When Green Meets Red and Red Meets Blue

Even though segregation has been outlawed, there still has been signs of it in schools and classes throughout the U.S. Nowadays though, children aren’t separated by race entirely, but by personality and interests. In classes you see a group of friends bunched up together discussing things not relevant to class material. During non-class time, kids are still hanging out with the same people based on their common interests. This doesn’t seem so bad and I’m not saying kids shouldn’t have a set of friends, but hanging out with the same people can cause kids to be closed minded. Personally I feel like the more people I met and became friends with, the more I my mind thought about different things. If students don’t all connect with each other, they may not learn about important, useful, and/or interesting things that they never thought of. This relates to segregation by race because I’m 100% sure both colored and white children could’ve learned a multitude of thing from each other that would’ve benefited everyone involved if all races went to the same schools.

Disappear (Part 3 Rough Draft)

The failure to keep schools open, along with having both crowded schools and classrooms will cause students to be overlooked and ignored. Teachers won’t have time to explain the material in detail to individual students and answers everyone's questions. Students would be denied one-on-one time with their teachers because of overcrowded classes. For instance, if a child falls behind in class, it would be really tough for the student to catch up without the teachers undivided attention. With smaller classes, teachers would have more time to focus on each student and overcome the issues at hand.

Another negative of this situation would be uncontrollable commotion. Crowded classes would result in lack of order and intense uproar. The noisy environment, brought about by numerous side conversations, causes students to lose focus and get distracted easily. Furthermore, teachers will not be able to teach efficiently without frequent interruptions. Students’ irrelevant arguments become the main focus of the class, which are encouraged by these cluttered workspaces. All around the situation proves to be utter chaos and an unfit learning environment.

On a wider scale campuses will be much more difficult to manage. In the event of an altercation, security guards are obligated to restore order. The common issue of schools frequently shutting down forces an increase in need for staff in active facilities, notably security guards. Generally speaking, a vast number of students migrating to a nearby school produces a demand for insufficient supplies, which doesn’t meet their needs. These disadvantaged students harbor the burden of unfortunate schools. The misconception of saving money in the act of closing schools is nothing more than an illusion.

What I Know Right Now

 After watching the TED video, I don't even know where to begin. From start to finish, Sir Robinson had really great interesting points. One thing I could relate to is the whole idea of wearing a wristwatch. My dad constantly tells me to wear one and I always respond saying it's useless when I have many other things that tell time. There was so many good metaphors Robinson used when comparing education. The one that really got me was when he said current education is like manufacturing where everyone is doing the same basic things(standardized), but it should be like agriculture or organic. He then says that like farmers, education should provide the resources for the student and let them grow their own way. I would like to add that the current educational system, in public education at least, seems to teach kids the basic but then forces them to go either a certain path or gives them limited options. This idea connects to my previous post about the article by Ron Wolk, which also talked about changing current education to fit students needs and interests rather than everyone learn the same things that don't interest any students. The only concern I have with this whole idea is the toughness of executing it, for example what if someone changes their mind and wants to do something else. If they move to that area what if they get overwhelmed and get behind? The German educational system is the closest thing to this idea that I could think of. From what I understand, after 9th grade students can either continue on to 10th-12th grade, go to a trade school, or to a university. In the end, like all things this will probably have some flaws, but I still think this idea is worth a shot and better than the current system of education.

Overnight

The two concepts connect because both talk about changing the educational system. They highlight the flaws of the current standards of education. Some of which are having different people thrown in together, certain kids being ignored, and less engaged learning. The article also says “...then we must create new institutions that can” (Wolk) when talking about the educational system and institutions failing for certain students. This connects with my view against against closing schools by stating that instead more should be created. This article is really big on getting rid of standardizing education and making it more personal. Diversity is another key point in this article. It says, “...they come from different… cultural backgrounds, learn in different ways…”(Wolk). Personalizing education can help all types of students learn and succeed. Wolk also talks about some schools he works with that have classrooms with only 15 students in them which helps student get the focus and attention they need.

Wolk, Ron. “Education: The Case for Making It Personal.” Educational Leadership Apr. 2010: 16-21