Shor

Education is Politics

Ira Shor

“People are naturally curious. They are born learners. Education can either develop or stille their inclination to ask why and to learn.”

-I feel like teachers need to make classrooms a welcoming environment in order for students to feel comfortable asking questions in front of their peers. Teachers should have a challenging curriculum in order for students to receive a better education. Although I do believe that in order for students to ask questions teachers do need to make their material interesting to the class. Without catching student’s interest I believe they won’t care to ask more. They have to want to feel open to learning.

“Participatory learning also opens the possibility of transforming the student’s powers of thought”

-I believe participation is a big key in learning. For one it shows that students are involved in the subject but it also allows them to give their own voice. I believe group discussions are a great way to learn involving students own outlooks as well.

“The good school is the one in which in studying I also get the pleasure of playing”

-I liked this quote because I hope to teach in a way which is fun/interesting but yet students learn from it as well. I tend to think of our class now. We don’t just sit there and listen to a lecture. We all interact with one another, forming friendships but yet were learning.

I had a hard time understanding this article. I wasn’t sure if I comprehended what Shor was trying to get across. I think maybe it’s because the article didn’t interest me that much. Overall I do agree that we need to push students to ask questions and help them feel comfortable in participating.

Christopher Kliewer

Christopher Kliewer

Citizenship in School: Reconceptualizing Down Syndrome

1.) “It’s not like they come here to be labeled, or to believe the label. We’re all here-kids, teachers, parents, whoever- it’s about all of us working together, playing together, being together, and that’s what learning is. Don’t tell me any of these kids are being set up to fail.”

I really liked this quote from Shayne. She did not see or label any of her students as defective. I think that’s a great thing because separating children with disabilities from the other students technically does not help them. I believe it’s best for teachers to include students in all activities no matter if a child has a disability or not. This is exactly what Shayne did. She realized that segregation from the other students in the long run sets them up to “fail.” I believe having every student needs to participate because even the children with disabilities will get some type of positive feedback from the lesson or activity. We need to look past their disabilities.

2.) “If you come into the room and were told there was a retarded child in the class, a child with special needs, I don’t think you would pick Lee out. The kids really agree that he’s as capable as they are. Intellectually the same."

This is a quote from Colleen Madison a teacher of 27 students, 3 were defined as disabled. I found it interesting when Kliewer kind of questions this quote because he mentions that when Lee was 7 he was at a 2 year old level. He finds it to be obvious that an outsider would defiantly realize that Lee has a disability. I agree with Kliewer in the sense that it would be obvious but Colleen has learned to look past it. It like she sees her entire class as equally capable, which I believe is an awesome quality for a teacher to posses. This is Colleen’s response to Kliewer:

3.) “Lee is in a way he’s branded. People see him. They see Down syndrome. They see mental challenge, retardation, whatever you want to call it. That’s why they see, but wouldn’t be seeing him.”

I found this response to be a great way of looking at this. If we generally see children with disabilities as incapable then we wouldn’t be giving them a chance. We “wouldn’t be seeing them” but if we look past these labels then children with disabilities will have a better opportunity in their future.

I really liked this article, although it was a little lengthy. I feel like I would have been able to relate to it more if I was going for special education but this piece truly opened my eyes. I loved the examples he gives throughout the article. I feel like this article can defiantly help me in the future because I now know how much children with disabilities can benefit as long as teachers look past their “labels.” I feel like teachers think there doing students a favor by not including them in activities or lessons. They feel they are not capable of but in reality it’s hurting them.

Promising Practices

Promising Practices

The first session I went to was with Marco McWilliams, The media made me do it. His presentation was based on a slide show. He started off the presentation with a slide based up statistics. A few things I found interesting were:

97% of American children 6 & under own products based on characters from TV shows or movies.

Also children aged 2-5 watch an average of 32 hours of television a week.

I found this to be interesting because it shows how much the media impacts children as well as adults. The amount of television children watch is equivalent to almost a full time job. He explored throughout the presentation how media constructs reality. It shapes our attitudes and behaviors about the world. Media messages are given to gain power and the sell products. In reality the commodity bought and sold is the audience because media presents the products to relate to the consumer.

Another thing McWilliams said that really caught my attention was when he said representation truly means re-present because advertisements do not shape what is real but what the audience sees is real. One example that was shown was a model before and after a photo shoot. You could not even recognize her after with the computer enhancements.

