The Purpose of Education in America

In class, we had a hard time deciding what the actual purpose of education was. Some people said to separate ourselves from each other by our qualifications, some said for higher learning, and some said to help us get "better" jobs. Towards the end of class while we were continuing to discuss this, along with some of the comments of other students, I realized that sadly our educational system is mainly just a business. In the capitalist society we live in everything is based around the green paper. Opportunities both educational and not simply depend on how much you can afford. It is not a coincidence that some of the most powerful people in our society are both wealthy and educated. Someone in class brought up the terms "haves" and "have nots" which I believe still very much exist today. In my political science class, we had to read a few chapters on the life of Howard Dean. Although the book downplayed his wealthy upbringing, a student in class brought up the point that had he not gone to a private school and then Yale and had the wealthy connections he had, he probably wouldn't have been in a position to run for an elected office, especially President.

On another note, I attended a pre-law advising meeting last night where they discussed everything you need to know about applying to law schools and taking the LSATS. The woman running the meeting continued to bring up how expensive law school was, and how you would probably need to take out various loans. Not only is law school expensive, but the applications to law school, the lsat, registering for the lsat, and taking a prep lsat course all add up. Sitting there I thought literally, "they're screwing us." What on earth do we need to pay over a hundred dollars per application for? Why do we need to pay an additional registering fee for the lsat on top of the lsat itself? I know that although my family isn't wealthy by any means that my parents would find some way for me to pay for all of this, the prep course and other necessary materials I needed if this was something I really wanted. However, after sitting through our class I started to think about other people , students that truly didn't have the money to pay for all these things, should they not be able to go to law school? Of course there are scholarships and loans, but scholarships for law school as I was told last night are mainly given out on merit not need, and loans you have to pay back eventually. So basically, all the students that can afford it will go onto law school or medical school or grad school while the rest will be left behind? That doesn't seem right. It seems that our money making educational system is seriously becoming how much are you willing to pay or go into debt to get an "education", to get a "better" job, to make more money, and to live a happy life? As I said in class the American dream is to live a happy life in the "land of opportunities", however where is this land of opportunities, because it surely isn't the America we live in.

http://lsac.org/LSAC.asp?url=VideoStreams/financing-a-legal-ed_Ch5.html
here's a video about the financial process of law school

My school, your school

In my political science class the other day, a news story was brought up that I found to be extremely relevant to this class. The story was about a school in Alabama having an overcrowding issue that led to the school rezoning districts. This act has created what many people are calling, re segregation. It just so happens that many of the black children are being put in one school while the white children in another. The sad part is, is this really a mistake? In my political science class we discussed that people that share similar views and are like each other tend to live together so the zoning may have just reinforced this, but I'd like to hear what other people think. Here is a link to the article

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/17/education/17schools.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1190400065-Rw6btUNn8YAHCvWLeaYL0g

I felt like the discussion today ended up being "this is what my school did" kind of thing. To be honest I was astonished that some people didn't get to participate in lab experiments, where at my school I would have never thought twice about it. Although it's important to realize that other schools and areas have different resources and did things differently I think we need to put our conversation into context. People had different resources growing up, their education was different but what does this all mean and what does it mean for the future? Towards the end of class we started discussing possible solutions for the numerous educational inequalities and I think we came to the conclusion that the biggest and first step is accepting their is a problem with our system.

One last point I'd like to make is that while listening to everyone speak in our class I decided we should be a little more open minded. We are allowed to agree and disagree with each other but I think just because someone had one experience it doesn't mean everyone else should have it or did have it. One thing that we kept hammering on was that anyone can work themselves up. I believe that there opportunities for people to do so but I don't think we should make the generalization that it is possible for everyone. On the other hand I think that we shouldn't make excuses either; I don't mean to single anyone out but some people kept saying that their parents did this, this, this and this, so they couldn't do other things, which is understandable but I don't think that you can make the assumption that someone else's parents just sat on their ass all day until a PTA meeting because many parents work, do things around the house, and have time for meetings and other activities so I think it depends on individual circumstances.

have we really come that far in the american education system?

While discussing the American Education History timeline in class, I began to see that we really have done that much to improve our education system in regards to segregation by race or by special needs. I grew up in a suburban area of upstate New York and although our school is predominately white, many other races and ethnicities are represented. During class I started to think about an incident that happened a few years ago that further proves that ideologies about race and difference are similar to those just a few decades ago, and that if you can't change the ideology, you can't change the system.

A few years ago there was a white male in my high school who apparently for quite some time would make racial slurs to a black male. The black male repeatedly went to the Principal's office making formal complaints about it because he felt extremely uncomfortable, however no action was taken by the administration. The black male also told he administration that if they didn't do anything he would take it into his own hands, still, the administration did nothing. Finally, right after football season the black male started a huge fight in the cafeteria, and he ended up getting arrested and it was all over the news.

Another thing I wanted to discuss was some things people said in class that bothered me. First off, someone said something about special ed students not being as smart, I realize they might have not meant it that way but I wanted to make it clear that special ed students are just as smart as those without a learning disability, the only difference is they may process things slower or differently. Another thing is that special ed students definitely take tests to be labeled with an IEP. As I said in class, my mom often comes home frustrated because there seem to be many kids without the necessary attention and they often fall through the cracks and end up failing and having to stay extra years. It's truly sad that as stated in class politics is filled with discussion of improving our education system but when it comes down to it, it gets screwed. As someone stated in class, education is not a moneymaking institution. They're absolutely right, and in the capitalist society we live in where everything is basically about money and everything seems to become a business, if there's not money, we don't care. This needs to change.

http://www.myshortpencil.com/schooltalk/cgi-bin/board-profile.cgi?action=rate&topic=2&page=3382&post=9959