Don't Worry
Don't worry everyone. I haven't quit LiveJournal. I haven't had the time to post. Since the last one, I've finished researching my independent study for my middle school class. I researched the effects of poverty relating to standardized test scores, and how No Child Left Behind affects those same factors. The verdict (no surprise here): poor kids don't do as well on tests because they're in poor schools with less resources and have to deal with a host of other problems middle-class students don't have to deal with, and since NCLB punishes schools that don't perform well on standardized tests, the poor schools get poorer (potentially worse) and the rich/good schools get rewarded.
America sucks at education. We preach and preach that we can all achieve great things if we get an education, but we don't even offer equal education to everyone. I even got the shaft when I came to IWU. My community is predominantly working or middle-class. I think the stat was 1 in 10 people in my county are living in poverty. My high school had 2 AP classes. I took both of them and did fine, but I definitely had a disadvantage from other people who went to schools with 12 AP classes. Grant it, I've had other advantages than kids living in poverty...my parents are married and both have decent jobs, I've never moved (we almost did move to Peru though...for better schools ironically), and my parents have always been involved in my schooling. After working this summer with kids who live in poverty and doing this project, I really, really want to teach in a place that has kids living in poverty. I'd love to teach in CPS, but I'm pretty sure I'd be super broke if I taught there since you have to live there. Stupid student loans...
So I've spent at least 12 hours on campus the last few days without going back to the apartment. I'm pretty much on-campus, except for sleeping in my own room back at the apartment. I love off-campus living :-).
America sucks at education. We preach and preach that we can all achieve great things if we get an education, but we don't even offer equal education to everyone. I even got the shaft when I came to IWU. My community is predominantly working or middle-class. I think the stat was 1 in 10 people in my county are living in poverty. My high school had 2 AP classes. I took both of them and did fine, but I definitely had a disadvantage from other people who went to schools with 12 AP classes. Grant it, I've had other advantages than kids living in poverty...my parents are married and both have decent jobs, I've never moved (we almost did move to Peru though...for better schools ironically), and my parents have always been involved in my schooling. After working this summer with kids who live in poverty and doing this project, I really, really want to teach in a place that has kids living in poverty. I'd love to teach in CPS, but I'm pretty sure I'd be super broke if I taught there since you have to live there. Stupid student loans...
So I've spent at least 12 hours on campus the last few days without going back to the apartment. I'm pretty much on-campus, except for sleeping in my own room back at the apartment. I love off-campus living :-).