Final Essay

Tracy Truong

M. Williams

English 1A

20 December 2013

Student Loans

            Student loans in America have always been a problem for college students, but it is an especially big problem now that we are in the 21^st century. Student debt from loans have skyrocketed – making it more and more difficult for students to pay it off after they have graduated. This type of system is unjust to those who seek further education. It affects everyone in the country because without education, humans will not be able to progress further in life. In his book, The Rich and the Rest of Us, Tavis Smiley mentions how poverty in America is affected by student loans and debt. Student loans greatly affect students and should be regulated so that people do not have to be afraid of having “bad debt,” have an equal opportunity to further their education, and have a fair chance of raising their social class. The regulation of student loans gives people the opportunity to see their hard work being paid off. Student loans are chains that bind people to their social classes.

            A big reason why student loans affect college students so greatly is because people are afraid that they will not be able to get out of debt later. People are worried that they are taking too huge of a risk and that if they attend college, they will not be able to pay off their debt later. This fear of debt is one that is very reasonable. In The Rich and the Rest of Us, Smiley says “Then, reality hits; you can’t find a job in this Recession Economy or the one you secured has been snatched away” (41). This is a very common scenario for many people and has caused a lot of problems. College is a very expensive investment and in order to attend a large amount of money is needed, but because people are afraid of accumulating too much debt, they decide not to go to college and try to find jobs without a degree. However without a degree it is nearly impossible to find a job because society is evolving in such a way that it needs people to engineer and create new technology. Without further education people will not possess the skills needed to fulfill these jobs. If student loans were regulated then people would be less fearful of taking them out and would have the chance to attend college. This would lead to people having more opportunities to find jobs.

            Student loans should not just be regulated because it is more equal and fair to everyone that wants to attend school. They should be regulated because there are so many different kinds that it is difficult to inform people about them. There are many private loans that are not regulated that can put people into a lot of debt. Their interest rates are very high. Tavis states that “if students had access to interest-free loans like big banks do, many young people would flourish with less debt” (117). If private loans were put under regulation and had a limit on how much interest they could charge then students would be able to go to college without having to worry about accumulating too much debt. They could go to college without worrying that they are investing in something risky. Interest is what makes loans so dangerous. When a college student takes out a loan, the interest adds more debt onto their plate with each passing year. When the student graduates and cannot find a job to pay off the loan, the debt still increases and the person that took out the loan is left with a big pile of debt. It is unfair that this person works hard all their life and in return all they get is a large amount of debt that they are unable to pay off.

            Student loans limit peoples’ opportunities. Without further education it is very difficult to find a job in today’s economy. However to achieve higher education a large amount of money is needed. “While rich kids go off to college, America’s poor children drop out of school, wind up in the nation’s jails or prisons, or are destined to live the lives of the working poor—or worse” (62). America’s poor children do not have a fair chance of achieving higher education. Since their parents do not have enough money to send them to college, they are forced to take out student loans to try to pay off their costs. With student loans though, they are plunged deeply into debt and when they graduate they are weighed down with the burden of this heavy bill they have created. On the other hand, the students with rich parents will get to complete college without any worries. They will be given the opportunity to study and do not have to worry about having debt when they graduate. This leaves them with the chance to find a job and accumulate riches. Thus the rich student just expands their family’s wealth while the poor student stays poor. If student loans are not regulated, this unjust cycle will only repeat itself again and again. No one is given a fair chance at higher education. People either have an advantage in life or they do not.

            It is obvious that the system concerning loans needs reforming. The government should regulate how a student spends money they get from loans as well as regulate how much interest loans are allowed to charge. Also, more students should be informed about how private and federal loans can affect them. They should be more aware of the decisions they make so that they do not graduate and find that they cannot pay off the loans that they took out. If student loans are regulated then everyone has more of a chance to attend college. Students will be more informed about what they are doing, be less afraid of going to college and taking out loans, and have a more equal chance to move up in social class. Student loans are like a vicious animal, if not tamed they could destroy everyone. 

