Pasadena: Revised Images of Excellence (1996) Mike Rose

I feel like throughout the education unit I have spoken about my high school a lot. I unconditionally loved New World School of the Arts. It was an amazing school dedicated to the best interests of the students. It was a performing arts high school so we were separated into academies. I was in the the visual arts academy while my best friend was a musical theatre major. We studied what we were interested in. Like Pasadena high school we had to take regular academic classes like chemistry and foreign language but the teachers knew how to grab our attention and teach us these humdrum lessons in ways that we could both understand and even like. Yes I said it I enjoyed learning chemistry because my teacher would teach us about solvents and solutions which actually helped when it came to mixing paints and working with the weird solvents in the sculpture and ceramic department.  Alena Bayramyan, a sophomore who emigrated from Armenia said “ This program is so special, the teachers don’t want you to get  a low grade. They really care about you. It’s like we’re a family.” I can promise you that Alena will always feel this way about her teachers and say that they have changed her life. I remember giving a speech at my graduation and saying something almost exact about the about the art faculty. They were my family, My teacher Mr. Wyroba had become my second dad. He cared about me so much always making sure I was on top of my grades and if I was absent he would call to make sure I was feeling okay. I called him Daddy Y, and he was that to me, a father. Sometimes I felt that he was more a father to me than my own dad, because I spent so much more time with him. My sculptor teacher on the other hand was like a brother. He had recently graduated from Maryland Institute College of Art and he was the most inspirational, helpful person you could ever meet. Any idea I had wasn't big enough, he made me believe I had the potential to go bigger, to achieve more. It was because of Mr. Loveland, but I called him Mr. Lovely man that I was confident enough to pursue art in college. But I call him like a brother to me not just because of his age but also because he was a practical joker and a prankster. We would constantly be pulling pranks and tricking one another. I always felt comfortable with him.

Reading about the making of the business cards was actually really interesting, We made business cards in my high school graphic design class, I still keep some in my wallet to this day. Dimple and Lynita remind me of me and my best friend Liza Marie. We were the goofballs of the class but inseparable. Lets just say our business cards came out looking quite similar. But the whole process of concentrating and biting the lip and being extremely focused is true. You have to be precise and perfect after all “this is you selling yourself to someone who may never even meet you. Make yourself good” Ms. Piscal would say throughout the project. “ the central importance of learning how to learn, how to reason, and how to investigate complex issues that require collaboration, personal responsibility, and a tolerance for uncertainty.” this is a beautiful quote because of how true it is. Art requires you to not only learn but master all these things. Schools like Pasadena High School and New World School of the Arts have a lower drop out rate because of their caring teachers and their aim to interest the student in a way regular schools cant. 

Idiot Nation; MIchael Moore

Idiot Nation

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is a man who, to quote my cousin “ has some major balls.” In 2002 he proudly held up his Oscar for best documentary and shouted “ Shame on you Mr. Bush”, but this was expected of Michael Moore who is a very opinionated man. When I began reading this excerpt I was annoyed because Mr. Moore  sounded like a judgmental man who thought his ideals and ideas were better than everyone else's to quote my mom he thought “ his sh*t don’t stink”,  We get it Mr. Moore you think all Americans are idiots. Moore zooms into all the downfalls of American education while he himself is a college drop out. 

Do you feel like you live in a nation of idiots? I never thought to ask myself this question. I mean sure I have had the occasional insipid conversation with someone but never did I think I was surrounded by idiots. Moor really got me thinking, do I know when world war two was? Am I aware of what is going on between America and foreign countries? Or am I one of the two million “stone cold” idiots he is referring to? It was not till I read further on that I realized  Moore is not just a pretentious writer who believes that America is stupid. He believes in the capability of Americans to be smart, but what is idiotic is where we are focusing all of our capabilities. like memorizing obscene amounts of random sports facts or “all thirty obscure trivia questions in less than 120 seconds” It wasn't until I read this article that I realized how impressive it was that my brother and boyfriend could give you any sport stat on any team at the drop of a hat but my they probably haven’t a clue about the amount of money we owe China or our unemployment rate. They have the brain capacity and the capability but it is being aimed in the wrong direction. What Moore is saying is that our own decisions are what are making us Americans idiots, he is not questioning our capabilities. I assumed him to be a pretentious know it all but reading his work I have found that he just prides himself on the decisions he has made which has led him away from becoming an “American Idiot” that and the fact that he was a very driven boy winning school board president at the age of eighteen,  trying to make a change in our idiotic public school system with its leaking ceilings, crowded hallways and unmotivated teachers. He jumped from a slave to the school system to the boss of his principle. That driven boy turned into a driven man winning an Oscar in 2002 for our cluelessness. Come on America! Get a Clue! 

