Module One Part I Blog Assignment
Part I of the book has been very interesting so far. It introduces the creation of the school system in America and the various factors that affect each school in the system such as race, ethnicity, and economic status. One of the phrases our group ranked states “systems have price tags” and that was evident throughout this chapter. The start of this section discusses how education is necessary in order for a republic to survive but just like everything else in the world who had access to it first? The rich. Rich parents were able to afford to send their children to schools because the start of this system was reliant on funding from citizens and not from the government. Low income and some middle class families were most likely not able to afford it; therefore, they could not send their children to school. As years passed, this system got better and more and more children could attend school regardless of their socioeconomic status.
When schools first started being built, they did not have the best resources but the intervention of a certain individual allowed for better chairs that supported children’s backs, a blackboard that could be used as a better demonstrative of lesson plans, etc. This part of the reading also explained the discrimination that occurred towards African Americans and how they were required to attend separate schools from the white children. Parents of African American children wanted their kids to be in the same schools as white children but of course white people fought against it by saying its better they remain separated because it can lead to a lot of problems among children such as name calling and other forms of bullying. Some Black parents and attorneys did not stop fighting for their rights which is when they took it to the supreme court and thus the infamous case of Brown v Board of Education was victorious in “striking down segregation.” This is one of the ways in which public education divided and unified the United States. The whole reason as to why Brown v Board of Education was even introduced is because of the inequality and division of schools based on race. Resources in the schools for Black children were much less readily available than they were in the schools for white children. This division although now, illegal, still affects black children. Studies show that “black children are more racially and socioeconomically isolated today than at any time since data have been available (1970).”
I think it is very debatable to say that schools have unified America nowadays. One reason I believe they have unified us as students is because most schools across the country follow similar curriculums. However, curriculums may be cut short or altered completely for those in low income neighborhoods attending their neighborhood school .This is possible due to a lack of resources. For other schools with more resources available, their curriculums might be broader than most because they have access to more things. Personally, I am grateful to have had access to many great resources that have granted me the education and knowledge I have today. I do believe however, that if my economic status was higher, access to better schools and resources would be much easier and would have possibly changed who I am as a person such as how I think, analyze, and solve problems.
After reading this section my group and I individually chose a word, phrase, and sentence to use for each of our discussion boards and we then reconvened to discuss the rankings of each word, phrase, and sentence. The first of each category, we chose, based on its relevance to the general idea of the reading. The other words, phrases, and sentences were used as evidence to back up the general idea which is why we decided to rank them lower. For example, one of our phrases, “A system built on inequality,” was ranked at #2, but the next phrase “Systems have price tags” was ranked at number 3 because it is an example of the general idea expressed in phrase 2.
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