still separate,still unequal

Joseph Palagonia

ENGW_1100_34

Professor Young

26 October 2015

      "One of the most disheartening experiences for those who grew up in the years when Martin Luther King Jr. and Thurgood Marshall were alive is to visit public schools today that bear their names, or names of other honored leaders of the integration struggles that produced the temporary progress that took place in the three decades after Brown v. Board of Education, and to find out how many of these schools are bastions of contemporary segregation. " I found this quote to be ironic, because both these individuals started movements on freedom, and making all individuals equal within the United States. If these individuals were alive today, they would be completely disheveled about the fact that there are school that take these individuals names, and are completely segregated with black and hispanic students. My second is a demonstration of how students feel about attending underprivileged schools such as the one in South Bronx,  "'Dear Mr. Kozol,' wrote the eight-year-old, 'we do not have the things you have. You have Clean things. We do not have. You have a clean bathroom. We do not have that. You have Parks and we do not have Parks.You have all the thing and we do not have all the thing. Can you help us?'". These school lack specific resources for students to feel comfortable in this specific learning environment, which can then lead to students lacking the will to succeed in school. My third quotation, "In another elementary school, which had been built to hold 1,000 children hut was packed to bursting with some 1,500, the principal poured out his feelings to me in a room in which a plastic garbage hag had been attached somehow to cover part of the collapsing ceiling. 'This,' he told me, pointing to the garbage bag, then gesturing around him at the other indications of decay and disrepair one sees in ghetto schools much like it elsewhere, 'would not happen to white children.' It is upsetting to think that white schools may gain more concetration or attention when it comes to helping with problems the school is facing. It is a form of segregation when thinking about it that all black schools do not receive the same sort of care that all whites do. This country is backwards, we should all be equal not separate but still unequal!

"social class and the hidden curriculum of work"

Joseph Palagonia
Professor Young
ENGW_1100_34
October 3 2015

     In Jane Anyon's essay, "Social class and the hidden curriculum of work," education is portrayed differently based on different social economical backgrounds. I feel Anyon's position is arguable in today's era. I feel different schools, such as the one's portrayed in Anyon's essay, often teach different curriculum to their students. I agree that the type of school a student attends can affect the future profession, because more specific schools have higher learning standards set for their students. But I also feel, that schools do not offer the same type of curriculum to their students as other schools of different social classes. For example, I have attended Catholic school for majority of my educational experience, and I have been given the privilege of a higher education. But during 

my first year of high school, I decided to attend a local public school, Susan Wagner High School  similar to the working class school described in Anyon's essay. What surprised me was the difference in curriculum that teachers gave to their classes. The teachers in Wagner rarely gave tests on the class material, and when they were reviewing material they quickly went through topic after topic without vague explanation on how to complete the assignment. To illustrate, during my first history class of 

Wagner the teacher assigned several DBQ reading assignments during class time had an expectation and had the expectation that students were aware how to complete these types of assignments. Moreover, when I stated that I was unaware what the task was, the professor gave me an attitude and told me to "read the assignment and simply follow the direction carefully." Similar to Anyon's description of the working class teacher,"A group of students 'still didn't get it,' and she made no attempt to explain the concept of dividing things into groups or to give them manipulables for their own investigation. Rather, she went over the steps with them again and told them that they 'needed more practice,'" I found new style of learning difficult, because I was basically teaching myself the material. While attending Catholic school I experienced a different approach to learning, the teachers were more involved with their students and were concerned if their students didn't not understand the topic that was being taught. Such as Anyon stated, " There is recognition that cognitive process is involved; 'I want to make sure you understand what you are doing-so you get it right'," the students ability is important to the teacher, and the approach of how the teacher presents the curriculum can truly affect the preparation of the student's future.

student's right to their own language

Joseph Palagonia
Professor Young
ENGW_1100_34
    
          Students definitely deserve the right to express themselves through their own language within

the classroom. The hardest thing about being a writer in my previous years in high school, was not

getting the ability to show expression and personality throughout the content of my writing. In my

high school, teachers were very specific with their details when working on our writing ability: state

your point, and be short and concise. Sometimes, as a writer I find it difficult trying to hit my main

point when following the guidelines of concise writing. What I enjoy about the ENGW_1100 writing

course is that it allows my ability for expression, and to enjoy my works of writing. It becomes a lot

easier as a writer when I enjoy my works because I'm using my own type of language within the

course.