Author Archives: luis.morales1

I went to the Sidney Mishkin Gallery again, with my friends in order to write something for this blog. The first time we had gone there it was because our English teacher took us there so that we could later on write a paper about what we saw.  We decided to go back there again, because the first time we went it was somewhat interesting and we thought that it would be a little more interesting this time because it had to do with Jazz. When we walked in, we realized that we were the only ones in there and I thought wow this exhibit must suck because there is nobody in here, but as soon as we started to look around I realized that there were interesting pictures hanging up. Although I am not too familiar with famous people of the Jazz era I recognized some of their faces, although I still had to look at the descriptions of the photos in order to learn their names. They say that a picture is worth 1000 words and that’s very true, because if you were to read the descriptions of all the pictures without actually seeing the pictures you would just know some information about the Jazz era, but by looking at the photographs you kind of experience the moment of when that photograph was taken. The photos help you put yourself in that time period and imagine what it would have been like living in that era. The photos also caught the emotion of these people and that also helped me generate a connection with the photo. My favorite pictures are those when the people don’t know that they’re being photographed because then you feel that the photo is genuine and that all the emotions and actions in that photo are real and are happening naturally rather then being planned or directed. The photos in the gallery were either taken by or featured Milt Hinton, who was both a Jazz player and photographer. He is referred to as “The dean of Jazz bass Players” or “The Judge.” I don’t think that I’ve ever heard any of his songs, but his photographs are really good and he had a talent for capturing the Jazz mood.

Okay so I guess I’m gonna be typing this as it comes to my head because I didn’t type it the first time and I’m late…again. Well my name is Luis Morales, I have a middle name but uhh I’d rather not have people know it. I’ve always liked my last name I don’t know why but it I think it’s really cool. It’s not that I don’t like my name it’s just that I feel like I could have a cooler name, I always wanted a name that people could make up nicknames for the best one that comes out of mine is Loui, which is pretty wack, I don’t know, I guess it doesn’t really matter, if my parents thought it was good I should too. So obviously I’m a freshman here at Baruch, otherwise I wouldn’t be writing this blog. If some people couldn’t tell, I’m 100% Mexican, born and raised in Brooklyn, located in the greatest city in the world NEW YORK. I’m the second of  three kids, I have an older sister and a little brother, they’re pretty cool although they sometimes get annoying and get me mad but I’m glad I have them otherwise it would get pretty lonely and boring at home. My sister has always helped me with my homework and stuff because she’s only one year older than me and all the things that I am learning she already learned just one year ago so she still remembers most things. My little brother is three years younger than me but he’s cool because he doesn’t act like an idiot or a little kid (most of the time) and we talk about guy stuff together, like cars, shoes, sports, games, and of course… girls. =D  We also play baseball, football, and basketball together so I always have something to do with him. My mom and dad are pretty cool also, I love them all.

I don’t know a perfect way to describe myself, but I guess saying that I am pretty well rounded is a good way to do it, if it doesn’t make me sound cliché or wack.

In high school I wasn’t as social as I would have liked mostly because I thought I was the shit and for like a year and a half and I thought everybody else had to earn my friendship, which set me back in the social scene and although I didn’t completely accomplish becoming super popular I think that I came as close as I could to catching up after being set back a couple of years. Since I’m talking about school I guess I should talk about college, I wanted to go to school in Miami because the weather and the girls match: they’re both hot!!! Another reason that I wanted to go is because I wanted to experience college life to the fullest and that meant dorming and partying, which is hard to do if you go to school in the city. The school in Miami I wanted to go to was way too expensive even with their $11,000 scholarship and Baruch wasn’t my second choice it actually didn’t even make top five, but the way I see it, things happen for a reason and now that I’m here it seems really cool and I guess I should make the best out of it and study hard but also have fun, before I become a “real adult.”

There’s a lot of things that I regret doing and not doing in the last four years of my life, I know it sounds like something everybody says but I guess everybody has regrets and sometimes it’s not like we didn’t do something because we chose not to do it or did something else instead, sometimes we just couldn’t do it, either because we were physically incapable of doing it, or we put ourselves in a position were we couldn’t do what we wanted to, or simply because we were too pussy to do it. I don’t know, I guess these are the reasons why I didn’t do some (a lot of) things. I don’t remember if it was a movie that I heard this in, but I’m pretty sure it was a movie, and although I’ve heard it in a lot of other shows and movies also, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen the movie that I remember this scene from it would be nice to see the movie (or show) again but I guess it doesn’t matter, all that matters is that I remember that quote which is my inspiration for doing a lot of things that I would be too scared to do, but when I say it in my head I get enough courage to do it. If you think about it, it isn’t really like a big quote or whatever but you can always plug it into any context or situation that you find yourself in and in need of inspiration; the two simple words that drive me are “What If?” I know it seems simple but they’re inspirational words, It’s like this: you can’t go your entire life wondering “what if?”, you have to take risks even if you end up failing at least you know that you tried to do it, whatever “it” may be, and that way you won’t end up dying with too many regrets, because everyone dies with regrets but the more risks you take in life the less regrets you’ll have. Yea so that’s my motto and I hope to put it in practice soon because life will suck if I don’t.

Damn, I wrote a lot, and no bullshit either, I’m the fucking man. As far as the picture goes, I can’t really think of a good one to put up, I don’t wanna put up some dumbass pic, so I guess if I can’t find one i won’t.

