March 5, 2009
Letter to President Obama
From: Ed Davis
Regarding: Public School Improvements
Public school in the United States is for all children. It is the law to educate everyone up to 16 years of age. American schools vary greatly in the quality of education that they provide. They also differ from other countries. “American schools always come up short when compared to other countries yet we spend more money on schools than any other nation (Berliner).” Why is this happening?
During my early high school years, my teachers did not care about what I did in class. There was a time in 9th grade when we were having a test review for my biology class and I asked my teacher if I could go to the gym to get some shots up for basketball. She let me do it and did not care that we had a test the next day. I have had teachers that lost homework and could not find a grade. Some of my teachers seemed like they did not want to be there many days. It was as if they had things that were just more important on their mind. They would let their personal problems affect the way they treated us in class. Another problem is that some teachers and schools are so bad that your parents have to move you to a different school or school system. For example, the school I was districted to be in was not good so I transferred to another school, which was not any, better so then I transferred to a private school. Lucky for me since I was good at basketball I was able to transfer to a private school.
During your Presidential campaign, you promised to enhance education in the United States. Both parties even agreed that hiring better teachers for public schools is an important part in the education process. One of your proposals is to create scholarships that will cover four years of undergraduate or two years of graduate education in exchange for teaching at least four years in a high needed field or location. You also want to expand mentoring programs for new teachers. Increasing teacher pay “with new and innovative ways” (Obama’s website).
Money and specifically our current economic situation brought emotion into this past presidential election. Is sending more kids to college helping kids learn? On the other hand, should we be spending that money in the elementary levels, on basic math and reading skills? These are some of the questions currently being asked in order to assess what might help students succeed. These assessments are good in order to make the education policy better.
Maybe the reason why my teachers were so stressed out when they came to work was their pay - the average teacher makes about $45,771(salary survey report). If our government wants to hire better teachers then they need to raise all teachers’ salaries to a living wage – after all you get what you pay for. However, this is going to cost a lot.
The educational problem is something that needs to be fixed in the United States, we need better teachers. Maybe there needs to be a more standardized curriculum in the United States. Everyone needs to be on the same page and on the same pace. We need the United States to make a new method for teaching and learning and it has to be uniform. We need to start over from scratch. Children are the future of the country and we need to educate them to be able to fix the problems that are so obvious. Mr. Obama, you need to make education a priority. We need to lead the world in education during this next decade.
Works Cited
Berliner,David and Biddle, Bruce. The Manufactured Crisis, Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America’s Public School’s. Cambridge, MA 1995.
Salary Survey Report for all K-12 Teachers. http://www.payscale.com/research/US/All_K-12_Teachers/Salary.
BarakObama.com
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Cyberspace and Read World Identities
As technology continues to increase and more people can afford to buy devices that allow them to use the Internet, communication grows between people. Myspace, Facebook, AOL Instant Messenger, and many other online social networking sources are present in almost everyone’s daily lives and are used as a means of communication. Facebook attracts 123.9 million visitors to its site per month(Glazer). The problem is that people can represent themselves as something that they are not on the Internet. No one will find out in the cyberspace community therefore it is a false way to represent someone.
With cyberspace, individuals are capable of creating a different person from them. Body language, physical appearances, facial expressions, and tone of voices are often removed with cyberspace interaction, which are all part of the real world. Individuals are more likely to lie about their real lives and build up something that they are not. For example, girls might only put a few of their best pictures and not their every day life pictures on their facebook account. Some of these pictures might not even look like the real person. "You can just be whoever you want really, whoever you have the capacity to be" (Whitley).
People are often more forward and outgoing out on their Internet site, rejection is easier to take since you can turn on and off your computer and there is no face to face interaction. Teen life is rapidly changing because teens are constantly connected via IM and text messaging(Gritner and Palen).
On the other side are the shy people who can socialize and have friends on the Internet. They do not have to worry about their feelings being hurt or that they are not good looking enough to have personal relationships. For these people, self identity is found on in cyberspace and it is a positive. It can especially help insecure people to learn to be comfortable so that they might have more confidence to socialize in the real world - face to face.
Because real world and cyberspace interactions are very different, stereotypes tend to play more of a role in the real world than in the cyber world. For example, if someone goes to my facebook page and all they see is basketball, they may categorize me as a an OCD basketball nut. But when they meet me in person, they will realize that basketball is important but not the most important thing in my life.
Race is something that might be stereotyped equally in both places, for example if you see me, a black student who plays basketball, you may automatically think that it is the only reason I am here at Carolina. Where if you see a white guy who plays basketball, you may think that he got in on his academics and walked on to the team.
