Dear Editor
When you state that 35.4% of Latinos fail to earn diplomas and point out the false excuse of “well, what can you expect from inner-cit schools? Those poor, minority kids just can’t or won’t do the work” As much as I agree that it is a false excuse and I believe that there should be a solution attempt in providing the future of Hispanics with more graduates, I do believe that there is a lack of motivation in the Latino community. So by stating that they won’t do the work, I wouldn’t call it a full false excuse.
Then when you state that there is no big mystery to why kids drop out, you list all these reasons in which I agree completely. There are so many reasons why kids drop out, but you conclude the paragraph by saying that they are lured by gangs, which is one of my main points in my research paper, and I believe that’s the main reason why so many Latino kids are dropping out.
Sincerely Danny McDonald
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Los Angeles Times: Stopping the Dropouts
Los Angeles Times
July 19, 2008 Saturday
Home Edition
Stopping the dropouts;
State statistics should boost efforts to reduce the number of students who quit before graduation.
SECTION: MAIN NEWS; Editorial pages Desk; Part A; Pg. 18
LENGTH: 591 words
It wasn't true, what the critics said about half the students in Los Angeles Unified School District dropping out. One in three do. The first state database to count dropouts in a more realistic way revealed this week that although the district's numbers weren't as bad as feared, neither were they statistics to inspire a happy dance.
L.A. Unified is finally taking meaningful measures to keep kids in school, a formidable task. But how did we get to this place? By ignoring our dropouts with great thoroughness for many years and even by covering up their existence. If researchers questioned the high numbers of youngsters leaving inner-city schools, district administrators would respond that this mostly reflected families who had moved away.
The district does in fact have an alarmingly high mobility rate -- each year, 27% of its students move -- but until this week there was no regular system in place to track where the missing had gone. It didn't help that both the state and federal departments of education paid most of their attention to test scores and very little to dropout rates. In fact, a school could look better under the No Child Left Behind Act by having its low achievers leave.
As a result, dropout rates at some Los Angeles schools don't just reach half, they go beyond. Nearly 60% of the students at Jefferson High leave without diplomas. But L.A. Unified is hardly the only district in the county where dropout rates exceed the statewide number of 24.2%. The new database lists Inglewood Unified as having a 43.9% dropout rate, Compton Unified at 43.3% and Lynwood Unified at a whopping 49.5%.
Throughout California, black and Latino youngsters have higher dropout rates, and that's reflected in L.A. Unified as well, where 35.4% of Latinos and 40.2% of African Americans fail to earn diplomas. Numbers like that lead to such false excuses as, "Well, what can you expect from inner-city schools? Those poor, minority kids just can't or won't do the work."
Then what to make of Santa Ana Unified, where 92% of the students are Latino, many of them from impoverished families, yet the dropout rate is 9.1%? It's worth noting that, in L.A. Unified, the dropout rate for white students is more than twice that high.
There's no big mystery to why kids drop out. They fall behind in their studies to the point where catching up seems hopeless. They feel stupid, and even dropping out seems better than being reminded daily of their stupidity. Their schools are chaotic, even dangerous. They fall into a habit of truancy that no one helps them break. They are lured by gangs or are overwhelmed by financial and personal problems.
Under Supt. David L. Brewer, Los Angeles schools had begun contacting apparent dropouts, trying to coax them back into the classroom. Now, Senior Deputy Supt. Ramon C. Cortines is mapping a more comprehensive intervention. Schools would receive financial incentives for raising attendance -- something the district could afford because it gets more money from the state for each day students are in class. By the end of the first grading period, ninth-grade teachers would have to report on failing students and provide an immediate remediation plan. Schools themselves would get regular report cards based not only on their test scores but on such factors as whether students feel safe.
Most important, the state each year will reveal and refine the dropout data. Just as the No Child Left Behind Act led to major reforms in urban education, so should putting these bleak numbers before the public eye.
July 19, 2008 Saturday
Home Edition
Stopping the dropouts;
State statistics should boost efforts to reduce the number of students who quit before graduation.
SECTION: MAIN NEWS; Editorial pages Desk; Part A; Pg. 18
LENGTH: 591 words
It wasn't true, what the critics said about half the students in Los Angeles Unified School District dropping out. One in three do. The first state database to count dropouts in a more realistic way revealed this week that although the district's numbers weren't as bad as feared, neither were they statistics to inspire a happy dance.
