20th Century

We are writing to ask you to reconsider the decision not to run 20th Century Literature next year. As students that have had firsthand experience with the benefits of an integrated curriculum, we would like to share with you three main reasons why 20th Century would improve our learning. Those reasons are: the significance of an integrated curriculum in the world we will be living in, how the integrated environment supports our learning styles, and how integrated classes in the past have built a strong community that has influenced constructive learning within class and the school.
No one knows what the world will look like in twenty years, but what we know is that we will be in our late thirties with jobs of all sorts. We do not know where we will be, but we do know that the wave of global connections and the need to integrate different perspectives is already present in the jobs of today. American Studies and Perspectives (for those who took it) have provided us with a new way of thinking. It has showed us how to look at two different subjects and make them one. This is an essential skill for our future.
We believe that in the past, Deerfield High School has done an exceptional job at providing different environments to suit students’ learning. We, as students in American Studies, have been able to understand our learning styles. We took American Studies for the purpose of finding success within that environment, and those of us who signed up for 20th Century did so because we know this type of environment is where we can find the most success. Through the double periods, the ability for class discussions, and the two subjects brought together as one we have all come to know that this is where we learn best. There are different levels of senior English in order to provide a variety of learning environments for students. The lack of an integrated senior English course leaves a large number of students with options of senior English that do not best suit their learning. These integrated courses that Deerfield High School provides are great examples of how our school shows that it values how we learn best.
We have become better-quality thinkers through the environment of American Studies. The environment of the class has caused us to be self-reliant and have a positive connection with each other. We believe that an integrated class gives us a new way to think, it forces us to go beyond just facts and think at a deeper level. The two hours we spend with our class four days a week has provided us with surroundings comfortable to us. Our class has created a strong bond that has allowed our thinking to improve through trust and encouragement of our classmates and teachers. In our opinion we do not get that same feel in other classes. This bond has extended to other times and places throughout the school which has helped each of us broaden our learning.
We understand that schools face budget constraints. In your decisions of balancing finances and options for students, we felt it was important for you to understand the impact this decision has on our learning. We would be happy to talk with you further if you would like. We are looking forward to an exciting senior year and we hope 20th Century Literature is a part of it.

Respectfully,
Members of Students Requesting 2010-2011 20th Century Literature

Response to Pudys Blog

Before reading Stewart’s blog, I had little to no knowledge at all about the true effects of urbanization. I believe that he did a very good job with laying out the positives and negatives. This gave me a better understanding. For example I did not know that urbanization has affected crime in this country, just knowing that fact makes me think about the reasons behind that and how to find solutions. After reading the list of pros and cons though I am still left wondering why, why was wealth created or how was it? How did it give people opportunity that was not previously given and how did it increase organized crime? When Stewart talks about the Chicago fire, it helped me understand what could go wrong and why some people may be against urbanization. I now can see that urbanization could be dangerous and when I always thought of the Chicago fire I never thought of how it may have affected society. It probably discouraged them, many people lost so much. I believe urbanization is all about the next step, in terms of the Chicago fire it became all about how Chicago could improve. I was a little confused how his short story / poem connected with urbanization in America. I believe when Stewart talked about pollution it helps provide more information on negative effects of urbanization. After giving the information about pollution I was able to think about the benefits and negative side effects and think about, is it worth it? I thought that Stewarts connection to what it means to be an American was very good and after reading it I was able to think about how that affects America today in a lot of different issues. I was able to think about how urbanization creates the American idea of wealth and power. Overall, I was left with a few questions but I really got some good information about how urbanization plays a role in America.