The identity that an individual has in the real world is often different from that of the identity that they have in cyberspace. In some cases, this is an expansion of their actual identity and a way to express themselves freely. In some cases, however, people can strongly misrepresent themselves in cyberspace.
Do you agree or disagree that cyberspace has played and continues to play a very important role in the interaction of individuals? More importantly do believe that an individual’s identity can be misrepresented on the Internet?
WORKS CITED
Ayock , Anthony. "Where's Waldo? A Primer of People-Searching Online." Online 30 Januray 2006 4. 3 Feb 2009.
This article is all about identity theft on the internet. If you put yourself on the internet in a certain way, you are targeted for identity theft.
Glazer, Harry. "Clever outreach or costly diversion." Coll REs Libr News 70 January 2009 6. 3 Feb 2009.
A academic library at Rutgers evaluates the facebook experience. The research proves that
facebook is good serves both individuals and groups in an affective manner.
Grinter, Rebecca and Leysia Palen . "Instant Messaging in Teen Life." CSCW November 2002 10. 28 01 2009 .
This research studies the difference between middle school high school and college using instant messaging. Teenage communication is different with aim
Huberman, Bernardo, Daniel Romero, and Fang Wu . "Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope ." first monday 05 01 2009 11. 30 01 2009.
The point of the research is to find out are these people really friends or just say they are.
Whitley, Edgar . "In cyberspace all they see is your words ." OCLC Systems & Services 131997 17. 3 Feb 2009.
“Examines the claims that cyberspace allows individuals to create sustainable new identities”.
With cyberspace, individuals are capable of creating a different person from them. Body language, physical appearances, facial expressions, and tone of voices are often removed with cyberspace interaction, which are all part of the real world. Individuals are more likely to lie about their real lives and build up something that they are not. For example, girls might only put a few of their best pictures and not their every day life pictures on their facebook account. Some of these pictures might not even look like the real person. "You can just be whoever you want really, whoever you have the capacity to be" (Whitley).
People are often more forward and outgoing out on their Internet site, rejection is easier to take since you can turn on and off your computer and there is no face to face interaction. Teen life is rapidly changing because teens are constantly connected via IM and text messaging(Gritner and Palen).
On the other side are the shy people who can socialize and have friends on the Internet. They do not have to worry about their feelings being hurt or that they are not good looking enough to have personal relationships. For these people, self identity is found on in cyberspace and it is a positive. It can especially help insecure people to learn to be comfortable so that they might have more confidence to socialize in the real world - face to face.
Because real world and cyberspace interactions are very different, stereotypes tend to play more of a role in the real world than in the cyber world. For example, if someone goes to my facebook page and all they see is basketball, they may categorize me as a an OCD basketball nut. But when they meet me in person, they will realize that basketball is important but not the most important thing in my life.
Race is something that might be stereotyped equally in both places, for example if you see me, a black student who plays basketball, you may automatically think that it is the only reason I am here at Carolina. Where if you see a white guy who plays basketball, you may think that he got in on his academics and walked on to the team.
The identity that an individual has in the real world is often different from that of the identity that they have in cyberspace. In some cases, this is an expansion of their actual identity and a way to express themselves freely. In some cases, however, people can strongly misrepresent themselves in cyberspace.
Do you agree or disagree that cyberspace has played and continues to play a very important role in the interaction of individuals? More importantly do believe that an individual’s identity can be misrepresented on the Internet?
WORKS CITED
Ayock , Anthony. "Where's Waldo? A Primer of People-Searching Online." Online 30 Januray 2006 4. 3 Feb 2009
This article is all about identity theft on the internet. If you put yourself on the internet in a certain way, you are targeted for identity theft.
Glazer, Harry. "Clever outreach or costly diversion." Coll REs Libr News 70 January 2009 6. 3 Feb 2009
A academic library at Rutgers evaluates the facebook experience. The research proves that
facebook is good serves both individuals and groups in an affective manner.
Grinter, Rebecca and Leysia Palen . "Instant Messaging in Teen Life." CSCW November 2002 10. 28 01 2009 .
This research studies the difference between middle school high school and college using instant messaging. Teenage communication is different with aim
Huberman, Bernardo, Daniel Romero, and Fang Wu . "Social networks that matter: Twitter under the microscope ." first monday 05 01 2009 11. 30 01 2009.
The point of the research is to find out are these people really friends or just say they are.
Whitley, Edgar . "In cyberspace all they see is your words ." OCLC Systems & Services 131997 17. 3 Feb 2009
“Examines the claims that cyberspace allows individuals to create sustainable new identities”.
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