jayah's blog

           I attended my neighborhood high school, which is located in an urban area. The high school is not in the best condition. The ceilings were peeling and leaked often when it rained, it had asbestos in the auditorium, the lights were dim, and many other things were wrong with the building; however many of the teachers were superior. Many students, teachers, and parents complained about the school building, even going on strike at City Hall. Governor Christie refused to visit the school to see the bad conditions of the high school so that maybe he can give money for it to be fixed or rebuilt.

            Although I found it disheartening that the governor refused to visit the school, what I found even worse is the comments that I read on the local newspaper website. People referred to the students as “animals in a jungle,” and others, who may have never even been to the school, commented, “why should Christie give the school money when many of the students do not want to learn?” I note that they may have never been to the school because there is obviously learning occurring if they walked through a classroom. 

     I am a tutor at an after school program;  there I assist Latino children, mostly Mexican, with their homework. I have noticed that the majority of the students speak in Spanish, which has caused problems for them when it comes to reading and spelling in English. When I sit at the table full of first grade students, they have trouble recognizing certain words like "they" and "can." They do, however, know how to sound the words out. For example, when I tell them to sound out "can," they say "kuh kuh kuh- uh uh uh- nuh nuh nuh." The children just have a problem putting the sounds together in order to figure out the word. I end up telling them the word, then I try to make a learning experience out of it by putting different letters in fromt of "-an" so that the students can recognize the words. I put a "b" to make "ban," then a "m" to make "man," but the students still seem like they do not understand, as they shrug their shoulders and say "I don't know," when I ask them. Even when the word "can," pops up again later in the text, the students still fail to recognize it, even after the long lesson.

Jayah Feliciano

February 18, 2013

Paper 2

Theoretical Analysis Reflection

     In Lareau’s text, she focuses on low/working and middle class families and the impact that their way of living has on the offspring.  She states that middle class families engage in concerted cultivation as opposed to the low/working class families who prefer natural growth for their children. Lareau believes that the children raised in the middle classes families gain more of advantage than the children in low/working class families, and I agree with Lareau.

            Chapter three is about a boy, Garret Tallinger, who is raised in a middle class family. Organized sports are a top priority for him and they shape Garret to be competitive, aggressive, and teach him how to work with a team. In addition to sports, his parents use a technique of answering questions with more questions to arrive at an answer. They also teach Garret how to interact with adults, making sure he gives eye contact when shaking the hand of an adult. The parents of Alexander Williams, who is also middle class, makes sure that he questions authority.

Table of Contents

Chpt1……. A Single Mother’s Push

Chpt2…….Open Your Eyes

Chpt3…….The Bridge

Chpt4…….Impact of high school & PUPP: Challenge Yourself

Chpt5…….College

Chpt6…….The Shift (from the top to the bottom)

Chpt7…….Adjustment

Chpt8…….Keep Moving Forward

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Chapter 3

Impact of High School & PUPP: Challenge yourself

    When I read "History and Culture: Wrestling with the Traditions of American Education", one paragraph really stuck out to me. It read:

“Education is viewed as the equalizing agent in our society, and meritocracy is viewed as the path to achieve that end. According to this belief, anyone who works hard will fare well. However, the ideology of meritocracy has an underlying flaw. It does not take into account the prevalent inequalities in our society (35).”