There are many factors that come into play when talking about the difference between public and private schools, the largest being, of course, money. Money is what makes things happen, it makes the world go ‘round and it inspires people to do great things, it also happens to be able to get you a better education. How is this thing called “money” able to do so many things, well it has many friends, many, many, many friends, they too are called money (it gets pretty confusing), but they are friends which you want to have too. You see, with money as your friend you can do almost anything, including getting an exceptionally good education. Private schools offer their students some of the best educational services around, because, although they need to generate their own income, they do not belong to an entire branch of institutions to which they would need to share that income. Their [private schools’] largest source of income is the tuition that they charge their students for attending. Unlike public schools, private schools charge tuition to every single student, which makes attending such an institution almost impossible for low income families, especially if they have more than one child. This is where public institutions come in; they are free or relatively inexpensive to attend regardless of what your or your parents’ income is, that is because they belong to a large network of educational facilities, that are financed by federal, state, and local taxes. And although this might seem like an abundant source of money, it is not because this money has to be distributed among all the educational institutions that exist within this network.
Every child’s education starts in elementary school, there they learn what becomes the basis of all their future endeavors. It is of the utmost importance that all children begin the learning process within an environment that allows them to grow and become self-reliant in order to reach their highest potential and become successful in the future. In every single town and city in the United States of America there are public schools where parents can send their children to learn, free of charge. Public elementary schools are very important because it allows every single kid in the country to get an education regardless of whom they are or the income of their parents. At school kids are given the best resources available to the school, although at times it might not be enough, due to lack of funding given to the school. More recently elementary schools have seen an increase in class sizes because of overcrowding in some schools and lack of students in another. There are many factors that play into the cause of this; one is the very fact that although all schools are made equal and intended to stay so, in terms of academics and resources available, they do not. They do not and cannot remain equal because of the location in which they operate in and because of the type of people that attend that institution. Many of the schools that have good academic standings and prosper from a cornucopia of available resources are those situated in upscale and trendy neighborhoods. There are many reasons that can explain this, some are that the more the parents get involved the quicker the school is to respond to any problems and that children who come from middle- middle class or upper-middle class families tend to have more resources available to them outside of the school that help them perform better in it. These schools face overcrowding because every parent wants to send their kid to the best school, even if it far away, and those who can, do. Now for those schools in the tough neighborhoods, who get little help as it is because they do not stand out from the rest of the schools, it is difficult for them to give their students the same type of education as the type of schools aforementioned and the fact that the parents of the children whom attend these schools do not participate actively in the school community does not help either. But still, these problems put aside and the system works. Not only because every child can afford to go to school but also because they are all taught the same things by individuals whom are equally educated regardless of what school they teach at. And another way that public schools help children is that if they cannot afford to buy the required materials for class all they have to do is inform the school that they attend and they will provide the student with those materials at no personal cost. But in spite of all these things, if one begins to analyze the whole concept of “free school” then they will actually come to the conclusion that it is not free and that is because as I mentioned in the opening paragraph the money to pay for all these benefits comes from the government and the only way that the government gets the money to provide the schools is through the taxes that they collect from all the people that  pay taxes and that includes the parents of the children who attend public schools. Of course there are exceptions, such as the families who do not even make enough money to pay taxes; the children who come from those families are the only ones who truly receive a free education. Anybody else who does not fall under this category has in fact, and will continue to pay for their child’s education, perhaps in an indirect manner, but they are still paying.
Now for those parents who have the means to do so, private school is always an option. The fact of the matter is this, in this society it is believed that because one pays for something, or pays more than somebody else, it is better; this is not always true, but it can be. Nevertheless, it is believed that because one pays a school a ridiculous amount of money for a kid to attend, that kid will get a better education than if they were to attend an institution that offered to teach him for free. That is what private schools use to get more kids into their school; of course those children would probably have to fit the typical student pedigree established by that institution. There are also different types of private schools: religious, military, etc. They all obviously offer different curriculums and implement different styles of teaching and the price range differs for each one, however, they all want your money and some will almost conform to the needs of the child whose parents have contributed the most money to the school. Unlike public schools, which are sustained from money handed to them by the government, which is given to the government through taxes paid for by everyone, private schools must charge tuition to students admitted in order to get money, because the government does not give them money as they are not part of it and are their own boss. Private schools do not follow the curriculum set by the government for all the public schools; they are also able to set the school schedule as they please; and they have their own rules for dealing with problems that the government cannot interfere with as long as those rules are legal. Another form of attaining money, which public schools also implement, is asking parents of the children who attend those schools to donate money in order to keep the school functioning at its highest level. The one biggest difference of this strategy is the amount of money raised. Clearly most public schools have many more kids than private schools, however, the most crucial factor in this equation is not which school has the most kids, rather which school has the most kids with wealthy parents and there is where the private schools prevail. As they are able to pay more money they can hire more staff, expand the school, reduce class sizes and acquire sufficient and better materials for the children to work with, therefore enriching the learning experience. There is no absolute way to determine whether or not those kids will actually be smarter than those who attend public schools but it would make sense if they did seeing that they have been given a better start than most others. There are some exceptions when it comes to the academic standing of private and public schools. There are some public schools which have a better academic record than any other school, public or private, perhaps those children started off in private schools and moved to public schools as they got older, or perhaps it’s just hard work and not the schools attended that help increase one’s intelligence. Regardless of any of these reasons the biggest and most obvious difference in public and private schools at any level is, and most certainly always will be, money, money.