Tracy Truong
M. Williams
English 1A
5 November 2013

This article is about the jail system in America. It talks about how the jails are ineffective and do nothing but drain taxpayers of their money. It has a bad effect on both the people in prison and the people who are forced to pay for it. I do not think prisons are the most effective way to deal with gang members because it does nothing to help them. Prisoners should be trained to change their ways of life and have a second opportunity to try to fix their lives. Prisoners are human and deserve to live life the same way that any other person does. It is unfair to keep people locked up in a place that is even more violent than the place where they came from. I think if we partner up programs for the prisoners, prisons will become more successful. If prisoners are kept busy learning to work with each other and focus on the tasks that are put ahead of them, then they will not have time to think about committing crimes. Programs where prisoners can talk to therapists or other people would also benefit them. If prisoners had more access to people they could communicate with, then they would learn to keep their emotions under control and would learn how to handle different kinds of people. They would also learn how to reach out to make connections with other people. One interesting thing I learned about this article is that there is hazing going on in prisons. Prisons are supposed to keep prisoners out of trouble and teach them that committing crime will never help them in life. They should be kept crime free and prisoners should be encouraged to accept one another, not fight. One thing I found confusing was the fact that people do not seem to care for prisons. There is a lack of empathy that is felt for the prisoners. The only thing that people are interested in is the money that they pay for the prisons. I think it's fair that people are worried about what their money goes to but it is unfair that they complain about paying for prisons when the reason why they are so unsuccessful is because no one does anything to try to change it.

Should we have compassion?

Tracy Truong

M. Williams

English 1A

21 October 2013

            Compassion is very significant in life and we should have it for people who need it. Without it, people would be lost. Society is held together by the deep compassion that people feel for each other. In Tattoos on the Heart, the author talks about being compassionate to a boy named Danny. The author was mad at first because firecrackers were set off in the kitchen but when he talked to Danny and told him that he believed he didn’t set off the fireworks because he said he didn’t, Danny began to cry. The compassion that the author shows for this boy just proves how powerful being kind to others can be. By putting yourself into another person’s shoes and trying to feel what they feel, you are being compassionate and caring. Many people are afraid of gang members and try to avoid them, but that just makes things worse for the people in gangs. People usually join gangs because there is a huge problem in their life. They feel an emptiness that they think they can cure by joining a group of people and having their own “family.” These gang members already feel disconnected from the world and the people all around them. If no one ever shows them compassion, how will they ever find a way to get back up on their feet and try to start their lives all over again? People in a community callus are still human beings. It is wrong for those who are more fortunate to turn their heads away from those who have less. It is unfair to turn a cold shoulder to those who obviously need help in their lives. Without compassion, society would not be able to hold itself together. Humans feel compassion because it is needed for survival. To survive, humans need to live and love each other.

Tracy Truong

M. Williams

English 1A

7 October 2013

            Public schools in America are prone to have bad teachers. Teachers are given tenure after teaching for a certain amount of years. The agreement to grant teachers tenure is the reason why schools come by bad teachers so easily. In Waiting for Superman, there is an event called the “Lemon Dance” in which bad teachers (or bad “lemons”) are swapped with another school’s bad teachers in hopes that the school will end up with a teacher that is better than the one that they had before. This event is allowed to happen because teachers have tenure and cannot be fired from their jobs. By granting jobs to these corrupt teachers, schools are cheating students out of a quality education because people who do not care for educating students are being allowed to keep their jobs even if they do nothing to support the kids they are in charge of. Public schools are the most vulnerable to this because the school system is built in a way that prevents them from firing any teachers, good or bad.

            Public schools are more likely to face having bad teachers but poor schools will especially suffer. In Savage Inequalities Kozol talks about how “teachers are handpicked” in private schools (89). Since private schools require parents to pay for their children to be admitted in, they have a significantly larger amount of money to spend compared to public schools. With this money, private schools are allowed to pick from the best groups of teachers, contrasting with public schools, which are forced to take whoever is eligible to be a teacher. Since public schools do not generate as much revenue as private schools do, they cannot afford to pay better teachers more money, which brings up another big conflict. The better a teacher is, the more difficult it will be for a public school to hire them because they would be competing against the private schools. For example, if a teacher were offered a higher paying job at a private school compared to a low paying job in a public school, the teacher would most likely choose the private school because it offers the teacher more than what the public school can.

            Public schools that are poor and in bad areas usually receive the worst teachers of them all. When schools cannot afford quality teachers it is already a problem, but if it is in a dangerous neighborhood then it is even worse. In East St. Louis, “health officials warn of cholera” from the raw sewage that floods the city. There is a large list of diseases that children living in East St. Louis suffer from because their city is neglected. Their trash is not collected and they live next to chemical factories. Because of this, people who live outside of East St. Louis are afraid of going into the city. It is a risk to their health. It is also very dangerous in East St. Louis. Since the people in the city live in poverty, they are more likely to fall into drug addiction or alcoholism to try to ease their suffering. This along with the health risks make it very unappealing to people to work in such an area, thus making it even more difficult to attract quality teachers. If normal people are already afraid of entering East St. Louis, it will be even more difficult to convince a good teacher to stay and teach there because there are more cons presented to them than pros. A place like East St. Louis cannot offer a teacher a clean classroom or decent textbooks to use. This is why schools that are poor and in terrible areas are the most likely to receive bad teachers. Schools are unable to get the resources they need to properly educate young minds.