L.A. Unified is finally taking meaningful measures to keep kids in school, a formidable task. But how did we get to this place? By ignoring our dropouts with great thoroughness for many years and even by covering up their existence. If researchers questioned the high numbers of youngsters leaving inner-city schools, district administrators would respond that this mostly reflected families who had moved away.
The district does in fact have an alarmingly high mobility rate -- each year, 27% of its students move -- but until this week there was no regular system in place to track where the missing had gone. It didn't help that both the state and federal departments of education paid most of their attention to test scores and very little to dropout rates. In fact, a school could look better under the No Child Left Behind Act by having its low achievers leave.
As a result, dropout rates at some Los Angeles schools don't just reach half, they go beyond. Nearly 60% of the students at Jefferson High leave without diplomas. But L.A. Unified is hardly the only district in the county where dropout rates exceed the statewide number of 24.2%. The new database lists Inglewood Unified as having a 43.9% dropout rate, Compton Unified at 43.3% and Lynwood Unified at a whopping 49.5%.
Throughout California, black and Latino youngsters have higher dropout rates, and that's reflected in L.A. Unified as well, where 35.4% of Latinos and 40.2% of African Americans fail to earn diplomas. Numbers like that lead to such false excuses as, "Well, what can you expect from inner-city schools? Those poor, minority kids just can't or won't do the work."
Then what to make of Santa Ana Unified, where 92% of the students are Latino, many of them from impoverished families, yet the dropout rate is 9.1%? It's worth noting that, in L.A. Unified, the dropout rate for white students is more than twice that high.
There's no big mystery to why kids drop out. They fall behind in their studies to the point where catching up seems hopeless. They feel stupid, and even dropping out seems better than being reminded daily of their stupidity. Their schools are chaotic, even dangerous. They fall into a habit of truancy that no one helps them break. They are lured by gangs or are overwhelmed by financial and personal problems.
Under Supt. David L. Brewer, Los Angeles schools had begun contacting apparent dropouts, trying to coax them back into the classroom. Now, Senior Deputy Supt. Ramon C. Cortines is mapping a more comprehensive intervention. Schools would receive financial incentives for raising attendance -- something the district could afford because it gets more money from the state for each day students are in class. By the end of the first grading period, ninth-grade teachers would have to report on failing students and provide an immediate remediation plan. Schools themselves would get regular report cards based not only on their test scores but on such factors as whether students feel safe.
Most important, the state each year will reveal and refine the dropout data. Just as the No Child Left Behind Act led to major reforms in urban education, so should putting these bleak numbers before the public eye.
Media and Risky Behaviors
Soledad Liliana Escobar-Chaves and Craig A. Anderson immediatly state two points, one is that the United States youth is spending to much time with electronics daily and that they can lead to unhealthy behaviors that can lead to societal costs.
As they state that "health risk behaviors identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—obesity, smoking, drinking, sexual risk taking, and violence" can occur from the the activity from over use of electronic devices.
The article takes each risk behavior into its own category and explain individually in detail how the risk behavior plays its role in the addiction to electronics. Obesity has a large section portion identifiying that part of the reason that obesity has reached its climax internationally is because of the amount of electronics that get played daily and the amount of advertising for un-healthy foods. Through out the article there are also large quotes to give an effect of the point that they are trying to express. Obesity has its own links through each kind of electronic addiction, from video games, movies and the internet. Obesity is making its impact due to the amount of food that adolescants are eating and to the fact that they are not getting enough exercise. The article then takes a shift in how adolescants are the largest amount of new smokers to smoking.
"Many studies provide clear and strong evidence that youth are more susceptible to viewing smoking favorably and to becoming smokers as a result of exposure to smoking in the media."
After the impact on how smoking is largely inspired by the media, the artcle takes another shift into how adolescants are getting addicted to alcohol. The most common advertised drug on the media that seems to be making a large impact onto adolescant society is alcohol. After the commentary on alcohol the article takes another shift into the amount of sexual intercourse that is occuring in the adolescant society. Sexual influence is inspired everywhere in media this day, from advertising alcohol to soda. "Virtually no attention has been given to the ways in which the sexual content of advertising may shape adolescent sexual behavior."
