Waiting for Superman

Hello all, I can't believe the warm weather we are having in March! It used to be the snowiest month of the year, and now it is 60+ degrees. Please accept my sincerest apologies for submitting this blog a little late, I was at the first annual The People's Institute Retreat which focused on leadership and diversity this past weekend. I will blog about that experience in a separate post later this week, but I had a great time and learned quite a lot.

This week we watched the film "Waiting for Superman." It talks about educational struggles and inequalities in public schools. It still made me shocked and infuriated at the injustice of the in-balance of the quality of education at public schools across the nation. It shocked me that no state is even close to having even 50% of proficiency in math or reading at the eighth grade level at the time of this movie, less than two years ago.  The saddest part is that the worst area is Washington D.C., our nation's capital.

Some students are doing poorly in school because of ineffective teachers, no family support, or lack the proper resources needed. By having ineffective teachers, especially at young ages, they are not getting the foundation they need to keep up with the learning. This gap widens as they get older and makes them more likely to drop out. Secondly, without family support it is hard to find the motivation to go to school; thankfully the children in the video had at least one adult in their life who helped them. Finally, many children's learning disabilities are undiagnosed or simply lack the resources and personal attention they need to learn. This became very real to me when I heard a personal story from someone else. Her mother had moved to the suburbs of Chicago to keep her and her younger siblings out of the Chicago Public School system. This was especially important for her younger brother who has a learning disability. They can no longer afford to live there so they now have to move back to Chicago, where her brother will not have the attention he needs.

If superman was going to save these students, he would have to create uniform rules and regulations for schools, recognize and accommodate the different needs of each community, and most importantly make sure all teachers are effective in teaching the required materials. We can help by advocating for different laws or repeals of laws that hinder the basic need of children to learn. Providing role models and examples of what life could be like for younger children if they go to college is also important because it keeps them thinking about what their life could be like and motivates them to follow their dreams. I believe trying to get parents involved is difficult, especially if they have to work. Even something as small as the parents making a sports game or performance or dance can encourage the student to continue to be involved and they would most likely enjoy going to school. I suggest for those of you who have not watched the video yet to do so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bzFhrkqE8g&feature=youtu.be

After reading the article "12 Lies To Stop Telling Yourself" I definitely read things that I can recall saying to myself. The article reminds me of a main topic that was taught at TPI retreat on Saturday. The main point was that we all have a single-sided story about ourselves which continually runs in our minds as an internal script. These twelve lies in the article are some of the top internal scripts that are our own single stories. What we learned is that there is no data to support these negative thoughts. I hope to improve myself by being mindful if I start these negative sayings, to counter them with a positive one. I can also go back and think of all the reasons my negative thoughts have no basis. I can use this information to teach other people not to judge themselves or others. I believe by being a role model for others I can show them that dreams are attainable, everyone makes mistakes, failure is necessary to succeed, and that your past is not indicative of your future. One quote I would like to share with other students is, "It's better to have a lifetime full of mistakes that you learned from, rather than a heart full of regrets and empty dreams."

A major flaw of the current U.S.  educational system is the way it is set up to distribute resources according to the socioeconomic status of neighborhoods. This creates a greater disparity between the quality of education and resources available to children in different neighborhoods. It is especially unfair because poorer children are often in more need for those resources. I believe I can educate myself and others more about the issue, and vote. Voting is important because elected officials can change legislature pertaining to the issues that are most important to you.