Response to Allie’s American Studies Blog

Before reading Allie’s blog, I had a pretty good idea about Immigration. I knew about American issues with immigration, benefits, and “outsiders” views…or so I thought. Allie’s presentation really gave me a much strong idea of how the issue came about and why the root of the issue is still affecting American culture. When Allie talks about the Gentleman’s Agreement, I gave me a different look on who exactly migrates to America. I feel that when people, or at least I do, think about immigrants it is usually Hispanics and African Americans who have immigrated here. When she wrote about the agreement it really made me think about people for Japan immigrating here. How is it possible that the majority of Asians in this country are more highly accepted than Hispanics and blacks? How did America become a country that is supposed to give opportunities and a better life? Yes, America does provide many more opportunities and fairness towards their people than other countries do, but America does not accept that their people are not only white people. We should be a country that is willing to help all people of any race, gender, or age move forward. I really liked how Allie gave a side of fear or terrorists. I believe that it puts the government’s actions into perspective. It is important that America does not just become a “free for all” country; it needs to remain a safe place. It is very hard to find a line between being safe and being judgmental. I can now see how it can be very hard for the government to make immigration legislation, before I saw all the government as a negative influence and deny others opportunities but now I can see how challenging it is. I believe Allie does a very good job and stating the issue and her opinion for possible solutions. Although I do not necessarily agree with all of Allie’s views on the issues, I was still able to get a very good understanding of the general issue. She gave a very good amount of background information for me to be able to make my own connections. America became to be the way that it is today because people from all of immigrated over here to create their own lives. America is their opportunity to live, the government needs to keep that idea in mind while still trying to protect the country.

Response to Chronicles of the Chosen One

Before reading Carl’s blog, I had little knowledge about the history of Hispanics in America. It really helped me that he gave two sides to the idea of Hispanics taking American jobs. I also believe that the quotes and the image he used were very powerful. It gave me a better understanding a more realistic view on this issue. The explanation of the short story I felt was helpful in giving information about Hispanics place in American society. It was really cool and interesting how well the short story connected with Carl’s topic and background information. Lastly, it was fascinating to hear his opinion at the end. The connection between all the different elements gave me a deeper understanding of how this issue affects America and will continue to. I now see the issue and both sides of the argument. When Carl wrote about Cesar Chavez and how he worked towards good education of migrant works children, I connected it to my topic. When I wrote about what it means to be an American, I talked about people are true Americans when they can see that education is a problem, important, and they know that something needs to be done. Cesar Chavez did that. I believe this makes his actually very American which contradicts what a lot of white Americans believe. I believe that hate and prejudice towards minorities, which Carl talks about, is a main factor for the problem with education. I think Carl did a good job at showing how that affects America in current events today. The last thing I really was able to connect is how much the issue with Hispanics has affected. It has further pushed minorities to a lower social class and created more segregation between whites and minorities. Like Carl said, many white Americans are afraid of it and that is why hate crimes, and other crimes go on. It sounds like to me that Carl has a very good understanding about his topic and now I do too.

Resources Used

Koch, K. (1999, May 14). National education standards. CQ Researcher, 9, 401-424. Retrieved February 9, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1999051400.
Morgan, John Hunt. "White Americans Must Build Separate Communities." At Issue: White Supremacy Groups. Ed. Mitchell Young. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010
Clemmitt, M. (2007, April 27). Fixing urban schools. CQ Researcher, 17, 361-384. Retrieved February 7, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007042700.
Bethell, Tom. "The Quality of Public Education Has Declined." Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010
Welcome to the Monkey House: Kurt Vonnegut
"Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010.
http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-1666-proposal-could-end-pending-cps-boycott.html
http://www.cps.edu/About_CPS/Financial_information/Pages/FYBudget2010.aspx
"Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010.
Newman, Jason. "public education." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .
"Thomas Jefferson." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010.
"education." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 29 Jan. 2010. .
http://boboleechronicles.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/thejimcrowlaws-front.jpg
http://www.accd.edu/pac/faculty/pmyers/hist1302/picJimCrow.jpg
http://thedarkprophet.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/segregation.jpg
http://brotherpeacemaker.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/white-boogeymen.jpg
http://www.canderson.in/coolstuff/tnhistoryday/original/school%20segregation.jpg
http://ed.isu.edu/depts/diversity/old%20diversity/pdfs/Newsletters/images/segregation.jpg
http://www.cynical-c.com/archives/bloggraphics/1997_039007_counts.jpg

