Sample One -
Wow! What a complex and amazing body we have! DNA are microscopic strings of data of who you are. The other day I heard that if you take your DNA and strand it together, it would reach to the sun and back 7 times! As I read all this information on neurons, our brains, how we see, hear, taste, touch, learn and move, I am blown away. Without the little pictures for each topic, I would be completely lost.
The other day in class we talked about people who just tense up and have so much trouble with math. Well that's how I feel when I'm reading this and trying to understand it all. I once watched a video on this a few years ago and I found that very helpful. The best summary I can come up with for this reading is that our body is so complex as we are just beginning to figure out how the brain works and functions.
The part of this reading that intrigued me the most was the brain development section. It showed little pictures of a human brain being formed after every couple weeks. It was fascinating to see how it developed every couple weeks and how it came together after 9 months. As science continues to discover how the brain develops and is able to spot problems in unborn babies, I think this could cause controversy. I would hope this would not lead to more abortions but the new discoveries would help further the treatment of these problems.
It is hard for me to imagine that right now my body is doing so much that I never realized. Obviously, my heart is continually beating and my lungs are breathing without me even having to think about it. Also, my hands are moving at tremendous rates typing on this keyboard while my eyes are watching the monitor for errors and my brain is processing it all at unimaginable speeds. My stomach is grumbling for food, my ears are hearing the music in the background, my toes are itching, my back is aching, my leg is twitching, and the list goes on and on. All these things are happening because of all these things like neurons, neurotransmitters, nerves, pupils, ear drums and so many other things. What an amazing, complex body we have! The more I learn about our body the more I think it shows that we must come from an amazing and complex creator.
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Sample Two -
Hola! So the document we had to read for Wednesday was fairly interesting. I read it and compared what I read with my teachers in high school and I think a good number of them missed the mark. For instance, take number one on the points list. Teachers should have an appreciation for the liberal arts. I think what the writers were getting at was that teachers should be appreciative of all aspects of the liberal arts, but it's increasingly difficult to find people who are well rounded enough to hold these in sincere appreciation. Knowledge of international perspectives, able to debate free and pluralistic societies, respect for differences, etc...(Interestingly enough, sexual orientation is not on the list of things you need to be "sensitive" to. Not that I'm advocating it, but just being "politically correct," maybe.)
From what is written in this document, what the public is really looking for in a teacher is a superhuman; someone who knows a little about everything, is sensitive, and firmly rooted in his/her beliefs, while still being able to make academic yearly progress.
Really though, I think teachers are superhumans. Look at what they put up with each and every day. It's incredible. When I initially looked at the list of 7 ways teachers need to excel (each with 8 or 9 subpoints) I thought it was crap that someone actually took time to think that out. However, upon reviewing it, I think it's really true. Teachers (for the most part) meet each and every standard put on that list. They have to be knowledgable in nearly all areas of life, be model citizens, use technology, be critical thinkers, have a quick-witted sense of humor, and continually make modifications to their teaching practices. Incredible. And they suffer so much crap in the public eye. One just can't win.
On a negative note, I think that some teachers are just plain lazy and don't really care what the standards (here) read. I don't know the best way to get these couch potatoes up to snuff, but some (at least in my high school) need a good swift kick in the pants. That's all I got.
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Sample Three -
This reflection discusses “A Nation at Risk,” a document produced in 1983 discussing the problems with the public education system in America. The document argued that our schools are failing to produce the top caliber young people that it used to produce. Overall public education was up while the abilities of those graduating college seemed to be down. Many of the arguments that were being made seemed to be based on performance on standardized tests when compared to other countries as well as the past. The article stated that standardized test scores have been dropping steadily, to which they concluded that our school systems were failing to educate the students. Could it also be that the standardized tests used at this time were becoming more random and ascenine, and thus the performance of the students was dropping?
This article called for all of America to join together and push for school reform. I would agree with the fact that the school system then as well as the school system now is in need of major reform. What I found interesting about the article was that there seemed to be no proposition made for just how we were going to turn around our schools. To go a step further, not much of an attempt was made to identify what exactly was wrong with our schools. Generalizations were made, stating that schools must do a better job of educating the youth of the country. That was about all that was said however: the system is broken so we need to try and fix it. These type of broad statements may help to win elections, but obviously they to not help to improve the problem at hand.
One could write the same article today and submit it and it would be accepted. This tells me that no progress has been made in improving our public schools. Children are still being abandoned by the system while others are sliding through without gaining much real education. I think we need to start trying to identify the fundamental flaws in our current system, and then begin taking steps to improve or eliminate the major flaws. I think that school reform needs to be a continuous process. Just as the world keeps changing, so will our schools in order to keep up with the times and provide the education that children at any given time will need to succeed.
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Sample Four -
In the documentary titled School:The Story of Public Education:The Bottom Line in Education:1980-Present I agree with the notion that overall we have been successful with public education. In fact, I agree with many of the points being made that defend the progressive school, charter school, traditional public school, core knowledge school, religious school, private school, or for-profit school. I believe that the idea of having so many different styles and modes used to educate children is a good system.
No system is going to perfect, but a system that allows for trial and error (yes there will be errors), debate, innovation, and competition will allow the best ideas to percolate to the top while (hopefully) burying the ineffective methods in the scrap heap with such ideas as "separate but equal" etc. The very idea of using standards will take away from the approach that I am advocating and I believe will stifle many great ideas that are at least worth a try. If you want a school that treats everyone the same you can look to the core knowledge approach. A progressive school allows more critical thinking and working on practical projects. A charter school bring the idea of choice and more of a teacher-run method. Hillary Clinton wanted to see every school district trying different things because then we would see what really works. Great idea. Too bad Bill then followed with standardized testing for 4th graders etc.
Funding always seems to be the overriding issue. Whether selling out to Pepsi, Channel One, or fighting with unions, money is usually in the forefront of all debate. What happens to the (estimated) $600 million dollars per year that the lottery is supposed to provide for education? I haven't done the research but my anti-bureaucratic instinct is telling me that they took $600 million away from education (for some other project(s)) and replaced the money with lottery funds. The lottery money does actually go to directly education but in a classic government obfuscation of the truth the budget doesn't show any growth. It would be nice if someone held our leaders accountable for such actions (if they are indeed occurring) because even someone educated in our lowly public schools can't avoid the stench of such a spending bait and switch.
If the general public were made aware of that fact a lot of pressure would be placed on the folks in Lansing to change that policy. Private (for profit) schools such as those run by EAI might have merit as well. They can bypass the bureaucracy and get things done. Most ideas that we have covered this semester have some element of value. Not every idea is a complete solution (none are) but in this instance the Baltimore schools did get refurbished facilities, more supplies and a clean building and grounds but the overall test scores did not go up. Whose fault is that? EAI? The teachers? The expectations? It seems like EAI addressed all of the teachers issues and the results were essentially the same. Not surprising. It is clear that open debate is needed. We need to look for best practices all over the world and begin to implement them in our schools while eliminating those that clearly do not work. As someone (Ravitch?) said in the piece our schools are in a state of "permanent revolution". Good. That (hopefully) means that we are changing...and changing for the better.