Neelama
Shelopal
Professor
Williams
English
1A
February
27, 2014
Malcolm X once said, “Education is
our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who are prepared
for it today.” There are so many people
who try to create a change, but unfortunately all the effort is a waste because
our education is not our passport to the future anymore instead its destroying
some people. Those students who go to poorly funded schools do not have a
future. Then again we need to ask ourselves why the words of Malcolm X never
came true. In the book Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozal, he discusses
about the many different schools he visited that were poorly funded and the
cities that he went to were poor. He informs us readers about how there is whole
different world out there in the United States where we assume everyone has an
equal education. Similarily, the movie Waiting
for “Superman” demonstrates how students are fighting for their schools to
be open or struggling to receive the same education as suburban children are.
Moreover, the Jeff Bliss video shows a student standing up for his rights and
trying to explain what he think a teacher needs to do for a student to be
educated. Lastly, the article The of Function of Education by Jiddu Krishnamurti
asks questions about what our education truly means. All of these different
references I have read and watched had something in common, which was to find
the meaning of education. With this in mind I believe that we never realize
what affects the structure of the education system has on students. First I
will be discussing what education really means to students and then move
forward with discussing what is preventing these children from getting an
education. Lastly, I will like to take some time on giving solutions to how we
can create a change in the education system.
To begin with, when a person thinks
about becoming educated most of their reasons are to get a high paid job and become
successful in life. This is not anyone’s fault because education is portrayed
like this in out society. Many people do not think or ask themselves why they
need education or what does it mean to them. Education is more than getting a
high paid job; it is about using it to find our passion. Being passionate about
the job you have is what makes a persons education worth the years that they
worked so hard on to get to the point they are in life now. For example, in the
movie Waiting for “Superman”, a
little girl happily said, “ I want to become a doctor or veterinarian when I grow
up”. First off the school this young girl was going to was poorly funded and in
the area she lived not many students even make it through high school, but that
does not stop her from trying to live her passion. She had already found her
passion at such a young age and was determined to become a doctor or
veterinarian. For her school was a place that will make her passion for
becoming a doctor come true. Also, for those who just got to school and never
truly figure out what they want to do, are the ones who are just hoping to find
a good job, but are never happy. I feel that if a student finds their passion
then it means that education was actually valuable for them. A person’s passion
is what is going to lead them to success.
Once a person finds their passion
this itself will lead them to a pathway of success. Education is meant for us
to become successful but it is portrayed the wrong way in our society. In
society success is all about having money and who has the most of it. Young
children start believing that the only way they could become successful in life
is to make, but if all you need is money to become successful then why even get
an education? The connection between education and success is that once a
person figures out what they are passionate about then they can educate
themselves in that career to become successful. For instance, when I started my
first semester in Chabot College I thought I wanted to major in business until
one day in my English 102 class we watched a passion video. First off, I wanted
to major in business because I thought that this would help me become
successful because I thought success was more about how much money a person
makes. That day in my English class is when I realized that I would never be
happy with my success because I was never passionate about it. The meaning of
education is to help a person in finding their passion, which then leads them
to their success and helps them survive in the real world.
Education is key for students
survive, especially for those who have been raised in poorly funded school or
in poverty. It may a key for every student to survive because yes there are
some people who can make it without education, but then there are those who’s
only hope is education. Particularly, for those children that already live in
poverty because there only hope left is to be able to get education so they can
find their passion and become successful in living the dream they want. Yet
there are some students who live in poverty and goes to a poorly funded school
who decide to quit. As an example, in the book Savage Inequalities, reporter
asks a sixteen-year-old girl who dropped out of high school about how much
money would she like to make in a year and her reply was, “About $2,000” (88). I
find it shocking that she thinks that she is going to be able to survive on
just 2,000 dollars. No person can survive on that amount of money today in a
year probably a month or two. Unfortunately, this girl did not think of using
education as a way to leave the city she is in, so she could be successful
somewhere else. This young girl could have made more money if she thought of
education as a way of survival, but we cannot blame these students either
because there must be something that is preventing them from not fulfilling
their education.
One reason why some children do not
get their education is because their school is poorly funded. When you do not
have the necessary materials or not enough teachers in the school, students
start to feel as if there is nothing for them. If a student is attending a
poorly funded school were they themselves are struggling in their classes they
start to give up. The author discusses about the children who do not have any
of these resources in East St. Louis at their school or at home. As illustrated
in the novel, one student’s says, “ ‘ My mother offered to help me with my
science, which was hard for me, he says but I would not bring home the book’ ”
(134). This young boy is now being stopped from learning because of the lack of
resources in his school. From personal experience, I know how it feels like
when you cannot bring a book home because it needs to stay in class. Our school
library had shut down and that was probably the hardest thing for our school
because it has 4,000 students who would like to read and do their homework. The
fact that we live in a country where so many foreign people try to come here to
America to get education, but yet we cannot even provide our own citizens a
better education. It is unfair to these students not to get the education they
deserve just because their school is not provided with enough money, but this
not the only reason that prevents students from not getting an education.