Current Event: Analytical Entry

America has been facing very similar issues with education since the idea of having a common education was first thought up. The settlers of America agreed that knowledge was important; this is how public schooling came to be. The civil rights movement sent public education on a downfall. In present day America the educational system is still failing. The attempts made by the American government to fix the educational systems and provide equal educations have failed over and over again. It is not that each person in America needs to have the same knowledge, but the same opportunity to have the knowledge needs to be offered. America currently does not offer that.
Tom Bethell a public policy researcher once said "The quality of public education has deteriorated"(Bethell). Many people of America recognized that the educational system is problematic. There are many reasons for this being Bethell’s belief. His main point was about low-income for the schools. Schools in low-income areas had less quality for their schools. Due to the fact low-income areas reside in mostly minorities such as blacks, blacks are offered a lower education then the public schools in that area do not have enough funding to keep up their quality of education. It is clear to see that the quality of public education has been failing due to standardized testing. The idea of standardized testing is not necessarily a bad idea; it depends on how the government interprets the information though. A main factor in knowing that low-income public schools have lost quality is through standardized testing. But what has the government done? The Brown V. Board of Education created new laws, have they helped integrate? No. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act was created to improve funding for inner city schools, did it help? It failed. The No Child Left Behind Act was created, did it help? It failed. What is the solution?
The solution is in creating white communities according to John Morgan. Morgan once said “The most important aspect of such a community [white communities] would be the education it offered children.” (Morgan) White communities could allow for all white children be able to have a good education without blacks, who only bring down the quality of education. This would create the history of America to go in a circle. Whites used to live in their own communities and then blacks wanted to move in, as they began to integrate the government created communities with low-income houses. Blacks have the right to go to school, therefore creating white communities would do nothing but further cause segregation throughout America. So what is the solution? The solution is to “And today the argument that school reform should provide equal opportunity for children, or prepare them to live in a pluralistic society, is spent. The winning argument is that better schools are needed for all children—black, white, brown and every other hue—in order to foster a competitive workforce in a global economy,” according to Juan Williams. He believes that nothing can help the segregation that America’s history has created. The thing left to do is to keep pushing all races to have an education.
Segregation did not work before and it will not work now. The issue of education is not one to forget or push aside. It needs an answer now, now means now. The more time the government waits to help their citizens find an education the more citizens will fail. The government has failed enough, now is the time to stop and find a solution that gets to the root of the problem, the problem being the government’s priorities of education.

Literature: Analytical Entry

Education does not necessarily mean attending school, it means to have knowledge and there are many ways to obtain said knowledge. All children from a young age learn to behave from their surroundings. The children grow up and chose to act the way they do from what they know. What they know comes from their environment. What is a child to do if they have grown up in a bad environment; how are they supposed to obtain knowledge? In any case knowledge plays an important role in society. Without knowledge or any education a society fulfills meaningless lives. The idea of equal knowledge may be scary to some, but if done properly it is what the people of America deserve. America's have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, to fulfill all one these the one that that is required is: knowledge. In the story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergeron was only a child when he was thrown in jail. The year was 2081 and the American government had created all of the people as equals. The government used different techniques, such as beautiful people wearing masks, to create one giant social group. They made it so "They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way." (Welcome 7). Harrison Bergeron was considered to be a smart boy, therefore he was considered to be a threat to the government. When he failed to abide by the governments law he went to jail. From there he escaped and tried to show the world that what the government was doing was unfair. His parents, watching him on television, saw him encourage a dancer to take off all her restrictions and be who she wanted to be. As a punishment for being an individual, he and the dancer were both shot. Due to the fact that everyone must have the same knowledge and no one can be smarter then another, his mother and father almost instantly forgot what they witnessed on T.V. There was not enough knowledge for even Harrison’s own parents to mourn for their loss.The people of America in this short story had a common knowledge, but the knowledge they were allowed to have was exceptionally minimal. They functioned as a society, but they were not living. They functioned a society only because that's only what the people knew how to do. They functioned as a meaningless society, which is not necessarily functioning at all. Knowledge provides people with life, opportunities, and ideas. Without knowledge they cannot fulfill their lives with meaningful things. Harrison tried to show America that there was more to life than being equal but was punished because of it. Equal knowledge is not necessarily a negative thing; however minimal equal knowledge creates nothing. The society has influenced the people to give up their right for knowledge and it has lead to no good. This sort of behavior can be transferred to the real world and is shown today.The government now needs to find a way to balance equal knowledge, with knowledge still. This meaning, the government needs to not necessarily lower their expectations or only provide minimal knowledge, but they need to provide settings for positive education. Since so much can be learned from a parent, community, or peers the government needs to create societies were there can be a balance. This would create for not all low-income parents to have children that attend low-income schools; it would create for a mix of middle income to make for a general knowledge. In Harrison’s case the government influenced his surroundings so much that he could not succeed in life. The society that Harrison grew up in did not truly understand knowledge and creating a common knowledge only created the government to fail in providing educations, again. People are not born to fail for success it is how the government has influenced and created their surroundings that leads for failure.

