Final Essay

Dylan Kinney

Mrs. Williams

English 1A

22 December 2013

            Majority of people believe that poverty only exist on the streets of struggling urban communities but that is a misconception. Poverty is everywhere from urban and rural communities to our very own neighborhoods. The goal of this essay is to dig deeper into the stereotypes of the poverty class. This essay will be supported by general knowledge I have picked up through my research on the poverty class and from the book, The Rich and The Rest of Us. The main points will be the, types of stereo types we have created for the poverty class, why they exist, and a process for a solution to begin fading out the stereotypes and the poverty class. 

            When people think of the poor or people living in poverty they think of homeless people, refugees, immigrants and people who ask for a helping hand in front of grocery store. Yes, it is true that most of these people are in the poverty class. From the man who once was married and had a thriving small business but is now divorced and homeless do to the financial crisis. To the immigrants who come here from all over the world seeking the American dream which is basically like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. However, what most Americans don’t think about, and it might be because they don’t want to face the truth, is most of us are in the poverty class. It’s not just a, “black and brown thing that politicians have created” (Cornel,Smiley 72-73). Poverty is everywhere from the homeless man on the on the curb to a neighbor family down the street, that between the parents they work five jobs just to squeeze by. People want to believe they are in the middle class because they can afford luxuries like cable TV and gym memberships but they are hiding themselves from the realization that at any movement they can be homeless or dependent on food stamps.

            We should all know by now that stereotypes exist and they are bad so why do we continue to use them? Politicians are the cavemen who created the fire behind the stereotypes for the poverty class. Many major political figures have contributed to stereotypes of people who live in poverty and one is president Ronald Regan. In The Rich and the Rest of Us, the two authors discuss when the stereotypes where brought to the public eye by president Regan. He addressed the nation about a fictional food stamp queen who was stealing thousands from us and the government (Smiley, West 77).  Politics have created ways to try and separate the working poverty class and the more visible poverty class like homeless people. If they can make us believe we are in the middle class and not in poverty they can continue to quite the cries for help that come from people who are living in unlivable conditions. Unfortunately we are also to blame for the continue use of stereotypes associated with the poverty class. We must all come together to support each other and speak as a whole so the politicians and the world can see we won’t continue to give in to their propaganda.

            The solution to poverty according to many politicians and average Americans is to create jobs and lower taxes. However, those ideas are like putting tape on a whole in a sinking boat. We must first realize we are in the poverty class or very close to being in it. Then we must stop separating ourselves from other less fortunate people because we think we don’t have anything in common. Remember as a whole we are a lot louder than as a few. Lastly we must look over our local and federal government officials to make sure they are determined to work for us and not against us. If we can succeed in all of theses ideas we will start to slowly diminish the poverty class and bring back the middle class.

            Through out this essay there was three main topics discussed; types of stereotypes people have for the poverty class, why they exist, and a process for a solution to begin fading out the stereotypes and poverty class. The goal was to dig deeper into stereotypes of the poverty class and help you be able to create an educated opinion of your own on the topic. Think about this, when the revolutionary war began it was the rebels who left the motherland because of taxes and religious beliefs. They created this land based on freedom but if we continue on this path what will stop us from another revolution? And is that what its going to take to get us out of poverty?

 Works Cited

Smiley, Tavis. Cornel West. The Rich and the Rest of Us. New York City: Smiley Books, 2012. Print

Poorly Funded Public Schools

Like many urban areas throughout the United States the Bay Area has many low preforming schools. These schools share many of the same problems as schools in Savage inequalities for example parents who’s children attend San Jose Unified school districts are faced with class sizes jumping up again unless they decide to pay six times more for tuition (Noguchi 1).

                  Teachers (bad or good) will be the focus of my next paper and according to Stephanie Martin from KQED news; bay area schools have a big problem with teachers placed in classes they have no experience in teaching. Around 100 a year just in the bay area. In Savage Inequalities there are many schools where teachers are not very motivated to teach. At first I though maybe they don’t care about the students or they’ve been teaching for so long that they don’t want to put any effort in to the lives of their students. But now I think that the problem with schools, especially low preforming schools, they’re placing teachers in any class they need to fill regardless of what experience they have in that subject.

While researching this topic I did find some information on solutions that have been created to help low preforming schools out and one of them was the Quality Education Investment Act. In 2006 the state of California implemented a law called the Quality Education Investment Act. The QEIA was created for schools that are in more poverty struck areas. Its goals were to reduce class down to 20-25 students, higher more qualified teachers and counselors and it created a district wide quality index of teachers (CTA).   According to a report done by the CTA it has paid off by reducing class sizes, increasing training for teachers and helped improve parent involvement with their children’s school. This doesn’t help out all of the low preforming schools in California but it is making difference in the lucky schools it can help.

Topic from Savage Inequalities

Through out my reading of Savage Inequalities I have notice the lack of motivational teachers. In one of the schools in Chicago, before taking a nap, one of the teachers tells the students, “ You can talk. Just keep it down” (Kozol 64). I don’t understand how a teacher with an attitude toward teaching like this was hired. To me it seems like the school is just putting a random person in the class and labeling them as a teacher. In my opinion this has a negative affect on the students because most kids at a young age don’t understand that staying in school will help them tremendously throughout life and with teachers with this type of enthusiasm kids feel like they aren’t respected and they don’t want to go to school.

Reeling in Reserch

I’ve been in many types of classrooms where teachers have used many different types of teaching methods to try and engage the student in the class. The way that I found  and many other fellow classmates learned best was when the teaching became more involved and pushed for students to interact with each other by having discussions and debates. This is why I chose to relate The Power of Cooperation section from Passion Project to the idea that student interaction in the classroom is essential. After reading the article Where Student, Teacher, and Content Meet: Student Engagement in the Secondary School Classroom, I was able to have a better understanding of how student interaction doesn’t only affect students, but also teachers. “When a classroom is filled with students who are paying attention…the teacher is much more likely to enjoy being there and to feel more invested” (Bundick et al.,2013, para. 5). This quote made me realize that teachers probably don’t like to be stuck in quiet boring classrooms either and they probably enjoy their job more when they see students interacting and learning from each other. Through my further reading of the article I observed the three different ways students engage in the classroom. “The emerging consensus among scholars in the field is that engagement comprises three distinct but interrelated "modes": engaged in thought, engaged in feeling, and engaged in action” (qtd. in Bundick et al.,2013, para. 6). I thought of a way to break down the process of these three ways of engaging in a group activity. First would be the group thinking of a topic individually. Second would be the group discussing their topics with each other and to see how they feel. Third would be to take action and announce to the class their topic and why they chose it.

Works Cited

Bundick, Matthew. J, Corso, Michael. J, Quaglia, Russel. J, Haywood, Dawn E. “Where Student, Teacher, and Content Meet: Student Engagement in the Secondary School Classroom.” American Secondary Education Vol. 41. Issue 3:(2013)

First Blog Post

·      Once I figure out how to fully customize my blog it will probably reflect the things I enjoy for instance football, music, and the outdoors.

·      Being happy with my decisions and succeeding in life are most important to me besides family of course.

·      I’m in school at Chabot because, I am going to become a firefighter and this is the process I need to take to achieve that goal.

·      I would like to improve my writing and comprehension skills.

·      I was taught to value respect the most, which should help me work with other students well.