Summary and Response to "The Civil Rights of Children"

Andrew Rosenthal

 In Andrew Rosenthal’s “The Civil Rights of Children” informs readers that African Americans and Hispanic students are being punished more severely than other students because of racial discrimination by people in authorities. Rosenthal states that African Americans and Hispanics are being suspended, expulsion, or even arrest for something that should have just been dealt with in the principal’s office. Minority children that have a bigger chance of dropping out are not getting the proper help they need from people in authority. Even though African Americans make up a small percentage of students in a school they make up a high number of the suspensions and expulsions in schools. People in authority need to put racial differences away and give the help the students need that will help them succeed in the future.

In Andrew Rosenthal’s “The Civil Rights of Children” is accurate in saying that racial discrimination still can be a problem in some schools because of the stereotype that African Americans and Hispanics are bad people. African American students do not engage in worse or more often misbehavior than other students, even though they get in trouble more and have worse consequences than other students of different races. African American students only make up fifteen percent of public school students but make thirty-three percent of students suspended once, forty-four percent of students suspended more than one, and thirty-six percent of students expelled. African Americans that get in trouble for the same thing as over students et disciplined more and more punishment than they should have gotten. Teachers in schools where this happen should be trying to be fair to all students and stop it happening by other authorities. The students that need the most help are the was getting the least help. Students should not be getting expelled for arrested for a something that kids do more often. Students should be having punishments that will benefit them in the long run and not harm their chances for a good future.

Summary and Response to "You'll Never Learn"

Annie Murphy Paul

“You’ll Never Learn” by Annie Murphy Paul informs parents and teachers that kids are not doing as well as they could be in school because of their attempt to multitask on work and social media. Paul wrote that Larry Rosen, a professor at California State University saw that students in his class were looking at Facebook, texting, talking on the phone, listening to music, and surfing on the web while not paying much attention to him and his lecture. Paul states students get too distracted with technology in school and can harm the child’s grades and GPA. School work and social networking use the same part of the brain which causes unsuccessful multitasking for the student. Some teachers use spyware, with permission of the student, some teachers have observers at the back of the room, and some teachers ask the students who are on their phones questions about the previous part of the lecture. Paul says that students are too distracted at school with school and something needs to be done about it.

One of Annie Murphy Paul's other books.

“You’ll Never Learn” by Annie Murphy Paul is false because students have the ability to be more productive than before with technology and electronics. Students are not interested enough in school, so they use their time on other things that are more interesting to them instead of doing work. Teachers that have students not paying attention should make their lessons more interactive and less speaking. Students are more focused on activities when they have to be engaged in it and have to think more. Parents can also keep their child focused by taking away the child’s electronic or phone. Ultimately, it is the student’s fault and problem that they are not learning as many things in class and do not do as well in school. They need to learn to focus by themselves without needing somebody to help them not get distracted. Paul says that students are not very good at being multitaskers but in “A Vision of Students Today” a girl holds up a piece of paper that says “I am a multitasker. I have to be.” Students in high school and in college get so much work that they need to learn how to properly multitask and not get as much distracted. If lectures were more exciting than students would be less distracted and would be more focused.

Summary and Response to "Schools Would be Great if it Weren't For the Kids"

In “Schools Would be Great if it Weren't For the Kids” by Alfie Kohn informs readers that students are not being properly motivated for school because students do not like school, do not work hard, and do not do well. Kohn states that commentators are only looking to prove test scores and not to motivate the students themselves to do better overall. Students are losing interest in school and the stuff they learn because they look forwards to any rewards or avoiding any punishments that they might get in school. Economists say that motivation is only can be if there is a reward, but motivation can come from curiosity and ambition, parental expectations, the desire to get into a ‘good’ college, inspiring or intimidating teachers, and peer pressure. Kohn explains that schooling for some kids is only for working and being kind instead of discovering and learning something new.

“Schools Would be Great if it Weren't For the Kids” by Alfie Kohn is informing readers about the truth in saying critics are only looking to improve America’s education compared to global competition because students are forced to do all their different boring homework every night and do not have many fun, exciting, and motivational classes in the day. If students were more motivated in a curious and ambitious way than test grades would go up either way because students would be more excited to do better and earn better grades. Economists need to realize that bribes and threats for students are counterproductive in helping the student’s futures and test scores. It kills student’s motivation when they are bribed or threatened. They only think of the reward or punishment and not of learning and doing well in school. For example, if you were told if you did not get a good grade on a test than you would have to redo the class next year, then you would be more focused on not having to redo the class instead of attempting to learn more in class and being more interested in what you are learning. Students lose their main focus and goal of learning in school without being properly motivated by educators.

Summary and Response to "What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents"

Ron Clark's Book The End of Molasses Classes

In “What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents” by Ron Clark informs parents that teachers are quitting their jobs because parents are being too protective with their children and sometimes cause teachers to lose their jobs. Clark wants parents to know how the teachers feel when the parents ask if their child really did something or if they have an excuse for something. Clark states that some parents will have an excuse for their child not doing an assignment on time. The parent would say that their child needed to have some free time or they were busy even though they had time before that to finish the assignment. Parents need to listen to the teacher so they can work together and fix any dilemmas that they have. Parents need to be partners with the teacher and do what is right to help their child.