Media also gives messages which often portray women as objects. It shows male dominance. McWilliams showed us an advertisement for Dolche and Gabbana. The picture was basically portrayed the woman as a sex object. She was being straddled by a shirtless guy with other males half naked in the background. It reduces the woman to the object because they made the woman the object.

One of the last topics shown was the incident with Taylor Swift and Kanye West. McWilliams shows us several tweets from Twitter. Every tweet shown related to Kayne West as a “nigger.” Somehow the media turned this incident into racism.

This session reminded me of Christensen because there are hidden messages behind media much similar to the Disney movies. Overall, I was not aware of how much the media influences us. It’s interesting to me to see how the media sends us messages throughout pretty much everything.

The next session I went to was A.L.L.I.E.D. I only picked this because of Tara. I found out that A.L.L.I.E.D stands for advanced learning and leadership initiative for educational diversity. It is a group that provides academic support and advising. They develop identities around a difference.

They are a group that is not the majority but prefer not to be presented as the minority but as underrepresented. My favorite part of this session was the identity poems. Each student in A.L.L.I.E.D. wrote a poem based on who they are and who they are not. Throughout these poems I literally had tears in my eyes. I seriously felt for every one of the group members. I was shocked to hear about stories even from our school’s professors. Some students even had to drop classes because they were uncomfortable with the terms the other students in the class were using.

I thought throughout this entire session how wonderful it is that RIC has a group like this. I learned so much from this meeting that I can’t even describe. I have even thought about how it would be if I was in A.L.L.I.E.D. I think that it’s great that they all support one another and don’t just “feel bad for each other.” They go beyond just listening, they take action and “have each other’s backs.” This session defiantly related to Carlson because many of the gay and lesbian students had dealt with segregation.

The last part of the conference was the speech by Tricia Rose. I felt she had several good points which related to practically everything in class. One part that stuck with me was when she told the story about how her student could not get her laptop to work. In a nervous moment she said “my computer’s acting so gay!” This was said in a class on gender and sexuality. She mentioned how she didn’t ignore it. She made it part of a lesson the following week.

I believe that Tricia Rose had a good presentation. She defiantly knows her stuff although I did find the other sessions to be far more interesting.

This was my first conference so I had no idea what to expect. Everything corresponded well with class and I learned a lot. Overall, I left with a better expectation then I thought coming in there. I’m actually glad that I did take part in this.

Jean Anyon: Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work

Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work
By:Jean Anyon

I found that these different schools differed tremendously. It seems that the increase in the family income influences the child and school’s system academic excellence.

“The four fifth grade teachers observed in the working-class schools attempted to control classroom time and space by making decisions without consulting the children and without explaining the basis for their decisions. The teacher's control thus often seemed capricious. Teachers, for instance, very often ignored the bells to switch classes - deciding among themselves to keep the children after the period was officially over to continue with the work or for disciplinary reasons or so they (the teachers) could stand in the hall and talk. There were no clocks in the rooms in either school, and the children often asked, "What period is this?" "When do we go to gym?" The children had no access to materials. These were handed out by teachers and closely guarded. Things in the room "belonged" to the teacher: "Bob, bring me my garbage can." The Working Class Schools

-I believe that the working class schools are the least effective way for children to learn. In order for a child to learn they need to feel comfortable in their learning environment. In these schools it seems somewhat impossible, especially if the teacher claims ownership to everything in the classroom. It seems like they have an unorganized way of teaching. I believe this is all due to the family’s income. These issues would not occur in upper class schools.

“The style of control of the three fifth-grade teachers observed in this school varied from somewhat easygoing to strict, but in contrast to the working-class schools, the teachers' decisions were usually based on external rules and regulations--for example, on criteria that were known or available to the children. Thus, the teachers always honor the bells for changing classes, and they usually evaluate children's work by what is in the textbooks and answer booklets.” Middle-Class School

-The middle class differs from the working class because there are some teachers who are easygoing. The teachers did not ignore the bells as working class teachers would. It seems like the middle class could be a little more effective to learning in comparison to the working class schools.

“One of the few rules governing the children's movement is that no more than three children may be out of the room at once. There is a school rule that anyone can go to the library at any time to get a book. In the fifth grade I observed, they sign their name on the chalkboard and leave. There are no passes. Finally, the children have a fair amount of officially sanctioned say over what happens in the class. For example, they often negotiate what work is to be done. If the teacher wants to move on to the next subject, but the children say they are not ready, they want to work on their present projects some more, she very often lets them do it.” Affluent Professional School

-I believe this social class of schooling is in my opinion the best one because it is important for the students to have say in things. If they do not understand something the teacher should be aware because how can they progress and move on to a tougher material if they do not fully understand what they are doing. Also, it seems like the teachers have authority but is not too lenient.

