I loved you'r English class it was fun and i just wanted to say thank you and merry Christmas.

                                                                                                        sincerely Daniel Kimondo Mzee

Final Essay

In today’s world it’s a free for all, what is your is yours and you keep what you kill. But because of this we continually hurt our self’s and our society, because we don’t think of other people and what they might be going through. In THE RICH and THE REST of US by Travis Smiley and Cornel West they discuss these issues and how these issues affect the society today and how it hinders progress. If only we got rid of these modern day stereotypes that keep us down we would be able to better our self’s and see through the superficial layer of garbage that we think separates us from others and see that everyone has their own problems. These stereotypes are ‘’good for business’’, they ‘’Distract us from the really issues’’, and make us feel “distinguished” from everyone else because we then think we are better than them or we don’t need their help cause their problems are theirs and ours are ours.

The stereotypes that most people are not necessarily true, because of this we don’t think of the issues that affect us most. We never think that someone else is having the same problems that we are until we voice our issues to the world. Most people tend to think that the rich don’t have the same problems as we do but in truth they do. Just because someone has a nice car, or lives in a good neighborhood doesn't mean that they are rich. These are just assumptions that we make because we are used to the thought that nice cars and nice houses means someone is rich. The stereotype that “poverty doesn't exist in the suburbs” (175) is a particularly harmful one because if these people are being affected by the issues then doesn't that mean that the people who live in the ghettos are in a much worse off position. If only more and more people spoke up against these issues the problems would only get fixed sooner than later. The problems in this country affect all of us not just the poor. The sooner we see this the sooner we can lend a helping hand to those in need and the sooner we can help each other. The longer we wait the more the problems grow, it’s our fault that we aren’t listening to the issues and we aren’t speaking up to the issues.           

These stereotypes also blind us from what is really happening, while we are busy in our own lives to see what is really happening. For many years people have been concerned with race and how that affected them while in truth they should have thought of what other people were doing to fool them. Stereotypes blind people from seeing what is really happening, and keep us sheep from interfering with other matters. “It’s not envy its class war. Its war that has been perpetrated by the rich onto everybody else” (154). Class war is the war that the rich have decided to use on us, a sense of survival of the richest is what comes when you think of such a thing. The rich are trying their hardest to keep their spot at the top of the hill and we are busy fighting each other to notice that they are constantly pushing us to the bottom while they stay on top. Only by realizing this can we as a collective fight together and stronger than separated and weak. We must find strength in numbers because that’s what the rich are doing against us they are banding together and we have yet to realize this.           

While we are cutting our self’s off from the rest of the world the rich take advantage for this and are continually exploiting this weakness. We tend to think that because other people don’t have the problems that we do, and because of this we don’t think that the problem is big we just think that the issue is small and we don’t have to speak in public about it while we do. In this confusion the rich profit while the rest suffer. During periods of stress or economic disturbance most people don’t think to save their money they think of just spending it on things that are not really that needed. The problem with this is that the rich won’t feel the pressure of the purse strings but you will. Instead of saving they want you to spend, and buy more of their things so that they make money off of you. The only person who gets hurt in the process is the consumer, because while you not only work for them to make them money you also buy their items making them richer.      

In conclusion if we only banned together we would be able to stand up to issues better and not be continually suppressed by the rich. We must get rid of the stereotypes that we have and realize that we aren’t all that different from each other. If the rich suffer from the same problems as we do then there has to be a flaw in the system somewhere. Second we must understand that the rich are using us to fight each other in order for them to keep their place on the top of the hill. The longer it takes us to realize that we aren’t each other’s enemies can we stand up against the really enemy. The rich are making enormous amounts of money from us by shipping their factories off shore and selling the goods made there to us. What choice do we have but to accept it. In the end are the rich to blame or is it the people who continually turn a blind eye to the problems that affect them more and more every day?

We Cannot do Anything For schools that are lacking materials.

              We cannot do anything for schools that are lacking materials because it would be wasting too much time on something that doesn't yield proper results. It's the schools fault  for not performing up to standard, and it is the schools responsibility to fix their own problem. The school should fix it's self and its own problems because it's too much work for other people to fix the schools problems. They are being a liability to themselves and to others that have to deal with that situation. They are also causing problems for the students that attend that school, because they are the ones who have to deal with these problems the most because its there education that is on the line. 

              Schools that are failing don't need more funding because they aren't fixing there problems and wont do anything with the money given to them by the government. The school would only waste the money on needless things like a new gym or new work out equipment. They wouldn't spend it on something that is useful like learning equipment or on disciplining bad teachers that are not coming up to standard. The school could also try to make new learning programs that could greatly help the school improve more and more instead of it repeating the same habits. Only by schools taking charge of there own problems can the school system improve from its current situation. The public school is heavily dependent to the government and that is the reason why they are failing. The government can only see things that are presented to them in a Political way so they can't see what is better for the future only what is better right now.

              If a school is failing it should be shutdown because they are wasting the children's education and tax payer money. Parents work hard for their children to go to school and get a proper education, if the schools don't give the students a good education then whats the point of even working hard for your child to have a better life that that you had. If the school system is failing the the student, parent, teacher, and society then there is no point in having the school stay open. Its best to close the school down than have it still working and failing at what it's supposed to be doing. By getting rid of these schools you can help eliminate the bad teachers that are not helping, and maybe in the long run help schools out every were with the same problem.

A child doesn't care if they have materials or not.

