QOW - Click on the title of the post (American Government 3/14/11) to access the article “A Call to Action for Public Schools.” The article talks about the documentary “Waiting for Superman.” After reading this article and watching the documentary in class, answer the following questions: Why, in your opinion, is reforming public education a difficult task in this country? Secondly, explain the culture of education today. In your opinion, how do you view our educational system (as a whole)? What outside factors may influence for the better or worse student achievement in school? Finally, what can you, as a high school senior do to influence change in our educational system?

In my opinion, reforming public education is a very difficult task in this country because every school has different expectations and standards. Some schools may have very low standards while other have high standards and get the same reward in the end. Culture plays a huge part in how Americans live their lives. Many schools value extra curricular activities more than their education while in other countries education always comes first. I think that in order to make education in this country better, we need to have higher expectations for students especially when it comes to participating in after school activities and simplify the rules in the educational system. Their are so many rules surrounding this issue which is why it is so hard to come to an agreement.  I don't think that our education system is very good because very low achieving students get the same thing in the end as kids that rely try. I think that part of the problem is teachers because a lot of them don't care because they only care about getting paid and they know they will regardless of if they do they're job or not. We need to be able to fire these teachers that don't care. Teachers are only part of the problem, the other thing is students. Students are very unmotivated but you can't make them want to learn unless you teach them from an early age that education is important. Students that are unmotivated and don't try are only like that because they were raised thinking that everything in life will be easy so parents need to motivate them from an early age. For example, children from the documentary waiting for 'Superman' really valued their education more than anything because their parents have been trhough tough times and told their kids in order to make their lives better they need an education. Students at our school  don't know what it's like to live in poverty and not have a choice in if they want to continue their education which is why they are so lazy. These days, kids are always texting in class and doing other things while they should be working on school work. As a senior high school student, in order to influence and change our educational system I think we need  to set high expectations towards future graduating classes. If we set good standards then future graduating classes will want to exceed that and do even better.


Ripley, Amanda. “Waiting for ‘Superman:’ A Call to Action for Our Schools.” Time Inc. CNN. September 23, 2010. March 15, 2011.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019663_2020590_2020592-1,00.html

Drake, Bruce. "Charter School Lottery Gambles With Kids' Futures -- and Often Loses." Politics News, Elections Coverage, Political Analysis and Opinion. Web. 17 Mar. 2011.

“No Child Left Behind Act.” New York Times. March 10, 2011. March 15, 2011.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/no_child_left_behind_act/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier 

Education Reform class discussion reflection

In class we discussed many issues concerning the education reform and came across may good points. There are so many different parts to the education reform that many problems didn't seem to piece itself together very well to come to a complete agreement on a solution. I think many good points were made such as how a lot of money is being cut from schools and education is always the first thing people cut money from. Also, I agreed that it doesn't matter how much money schools are getting and every school should have higher expectations. Charter schools are getting better grades then regular schools regardless of how much money they have and I think that to stop spending so much on schools extra curricular activities is a big step in improving the education system.

U.S. military blocks websites to help Japan recovery efforts

The U.S Military blocked many popular commercial websites to free bandwidth for use in Japan's recovery efforts. Many sites such as ESPN, Amazon, EBay, MTV, and youtube were were chosen because their popularity among users of military computers.The block was instituted on Monday to make sure bandwidth was available in Japan for military operations. "We are trying to make sure we are giving them as many avenues and as much support as we can." says command spokesman Rodney Ellison.  I think it is really generous of people to take extra precautions towards the effort in helping Japan that is greatly needed because of the earthquake.

"Japan Earthquake 2011: 5 Strongest Earthquakes Of The Last Century (PHOTOS)." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

Preston, Mark, and Adam Levine. "U.S. Military Blocks Websites to Help Japan Recovery Efforts - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 15 Mar. 2011.

Breast milk ice cream debuts in London.

 A restaurant in London recently introduced their new ice cream called "baby gaga" which is made of real woman's breast milk. It proved to be a big hit when the first batch was sold out immediately.Each serving is a bout $22.50 and is made with at fifteen different woman's breast milk. Some are very skeptical of this new ice cream but others argue, " if it's good for the children, it's good for the rest of us" and that it is completely natural and healthier than cow's milk. As of February 28th, Westminster city council has confiscated was is left of the ice cream because of a few complaints.

http://news.discovery.com/human/breast-milk-ice-cream-110225.html

"Breast Milk Ice Cream Debuts in London : Discovery News." Discovery News: Earth, Space, Tech, Animals, Dinosaurs, History. Web. 02 Mar. 2011.