In 2002, the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, with its explicit focus on “closing the achieve-ment gap between high and low performing children, especially minority and non- minority students,”23 testifi ed to the continued centrality and urgency of the issue on a national level.
In today's society, there are K-12 public high school for all students to join. There are also disability center in schools for students with disability to learn, and that definitely shows No child left behind.
Th e year Robin wrote his column, Alhambra High was 90 percent Asian American and Latina/o, with Asian American students making up 48 percent of the student body, and Latinas/os 41.5 percent.4 In the heated dialogue that followed, it became clear that much more was at stake than raising test scores and grade point averages. In
Something that I have experienced is that my high school is also having a lot of Asian American and the rate is high. I did not see much racism in my school and I think the amount of diversity can affect student's attitude toward others. And it is true that the average test scores are rising and that can lead to more stress for students.
I remember in fifth grade specifically ... I went home every single day in tears because people made fun of me every day. And it probably didn’t help that I didn’t have siblings. I wasn’t particularly tough at all. But I would go home every day in tears because I just felt different, and somebody made fun of me.... I felt that I was inadequate and unable to do anything because I was Asian. It was just the little things that kids would say.... And I would be well aware of the fact that I was different from them.
This is surprising me that 5th graders can have such a strong anti a race attitude. It is sad to imagine elementary students are not yet knowing much about the society but still being racist toward other groups.
In the public mind Asian Americans are often synonymous with academic excellence, in part because their group scores on standardized tests and their college enrollment levels often exceed those of other groups, often including whites
It is true that people always see Asian Americans as a hard workin group. Because of this, there are higher standards and expectations people put toward Asian American. This could also give pressure to Asian American students while people see them as surpassingly to do well in academic although this is a stereotype.
When younger, he struggled to learn English, which made it difficult to adapt in his predominantly white environment.
I can see this situation around me where there are many students that struggled on their English and because of that, they have hardship in other courses. As they entered high school when all the academic grade would affect their college choices, it is easy to feel stress and depress.
These data indicate that with such low average attainment levels, the major responsibil-ity for education falls on the school by default. School officials, however, tend not to see it this way. T)1ey tend to blame the students, their parents, their culture, and their community for their educational failure.
I can see how parents are blaming the teachers for such a high drop out and failure rate, and because the rate is too high, teachers blame on the students, parents, culture, and community for the failure.
Because of the school's high failure and dropout rates, the freshman class makes up mo·re than-half of the school population.
It is hard to believe how many students dropout and not passing the classes. And I am wondering if the teachers that supposed to teacher higher grade level students need to teach freshman because of the overpopulation of freshman.
An average of 300 students skip daily. Between 1,200 and 1,500 students enter the 9th grade each year and only 400 to 500
The number actually surprised me. An average of 300 students skip school daily is around 1/4 of the total number of students in the same grade. I have heard teachers saying that in public school, the amount of economic support from the distract is based upon the attendance rate of students and I am wondering if that is true.
Many school systems have attempted to institute "parent training" programs for poor parents and parents of color.
I remembered that there are adult schools in the community that provided to parents that are not doing well in the culture of the country or language. There are also school programs and systems that have translator for communicating between teachers and those parents who do not know and understand English.
Not knowing students' strengths leads to our "reaching down" to children from communities that are culturally different from that of the teachers in the school.
It is important for an educator to know the strengths of a student and the weaknesses of a student. With the knowing of that, teacher is able to pay attention to the students and know what is the best way to educate a student in order to let the student shown its best and help the student to better.
There is a widespread belief that Asian-American children are the "perfect" students, that they will do well regardless of che academic setting in which they are placed.
I often heard of this also that people are rating Asian-American with a higher standard because they are doing hard and great in academic. And people are always thinking that Asian-American is good at math as to be normal thing.
I have come to believe that a major portion of the problem may also rest with how these three groups of teachers interact and use language with their stu-dents
Although I can't state this for absolute statement, but it is true in some high school that some students recognize most teachers coming from a racial group is nicer than the teachers coming from another racial group.
It was really a very paradoxical ex-istence, here I am in a school that's thirty-five percent Black, you know, and I'm the only Black in my classe
I have the similar feeling back into high school when I am taking the honor English class. Although the people in the class is diverse, I do not see one that is same as me because all of my friends with the same race as me think honor english is the hardest course for people who are not born as and native english speakers. And it is true that it's hard to make new friends during group projects while other people in the class already know each other well.
When David stated his age, the inevitable reply was, "Gee, you're tall for your age!" It happened so frequently that I once overheard seven-year-old David say to someone, "Don't say it, I know. I'm tall for my age."
It is normal to see people coming from a different racial backgrounds are more likely to be higher or shorter than the others. That is due to the biological side of a specific race. It seems like the David cares about his genes and don't want people to mention his over average height in compare with the same age group children coming from another racial background.
