in a coherent manner, but the majority of schools don’t even look at the essay. So then why do they even have it???? I don’t think the SAT should be used because you have people who could be the smartest kids in the country but they stressthemselves out so much that they do miserable on the test and they end up in a school that they don’t belong in. Unfortunately, until there is a better system that is developed, students will have to suffer through the agony, stress and anxiety that we call the SAT.

The influence that socialmedia plays in today’s world on children is something that can not be ignored. Children of all ages spend a large amount of their time watching television, movies, playing video games and other media produced activities and usually relate more to these influences more than anything else in the world. I’m not going to say that we should control what our children are watching and viewing because I don’t think that is possible. Children are still going to watch whatever it is that they enhjoy and we cannot avoid that. Children today see actors and characters that they think are really special and that they want to be just like them in the future. It is certain that some of these people should not be idolized but it is extremely hard to stop that. The only solution that I believe has a chance of working is if we put more educational influenced media into our childrens viewing but then again, I am not at all sure that it will actually work.

Chapter 11 brought up some very interesting points on the importnance and necessity of unions. Unions were first created to protect the interests if individuals of a particular trade and in this case they are protecting teachers. Without the unios that we have set in place, teachers would not be able to have collective bargaining and a sense if job security, even though it is nowhere near concrete in it’s security.unions provide the teachers with benefits and other incentives that are necessary for them o have. Without the Ot receive some of the benefits that they do. Without a union, I’m not sure the teachers would be able to perform their jobs at the level that is expected from them. This could have a drastic effect on the youth who are learning from these teachers. If the teachers are not happy with the way that they are being treated then i believe that the students that they teach would be the greatest group effected. The lack of unios would not only be bad for teachers, it would be bad for everyone.

After reading this chapter I can’t help but think of what the actual purpose of school is. Is it to prepare individuals with an education that will make them a more educated individual or is it to prepare the individuals for a job in the future? One other question I have is do the different levels of schooling prepare individuals differently? I can understand the fact that we aren’t taught subjects that we will definitely need in our future, but how do we know what subjects we will need? We are taught information on a host of different subject in grammar school and high schol but in college we are allowed to specialize in a subject that we desire. So I believe that schooling does stetch the gap between the rich and the poor because school prepares individuals for their future but not all individuals can afford schooling. The argument that some people are not able to be prepped for their future is totally false, bc all individuals have the ability to learn the different subjects and gain more knowledge that will make them beneficial to the society in the future.