Background Information: Analytical Entry

Throughout America’s history, providing students with an equal education has always been an issue. If education continues to follow on the path that it is currently on, educational opportunities will continuously be taken away from the children of America. Education has always been a very important part of society. From the end of the American Revolution to present day education has been the idea of creating a general knowledge among the people. The problem that has been created is that, as time went on the quality of schools as decreased and the expectation of a higher common knowledge has increased. The settlers “felt that all people needed to have a basic education for the good of their souls and the community” (Cremin, Education) and to achieve that through home and public education. The idea of a basic education is shown today through state standardize testing, it represents a common knowledge. Over the years it has become harder and harder to reach that knowledge. What did they do? First, Thomas Jefferson created the separation of church and state in public schools. This created public schools which is described as “never adopted as he envisioned” (Boorstin, Thomas). The next, they looked at why public education was losing quality and why it ended up not working as was first versioned. The problem started when they integrated schools and during the time of civil rights. As they forced blacks to not have a high-income this basically required blacks to move into low-income areas. With blacks creating low-income communities, it created low income schools. This created another problem, which was providing an unequal education for blacks and whites. The government knew something had to be done about this because America just fought a long war to prevent blacks and whites from being separate. Over time and consideration the government adopted the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The Act’s purpose was to "help provide an accelerated, high-quality curriculum, including applied learning" (Elementary).” The act was supposed to help provide funds for low-income and high needs schools to make them equal to schools where taxes in the community were higher for schools. At first this act seemed to answer a lot of problems and questions about education. It can clearly be seen that the act puts together a lot of bold statements that the government has failed to keep. The act allows the youth of America to have the right to an education, but fails them to provide them with an equal education. This relates back to the civil rights in the sense that during a time of severe racism, there were busses, schools, bathrooms, and train cars given to blacks so both black and whites have them but they were not equal. Decades later, blacks and minorities in a sense are still separate and unequal to whites in terms of education and the government fails to realize this. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act first statements purpose is “helping disadvantaged children meet high-standards” (Elementary). The government has tried to help disadvantaged children meet high-standards over and over again but have failed over and over again. The government needs to figure out and see that they are the reason why many kids have become disadvantaged and they need to fix it. The government needs to step back and retrace their steps they first took. They need to look and why education ended up being so unequal and get to the real reason why it happened.

Opposing Viewpoints: Moving Beyond the Mandates of Brown v. Board of Education Will Improve Public Schools

Juan Williams writes “Desegregation does not speak to dropout rates that hover near 50 percent for black and Hispanic high school students. It does not equip society to address the so-called achievement gap between black and white students that mocks Brown's promise of equal educational opportunity. ” (Williams) Williams believes that the affects of Brown vs. Board of Education has actually damaged the integration of blacks and whites. It has not been effective and in today’s world, educationally, white students are academically higher than black students. Most white students attend school with other white students where blacks attend with mostly blacks and other races. This not only segregates blacks and whites but it provides with the majority of blacks with a lower education. Many blacks live in low-income areas and attend low-income schools which created a bigger gap in education. This has not improved the quality of black education. It is like America has learned nothing and we still are dealing with race issues today.
Our government is not willing to look at the real issues behind the difference in levels of education. It is a sensitive topic and area and to look at the real reason being continual racial issues would be very difficult. According to Williams “And today the argument that school reform should provide equal opportunity for children, or prepare them to live in a pluralistic society, is spent. The winning argument is that better schools are needed for all children—black, white, brown and every other hue—in order to foster a competitive workforce in a global economy.” Whites currently foster a competitive work force, and there is still definitely room for improvement, but white educational systems should not improve until blacks do. The government needs to look at the mistakes that they made in the past and create a new set of rules. This rules need to provide the opportunity for blacks, whites, etc. to foster a competitive work force.
I agree with what Williams says in terms of the leading cause of public education to be the way that it is. Problems in the past with the educational system are still coming to haunt America back today. These problems need an answer. I do not agree with his answer. America needs to address this issue as a racial issue because that is what it truly is. Whether the government wants to recognize it or not, it is racial segregation. Yes, the government has made mistakes in the past for both the educational system and racism but they have no excuse to keep making these mistakes today. America has come to far to go back, but how far can America really have come if it is so easy to snap right back to racism and segregation?

