Monday Matters #20

Jonathan Kozol: Education in America (6 of 6)

In Johnathan Kozol's sixth video he discusses his personal experience in education. He mentions that it was not until he saw how poor education was in the black community, that he began to become political. He, also adds that during his first teaching job, he was fired for giving the students a poem by Langston Hughes. The school did not want to teach about black history. Overall, his point was that we need to learn what we want to learn and what is beneficial to us. It is up to our parents to mold into good students to want to learn and want to succeed. 

Monday Matters #19

Finding Your Element

In this post by Sir Ken Robinson, he discusses the importance of finding your element in the world. People should not go to their job day in and day out waiting for it to end. This problem, however, has become far too common in today's society. People need to be able to find their element and enjoy the work they do. Finding your element is not always the easiest, but everyone has theirs. It may take some searching, but it will be worth it when they are enjoying the life they live.

Monday Matters #18

For Friends of Catholic Schools

In this article Diana Ravitch gives her opinion on Catholic schools. She admits that she appreciates Catholic schools and their morality-based method. However, she does agree that they should not be funded by the taxpayers. However, it is not fair that charter schools receive this funding either, because they are taking over the Catholic schools. They should not compare themselves to the Catholic schools, because they have no tuition and that puts the Catholic schools in danger.

Monday Matters #17

Danger of College Debt

In this cartoon (college-loan-debt1.jpg), the illustrator is exemplifying the problem of college tuition. After students graduate college, often times, they are faced with huge debt. The picture shows a massive student labeled as college loan debt that is going to be sleeping over the student. This is very dangerous, like college debt. The massive student also says that he will be his roommate for the next 30 years, which is often how long it takes a student to pay off the debt. These are clearly all the problems of the extreme prices of tuition.

Monday Matters #16

Problems in Education

These three articles discuss the current problem in education and how they are to be solved. Fawn Johnson discusses the problem in early education. She stresses the importance of getting children into a good education system at an early age. Erenfreund and Theil talk from the Washington Post about current problems at the college level. Ehrenfreund brings up that colleges are sending letters urging thousands of college students to enroll at their school, but then deny them acceptance to lower their acceptance rate. These applications all cost the students money which could add to the huge debt of college brought up by Peter Theil. This brings up the question, whether or not college is worth going into huge debt for.

Monday Matters #15

When It Comes to Early Learning, Preschool Isn't Enough

In this editorial by Fawn Johnson, she is stressing the importance of child learning at an early age. She is stressing it at the preschool. Johnson fears that if a child fails to meet certain skills by a certain age they are being set up for a difficult life.  Another problem in the preschool educational system is poverty-stricken areas. It is much more common for a child being admitted into a good preschool in a wealthier neighborhood. Johnson feels that the wealthier parents feel a greater desire for their children to go to an elite school in the future. If a child starts off behind, they will remain behind for the rest of their lives. It is up to the parent to determine their child's future.

Monday Matters #14

Why 80 Percent of Top Students Get into Elite Colleges

In this article on education, Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post, is discussing his opinion on the current fallacies in the college ranking systems. He voices his opinion on why he feels it is not right to rank a college based on their acceptance rate. The problem with this tactic are the unfair measures taken by colleges. A highly ranked college will often send thousands of letters to students, urging them to attempt to enroll at their college. Then, the college will be able to deny more applicants, therefore minimizing their acceptance rate, but still enrolling the same amount of students. Ehrenfreund believes that an effective substitution for this process would be to develop a "thoughtful, comprehensive system for ranking schools based on data." However, although this is pushed by many, it is also ridiculed by many.