Choices for our Children

Choices for our Children

Jeffery Canada, Waiting for Superman, perfected the ideology of a child when he shared that as a boy he was deeply saddened to learn that Superman was fictional. Jeffery stated that his sadness was in realizing that “no one was coming to save him” from his poverty stricken life. Nowadays with the help of popular media culture, poor or lack of positive role models, economic strains on households, divorce rates, teen pregnancy, commonality of violence, and just plain hopelessness children are not sitting around daydreaming about a savior. Poorly educated children today will negatively affect the livelihood of society’s future. People should not continue to go on and ignore or complain about the growing issues that impede educating children. Adults must invest resources into children and education in order for change to take place. There is an old wise saying, “We are only as strong as our weakest link.” Children are the future adults of society. How does one go about to solve a problem that is so profound? Is there a solution? Where, when and how do we start?  Caring, passionate and responsible individuals do the best that they can, however they can.

Most children think that the essence of life is only what they see and believe to experience (Canada).  Joel Osteen once said that a famous rapper was asked why his lyrics were so negative and violent. The rapper answered “I’m just keeping it real, that’s what’s going on in the world we live in.” Joel later stated that “if that young man would have traveled only three to four blocks outside of his neighborhood, he would have seen the many nice family friendly filled subdivisions of people who were living a totally different lifestyle.”  Most successes begin with a simple thought or a kind word of encouragement.  Now, the first African American President of the United States of America, Barak Obama wrote a book entitled, “The Audacity of Hope.”  Obama noted how his success beat the odds. Statistically, the biracial son of a single white mother and Kenya African native father should have never become anything of world impacting importance.  Many American children are raised in ill-fated, undesirable, and underprivileged conditions, yet they grow up to live successful lives. Barak Obamas mother like many other mothers took time to read to her children and impart the importance of education into her son and daughter. Some children don’t have parents that encourage them. People are born as innocent babies into various situations. Sometimes it is not until a child comes across a teacher, mentor, or friend of a different background that may knowingly or unknowingly say a word of encouragement that changes the course of the person’s life.   

Jacksonville Florida is a city that steadily works towards improving the outcome of students that attend the local school system. Duval County consists of many successful political, business and leaders that have taken an effort to give back and help strengthen the community. Beverley Hartley-Wilhite, a Duval County Public School kindergarten teacher participated in the recent community improvement forum JAX2025, a program that focuses on the improvement of Jacksonville Florida by year 2025.  Beverly’s contributing ideas to the forum include “structuring a mentoring system for students, establishing ROTC at all schools, schools offer an hour and a half of time to an after school study hall, and encouraged that morals be taught at school (Fouraker).’ Hartley-Wilhite further discussed that her suggestions could improve student grades, encourage self-disciple, decrease juvenile crimes, and assist to inhibit teenage pregnancy (Fouraker). FCAT is a Florida standardized test that is used to measure the progress of Florida students. Not making satisfactory scores on the FCAT could prevent a student from passing on to the next grade level or graduating from high school. Studies reveal that Hispanic and African American students from low income, uninformed, and substandard households are less likely to meet FCAT requirements than their colleagues of White suburban students that live in more sophisticated socioeconomic status (Borg, Plumlee, Stranahan). Students benefit when caring teachers like Beverly concentrate their focus and energy on making positive changes in efforts to supplement disadvantaged kids. Mary Foster, Student Advocate Coordinator at Frank H. Peterson Academy, works with the HOPE program.  HOPE, communities in school program assigns an educator to counsel, mentor, and support students that have been affected by challenges such as: bullying, depression, violence, death of a parent and siblings, pregnancy and confusion (Woods).  Rosie Wright, HOPE advisor at Fort Caroline Middle school states, “Kids don’t drop out of school, they drift out.”  “They don’t connect their education to their future.”