Furthermore, a students education is
not only affected by the school instead it is the community that they live in. As
a community it is important to help create a better education system for our
children, yet we hear people talk but never actually do anything. A community
is like a family, we all live in the same area and it is our job to make sure
that the future generation is getting the education that they deserve. No child
deserves to attend a poorly funded school. The people of East St. Louis did not
acknowledge the importance of education to their children, which may be the reason
why students gave up on school. For instance, in the book when Kozol is walking
with some children one says, “ My grandma was murdered…Somebody show two
bullets in her head” (12). The fact this
small child had told Kozol without any hesitation was shocking. For someone to
speak about his or her grandmother dying it is usually hard, but for these kids
there was violence all around them that they are immune to it. Children are
affected by everything that happens around them and are easily influenced so as
community it is important to keep them safe.
Creating a safe environment for our
children should be our number one priority, but what about those families that
live in poverty and cannot do anything about it. Everyday we walk outside,
breathe in the air, have our children play in the grass, and we never consider
about how the environment can affect us. We assume that everything may look
fine but once you start getting sick and are not able to take care of yourself
is when you start thinking about what you could have done. Once again in the
novel Kozol demonstrates how environment can affect some children’s from
attending school. As an example, in the book it discusses how a story was
published by Post-Dispatch noting that,“ East St. Louis Senior High School was awash
in sewage for the second time this year… The school had to shut down because of
“fumes and backed up toilets” (29). These children education is being stopped
because no one thought it was important enough to take a stand on having a cleaner
environment instead they let all the toxic gases go into the air and make
people ill. It is obvious that the children are prevented from getting their
education because there school has to shut down since nobody in the area will
take a step forward on creating a better environment for everyone else and
themselves. Now this is the time we need to start thinking of solutions on how
to make improvements in our education system.
One step we can take in order to
prevent changes in the education system is that they system should not be based
on a standardized test. How can we expect students to find the meaning of
education or be educated if everything that they need to learn can go to waste
if they failed a test. When students hear the word test it makes them anxious
and it adds more stress. Are we going to allow our children’s life to based on
a standardized that is telling us if they go into the next grade or not.
Sometimes student takes the test and once they just look down at the paper they
blank out, which actually has happened to me before. I would know the material,
but the fact that I knew that this one test could either make or break my
education is a lot of pressure. In the article The Function of Education by
Jiddu Krishnamurti he asks this question, “Why do we go to school, why do learn
various subjects, why do we pass examinations and compete with each other for
better grades”? He asked these questions to us but most importantly why are we
not asking ourselves these questions. When someone needs a driver liscence they
need to pass a test, for certain jobs you have to take a test, so basically our
whole life is based on a piece of paper. Not everyone has great test taking
skills because as much as a student can study for a test and pass what makes you
think they will remember it tomorrow? Our education system is making us now
lose our own hopes and dream because of the way it has been structured.
Secondly, we need to take in
improving the education system is having teachers that are engaged in their
classrooms. There are many teachers who will come in class, give a lecture and
hand out assignments, but this not a way many students learn. There needs to
more of a communication between the teacher and student. In fact in the Jeff
Bliss video, Bliss says to his teacher “ You want kids to come in your class,
you want ‘em to get excited for this, you gotta come in here and make ‘em
excited. You want a kid to change and start doing better you gotta touch his
freaking heart”. Bliss knew what he was
in school for and knew the meaning of education reasons why he stood up in his
class. A teacher must be involved with his or her students in order to get them
to participate in class. There are many different ways a teacher could get
their class engage with an assignment like: having group discussions, allowing
students to voice their opinions, and there are many other different ways too.
In my opinion, I think that a student does know what is best for them and
allowing them to actually talk instead of listening to instructions all the
time could create a better environment in the class.
Lastly, if any student ever feels as
if they are not getting the right education or that their teacher is not really
teaching then they need to speak up. By staying quite it will not help you as a
student or your peers. Not everyone has the courage that Jeff Bliss had when he
stood up in front of his class, but that does not mean you should not try. Students
have the right to stand up to the education system and allow themselves to
speak up when they feel something is wrong. Either it is just in a class or
it’s the entire school that you are having a problem with do not be afraid to
speak because it is you who is sitting in the classroom trying to learn and get
an education.
In conclusion, having an education
can actually make our life or it can break it. Depending on if students find
the meaning of education to them and if they can lead themselves through
education towards their passion is the biggest success of all. Unfortunately,
our education system can stop some of our children from going to school and learning
to the best of their ability. There are solutions to how we can change our
education system and by making these changes our future generation will not
have to struggle to be educated. The No Child Left Behind Act was created to
get students at higher level in their education, but how can that happen if
there are children who are not even receiving the equal education as others?
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