Current Event: National Education Standards

Nina Shokraii Rees, an educational specialist once said, “Having a good strong test in early years will give parents the information about where kids are, and where the problems are.” The problems are with school. The problems with standardized testing in most cases, is not the kid it is the school. Therefore, it is not the parents job to fix their kids, it is the government jobs to fix the schools. By giving all students national standardized tests is only beneficial for one reason-it shows the government that they are failing at providing an education for students. Knowing this information is not even beneficial to the government because they are not willing to take action. The government for years now have blamed the problem with education on everything else but themselves. It is time for they to realize they are failing students all over the country and it is their responsibility to come up with a better plan rather than with education standards. Currently America does not have national standards but there are state standards. John Jennings, the director of the center of education said "And they will hold students and teachers accountable for reaching those cucurriculums. That's what this whole movement is about." The movement of standardized testing is to see where a student is compared to students around the state. It is unfair for the government to compare a student from a Chicago Public High School to a kid from New Trier. This unfairness is not caused from the parents, teachers, or students but a combination which all leads back to the government. The government is afraid. They are afraid because they have failed time and time again for students. They fail to give all students a proper education, they fail to look at the real issue of schools, and they fail to take action. The government needs to look at the standardize tests and think "okay here is what we are doing wrong, and this is what we need to do about it". The whole reason that low-income areas were creating and minorities were pushed into them in the first place, is the governments fault. It is time for them to clean up what they keep doing wrong and stop failing kids over and over again. They have been unfair, they have showed a lack of care, and they have ignored the thousands of kids that they have failed. It is time to find a solution through looking at standardized testing and not think that that is the answer. In my opinion on education, if they government can first own up to what they have been doing, then they can begin improvement. In my opinion on national standards, what would that do? It would further discourage kids about they education or it would further show the country how privileged some kids get to be. I do not see the purpose. I do not understand how it would accomplish anything positive. The real answer is not at throwing numbers and tests around it is in community and to answer the question- why do some children receive an unequal education and what can we as a country and government do to stop this?

Koch, K. (1999, May 14). National education standards. CQ Researcher, 9, 401-424. Retrieved February 9, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1999051400.

Opposing Viewpoints: White Americans Must Build Seperate Communities

John Morgan believes that in order to improve education whites need to create their own communities. He believes that if whites created their own communities that "The most important aspect of such a community would be the education it offered children." Morgan believes that all whites have a completely different way of thinking therefore they need their own community. He goes as far to say that an all white community would create no violence. What would this solve? What have we learned? What would happen if America tried this again? If whites create isolated communities they would have thrown away all that has been accomplished since slavery. Blacks started to move into white communities for a reason and John Morgan does not provide an answer for how that would be prevented. After years of abuse from whites, blacks still went into white communities and used their constitutional rights. This would happened again if white communities became popular. They would not be able to stay white. Black families want the "white education" for their children. It would solve no problems and since blacks have the same rights as whites.
There are many problems with inner city public schools that yes, are mostly filled with minorities. Creating white communities would further create unequal education and problems with racism. America needs to fix the problem of education as a whole, whites cannot just run away from them. Separating education due to separate communities will cause white supremacy and racial issues...again. It would split the country into two...again. Education is a key part of life. America is currently providing whites in blacks with an unequal education thus an unequal life. Separating whites from other cultures would further deny life to many minorities. Now, this is just John Morgan's opinion which is why it is not a reality. The issue is that many whites agree with him causing racial separation.
Schools like Deerfield, New Trier, etc. are filled with mostly white kids. They do not deny education to minorities but due to almost all white communities provides the school with a "white education." When blacks and whites are both given an education like one from Deerfield they both can excel. If resided in the same community, just because a boy is white does not mean he is born to have success. It all depends on how a person grows up and the education that is given. America needs to learn to work together as one country to solve this problem. A country that fought to be one country through shedding blood of brothers and friends, a country that has worked to hard to give up.