For those that yet ponder, where is it that we start? We start where we are! The local school system, teachers and students are not without its issues. However, the Florida Times Union, Jacksonville.com reveals that Duval County schools offer many programs, learning environments, styles and options for educating students. To name a few of these options; ESE slow learning student programs, Choice schools, Magnet programs, Charter schools, support for Home Schooling, ROTC programs, Team Up after school tutoring and activities, STAR, Aviation Florida Air National Guard programs, FBLA, Communities in Schools, Teen Parents schools, HOPE and Upward Bound (Palka). Jeffery Canada, Superintendent of Schools in Harlem New York, as a child, visualized education as a way out of a birthright of poverty.  Many times people can’t change how they start in life but they can make conscious decisions and efforts about how they will continue in life, thus affecting their future.  People can also change the course of the lives of others by the words they say, showing patience even when it is not deserved, and by displaying compassion. Most Educators display these values when they go to work every day and make an impact on our future leaders of our communities…our children.

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Works Cited

Borg, Mary O'Malley, J. Patrick Plumlee, and Harriet A. Stranahan. "Plenty of Children Left Behind High-Stakes Testing and Graduation Rates in Duval County, Florida." Educational policy 21.5 (2007): 695-716.

Fouraker, Bruce. “Helping Envision Jacksonville’s Future.” Folio Weekly.com. Northeast Florida’s News and Opinion Magazine. April 10- 16, 2013 p54

Great Schools Staff.  “Choosing a school: An overview.”  

            http://www.greatschools.org/find-a-school/defining-your-ideal/33-choosing-a-school.gs?page=all, April 15, 2013

http://dcpsweb.duvalschools.org/parents/academic-programs/teen-parents-program/index.html

http://duvalchoice.com/options/choice-schools

Palka, Mary Kelli. “Limited options for Duval transfer students.”                       

 http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2011-07-11/story/limited-options-duval-transfer-students#ixzz2QaoliKrm, July 11, 2011 - 6:33pm  |  Updated: July 12, 2011 - 6:39am                    

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“Three schools, three perspectives: Fighting to succeed in Duval schools. Three students' experiences show how the system can help.” Posted: June 5, 2010 - 6:00pm

 Supovitz, Jonathan A., Henry May, and Brooke Snyder Taylor. "The impact of America's Choice on student performance in Duval County, Florida." (2002).                                                  

Waiting for Superman

Waiting for Superman

Every American citizen is entitled to justice, liberty and a basic free public education?  Yes, the United States of America does have a system of free public education for children, but how good that education is varies. Watching the film “Waiting for Superman” brought bulging tears to my eyes. The film left me wanting to push myself and children harder in our quest for education.  Jeffery Canada, Waiting for Superman, perfected the ideology of a child when he shared that as a boy he was deeply saddened to learn that Superman was fictional. Jeffery stated that his sadness was in realizing that “no one was coming to save him” from his poverty stricken life. Most children think that the essence of life is only what they see and believe to experience (Canada). Joel Osteen once said that a famous rapper was asked why his lyrics were so negative and violent. The rapper answered “I’m just keeping it real, that’s what’s going on in the world we live in”.  Joel later stated that “if that young man would have traveled only three to four blocks outside of his neighborhood, he would have seen the many nice family friendly filled subdivisions of people who were living a totally different lifestyle.” Like the young rapper, many American children are raised in ill-fated, undesirable, and underprivileged conditions. Jeffery Canada, Superintendent of Schools in Harlem New York, as a child, visualized education as a way out of a birthright of poverty.  Jeffery Canada, like many other educators in recent decades studied the failures of his local school system, the impact it made on others, and then created a program to better educate those who were most affected by the lack of education . Listening to the different however similar stories and situations of the people in the movie, Waiting for Superman, awakened me to the realization that many times people can’t change how they start in life but they can make conscious decisions and efforts about how they will continue in life, thus affecting their future.  I really appreciate my ENC 1102 teacher for choosing this film to share with the class. It, like many of the others we have watched, was very enlightening and inspiring.  

Women's Issues

Where do we draw the line?