If you walk into racially mixed elementary schools, you will often see young children of diverse racial backgrounds playing with one another, sitting at the snack table together, crossing racial boundaries with an ease uncommon in adoles-cence.
It is true that children from different racial backgrounds are sitting together in elementary school. Students in elementary can easily talk and hang around with others although they don't know other that well.
dentifiable group of Black students sitting together. Con-versely, it could be pointed out that there are many groups of White students sitting together as well,
I think this can often be seen in my high school that people are sitting in the cafeteria by group. Although people are having diverse friends coming from different race, but it is more likely for people coming from the same background to sit together at lunch.
In conclusion, if we do not intentionally unveil the hidden advantages that middle-class and upper-class students have over their low-income peers, we run the risk of indirectly reinforcing these inequalities in our classrooms.
It is true that it would never be equal for all students to be put in the same positions. While the upper-class students get advantage for having tutors to help for their academic, they are getting disadvantage while people and colleges put them a higher expectations and rate them harder. Same in another way, where the lower-class students get disadvantages in some way, they get advantage in another way. Although this sounds equal but it would never be equal, and I think either class of students would not think it is equal while everyone are seeing things in different perspective, and it is hard to make everything equal and fair.
I believe my lack of books contributed to my below average reading test scores. In third grade I was read-ing at a second-grade level. Research indicates that social class can influence cognitive abilities because a lack of money results in fewer experiences at muse-ums and traveling, fewer books in the home, and less access to preschool educa-tion
I agree with how the author thinks his reading test scores is below average due to the lack of books his family has. I think this can be see in two ways. One is that the family is not able to afford many books so the child do not get into the hobby of reading and the lack of experiences can also effect the child's knowledge. However, in my personal experiences, every school or community is likely to have library, if the child itself loves reading and willing to learn strongly, there are still ways to access resources in some case.
When the time came, Clara and Ricardo actively helped their kids with their college applications. "Some of these essays from USC and Penn and NYU were difficult," Clara says. "You have to be very mature to answer some of those questions. Ricardo is a very good writer, and he's the one I give a lot of the credit to. I think he helped you [Isabella] and Michael maneuver the application process.
I totally agree with this and to think back when I was writing college essay for applications, I spent the most time on the NYU's essay, I always go off track and what I wrote are not catching the topic of it. I have a tutor that help me review my writing, and I think it is important while there is someone reading and telling you to revise because it is not catching people's eyes or it is not well connected to the question. And this lead back to the question that how can it be really equal while there are students coming from a lower income family that do not have the chance to have a tutor to give advise about their college essay, and it gives some students disadvantage in some situations.
Troy High offers more than 100 different extracurricular clubs, each with its own advisor and at least ten active members-and that doesn't include athletics. Among the possibilities: Amnesty International, the Anime Club, the Archery Club, the Chess Club, the Coptic Club, the Drama Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, the iStocks Investment Club, the Live Poets Society, the Math Club, the Muslim Club, the Polyne-sian Club, Serve A Soldier, World Vision, and Young Americans for Freedom.
This number of extracurricular clubs actually surprises me. In my high school, it is more likely for school to focus more on school sport teams and less in clubs. Out of a lot of clubs that was being made, the club presidents care more about create a club and write this experience in their resume rather than actually making a club. Which ends up with many of my school clubs are like a pop up club that only exists for a year and not really to have a lot of activities to do, by knowing how Troy High offers more than 100 clubs, it actually surprises me really much.
"That's also why we moved here," she says, "because the university was next to us, and I knew they offered courses for their age group. I did whatever it took to make sure that my kids were ahead a year. All three kids have always tested at least a grade or two above.
This reminds me of my own experiences, where as I first moved to California, the first thing my parents being concerned is which community they should be house in. And the factors they use to consider is the environment of the community, facilities of the community, and most importantly, the school district in the community as well as the score it is being rated. They always believe that it is important to live in a place where the school district has a high rated score and there are many access in the community that can help daily life and academics.
However, it is possible to address school conditions that contribute to disparities in achievement, such as school size, the student-to-counselor ratio, procedures that are used to track stu-dents into higher-an<l lower-level courses, and processes used to provide academic support co students who are struggling. These aspects of the school structure all contribute co the achievement gap, and unlike the backgrounds of students, they can be easily modified and reformed.
I agree with the conditions of school can have some connection with children's achievement while some school provide more resources to the students and students can take advantage on that. And it is hard for all children to be keep in an equal situation while they are all coming from different backgrounds that affect them in ways.
This chapter focuses on I-tow the structures of Berkeley High Sch~l cqptribute to the reproduction qf racial and social class-based inequality at the school.