“I don’t want to be an American Idiot” anymore...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg7YjwZzNz0

Jonathan Kazol: Savage Inequalities (1991)

Savage Inequalities (1991)

Jonathan Kozol

Kozol spent two years visiting schools and talking with students and finding an astonishing amount of racial segregation. Many of the schools he visited had an astronomical amount of damage which gave the students very little to no hope. This reminds me a lot of my middle school. I went to Southwood middle school about two miles away from my house. It was from grades 6-8 and had about three thousand kids. I couldn't walk through the hallway without being pushed into a wall or smacking into someone. I dreaded going to school with all those kids and having a to race to my classes to avoid getting the squeaky chair in the back. I had loved going to school back in elementary school where the teachers knew you as a name rather than a number. Going to a big school where no one really cared about either you or the school contributes to the loss of interest in education or pursuing it.

There was a teacher Jonathan Kozol wrote about; his name was Jack Forman and he was the head of the English department. He is described as a “scholarly and handsome gray-haired man”. Mr. Forman is a teacher who cares about more than the money; he cares about the well being of his students. He gets the difficulties his students face and understands that even thought these kids have lived a tough life, growing up in a rough neighborhood they are still children and he “speaks to them like children.” At Southwood there was a young professor named Mr. Cameron. Like Mr. Forman, Mr. Cameron cared about more than the money. He saw my struggle to find the motivation I had lost moving to a big school. Mr. Cameron had high expectations for us and made sure that we had high expectations for ourselves. It was because of Mr. Cameron that most of us were able to move on to high school.

I was the only kid in my family to go to public school. I saw the beautiful campuses of my brother and sister’s school compared to the cinder block I went to school in. They were always so excited to go to school and eat the cafeteria food while I dreaded  going back to school on Mondays. Jonathan Kozols study is correct in saying that the environment we spend most of our days in has  large impact on whether or not we reach our potential. 

In the Beginning: The 1893 Report of the Committee of Ten (1893) Creating the Comprehensive High School (1959)

In the Beginning: The 1893 Report of the Committee of Ten (1893) 

Creating the Comprehensive High School (1959)

Its hard to believe that in 1890 only 6.7 percent of fourteen to seventeen year olds attended high school and today in 2010 it is mandatory for anyone under the age of sixteen to attend school. Growing up being forced to wake up early everyday to go to school definitely made me detest the whole education process but reading this has made me realize how much work and time went into creating the subjects and purpose of secondary schools. I never took the time to realize all the factors that go into creating the guidelines of education or what goes into creating the course schedule. Things like how many hours a week should school, what topics should we study, should we be required to graduate high school and go into college level courses, etc. So many issues had to be covered in order to create the educational system that most of us take advantage of because of the time that we have to wake up in the morning or the work we have to do at home. In most of the matters brought before the conferences, that took place to created the guidelines of education that we still follow today, the decision of the conference was unanimous. This is incredible when you consider the different institutions, professional experiences and personalities represented in each meeting. This holds great weight because deciding on what type of pizza to get at a slumber party with five different girls can get tricky enough with all the different personalities and preferences, and that is only pizza, I cant even fathom creating an entire system of education and having the decisions be unanimous for the most part.  

I had no idea the high school I went to in known as a “specialized” high school, New World provided a vocational education and admits students on a very selective basis. But a comprehensive high school is much different. Comprehensive high schools have three main objectives; to provide a general education, provide good elective programs and to provide satisfactory programs for those whose future depends on this education that will lead them into a university. James B. Conant, a former leading education researcher in the United States, did a survey and found eight schools that were in his judgement satisfactory in fulfilling the these three main objectives. What I found interesting were his results on gender in these schools. The academic inventory showed that more than half of the academically talented boys had studied at least seven years of mathematics, science, English and social studies while in no school had a majority of academically talented girls studied that same amount. But on the other hand boys did not choose to study more than two years of a foreign language while a majority of the girls studied foreign language for three or more years. I find these findings fascinating given the gender unit we just finished with, and I wonder if we studied more into these findings if gender role is a larger issue not just in how we act and what we do but also in what we choose to study.

David Osborne; Beyond the Cult of Fatherhood (1985)

David Osborne 

Beyond the Cult of Fatherhood (1985)

Reading this essay by David Osborne reminded me of my own family life; Where my father is the chef and my mother is the handyman/woman. Like David my father has an occupation besides being the househusband; he is a lawyer but since he has his own practice his hours are flexible. I remember waking up like Nick and calling for my father, waiting for his strong hands to pull me out of the crib and set me in my hot pink high chair where I played with my little transformer toys while he prepared our breakfast; a hot pot of coffee for him and some oatmeal for me.   At this time my brother had already been taken to school by my mom who then headed off to the hospital where she worked long hours in the emergency room as a social worker. I hadn’t realized that connection until now, that both Nick’s mom and my mom each worked at a hospital. There would be days that I wouldn’t see my mother at all because of how late she worked and just like Nick’s mom the guilt would be evident in her face especially when I went to Daddy both as my partner for play and my support. I had become Daddy’s little girl. 