            Media has a major impact on how society views itself and it also influences standards people use to judge each other. Society today spends at least 31 plus hours a week on media sites like: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Kik to name a few. People further spend about 17 plus hours listening to music and about 4 plus hours reading magazines weekly (Miss Representation). Often when reporters, journalist, and broadcasters have an opportunity to present news in a positive influential light, they choose to take the more entertaining role than quite often is negative.  Real life expectations can be especially hard on women due to the ever rising expectations for the perfect woman brought on by media displays. The message of mainstream media today seems to be that woman equals sex symbol. Women are multifaceted and gifted. They shouldn't be forced to drawn a line to be accepted by society.

Medias’ presentation of women hints and screams that to be intelligent and proficient is not enough.  Cory Booker Mayor of Newark, New Jersey stated, “Young women look at how Hilary Clinton and Sarah Palin were treated during the presidential races and may now be discouraged from running for major political offices.” During the 2008 Presidential races, people seemed to be more concerned about what the female candidates clothing, appearances, and mannerisms than the context of their message. Hilary Clinton faced attacks based on her gender (Lowen). The 2008 Presidential races were historical in various ways. One historical point of the 2008 event was that there was a female candidate for presidential and vice presidential offices.  A Boston Globe reporter noted that Hilary Clinton, a previous New York senator, “had a remarkable resume and an enormous network of political supporters and donors” (Miligan). Hilary once stated ``I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas,'' but instead pursued a career in law while my husband was in the governor's mansion” (Miligan). To the contrary Jezebel.com posted its headlines as, “Hilary Clinton's presidential poker face is completely Inscrutable.”

In the documentary Miss Representation, it displayed various ways that women are tainted in society and media these days.  Some alarming statistics according to the documentary Misrepresentation are that: “53% of 13 years olds are not happy with their bodies, 17% of female teens engage in self-mutilation behaviors, 20% or more teens have premarital sex, 1 in 18 men are in jail and 70% of women in the work force are mothers.”  While parents are working to provide for their families, latch key children are left at their own discretion to watch the negative images of drama, violence, and sexualized scenes on television for entertainment. According to the American Psychological Association, there is a direct link between watching TV violence and displaying real violence. It seems like every other day that there is a news headline with some type of violence that was instituted by or involved children. Who is responsible for this increase in juvenile related violence, bored kids, over worked parents, poorly filtered TV shows? 

Do media broadcasters have a responsibility in what it presents? Or is main stream media just giving people what they think they really want? Yes, in the United States of America we do have freedom of speech and freedom of press (Constitution). Freedom is having a right to choose. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in this world.” The United States is a country built on a foundation of values that include freedom, justice, equality, peace, capitalism, brotherhood, hope, hard work, and success to name a few.  There is an old wise saying that verses; “anything worth having is worth its cost.” However, popular society at some point must ask its self, at what cost is success worth.

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Works Cited

Carlin, Diana B., and Kelly L. Winfrey. "Have you come a long way, baby? Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and sexism in 2008 campaign coverage." Communication Studies 60.4 (2009): 326-343.

Lawrence, Regina G., and Melody Rose. Hillary Clinton's race for the White House: Gender politics and the media on the campaign trail. Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2010.

Lowen, Linda. About.com Women’s Issues May 5th 2008

Miligan, Susan Boston.com, Hillary Clinton enters 2008 presidential race

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff  |  January 20, 2007

Newsome, Jennifer. http://www.missrepresentation.org/

Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation

            Media has a major impact on how society views its self and it also influences standards people use to judge each other. Society today spends at least 31 plus hours a week on media sites like: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Kik to name a few. People further spend about 17 plus hours listening to music and about 4 plus hours reading magazines weekly (Misrepresentation). The message of mainstream media today seems to be that woman equals sex symbol. Medias’ presentation of women hints and screams that to be intelligent and proficient is not enough.