Morgan, John Hunt. "White Americans Must Build Separate Communities." At Issue: White Supremacy Groups. Ed. Mitchell Young. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 8 Feb. 2010

Current Event: Fixing Urban Schools

What are students supposed to do? If students are not given the opportunity for a good education, but have the desire for one, what are they supposed to do? Many students in high-poverty areas attend schools that provide little to no education. The education they receive cannot even be compared with the education to a middle-class school in the suburbs. This has been an issue for a long time so what is the government doing? Are they helping? Can they help? These difficult questions are all ones that need to be answered to improve the educations of the youth. According to this article "Only 5 percent of white students attend such high-poverty schools". This issue is creating more separation between blacks and whites. This does not mean that all blacks are poorly educated or all whites have high educations what it means is that whites have an advantage because very few whites attend schools where it is hard to achieve an education. To fix the problem of unequal education the No Child Left Behind Act was created.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was put in place so that government could see individual test scored to judge how each school was doing. There are many people who believe this is a positive thing because schools with low test scores can be helped and improved. I ask to this opinion how are they going to be fixed? If the schools could be fixed then America would no longer have the problem of unequal education, which is not reality. The NCLB sets high standards for students to meet and not all students can meet them. That should be the first clue to the government as to why certain areas are not meeting them. The NCLB showed the difference in education standing between whites and blacks and the results showed separation. So what is there to do? Middle class schools have so many resources they do not typically need that high-poverty schools need but do not have. Many students who attend high poverty schools need special attention that they cannot have.
In the end the No Child Left Behind Act in my opinion has not done a great deal. If anything it discourages kids and does not show fair results. The government needs to take action through looking at a bigger picture. They should not blame the teachers or students behavior but more why the students behave this way. The issue of unequal education goes far beyond just education. It touches some sensitive areas like racism and I believe the government it scared of what would happen if they tried to tackle these issues. This leaves it up to the people to show that they want a proper education and deserve one.

Clemmitt, M. (2007, April 27). Fixing urban schools. CQ Researcher, 17, 361-384. Retrieved February 7, 2010, from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007042700.

Opposing Viewpoints: The Quality of Public Education has Declined

"The quality of public education has deteriorated" (Bethell). I do not believe there is a better way to describe public education. Bethell throughout this article gives different reasons for why he believes this to be true. When Bethell refers to quality he refers to SAT scored dropping significant amounts since the 1970s. Many problems in education go back to civil rights issues. The impact of the whole civil rights movement has and still is greatly effecting public education. This occurs in mostly inner city schools and this issue will continue to grow because the percent of minorities in inner city public schools is growing. Bethell goes on to mention that a huge problem with America’s educational system is the teachers. Many teachers go to school to become an educator not to educate others on a specific subject. This leads to teachers teaching with less quality which creates public schools to lose quality. There has been much legislation for education to push for improvement but each piece of legislation has had little to no effect and some has even made the situation worse. Schooling is very important to America and with these issues it becomes very difficult for students to excel.
Due to the fact that these issues have been present and growing worse for about forty years is not good for the youth. This poses many problems for the future. Since there has been legislation failing to fix the problem for many years now the government needs to figure out what legislation will work. Another possible issue for the future is the future generation. This meaning that with generations getting worse and worse educations creates for an unequal balance in society, with kids who attend non inner city schools or private schools, which is majority white, will have better educations than those attend inner city schools. An additional issue that education could run into is that if the quality of public schools continues to go down the demand for public schools will go up. If this happens and more kids attend private schools then the quality of private schools will also go down. It is the government’s job and responsibility how to fix this issue without continuing to further damage and ruin education all together. This is a very challenging issue to tackle, but it needs to be done.
I agree with Tom Bethell's view point. I believe that the quality of public education has truly been on a decline since the 70s. His reasoning behind the bold statement I believe to be all logical and true. Not only that, but I believe that this will not end. Some schools and areas are so damaged that trying to fix them would be very diffiuclt and near impossible. This is why in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) they are shutting down some schools completly and getting an all new staff and trying to recreate them. But even this is not helping so what can the government do? What can we do as a middle class society with a good education? We have a moral responiblity to create a general knowledge across of America. If we can have this knowledge then we can improve as a society. But if education is fading out then how can knowledge be obtained?

Bethell, Tom. "The Quality of Public Education Has Declined." Opposing Viewpoints: Education. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. Deerfield High School. 7 Feb. 2010 e=gale&srcprod=OVRC&userGroupName=deer63488&version=1.0>.