I find it so interesting that gender roles play such a large part in society that Nick’s father would have had an identity crises staying home full time with Nick had he not been an established writer, whereas there are plenty of stay at home mothers that are fulfilled doing just that; staying at home. Nick’s mother also felt a large sense of guilt as she watched her son cry or whenever he was injured or sick and she wasn’t there to care for him. She felt this way because it is woman who has been given the task of being the main caretaker for the children as their first and most important job. It causes me to look back on my childhood and wonder if my father ever felt like less of a man because he was the primary caretaker, or if my mom ever felt like less of a mother because I went to my father for comfort and guidance. 

Gender roles have never played a big issue in my family or at least I never thought so but after reading this essay I wonder if it was a bigger issue to my parents than I originally thought. 

Conquering themselves So Beautifully: Louisa May Alcott, Women's Rights/ Men: Sojourner Truth

I have loved the novel little woman since I was a little girl and my mother would read a chapter every night before I went to sleep. I always felt that I could relate to Jo the most with her comical nose and eyes that could see everything. Oh and how could  I forget the long dark brown nest of hair that was always bundled into a net, this was the attribute that made me most like her. Jo was the tomboy that used some of her own slang as Meg calls it. Jo with her boyish name and her slang would complain about being a girl and did things like whistle because it was un-lady like and boyish; which is what I would do when I was younger. I would constantly pop my gum even though my mom repeatedly told me not to because it was something “lady’s didn’t do”; so naturally that made me more inclined to do it. When I would complain that I it was never a problem before my mother would say almost the exact same thing Meg says “ It didn’t matter so much when you were little; but now you are so tall, and turn up you hair, you should remember that you are a young lady.”  Obviously my mother didn’t say those exact words because I am a mere Five foot four but Just like Jo I as growing up and becoming a lady and I couldn’t get away with the same boyish things I had been doing my entire life. I fought her on it because I loved boys games and I hated wearing my hair up and feeding into what everyone else thought a “little woman” should behave like. It was so much fun reading this excerpt from the novel because it brought back so many memories of my childhood and how much I loved relating to Jo who to this day is my favorite character in any novel I have ever read. 

In Sojourner Truth’s writings she talks about the colored woman’s rights. Women are finally being taken seriously, just like Louisa May Alcott when she was writing Little Women,  and she had to establish a herself professionally at a time when women writers were just beginning to be accepted. Both the woman Sojourner Truth is talking about the Alcott's Little Women are enslaved in some way. Jo so desperately wishes to be able to break the mold and act like a boy but because of societal codes she cannot while the women working in the fields for smaller pay than men want equal pay for equal work but because they are women they cant.  An excerpt from Sojourner Truth’s “Woman’s Rights” shows a letter written about how she should be treated equal to a white woman because she is in fact a woman who deserves to be escorted across a street or helped over a puddle but where as the “little Woman” have books lining their little cottage, they can write and their mother gives them each a book to read for Christmas, This excerpt has almost every word spelled wrong. Woman are equal both to each other and to men. 

I'm Thin Therefore I am ( 2001) By: Nicci Gerrard

I’m Think Therefore I am (2001)

Nicci Gerrard

This was a very interesting article to read. It began talking about the joy of food and how it is so much more than just a means to survive. Food is connected to our emotions, imagination, and childhood. Like Nicci Gerrard I feel reassured by food. Some of the best memories I have with my best friend were made in the kitchen; creating the most outrageous yet delicious concoctions. The best one yet was the Boom Pow Pow Choco Choco shake which consisted of two cartons of Ben and Jerry's phish food ice cream, three swiss miss vanilla puddings, two cups of milk (2%), one chocolate protein bar, a chewy bar, four table spoons of peanut butter, eye ball the Hershey syrup, a jar of nutella (yes the whole jar) and just a pinch of cinnamon. This was by far the biggest party my mouth had ever experienced, my taste buds were so excited they didn’t know what to do with themselves. We had so much fun creating this recipe, and it definitely created a deeper bond in our friendship, all this because of the beauty of food. But the beautiful experience was tarnished once Bianca left and I realized where that delicious shake would end up... “a moment on the hips a lifetime on the hips.” 

We are bombarded by images both on television and in magazines by these woman who look as if they eat an almond we would be able to see it travel down to their stomach before they regurgitated it. It is so sad how obsessed we have become with weight and how we have been trained to feel guilt about eating. Kate Moss recently said in an interview that “ Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Why is it every girls goal is to look as if they just got out of the holocaust; every rib accounted for, and spine poking out through the skin. I am sometimes one of these girls. I would be lying if I said that I didn't have the sickness that has become an epidemic in this country, an obsession with weight. It would be wrong of me to sit here and say how pathetic this all is, and not admit that I too stand in the mirror every morning mid-change and critique my body, how my hips have grown, and my large butt. I enjoy eating so much, I love using my creativity to make something new in the kitchen, or use my artistic ability to decorate a cake. But if I regret it after wards is Kate Moss right? Does nothing taste as good as skinny feels?