            In the documentary Misrepresentation, it displayed various ways that women are tainted in society and media these days.  Some alarming statistics according to the documentary Misrepresentation are that: “53% of 13 years olds are not happy with their bodies, 17% of female teens engage in self-mutilation behaviors, 20% or more teens have premarital sex, 1 in 18 men, are in jail and 70% of women in the work force are mothers.”  While parents are working to provide for their families, latch key children are left at their own discretion to watch the negative images of drama, violence, and sexualized scenes on television for entertainment. According to the American Psychological Association there is a direct link between watching TV violence and displaying real violence.

Do media broadcasters have a responsibility in what it presents? Or is main stream media just giving people what they think they really want? Yes, in the United States of America we do have freedom of speech and free press (Constitution). Freedom is having a right to choose. Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see.” The United States is a country built on a foundation of values that include freedom, justice, equality, peace, capitalism, brotherhood, hope, hard work, and success to name a few.  There is an old wise saying that verses; “anything worth having is worth its cost.” However, popular society at some point must ask its self, at what cost is success worth.

No Child Left Hungry

Albert Einstein said, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” After watching the movie Dive Living of off America’s Waste: I gained a newly heightened awareness of hunger and food issues of current times. The film Dive, by Jerry Seifert, is a documentary like account by a group of young men that eat and feed their families off of the food they collect on a daily basis via dumpster diving. The film brings awareness to the idea and reality that there are people here in the United States of America that does not have enough food to eat on a daily basis. People think that throwing away food doesn’t matter. Wasted food does matter and affects others. Children are a vast majority of those left behind without adequate nutrition on a daily basis. According to the American Psychological Association, “Hunger can hinder cognitive development in children, increase behavioral problems, affect body image…eventually lead to poor health and low self-esteem and have long lasting effects on health. Most people agree that not having enough food or proper nutrients effects children’s ability to learn, self-esteem and alters health due to the vast existence in today’s society. Childhood hunger and poor nutrition in the United States of America can be combated if people work together at efforts to make sure no child is left hungry.       

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is a research based theory presented in pyramid form of basic human needs that must be met before they can go on to the next stage (Huitt). The pyramid is based with the first and most basic needs being on the bottom of the chart and moving upward to show each stage of psychological accomplishment and growth. Each lower need must be met before a person can go upward to the next level. At the bottom of the pyramid is; food, water, elimination. Next is safety and security. The third level includes belonging. The pyramid continues to the top point which is self-actualization.  Having food and water is the first need that must be met before any person even cares about their safety and well-being.  It is increasingly difficult for a child to sit, learn, and cooperate in a classroom if he or she has to worry about when and where their next meal will come from.

Many schools offer free and reduced lunch meals for children.  According to an article in USA Today, Children are coming to school hungry; many students depend on meals at school as their major source of nutrition according to about 65% of teachers. The article further explained that teachers on average spend $25 out of their own pockets to buy food and snacks for students (Hellmich). Caring teachers are making these efforts to better help students be better able to concentrate and cooperate in the classroom. Many of Americans are considered working poor. People in this category spend most of their already low income on rent and utilities (Kaitschuck).  In many instances working poor families depend on local soup kitchens and food banks (Kaitschuck).  Knowing that major food chains practice throwing away food rather than donating to needy organizations is discomforting.  Parents depend on these donations to feed their children.  In the movie Dive, the participants were able to consume better meals with the food collected from dumpsters than they could afford to purchase (Seifert).  Many fresh, organic meats, vegetables, fruits, grains and dairy products were items recovered from the dumpster dives. Food items are packaged with sell by labels. Once the sell by date and often previous to this date, is reached the store will dispose of the item to the trash. How can anyone with a conscious just throw away perfectly good food, one may wonder? Unfortunately throwing away good food instead of giving it to a needy person is a common practice of many businesses and citizens at homes. Nearly half of food items grown, manufactured and meals prepared in the United States of America are not consumed by people and thrown away when they are yet consumable (Seifert). A statistic like that in a first world country is sad and stifling.  Grocery chains try to avoid customer complaints of food freshness and lawsuits by taking the route of discarding items also to prevent lawsuits. Many people think that it’s easier to throw away than give it to others in need and hungry.  The federal government has assisted in encouraging positive actions like grocery stores, giving food to food banks, needing organizations, etc. without repercussion of being sued via the Good Samaritan Act passed during the Bill Clinton Administration. A law being passed on a federal level is not enough to save lives. Volunteers are needed to organize, distribute and cook food donations for people less fortunate. What type of country has the United States of America become?

