Good Evening Everyone! Over this weekend, I researched the lowest achieving schools in the Bay area, and found some interesting results. It seems that many of these schools are clustered around large population areas that are made of lower income residents, and have relatively high crime rates. Many of these lower performing areas, such as Oakland, Richmond, and East Palo Alto also have environmental concerns stemming from hazardous waste and urban decay. I also found that areas with very affluent and very poor residents such as San Francisco, tend to have poorer performing public schools. This is likely because many of the more affluent residents opt to send their children to private schools, and therefore spend more money there while the working class has to make do with the public schools they are dealt with. In contrast, Marin County, a very rich area, has very little failing public schools and has been able to maintain the standard for public education. The theme of class inequality found in Jonathan Kozol's book, Savage Inequalities, is very relevant in this situation. In some parts of the Bay Area, such as East Palo Alto and Palo Alto, the differences are enormous. In a manner reminiscent of East St. Louis and St. Louis proper, one side of the 101 freeway contains nice and expensive suburban homes, while across the street, is the poor and crime ridden city of East Palo Alto. Another similarity between the book and the situation in the Bay Area is the conditions in Richmond's West Contra Costa Unified School District. Much of Richmond was built as a war industry town in World War II, and when the war ended, the need for war material ended with it resulting in empty factories and massive layoffs. As a result, urban decay and chemical contamination has become an issue for the area in recent years as the city attempts to clean up the remnants of the war. The city is also in deep debt, and has neglected to provide safe and hygienic facilities for schools, resulting in an ACLU lawsuit against the schools' deplorable conditions. The similarities between today and the book are chilling to say the least, and serve as a solemn reminder that the fight for equality is far from over.

Of the many problems that poorly funded public schools face, few are as damaging as the schools’ short-sighted financial and educational priorities. In many schools, the thought of investing extra money into the teacher pool is seen as a waste of precious resources and the money is instead used to maintain the pool of substitute and tenured teachers. Due to this practice, many young and enthusiastic teachers are not hired or retained by these public schools, and they are crowded out by the cheaper substitute teachers and tenured teachers. The negative effects of this is tremendous; since the best and brightest instructors are excluded from the system, the school makes do with teachers who are unwilling or unable to make a meaningful difference in the students’ education. In Jonathan Kozol’s book, Savage Inequalities, he explores the nature of these schools’ inadequate staff when a teacher observes that “The school board thinks that it is saving money on the subs. I tell them, ‘Pay now or pay later’” (63). By the schools unwillingness to invest the funds available into quality teachers, the performance of the school as a whole suffers. Without good teachers to make a meaningful difference in the students’ lives, the money that is saved on sub-par teachers will be insignificant compared to the human capital wasted in a failing school.

The consequences for the disturbing trend of college cramming for mercenary reasons are vast. If we continue to discourage other educational and career paths in favor of brand name institutions, we will fill our colleges with students who are unwilling or unable to succeed in such an environment. It is a well-known fact that pressuring someone to do something against their will results in dissatisfaction and discontent. When forced to do something, a person’s motivation decreases and attitudes sour, creating an environment that is detrimental to a learning environment. Furthermore, by pushing students to conform to the orthodoxy of college attendance, schools close the doors on other great possibilities for the student. For students who aspire to be mechanics, firemen, or artists, the paths to their goals lie in other places, and there is no need for them to pursue a goal that they have not set for themselves.

A side effect of college cramming is the commercialization of education and the transformation of education into business. In recent years, college recruitment has skyrocketed in aggressiveness and pervasiveness. High school seniors and juniors are habitually flooded with college advertisements while college names and icons are branded on clothing and signs everywhere. But more reflective of colleges’ commercial nature is its shameless robbery of students and parents alike. With registration fees, rising tuition, and student housing costs, colleges are making little effort to hide their greed; and with the increasing demand for a college education, they certainly have the market cornered. If brand name education continues to be recognized and glorified by school and society alike, this issue of today will certainly be the nightmare of tomorrow.

If the trend of brand education continues, the commodification of education would certainly become a bigger issue in the future. During my junior year in high school, my teacher handed out a flyer that attempted to convince us students to go to good name schools. According to the flyer, going to college would ensure a bright and rosy future with more money than a high school graduate. After reading, I thought to myself, “Has education really become just a means to money?”. Education is and always has been a civic duty for citizens to remain free, but over time, it has become a commodity represented by SAT scores and diplomas to elevate status and income. By submitting to the labels of degrees and certificates, we are striving for the badges of knowledge while neglecting the search for true wisdom.      

Good evening everyone! After watching the TED Talk Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the Learning Revolution, Some of the things that stuck with me was his assertion that today's education is based on manufactured conformity and allows little time or energy for passions and individual growth. In his speech, he elaborates on how many schools push students into college without bothering to see if they are ready or willing to do so, and how that can affect the overall effectiveness of these college students. What I appreciated about his speech was how he pointed out the degree of "college cramming" that goes on in the education system and how this is not necessarily the best course for a student's educational and spiritual development. Allowing students to be able to explore their own options and learn their own way is the first step in creating an independent and passionate individual.

A Brand Name World

In “The Passion Project”, an important concept is the influence of conformity in society and its effects on how a person leads their life. In the recent phenomenon of brand name educations, the notion of society’s demands and expectations are exposed. In many schools across the country, prestige colleges, STEM, and high paying careers are emphasized to no end, while alternative life choices are often discouraged. Instead of opening students to alternative career and educational paths such as trade schools, community college, and the military, students are indoctrinated to accept only brand name schools as the legitimate path to a shining future. In Paul Sullivan’s New York Times article, “Measuring College Prestige Vs. Cost of Enrollment”, he explores the origin of the college success myth by observing that, “Parents have come to see the elite universities as the only way to give their children a chance at success. They feel jobs are hard to come by and companies are only going to look to hire at the elite universities” (2). Because of this idea that prestigious colleges guarantee successful careers, many people have come to the conclusion that non-brand name colleges guarantee non-successful careers. This line of reasoning reinforces the college myth and alienates parents and students from considering other educational paths outside the prestiged norm. In addition, Paul Sullivan examines the evidence used to discredit the college myth through research that found that “Equally smart students had about the same earnings whether or not they went to top tier colleges” (3). This study reinforces the argument that a brand name college does not necessarily guarantee a better future in the long run. Despite the evidence, however, society and educational institutions continue to stress that possessing an education from a big name campus is synonymous with success. In the midst of this indoctrination it is important to remember that it is not the college that determines our future, but rather the actions of the students who make do and overcome.