“In the classroom, the children could get materials when they needed them and took what they needed from closets and from the teacher's desk. They were in charge of the office at lunchtime. During class they did not have to sign out or ask permission to leave the room; they just got up and left. Because of the pressure to get work done, however, they did not leave the room very often. The teachers were very polite to the children, and the investigator heard no sarcasm, no nasty remarks, and few direct orders. The teachers never called the children "honey" or "dear" but always called them by name. The teachers were expected to be available before school, after school, and for part of their lunchtime to provide extra help if needed. “Executive Elite School

-This seems to be too lenient. Also, I believe there is a lot of pressure on the students and teachers to excel. As far as the materials I believe that students should be able to access materials if it helps them but there should be some type of rules or regulations for them. I also, think it’s not responsible on the teacher’s part to let the kids leave whenever. What if a child goes missing? They should have more authority over their class.

I found this article to be a little boring only because it didn’t catch my interest very much. Although it did make it clear that school systems academics differ between the different social classes. I think this is awful because all public schools should be at the same level with one another. Overall I think teachers need to look past their students social classes because the teaching environment can defiantly affect students learning.

Gender in Education

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/genderbias.html

This article gives some good points that I havent noticed. I found it to be informative toward gender roles in education. One qoute i found interesting was:

"Every time students are seated or lined up by gender, teachers are affirming that girls and boys should be treated differently. "

This makes you think, because practically every teacher does this. I thought of my class for service learning and theres only 5 girls in the class so theres a long line of like 15 boys and a short line of 5 girls. It really makes no sense to me why the teacher seprates them but i think its one of those things you never seem to think about. This teaches children at a young age how much female and male differ.

"Boys are taunted for throwing like a girl, or crying like a girl, which implies that being a girl is worse than being a boy."

This is something said practically all the time. It just like how guys dont like losing to girls. Theres some girls who are extremely athletic and could be a good competition to a guy, but if the guy lost it would be the end of the world because the fact that "they lost to a girl." This is a prime example of how men see women as unathletic and that sports are more for men then women.

"Sitting in the same classroom, reading the same textbook, listening to the same teacher, boys and girls receive very different educations."

This was the introduction sentence to the article. I found myself contiueously rereading this sentence. It truely makes you realise that gender can intervine in a childs education. The first thing that came to my mind was colors. Boys typically are symbolized with the color blue and girls usually are symblolized with pink. Little things like this made me realise that I segrigate gender all the time.

This article made me realize how boy and girls are steriotyped on a daily basis and in the classroom. Even with the seperate lines for boys and girls. As much as it symbolizes seperation I wonder how and if it actually does effect them.

Also when I was researching I came across this video on youtube it reminded me of the video we saw in class Thursday with the interveiwing of kids with the black and white doll. This is similar but with a female and male doll. It shows how kids learn gender rolls so young.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWc1e3Nbc2g&feature=related

Tim Wise

Barack and a Hard Place, Tim Wise

This video discusses Obama in relation to our countries racial issues. Wise states in the video that:

“What’s real is that we’re nowhere near a racial America.”

Basically he is saying that there is still racism in our society and people who think otherwise are being unrealistic. People are beginning to think that because Obama is the first African American president it will change people’s minds about racism. Although, this is not the case. It’s unfortunate that people still can’t look past someone’s skin color and more at what’s inside.

“We need to be on the lookout for racism 2.0 it allows people to accept Obama as transcending and as being different other then the black norm. “

I feel like he’s saying that Obama’s not a typical black man because he accomplished being president. I believe he is trying to make clear that not only white people are smart. There are just as many successful black people in the world as white. We just tend to look down at them because they are portrayed in a negative light.
“If they graduate 5th from the bottom of their class a black person wouldn’t have a shot being president.”

He is saying that black people are at the disadvantage. He mentions that a white person wouldn’t have to go to Harvard to be president. A white candidate could go to a normal university or state school but if a black person did it would be seen as negative. I disagree because I don’t take into interest where the presidential candidates go to school to decide on my vote. I look more at what they have to offer to our country.