                 A child might not need to know the kings being taught in school because they might not need to be learnt or the student might not feel them necessary for their career path. Classes like are classes that many students might not want to know things about in more depth or a class like statistics were students need to calculate the probabilities of events. The student might not care if they have the required materials in these classes because they may not need them to even pass the class. Its is actually rare for such classes to ask children to get materials for those classes because those classes use little to none materials that the school does not already provide.  In many schools teachers actually bring materials that they bought with there own money to school.

               The child might not care that he/she does not have materials for that class because they pick up things easily and they don't need to write them down.  If they can understand things easily they wont need to write down a lot of information and this would be helpful to there grades. For classes with a lot of visual demonstrations the student wouldn't need to write anything down just remember what happened. This could even be better for the school in bringing up there scores in tests, which would give them more funding to make there schools better. The better the school is the better the students will improve and that means more students with materials that the school provides.

                If the teacher is a good speaker in keeping the audience captivated then the student would be more attentive to the lessons and require less and less to write down information because they get it verbally from the teacher. Through the teachers words can a student understand things better than from reading them from books and getting confused or even not being able to understand the notes that they themselves wrote. Better communication is needed from teachers so that students can perform better without things, like notes that the student wont use again for the rest of the school year or home work that wont make any difference in the students school work. Assignments should be issued if they make a difference or are relevant, not to keep the student occupied.

counter argument why do materials matter.

         Materials don't matter in some classes as they do in other classes, because of the subject or what the teacher requires the student to do. A class like physical education the only things that are required to be brought are P.E uniforms, the rest is provided by the school. For other classes the homework and even class work can be done online, so instead of spending money year after year on stationary they could save for computers. Teachers should find more and more ways to give assignments that don't require a lot of materials such as projects that take time to complete and have that replace the daily home work. The more ways to give these assignments the better it would be for children and schools that cannot provide proper materials for school work.

          Teachers could try to have more one on one teaching session with students, because this would make students understand more and be able to learn more. This would cut down the use of materials because the student is learning, and he wont really need to take notes. If the teacher is really into the lesson the students could even pick up on the vibe the teacher is giving off and be more in-tuned with the lesson. The teacher should find ways to make the lessons fun, for example with an earth science teacher the teacher could take the class out side for an ecosystem trip around the campus. This could get children more excited about what will happen on the next lesson and they would feel more and more relatable with with the lessons. These ways would dramatically lower the amount of materials used in class rooms, and would help in student learning as well.

          The teacher could try making a class more colorful by using charts that are hand drawn on the board of on construction paper and hang some were in the class room for students without books to copy. This would also help for scores because it would be easy to refer to the chart when needed than having to go though page after page looking for it in a note book. The teacher could use good examples so that the student can have the lesson in there mind which they can easily recall with the example that the teacher gave. This can cut down more and more materials because the better u remember the easier it will be to do the work than to look it up in a book because you don't remember. 

What Can We Do For Schools That Don't Have the Materials If No one Else Will Help?

                  We need to help schools that are in need because the children are the things that truly mater. Without the children its like dooming our future and there well being. For schools that require help because they do not have the materials/equipment for that is needed for teaching children, we should help them become better. It's better that just shutting down the school and relocating the children to different schools. We should find ways to help like fundraisers to gather enough money for the schools books or for their gym equipment, and even for the schools trips. The school could even get sponsored by a company and they could fund the school if the terms of the funding is good.

                    The school district should find ways of distributing money from other schools into that school so that it works better. Having the school district move the money around is important to a low funded school that is in need  can be very helpful to the student that attend that school. Since the schools are given money buy the government they should be able to move things around and make things work better. Its not fair that schools in better neighborhoods get more money and still they don't perform better. While there are schools in bad neighborhoods that pretty much are performing the same way that school is performing. If something like were to be used i think it would help the schools in the surrounding are and make that location better instead of the location around the school with all the good stuff in it.

                   Government funding is a big part in public schools in america. It is the only way for such schools to actually make money to spend on things such as materials for classes and payment for teachers. Its tough for a school that isn't performing well to get more money without bringing there scores up because they are getting paid less and less making it harder and harder for students to learn and teachers to teach. If the government spends a little bit more money in public schools there might actually be a way to fix the way the current school system is. We may even come up with a new system that could replace the old one, a better system that helps out the student out a little more.

How a child feels when they don't have materials.

            Imagine going to class, you are excited thrilled and ready and when the lesson starts the teacher says pull out your books and pencils we are about to begin. You don't have your materials, you would feel left behind. No one likes being left behind, its like being abandoned. I questioned my friend about this and he said that it would be really unfair.The child would feel that they are are left behind by society. They would feel that its the societies fault that this is happening to them. they would be angry that this injustice is happening to them when it seems the only thing they have done is being alive.

             

            The child feels that they can not amount to anything in society because society didn't give them a chance. Society gets damaged from a lack of intelligent people because the more intelligent people we have the further we can bring our self's as a human race forward. We can only better our self's as we continue into the future because the only thing to do is progress. Progress is important because humans are always trying to improve themselves and there societies. We no longer live in times where open minded thinking is prosecuted and shunned we live in times where people are encouraged to think openly about many things.

                Children would feel sad because they live in poverty and they cannot afforded the necessities for basic learning. This is bad because the children would stop caring about education and would even give up on it. Education is viewed as a way out of poverty and when there is no learning in poverty, then there is no hope. Hope in poverty is the only drive for someone who is trying to make it out without it, is like being locked with no way out. Education has been viewed as the exit to poverty and a way to a new and better life, but now education is just another casualty in poverty. There is no way out anymore only to be traped in a continuous cycle.