Short Story on Education

Finding a short story on education was surprisingly difficult. As I searched for a story about segregation in school or funding for school and came up with no results, I truly realized that education does not necessarily involve schools and learning in a classroom through teachers. To have an education is to have knowledge. Yes, there are many different levels of education creating many different levels of knowledge but all education requires knowledge. In the short story Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut all of America is considered equal. "They weren't only equal before God and the law. They were equal every which way."(Welcome 7). If one person was born smarter or prettier for example, then the government would handicap them so they were equal. Harrison Bergeron was considered to be smart and was thrown in jail because he was not following the rules. By him not following the rules was the governments way of thinking that society would fall back to different levels of knowledge and equality. He escaped from jail and went to dance with a ballerina. Harrison and the ballerina took off their handicaps and became unequal to all. They danced and listened to real music. The result of their actions and breaking the law resulted in their death. Harrison's mother and father see this occur on television. His mother is crying for her son but she cannot remember moments later why she is crying because the government has taken away her knowledge.

This short story at first was not clear how it related to education but after careful thinking and rereading I realized that it has everything to do with education. In the story the government takes away their right to knowledge, which is taking away their right to an education. This story was supposed to take place in 2081 and equalizing everyone was supposed to get rid of all the problems America has had in the past. By taking away the people's education and knowledge goes against everything that America stands for, has stood for, worked for, fought for and will continue to fight for, for centuries. The government in the story controls their every move, which throws away one-thousand years of fighting for freedom. This is shown through Harrison's mother. His mother cannot even mourn or know that her son is dead because she is not allowed to have knowledge. The society also does not know that they have rights because they are not allowed an education. They are also not allowed to freely express themselves, some of the people in the society cannot even show their faces. The problem is, is that most people in the society do not even know or see that their is a problem. They cannot see it because not only do they not know any better the government takes it upon themselves to decide what they can know and how they use the information that they do know. This all does not work in a society, because they are denied the right to be themselves.

Through Harrison Bergeron it shows how vital education truly is. That without education America cannot really function as a society. Yes, they can go about their day with actions and words, but they cannot do anything meaningful or live a fulfilled life without education. They cannot do this because they do not know, they do not know what it truly means to live. No one can find success within themselves or a society without knowledge and education. Without an education we would all live without a purpose. If this short story actually became a reality we would be dealing with denying rights yet again. America in current day has already found that the right to an education is essential and necessary and to deny it again is pointless and an act of stupidity. It did not work before and it will not work in the future. The people need knowledge through education and they have the right to it.

Welcome to the Monkey House: Kurt Vonnegut

Where Am I Now?

Now I am left thinking with a different view on education. I still believe that education is a vital part of a society, but I am left with wondering how previous actions have effected the knowledge and educations of thousands of kids. By this I mean things like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act has had little positive effect on kids. The nation today is still dealing with problems that occurred decades ago. This meaning that things that have happened occurring with racism years ago are still effecting public education today. I believe that this is what I would like to focus on.

Primary Source: Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act makes statements that suggest and attempt to better education. The act provides all children with an education, it also states that all children have the right to an equal and free public education. This is very hard to maintain due to the fact that taxes help fund public schools and low income areas creates schools with little funds. This is why the act goes on to further say that the state will help fund schools for low income areas. The act is set up for each state to create standards for their students to meet, which is a good process for public schooling. The problem with these standards are typically students in low income areas do not meet them while most students in high income areas do. This shows a problem with state funding and how it leads to inequality in schools. The act goes on to state different reasons how all children can meet these standards. The act goes as far to say "All parents can contribute to their children's success by helping at home and becoming partners with teachers so that children can achieve high standards."(Elementary) This act put a lot of belief into their statements. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act gives suggestions to what they believe can help meet this standards. The problem with their suggestions is they harder to meet in low income areas as opposed to high income areas. This yet again but low income schools and areas behind and it becomes harder to meet state standards. I would go as far to say that many of the suggestions the act gives are useless. For example by saying that children can have an easier time reaching state standards through school choice is a pointless statement. Many students do not have the choice of a decent public school due to their previous school. If their previous school, such as middle school, was not one of good teachers or education they are not academically advanced enough to move on to a better more well educated school.

"Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965)." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 31 Jan. 2010. .