I found this video to be interesting. I think that the purpose of this video is trying to make clear that there is still racism in the world although many people are still blind to it. Obama goes up in our nation’s history as being the first African American president. This video definitely helped me to make sense of these issues.

The Politics of Service Learning

In Service of What?
The Politics of Service Learning

1.) “Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that aim to respond to the needs of the community while furthering the academic goals of students.”

- This quote describes the reason for service learning. It’s defiantly true because while service learning does help the community it also benefits the students. It makes me refer to VIPS because I defiantly think that I’m helping out lower academic students but it’s also giving me the opportunity to feel what it is like to work in the classroom. There is never a day where I don’t want to go, I learn so much from doing it. It even makes the class more interesting rather than just reading out of a text book which helps students to interact and participate more.
2.)”Everyone at the school had good manners, and I think more highly of [the neighborhood] now.” The experimental and interpersonal components of service learning activities can achieve the first crucial step toward diminishing the sense of “otherness” that often separates students-particularly privileged students-from those in need.”

-This is a quote from an upper class middle school student, who was given negative perceptions about the neighborhood where he would be volunteering. I felt like I related to this because I was worried about the neighborhood of my service learning project only because people told me how bad it was. I also wondered how it would affect the students in their school, but I actually had the same outcome. All the children in the classroom off my service learning acted the same as when I was in elementary school. Just because someone comes from a lower income home or neighborhood doesn’t mean they can’t be a good person.

3.)”While an additional emphasis on charity might lead to service learning activities that raise self-esteem, impel students into new experiences, and demonstrate the value of scholastic abilities in real-world contexts.”
-I believe that this is saying that service learning brings new ideas to students. It helps them to be more open minded. Also, I believe that all students benefit from this because they are learning from real life experiences rather than from a text book. This tends to be a more effective way of learning and is more hands on. I believe that what this quote means by “raise self-esteem” is that by volunteering in a place where we see the less fortunate, we tend to become more grateful for what we have no matter how much or little that may be. I believe that there is always someone out there who has it much worse than or is less fortunate than me and it’s a shame that sometimes I need real life experiences like this to remind me of this.

Overall I did like this article but it wasn’t my favorite. I believe that it had some good points but I feel like it was repetitive. This article made me realize how service learning can benefit me and the community. I also realized how it can make classes to be more hands on. I found it very interesting when the kids from the upper class middle school branched out to the community to find that it was not what they had anticipated.

Christensen

Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us

By: Linda Christensen

1.) “Have you ever seen a black person, an Asian, a Hispanic in a cartoon? Did they have the leading role or were they a servant? What do you think this is doing to your child’s mind? She ended her piece: Women who aren’t white begin to feel left out and ugly because they never get to play the princess.”

This entire article was extremely informative to me. I haven’t actually noticed this to be a problem but it could definitely affect other minorities. I believe that there should be other ethnic characters that young children can look up to. Not only for their culture to look up to but others as well. It could help children to be more exposed to different races at a younger age. Although, Disney’s characters are dominantly white there are some other ethnicities shown in characters such as Mulan and Pocahontas.

2.) “I don’t want students to believe that change can be bought at the mall, nor do I want them thinking that the pinnacle of a woman’s life is an “I do” that supposedly leads them to a “happily ever after.” I don’t want my female students to see their “sisters” as competition for that scarce and wonderful commodity-men.”

I believe that this quote is saying that most children’s stories/movies are based upon living “happily ever after.” In these stories happiness is portrayed by having money and a prince charming. Basically, we are teaching children that marriage and wealth automatically means happiness. We know as adults that this is not necessarily true. Just because you have material things doesn’t mean you are actually happy, money cannot buy happiness. Also, we do not need to rely on a man to make us happy.

3.)”Because we can never look like Cinderella, we begin to hate ourselves. The Barbie syndrome starts as we begin a lifelong search for the perfect body. Crash diets, fat phobias, and an obsession with the materialistic become commonplace. The belief that a product with make us above our competition, our friends, turns us into addicts.”

People want to be what they see. When were young we are exposed to Barbie’s and Cinderella dolls and of course we’d look up to them. When we get older we are exposed to even more media. We see all these beautiful people on t/v and in magazines and think that’s what we should look like. It’s so unrealistic because those people aren’t the average American. It becomes unfortunate because people get so caught up in the media, where they are faced with eating disorders to be the “Barbie or Cinderella.”