Ron Clark

Ron Clark’s “What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents” is accurate
when he says parents are being over protective because the children need to learn from their mistakes and not be defended for everything they do. Clark writes that parents sometimes bring lawyers to school meetings that are dealing with their child. If parents would help the situation and admit that their child is doing something wrong then it would be a lot easier to find a solution to the problem instead of telling the teacher or thinking the teacher is inaccurate about their son. Teachers are having a hard time not getting in trouble or losing their job for simple human errors or over reacting parents. Clark wrote that he saw on the news that a teacher lost their job for trying to wash permanent marker off a child’s face and caused a red mark to be left behind. The parents got her fired for that simple thing that most teachers would have done. Parents need to ask for both sides of the story before going to conclusions on something their child told them. Children can over exaggerate and make something sound worse or different than it actually was. A child might say that their friend stole his phone but might leave out the fact that they originally stole their friend’s money and the friend wanted to get revenge. Overall, if parents do not assume that their child is perfect or near perfect than their child’s education could be better.

Summary and Response to "Machines are Using Us"

In “Machines are Using Us” by Michael Wesch explains to web users that the they are the web because every time they click on a link the machine remembers that for the future. Wesch writes that digital text is flexible and movable. Digital text can be hyper linked to anywhere on the web. People don’t need to know complicated code to do something on the web anymore. When HTML was more widely used, form was inseparable. HTML expanded and added other elements like bold and italics. Digital text, now, has it where form is separable and can be free of formatting constraints and can be exported. Every time somebody uses the web the web remembers where you went for future reference. The web adapts to any searches you make. People who use the web are the web nowadays.

We are teaching the machine.

Michael Wesch’s “Machines are Using Us” is correct in saying that machines are using us because every time somebody searches a funny video on youtube the machine keeps it in that person’s history. Wesch is telling the truth when he says the web adapts to your searches and to the links that you click. If you click a link on a pancake recipe twenty times then the search engine in the future will recommend sites to you that have pancake recipes. It would also keep your history of each time you went onto the website. Also when you search for something it records data for surveys and stats. It would record for number of people to watch a certain video or people who read a certain article. This video connects to Michael Wesch’s other video “A Vision of Students Today” because, in both videos, Michael Wesch states how technology is affecting us in good and bad ways. It can be good for computers to remember our searches, but can be bad by taking away people’s privacy. People need to realize that they control their computer and how easily it finds data for us, but also realize that the computer is using them by recording what they do.

Summary and Response to "The Case Against High-School Sports"

In “The Case Against High-School Sports” by Amanda Ripley explores the negative effects of high-school sports on a student’s education because students today are doing worse in school because of sports. Amanda informs us that high-school sports are more important to students than getting a good education. Sports cost schools a lot more money than a kids education. For Premont, a football player costs about $682 more than a math student in a year. Basis public charter schools offer only cheaper sports and are in smaller cheaper leagues than other schools. The average Basis student did better than the average student in Shanghai, China which is ranked number one in the world. If schools just cut down on sports than American students could have better educations than students in other countries.

Amanda Ripley’s “The Case Against High-School Sports” is right in saying high-school sports need to be cut down. The importance of sports in schools is getting in the way of a student’s education. Students will spend less time studying and more time playing sports or watching sports. Schools will spend as much many as they need to build a new stadium or keep their sports equipment updated and will cut down on teaching if needed. Last year, in Allen, Texas, Allen Stadium was built costing them nearly $60 million. That is millions of dollars more than the cost to educate multiple student for all four years in their high-school career. People say that sports help students stay fit and teach them proper sportsmanship, but it is costing them more money than it should. The principal realized that none of the students in sports were going to play after they graduate. Spelman College cut sports and used that money to help other things. They instituted cheaper classes like swimming, aerobics, and Zumba. If the focus of high-schools were more on academics students grades would be much better. Schools could still have cheaper sports like soccer and volleyball. In conclusion schools need to change their main focus from sports to academics.

Allen Stadium: This high-school stadium cost almost $60 million.

Summary and Response to "Footprints in the Digital Age"

In “Footprints in the Digital Age” by Will Richardson informs that teachers and students need to be Googled well because it is important to be connected to the world.  Richardson tells parents and teachers that if they want to teach students about networking they need to network as well.  Richardson tells his readers that networking is the new literacy.  Almost all kids and teenagers are on some kind of networking site or online game.  If somebody wants information about a person they should be able to Google them and see everything about that person.  If somebody wants to find someone with the same interests they can just search the internet.

Will Richardson

Will Richardson’s “Footprints in the Digital Age” is telling us the truth in saying that networking is the new literacy because over eighty percent of people online are networking.  People need to learn how to network properly so they can be a successful networker themselves and help people who read or watch a particular video or blog.  Students need to learn how to be responsible and safe while still having fun playing an online game like World of Warcraft or any other online game.  Younger kids don’t think of the negative effects of sharing their password and personal information such as where they live, or any other information that may cause harm.  Parents need to teach their kids online safety and parents also need to know how to network properly so they can teach their kids.  If the parents don’t have any experience then their kids will not learn the correct things and this could cause more harm for them in the future.  In addition to learning how to network people need to be able to be Googled well.  For example, if you were at a job interview and the person interviewing you wants to know a little background information on you before you get there they could search your name on Google and information would be there for them to see.  If you are a good networker and you post things that would help your future then the person hiring you would see that.  In conclusion all people need to learn how to network properly because networking is the new literacy.