Children are going to school hungry every day. Humans need food and water to survive: without it their organs will not function properly and can result in death. Children need adequate nutrition to grow, learn and focus. Where and when do people start to help make a difference? Start today; start now with small, personal, and consistent changes. Parents that are more fortunate should have their child take extra leftovers or snacks to school and share with classmates. Parents can also contribute by purchasing extra snacks and supplies for the classrooms. People can donate nonperishable items to the local food bank or church in local areas.  Children are the future and they are depending on adults. There’s an English Proverb that reads, “You never know what you can do until you try.” Any efforts made are better than no efforts.    

Works Cited

Hellmich, Nanci. "Children are coming to school hungry." USA Today 23 Feb. 2011: 05D. Biography In Context. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

Huitt, W. (2007). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [date] from,

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/regsys/maslow.html

Sarasohn, David. "Hunger USA. (Comment)." The Nation 16 Dec. 2002: 7. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

Document URL

http://go.galegroup.com.db08.linccweb.org/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA94791879&v=2.1&u=lincclin_fccj&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

Dive Journal 5

            After watching the movie Dive Living of off America’s Waste: I gained a newly heightened awareness of hunger and food issues of current times. The film Dive, by Jerry Seifert, is a documentary like account by group young men that eat and feed their families off of the food they collect on a daily basis via dumpster diving. The film takes place around the LA, California area and is based upon bringing awareness to the vast amount of non-spoiled food that many large chain food stores throw away verses the below poverty population that are in need of food.  In many instances the participants were able to consume better meals with the food collected from dumpsters than they could afford to purchase (Seifert).  Many fresh, organic meats, vegetables, fruit, grains and dairy products were items recovered from the dumpster dives. Food items are packaged with sell by labels. Once the sell by date and often previous to this date, is reached the store will dispose of the item to the trash. How can anyone with a conscious just throw away perfectly good food, one may wonder? Unfortunately throwing away good food instead of giving it to a needy person is a common practice of many businesses and citizens at homes. Nearly half of food items grown, manufactured and meals prepared in the United States of America are not consumed by people and thrown away when they are yet consumable (Seifert). A statistic like that in a first world country is sad and stifling.  Grocery chains try to avoid customer complaints of food freshness and lawsuits by taking the route of discarding items also to prevent lawsuits. Many people think that it’s easier to throw away than give it to others in need and hungry.  The federal government has assisted in encouraging positive actions like grocery stores, giving food to food banks, needing organizations, etc. without repercussion of being sued via the Good Samaritan Act passed during the Bill Clinton Administration. A law being passed on a federal level is not enough to save lives. Volunteers are needed to organize, distribute and cook food donations for people less fortunate. What type of country has the USA become? Does it care more about the latest fashion then the basic need of all human beings? Humans need food and water to survive: without it their organs will not function properly and can result in death. Where and when do people start to help make a difference? Start today; start now with small, personal, and consistent changes. Take leftovers to work to share with fellow staff members. Donate nonperishable items to the local food bank or church in your area. Any efforts made any better than no efforts.     

Making my American Dream

            Carl Jung stated “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks within, awakens.” After listening to the speaker named Mauricio Garcia, nicknamed   Mo, owner of MG Success Services LLC, a motivational coaching service and good colleague of Professor Warren; I was inspired to evaluate what I could improve upon. The speaker shared the story of his journey to the present state of working and living his life’s passion and calling it his career.  Mo shared that when he and his family came to the U.S.; although he faced many challenges beyond his control, there we situations that he experienced because he did not allow himself to change and grow. For example; he did not even attempt to learn fluent English until he was in the country for at least five plus years. Not being able to fluently speak English was a major barrier that stood in between Mo reaching his Dream.  Once Mo faced his fears, did a self-survey and then applied the information towards his goals; was he then able to overcome his shortcoming and move towards reaching his optimal career potential. I looked at my challenges and fears.  If certain every day challenges are resolved, people benefit as a result. Individuals looking for success in their lives and careers must start with managing their time properly.  I wanted achievable goals. Graham Greene wrote that the price for setting unrealistic goals is a feeling of despair. Time has always seemed to slip through my fingers. Proper time management is attainable and favorable. In researching Time management, it’s discovered that one must also be organized and learn to delegate task.