I liked this article by Christensen. I think she has some good points. I found that it corresponded well with S.C.W.A.A.M.P because the media portrays the norms of our society to our children so young. I never really noticed that stories like Pop-Eye or Ducktales showed such stereotypes. When I think of children’s shows or stories I tend to think there so innocent, but I learned from this article is that I need to be more observant when it comes to the media.

Watch this video!

For the past week I hadn't been in class because I unfortunately had a kidney infection. I had a lot of time to watch lifetime movies. This one in particular caught my attention because it was based on a true story. Basically it shows the prejudices people still feel in our society to homosexual and trans gendered people. Its called A Girl Like Me, The Gwen Araujo Story. This you tube link gives you a brief idea what the movie was about but basically it was about a young women who was born a male. Her whole life she had known that she wasn't truly a male. It showed her daily struggles and even how hard it was on a daily basis for her to go to school. When she was older she basically transformed to female and most people didn't know about her previously being male. Guys became suspicious because she wouldn't ever go "all the way" and one day they gruesomely locked her in a room to find out. They pulled off her clothes and once they saw she had male body parts they beat her to death.

This movie seriously brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe this really happened to such a innocent person. I just wanted to share it with everyone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYm0RSEkPoU

talking points #3; Carlson

1.)" At the level of state educational policy, it is noteworthy that no state currently recognizes gays and lesbians as legitimate minority or cultural groups to be considered in textbook adoption or to be included in multicultural education; and a number of states explicitly prohibit teaching about homosexuality.”

I never actually was aware how much schools disregard homosexuality. I think it could actually be beneficial to students. Gay students would realize it’s okay, and not be so ashamed or scared to be who they truly are. For other students it would be helpful by making them more aware and less sheltered about this topic. I believe that schools should be more open to this “reality.”

2.) “He argued that homosexual teachers represented a danger to their students since "nothing seems more certain than that homosexuality is contagious."

This is ridiculous, I believe that they should be looking more at his teaching abilities and be less concerned about his sexual preferences. How could homosexuality possibly be contagious when you’re born with it? If I had a teacher who was lesbian, I could never grow or learn to like females unless I truly was lesbian. You are who you are and having a gay teacher wouldn’t ever change that it may just make you more open to new ways.

3.)"We cannot and should not attempt to impose "politically correct" beliefs on students; but we have a responsibility as public educators in a democratic society to engage them in a dialogue in which all voices get heard or represented and in which gay students and teachers feel free to "come out" and find their own voices."

I believe this is saying that as future teachers we need to be open minded. We need to let students know that there is such a thing as homosexuality and it is okay to be yourself. It is okay to be unique because students can vibe off one another. As educators our job is to inform and help students about these rights, but I also believe it’s not a teacher’s job to help gays find and discover themselves.

Overall, I like this article by Dennis Carlson. I think it helps to make us more aware of these situations. Students should be taught about homosexuality rather than act like it doesn’t exist. It definitely would benefit students of all sexuality to be more open minded and aware. Also, I believe that preventing gay teachers is insane. It has nothing to do with teaching. Who knows gay teachers may even have a better connection with students.

Aria

"Fortunately, my teachers were unsentimental about their responsibility. What they understood was that i needed to speak a public language. So their voices would search me out, asking me questions. Each time I'd hear them, I'd look up in surprise to see a nun's face frowning at me. I'd mumble, not really knowing the answer. The nun would persist, Richard, stand up. Don't look at the floor. Speak up."

The teacher in this quote seemed to make Richard extremely nervous when it came to answering a question in English. I feel as though he was pressured to learn the "public language" because it's what our society expects. By his teachers calling him out in front of the class it did embarrass him but it also seemed to push him. He mentions that he would have felt less afraid is the teacher addressed him in Spanish but i don't think that he would have learned from that. Being pushed helped him to face his fear and eventually helped him to reach his goal of speaking the English language. I believe that it's a good thing he learned English as a child because when you get older its harder to absorb new things such as a new language.

"One day in school I raised my hand to volunteer an answer. I spoke out in a loud voice. And i did not think it remarkable when the entire class understood. That day, I moved very far from the disadvantaged child I had been days earlier. The belief, the calming assurance that I belong in public. had at last taken hold."

This quote is saying that Richard finally faced his fears. He volunteered to answer a question in English. I believe that this is the first time he feels accepted by society because its hard to live in America and not know how to speak English. I feel as though he was so worried because our society can be very judgmental. He has heard people speak perfect English so he probably without knowing set high expectations for himself. Where as this reminds me of the saying "practice makes perfect." In the end he faced his fears and could finally feel accepted.

