Event

I held an event to discuss what could be done to improve our schools. I invited my friends, Miliani G. and Anthony H.. I gave them all of the statistics provided in the earlier pages and this is what was said: 

Anthony H.

"I think I am at a disadvantage most because I didn't start to care about my grades until this year and it's not what the school did it's what my friends did."

Anthony has had a difficult time with school ever since he can remember. He never believed that school was worth the effort until very recently. He never had aspirations of going to college because he believed that he was inadequate due to his grades. This is also the reason he has never tried any Advanced Placement classes. I wanted my friend to do better because I care about him. I tried presenting the idea of school in a new way, and it worked. It was not an overnight thing, though. School was presented to him as a chore and his teachers never really minded what he did, so he never tried.

"I think the way the education system has affected me. I have to be more independent because they're not going to give me resources I need to help me succeed. I had a friend show me a program that can help get me to where I want to be and all."

Anthony's family does not have the best track record with education. His eldest sibling is the only one in his immediate family to graduate high school. His second eldest sibling dropped out of high school before the beginning of their junior year. In turn, this caused him to have little faith he could even complete high school. He recognizes the fact that he had to learn how to be independent because, "School is an example of natural selection."

"The way I think my and others experience at school can be improved is by helping with actual, real world problems like suicide. We don't want a man riding a bike and doing tricks (referring to a assembly he had at school) we need resources and people we can trust because students won't go to the school counselor"

Mental health was brought up in the conversation, Anthony brought up an interesting point about counselors. Neither Anthony, Miliani, or I have ever been or know anyone who went to a school councilor. A very big and valid for this is because there is no confidentiality. 

Miliani G.

"I think that schools only really care about their reputation. They let you get away with a lot of things, academically, because it makes their name look better."

Miliani is a first-generation Mexican-American being raised by a single mother and a father who almost never present emotionally, physically, and financially. Due to this, she went to poorly funded schools her whole life. She became aware of how inequitable the education system is during her freshman year of high school. She always knew she wanted to go to college, but she didn't know how to get there, as she had no graduated siblings. She felt abandoned by the system her mother fought so hard for her to be a part of. 

"I wish I had teachers that actually care. Not all of them are apathetic, obviously, but the vast majority of teachers I have had are there to just fill a slot and not actually teach."

It always circles back to the teachers. Teach for America (TFA) provides CCSD and Nevada with the majority of their teachers. TFA is designed to place teachers in under-funded schools for a minimum of two years. This doesn't always mean these teachers want to be teachers. My friends have all met teachers that do not want to be there and are just there for the sake of working. Being an educator is a "safe job" because there is a teacher shortage and there is always a need for more teachers in Nevada and across the country.

"I think a lot of school work is just "busy-work". School teaches us how to fit a mold and a lot of us are not suited to fill that mold. I think learning something valuable and something we can actually use in our real world, day-to-day lives. I think if that was the case at school, kids wouldn't be as bored and be more engaged"

A lot of schools teach outdated information and that is part of the problem. She describes a lot of the things she has to memorize are pointless in the grand scheme of things, especially history. She understands the value of comprehending history, but things like memorizing presidents, will not be useful in our future. Teaching students like accurate history would probably fixing and preventing a lot of future problems within society.