This reminds me of what I have often heard when I was in high school. During summer and weekends in high school, I have to take group classes and private classes for SAT. There are always adults and teachers mention that we need to use this advantage of taking the class while there are people who do not have the chance to do so in order to improve their SAT score. This is true that in SAT class, teacher will talk about the method to do problems as well as give advises about the way to write and solve problems in order to get a higher score, and this gives disadvantage to children that are from a lower income family where they do not have the chance for having this external support.
Alexander's mother helped him secure a summer internship in a medical office. None of Anthony's or Harold's parents had any experience with a four-year college.
I totally see this happening in my real life. Where some of my friend's parents are having higher education level, which they would tell my friends what to do in summer time, provide them opportunities for internships that help them later on in their school or jobs. However, I also see friends that do not really plan out their summer time and they do not seem to know as much about what they should do to use their summer wisely.
Poor nutri-tion and inadequate health care have long-term effects on children's in-tellectual development. Exposure to lead paint affects children's nervous systems, resulting in hyperactivity and irritability, with long-term con-sequences for both intellectual and emotional development.
I totally agree and see the importance of how children can be affected mentally everyday in a lower income family. It is more likely for kids to be upset if they want to eat something but they are not allow to because of the shortage of foods. I remember the bad feeling when I was young and I want to buy a snack but my parents do not let me. The children coming from the lower income family might face this situation way more often, which the continuously of the bad feeling can affect their mental health especially when they have comparison with others.
All lived in spa-cious houses in quiet, relatively crime-free neighborhoods.
This is another that make me realize how and why children coming from a lower income family can have a higher chance to have mental health problems. If the environment the children are living in is unhealthy, then what they see and something bad they might face can definitely influence them in a negative way.
All but the saxophone were extracurricular activities. They consumed an inordinate amount of the family's weekday and weekend time, and also cost a lot of money: "Soccer costs $15 per month, but there are additional, larger expenses periodically. The ... soccer team's new warm-up suits, socks and shirts cost the Tallingers $100. Piano runs $23 per weekly lesson per child. Tennis clinic is $50; winter basketball $30. It costs the family money to drive to out-of-state tournaments and stay overnight. Fees for Garrett's summer camps have varied; some have cost $200 per week .. .
This reminds me about my personal experiences. Starting at a young age, I have took many classes that needs additional money on education. Other than going to private school, private extracurricular activities classes they need to be take everyday every week is another big portion that my parents need to spend money on. It is also true that as I step into high school, I joined the tennis team and every season, everyone need to pay for a fee that uses to support the team. In addition to that, there are also cost for buying clothes, shoes, drinks, fruits, and snacks during practice and matches. This does not seem much but it actually come up with a lot, and it is true that children that interested in extracurricular activities need support from their family in economy.
Alternatively, psychologists and sociologists focus on how economic disadvantage impairs the quality of family relationships.
I think the economic disadvantage of a family can bring the members into a good or bad way depends on how and what they do to go through it. For example, it might bring family closer when they are facing economic disadvantage, or in another way, the disadvantage cause more argue and disappointments in the family which affect the family relationship in a negative way.
Also, children from low-income families are more likely to engage in antisocial behavior and to have mental health problems.
This can happen due to the lack of care children get from their parents. Children can be antisocial if they are not mentally healthy. Some reasons can be lower income families give their children more stress than higher income families, which is why children struggle and suffer more.
Children are more successful in school when they are able to pay at-tention, when they get along with peers and teachers, and when they are not preoccupied or depressed because of troubles at home.
It is true that children are likely to learn better in the same condition where they do not influence by other factors from home. When there's problems and issues at home, it is hard for children to not care about it and pay attention at school, their academic can be hugely influence by its family.
Both of Alexander's parents had professional degrees, so they knew all about what Alexander needed to do to prepare himself for college. An-thony's mother completed some classes after graduating from high school, but his father, a high school dropout, struggled even to read.
I agree with how education levels of a family can be a factor that give advantage or disadvantage to their child. Parents with experiences on high education can taught and give advices to their kids about what to prepare for college; however, parents with a lower education level are not able to provide as much advices and share experiences with their kids.
With an income of more than $300,000, Alexander's family was able to spend far more money on Alexander's education, lessons, and other enrichment activities than Anthony's parents could devote to their son's needs.
I believe the family income is another thing that would affect a person especially on the way they see its life and how its education would be. For example, if a family is suffer in economy, then it is less likely for the child to have support for their education. However, it is more likely for a high-income family to support the child's education while they can pay off the needed of their child.
It is easy to imagine how the childhood circumstances of these two young men may have shaped their fates.
It is true that how people's personality and the way the act are affected during their childhood. I have always being told that what you did in your childhood and youth are basically the way you will continue to do throughout your life. More upon, the physical and psychological development of oneself are also being shaped in their childhood, where all the things they faced can influence them later on.