"I had used earlier mama and papa- I couldn't use that anymore. They would have been too painful reminders of how much had changed in my life."

I find it different that Richard changed languages completely. He went from speaking Spanish to transitioning entirely to English. If this was me I think I would prefer to be bilingual because it can be an advantage, especially in our society. I have been on several job interviews where they asked if i speak another language, because it's beneficial in today's society. I believe that he said it was painful reminders because he lost communication with his family. Which I still don't understand why he did this because its seems like he traded his family for being accepted to our society.


I liked this article because it is written in the first person. You are emotionally given an idea of how Rodriquez is feeling. You don't really think on a day to day basis how important it is in our society to know the English language, but after reading "Aria" I realized this. We tend to take little things for granted and forget how big of an asset English is to us. I cannot imagine how frightening it would be to live in a foreign country and not know a word of that cultures language. This relates to Delpit because the English language is the power in our culture.

I also was a little confused to why he switched languages completely. Especially since he lost communication with his family. As I mentioned previously in today's society it can be extremely beneficial to be bi-lingual. In general I did admire Richards determination to reach his goals.

Conclusion to Kozol

Here is my conclusion to Kozol, I didn't realize it was required for the first post.

I found Kozol's style of writing to be much easier to follow than Johnson and Delpit's writings. "Amazing Grace" changed my outlook on how I look at life. I was shocked to learned the daily struggles of the people in Mott Haven. It's unfortunate because we tend to dwell on things that are so minor compared to the way these people suffer daily. It made me feel sorry for them, because we take a lot of things for granted.

It shocked me to see Cliffie's point of view. He seemed to be so grown up for his age. It seemed to me like he knew too much for a boy his age. I would never think a child would be so carefree about witnessing a shooting. If a child was to witness something similar to this in my neighborhood i am positive that they would cry and be an emotional wreck.

This town clearly needs help but no one seems to care enough to reach out. As i mentioned in the first post, Mott Haven is only shown the bad. If they had a mixture of social classes they would have more influential figures. Therefore, they would set better goals for themselves and eventually grow as individuals and as a town.

Jonathan Kozol, Talking points

Jonathan Kozol

“Amazing Grace”

“I saw a boy shot in the head right over there.” He says a moment later, in a voice that does not sound particularly sad, then looks up at me and asks politely. “Would you like a cookie?”

I found this quote from Cliffie to be shocking because he says it so carefree. This is said as if it’s normal to witness shooting every day, but in the town of Mott Haven it is. If this was to occur in my neighborhood it would be considered a tragedy because not many people witness murders. These types of incidents occur so often that the people of the town begin to think it is normal, which explains why Cliffie changes topics so easily.

“Why do you want to put so many people with small children in a place with so much sickness? This is the last place in New York that they should put poor children. Clumping so many people, all with the same symptoms and same problems, in one crowded place with nothin’ they can grow on? Our children start to mourn themselves before their time.”

I agree with this, because every town, state or country needs leadership. If this town has so much bad then everyone is going to amount to nothing. If the children don’t see the good they will not have goals in life. They will want to become what they see, which is drug addicts and prostitutes. By the state of New York placing all of these homeless families in Mott Haven they do not have anything to grow from.

“I waited in the emergency room two days to be admitted.” I ask, “Where were you waiting?” “Waiting in the waiting room with everybody else” she says “In the chairs with all the other people who were waiting. Sick children vomiting up their food. Men with gunshot wounds. People with AIDS. Old people coughing up their blood. On the third day I gave up and went back home”

The hospitals are so understaffed in this town that they do not even get the correct treatments. Just because their a lowercases town doesn’t mean they have to wait for days to see a doctor, never mind in a dirty hospital where they are likely to get even sicker. If the hospital isn’t cleaned properly then people are more likely to contract illnesses like AIDS just by sitting in a waiting room. If this was to happen in a town that was considered “wealthy” it would be fixed in no time. It’s like no one cares to help them, they want to see them fail.

About me

Hey everyone! :)
My name is Stephanie Borges, and I'm 19 years old. I'm a Sophomore here at RIC. I'm majoring in Elementary Education focusing on English. So far this semesters going well. I like all my classes and the professors seem cool.

When I'm not in school i like to hang out with my friends. I love the summer and relaxing on the beach, its to bad its over! I work at Henry Barnard during the week with their after school program "Explorations" and I absolutely love working there. I think that's pretty much it.