Geoffrey Chaucer referred to time gone as something that couldn't be recovered. Time management can be looked at in many different ways. “Time is the scarcest resource. Unless it is managed, nothing can be managed” (Dobson). Quite often people either have feast or famine when it comes to time. It seems when people have a lot of responsibility and issues to handle, they don’t have the time needed. Actually, everyone has twenty four hours in a day. How one chooses to use their 24 hours is what impacts ones success or failures.  Many people avoid task that are overwhelming, tedious, not of immediate importance, or that they just don’t feel like doing. This avoidance is called procrastination. Procrastination is one of the main issues of poor time management. Ways to avoid procrastination are: complete task on a list of importance, delegate task when applicable and getting organized.

            Managing one’s life is an eventful task. In order to get it all done, there will be times that people need to ask for help. For example, if an adult is a husband or wife, parent, student and has a career; he or she may need to assign their child task to wash the dishes a few days a week in order to have clean dishes. No matter how wonderful and efficient a person is, he or she just can’t do everything that physically needs to be done in those three roles. A lot of people are not comfortable with delegating, especially in the workforce.  Delegating is a management practice that is highly talked about but less used (Dobson). No one wants to be the bad guy or the overly bossy person that is always telling everybody what to do. Yet in order to handle great and large responsibilities, a manager must know when and how to ask or empower others to help. Taking time to teach others empowers them to learn a new task and allows the leader to focus on other issues that need attention. The task can be delegated but the responsibility still belongs to the parent, teacher, manager or person of authority to delegate. Delegating is an art form and must be practiced. In order for a leader of any sort to delegate; he or she must first be organized to know what the overall project or task consist of. Disorganization makes task more difficult (Leeds). Just image using Turbo Tax to file your taxes; and the many relevant documents accumulated throughout the year. As the computer program generated questions continue to arise, various documents hold the answers to the questions. Filing taxes is already a difficult and consuming task; but to have to stop and search through pile of papers throughout various places is even more taxing.  Now imagine preparing a file in a file cabinet at the beginning of the year.  Further imagine that as the documents and tax related situations arise throughout the year; placing the documents in the labeled file.  The following year at tax time, simply take the tax file and all of the needed documents are present. This scenario would be a lot less stress more and thus help the filing process go smoother. Good time management includes assessing of a project beforehand, anticipating needs and then putting a plan into action. An unknown author once said, “To not plan is to plan to fail.”  In the book “The Eight Minute Organizer” the author explains how spending just eight minutes of preparation can help a person become more organized.

           

It is sad, shameful but true that something like poor time management can assist in hindering a person from reaching their full potential. Successful time management can be accomplished with delegating task, getting and staying organized, and managing one’s self with the given time we all have (Leeds). Like Mo the motivational speaker, I have decided to face my fear and consciously work on something that I know is holding back opportunities for success. One can be more than hopeful that the American Dream, whatever that may be for the individual, is reachable. 

Works Cited

Alexander, Roy and Michael S. Dobson, Micheal S. Chapter 1 - How to Think About Time

Real-World Time Management, Second Edition.  AMACOM © 2009.

Forsyth, Patrick. Time Management. Kogan Page. April 28, 2010   Most Recent Edition

Leeds, Regina. The 8-Minute Organizer: Easy Solutions to Simplify Your Life in Your Spare Time. Da Capo Press. May 1, 2012

Mackenzie, Alec, and Pat Nickerson. The time trap: The classic book on time management. Amacom, 2009.