            Even though private schools manage to pick good teachers, the question of why bad teachers even exist still remains. One reason why bad teachers exist is because of the type of job they are offered. Since teachers get tenure after teaching a certain number of years, they are able to secure their jobs regardless of whether or not they are doing a good job in teaching their students. “Following the release of a 1985 report by the Illinois State Board of Education showing that only three tenured teachers were dismissed on average per year, the Illinois legislature changed their tenure laws to make it easier to dismiss underperforming teachers. In the 18 years following these changes, only 39 tenured teachers were dismissed.” (Kersten) Tenure allows teachers to keep their jobs even if they are not doing their jobs and educating the students in their classes. Seldom any teachers get fired, which helps adults keep their jobs but ruins the students who will later be in charge in the future.

            The structure of the school system is another reason for why bad teachers exist. The corrupt structure of the schools creates bad teachers. In Waiting for Superman, the narrator talks about how schools are in chaos because of the different rules and regulations they are held to. In one state, a failing score could be considered as passing in another. This confusing system is not unified and fails to focus on the main point, which is to educate students. Schools and teachers have forgotten that the most important goal for them to reach is to teach students accordingly and make sure that children learn what they need to in order to move society forward in life. The goal of teaching students has been lost in this system of restraining rules. When Michelle A. Rhee, the chancellor of the Washington D.C. public school system fired a large number of teachers, many protests rose. Teachers wanted to keep their jobs despite not performing well and failing to educate their students. The value of teaching children is lost when topics like money and jobs are put in the spotlight.

            The government and society play a heavy role in why there are bad teachers. Society dictates that people must have money and material things to be able to survive. Because this mindset is planted in most people in the world, money and other material things are a great influence on people and their behaviors. The need for money is what drives some teachers to teach, despite the fact that they may not even enjoy teaching. Society is not the only thing to be blamed, however. The government also plays a huge role in students and teachers’ lives. In Waiting for Superman, the topic of “No Child Left Behind” is brought up. “No Child Left Behind” is an act that makes states test their students to see their scores. The states receive funding based on if the students are able to pass the tests with good scores. Because the government requires schools to test their students every year, schools force teachers to focus on teaching students to pass the test. This creates bad teachers. By forcing the teachers to teach the students how to pass the tests, they are doing no more than forcing the students to memorize facts instead of learning the concepts behind everything. Students are taught to be machines – they take in one thing and spit it back out. Students are not taught to think for themselves and the reason why is because bad teachers are created from our corrupt society and government.

            Having bad teachers is just as terrible as having bad parents. Students are not robots. They are human beings that learn and absorb information from the environment they live in. In Savage Inequalities a student said, “I don’t think that busing students from their ghetto to a different school would do much good… You can take them out of the environment but you can’t take the environment out of them” (Kozol 170). This means that young minds really do absorb everything around them. If a student is left in a classroom all day with a person, they will eventually learn from them. The reason why bad teachers are as awful as bad parents is because of how much they can influence and effect a single child. A child spends so much time in school that teachers have a huge impact on their life. If a teacher showed up to school every day and was unmotivated to teach, the students would eventually feel apathetic and unmotivated to learn. Even if a teacher wasn’t trying to teach a student to be lazy and uncaring about school, if the teacher themselves do not teach the students to do otherwise, the students will unconsciously pick up and learn from the behavior of the adult in front of them. Students, and especially children, can absorb the things around them like a sponge. Without the right role model to follow, students will learn bad behaviors from the teachers they are put under the care of.

            Educators play a big role in a child’s life because of the power and authority they hold over the child. They are the ones in charge in the classroom and decide how children will learn and what kind of lesson plan they will use. In Savage Inequalities, a teacher uses a printed lesson plan to teach her students (184). In this lesson the teacher follows the print out and grows frustrated when her students cannot understand the concept behind what they are learning. Although the teacher was not successful in teaching the students, she was still the one in authority and still the one who is responsible for taking care of her students. Whether a teacher fails a students or helps them reach success, it is always their doing. They have such a huge impact on students because students are relying on them for guidance and help. When a teacher shows up to school happy and excited, it will eventually rub off on the students too. Students learn from their environments. If their classroom environment is bleak and discouraging because a teacher is unmotivated to teach, the students will eventually become discouraged, unhappy, and unmotivated to learn. If a teacher continually comes to school prepared to teach and happy, the environment surrounding the students will eventually be filled with happiness and hope. Teachers control what happens in the classroom, and ultimately, their students.