After the impact on how sexual intercourse has largely increased in the adolescant society, the next shift is into adolescant violence showing the largest statistics in the article so far. Youth violence resulting in death or injuries has a direct and indirect cost of $158 billion a year. Media exposure has shown violence inspired from movies, advertisements and most of all video games. The article shows that there is a percentage of adolescants playing video over 15 hours of video games per week. Television and movie violence has been one of the most common types of films and shows to be shown on TV and for the public to buy. There is studies that violent games leads to violent behavior. "Despite many reports that exposure to violent media is a causal risk factor, the U.S. public remains largely unaware of these risks, and youth exposure to violent media remains extremely high."
The article concludes by expressing that media has a very high influence on the behavior of adolescants in American society. All the behaviors were covered with percentage in how they are increasing per year. A solution that the article ends with is stating that studies have shown that positive behavior that is played or shown can influence positive behavior. So a shift in channeling more positive behavior can be looked upon as a solution.
Is That Just Some Game? No, It’s a Cultural Artifact
Heather Chaplin
The history of video games impressed me in how it can be perserved and cherished more instead of being violated to be shut down. I noticed some of the games there that created its name in history such as Warcraft being the first real time strategy game. Video games is a sign of the advancement in technology this day to the technology of the world. Mr. Lowood has a passion and pride to the advancement of video games and wants to protect it by avoiding emulators to steal the games and have them played for free on the internet.
As they state that "health risk behaviors identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—obesity, smoking, drinking, sexual risk taking, and violence" can occur from the the activity from over use of electronic devices.
The article takes each risk behavior into its own category and explain individually in detail how the risk behavior plays its role in the addiction to electronics. Obesity has a large section portion identifiying that part of the reason that obesity has reached its climax internationally is because of the amount of electronics that get played daily and the amount of advertising for un-healthy foods. Through out the article there are also large quotes to give an effect of the point that they are trying to express. Obesity has its own links through each kind of electronic addiction, from video games, movies and the internet. Obesity is making its impact due to the amount of food that adolescants are eating and to the fact that they are not getting enough exercise. The article then takes a shift in how adolescants are the largest amount of new smokers to smoking.
"Many studies provide clear and strong evidence that youth are more susceptible to viewing smoking favorably and to becoming smokers as a result of exposure to smoking in the media."
After the impact on how smoking is largely inspired by the media, the artcle takes another shift into how adolescants are getting addicted to alcohol. The most common advertised drug on the media that seems to be making a large impact onto adolescant society is alcohol. After the commentary on alcohol the article takes another shift into the amount of sexual intercourse that is occuring in the adolescant society. Sexual influence is inspired everywhere in media this day, from advertising alcohol to soda. "Virtually no attention has been given to the ways in which the sexual content of advertising may shape adolescent sexual behavior."
After the impact on how sexual intercourse has largely increased in the adolescant society, the next shift is into adolescant violence showing the largest statistics in the article so far. Youth violence resulting in death or injuries has a direct and indirect cost of $158 billion a year. Media exposure has shown violence inspired from movies, advertisements and most of all video games. The article shows that there is a percentage of adolescants playing video over 15 hours of video games per week. Television and movie violence has been one of the most common types of films and shows to be shown on TV and for the public to buy. There is studies that violent games leads to violent behavior. "Despite many reports that exposure to violent media is a causal risk factor, the U.S. public remains largely unaware of these risks, and youth exposure to violent media remains extremely high."
The article concludes by expressing that media has a very high influence on the behavior of adolescants in American society. All the behaviors were covered with percentage in how they are increasing per year. A solution that the article ends with is stating that studies have shown that positive behavior that is played or shown can influence positive behavior. So a shift in channeling more positive behavior can be looked upon as a solution.