            Teachers are as important in a child’s life as a parent is. Children are placed under the care and responsibility of teachers just as they are under parents. For example, in a preschool, toddlers are placed under the care of teachers. These teachers are in charge of helping these children develop their brains and start to put together words and ideas in their minds. Just as parents are responsible for teaching their kids how to do things like picking up their toys at home, teachers are responsible for teaching their students how to think for themselves. Teachers are given the title of being teachers because it is their job to educate and teach. The reason why they are respected and thought of as America’s treasure is because they hold such a large responsibility and are expected to do what is best for their students to help them develop skills to think and learn so that in the future they will be ready to operate this country.

In many areas of California, there are districts in which schools do not meet satisfactory test scores. According to API (academic performance index) results in California schools however, schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District have improved their scores. There has been an increase in test scores in schools that have many low-income students, but there was mostly a drop in schools that have a lot of Latino or African American students. English learners' test scores have increased though. Many authorities are hoping to see that the school system will continue to improve with more funds.

In this article, two main points are argued. The first one is that most California schools with Latino or African American students tend to score lower in API ranks. In Savage Inequalities, statistics show that schools with more Latino and African American students tend to fail more than schools that are in communities where there are white or Asian children. Although the article did not mention it, racism comes in to play. Just like the book, statistics show that schools with a majority of students that are Latino or African American tend to be funded less, giving the students less opportunity and preparing them to fail in life. Schools where there are more Caucasian students are more prepared to help their students succeed in life.

The next point this article makes is that schools will hopefully do better next year because there will be more funds put into them. In Savage Inequalities, the author talks a lot about how schools are underfunded and how it negatively affects the students. Although the article does not go into depth about funding schools, it hints that if schools were to be funded more, they could improve. Without proper school equipment, students cannot succeed. Especially now, because we live in a world of technology students will not be able to survive without knowing how to use computers or how to read. Schools need money to operate and students need school to help them find jobs in the future.

Savage Inequalities

Tracy Truong

Williams

English 1A

25 September 2013

Teachers play the biggest role in the education system. Without quality teachers, students cannot succeed. Bad teachers will cause students to fail. In Savage Inequalities Kozol says there is a specialized class where “the curricular they follow.. ‘emphasizes critical reading, reasoning, and logic’” (132). Students in this class are given special attention by their teacher and taught skills that will help them excel and succeed in life. The class is small, so that each student has more time with their instructor. Smaller class sizes usually make a school more successful because students have more time to work with teachers individually. By working more with instructors, students can maximize the amount of help and guidance they get from adults. This will lead them down a more likely road to success than those who do not have access to any teachers or counselors. Without instructors, it is very difficult for students to know how to apply to college and try to reach high education. Bad teachers will rub off onto their students if they are apathetic. If they are bored with teaching and bring the same bored attitude to class, the students will also be bored. A teacher has to be motivated to teach and excited students about learning, as well as be ready to give advice to those who seek guidance from them. Without quality teachers to teach in schools, students will not succeed academically in life.

It's important to make sure you have passionate teachers because passion is what keeps kids in school. If a child is passionate about school, they will want to go and learn more. The more educated they are, the more they'll be able to learn about themselves and things around them. This will lead them to success in the future, because they will learn that not everything is about what society dictates. When a person is truly passionate about something, they will find a way to succeed in the future. If a teacher does not show a student what passionate is, how will students know how to be passionate in life? If a person doesn't know what passion is, he or she will not be able to live happily.

It's crucial for teachers not to be apathetic because if they stay indifferent day after day in class, students will eventually get tired of the class and not want to attend. When a person is bored, they begin to stray away from the thing that they think is boring. This leads to the person beginning to explore other things that may be dangerous and new. This new excitement may encourage the person to continue to miss school, which will result in them becoming uneducated. In the modern world we live in today, there are many bad people that plague society, all because they were never taught to be passionate about anything.

If people in society all become apathetic, there will be no way our government will hold up. Everyone will be indifferent to everything and will not care about having ambitions. Without people to strive to be leaders, there would be no government. Without a government, chaos would break out. People have to be able to be passionate enough that they strive to do what they think is right. If there are no people like that, our society would break down. That is why it is so significant that people are taught to be passionate as a young age.