Is That Just Some Game? No, It’s a Cultural Artifact
Heather Chaplin
The history of video games impressed me in how it can be perserved and cherished more instead of being violated to be shut down. I noticed some of the games there that created its name in history such as Warcraft being the first real time strategy game. Video games is a sign of the advancement in technology this day to the technology of the world. Mr. Lowood has a passion and pride to the advancement of video games and wants to protect it by avoiding emulators to steal the games and have them played for free on the internet.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
New Orleans: After the Deluge
The very interesting graphic novel about the tragic event that Hurricane Katrina caused made me see a different view of the event, especially towards the end when the people of New Orleans felt that the government blew up levees on purpose. The drawings were very neat and made me realize that I really enjoy reading a graphic novel more than a article or book. The novel showed the effect that the hurricane only provided a small flood from its own rain, but that since it broke the levee's is what caused the main tragedy of New Orleans. The several story lines showed people who left a night ahead of everyone else, people who wanted to stay and survive the storm, people who ignored it and threw a party and people who just went home regulary. It was interesting seeing the people's decision in what they were going to do and the reader already knew what the smart decision and what was not. The graphic novel also showed the amount of confidence that people had that the hurricane was going to turn or it was not going to be as bad as they thought. The change of color for each chapter represented the different story lines that were in the graphic novel. I enjoyed reading more about Mansell and Nafeesa because they seemed to be kind of the comic relief in the graphic novel although they still got a really bad experience from shifting in the store to the top of the roof and getting mosquito bites. But it also showed a sense of team work and frienship on how they helped each other and took water bottles to other people who were in need. They seemed to represent the good man of America that made me enjoy to see how they acted to such a extreme event. I would like to know more about what happened to Mansell and Nafeesa after they got settled. I also want to know if the family who left to Florida and split up their kids, when did they get re-united? THe man with the de-hydrated baby, did the baby live?
Satrapi and Root interview
Satrapi gets interviewed in more detail about herself and her graphic novel, Persepolis. Satrapi explains that she can not write a book because she looses all of her sense of humor in her and can not write something interesting. That by drawing she can express her humor and make a better writing in saying that you can express more in a graphic novel than in a book. I probably agree with this completely, I understand situations better with imagery but that doesn't mean a person can be multi-talented. If Satrapi can write a successful graphic novel, I am sure she can write a successful book too. Satrapi also explains how there are 2 other women in her situation who also write memoirs, that all these women come from the same back ground and believe that their story should be told. Satrapi though seems to just write the story and puts it out there, if a person wants to read the story then they can read it, but if they want to hear the truth "they need to go to Fox News or New York Times". Satrapi also explains about her drawing technique in how in her first book it was about her child hood so she choosed to draw like a child to add the effect into the story. Her second book is when she is grown up, so she draws more mature with an adult artistic taste. Satrapi expresses more about her book and when this interview was conducted, she was in the middle of her filming. So Satrapi expresses her excitement of her movie coming out.
Satrapi and Root interview
Satrapi gets interviewed in more detail about herself and her graphic novel, Persepolis. Satrapi explains that she can not write a book because she looses all of her sense of humor in her and can not write something interesting. That by drawing she can express her humor and make a better writing in saying that you can express more in a graphic novel than in a book. I probably agree with this completely, I understand situations better with imagery but that doesn't mean a person can be multi-talented. If Satrapi can write a successful graphic novel, I am sure she can write a successful book too. Satrapi also explains how there are 2 other women in her situation who also write memoirs, that all these women come from the same back ground and believe that their story should be told. Satrapi though seems to just write the story and puts it out there, if a person wants to read the story then they can read it, but if they want to hear the truth "they need to go to Fox News or New York Times". Satrapi also explains about her drawing technique in how in her first book it was about her child hood so she choosed to draw like a child to add the effect into the story. Her second book is when she is grown up, so she draws more mature with an adult artistic taste. Satrapi expresses more about her book and when this interview was conducted, she was in the middle of her filming. So Satrapi expresses her excitement of her movie coming out.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Persepolis
The reading of Persepolis and the review of Hilary Chute on Persepolis expressed the emotional maturation of Marjane Satrapi, the author of Persepolis, in a graphic novel that will show her life in Iran in how her life changed in 1 year from 1979 to 1980. It opens up on how wearing a veil will be required for every girl to wear at school and then the girls and boys will be seperated from each other in school. The actual graphic of this scene though kind of confused me when I saw it because it showed the girls using the veils for different reasons such as a jump rope and to ride on another kids back like a horse. I think its showing the confusion of wearing a veil to school and starting to notice the first difference in their lives in effect from the revolution. The reading then takes a different turn and confuses me when the girl shows that she was born with religion but then claims herself as a "the last prophet". I learned more about what the girl was concerned about, such as family holidays and good health, but it still made me wonder where this reading was taking me. The girls parents will be found protesting the veil and the girls mother will be caught in a picture protesting and will be published in magazines. The mother will cover up by dying her hair, this shows a sense of power that the government holds and paranoia, that by protesting, their lifes are on the line. "The Bicycle" had a weird way of simply stating that a revolution was happening in Iran because it showed the girl dressed up in military clothes with a weapon and idolizing Castro, Guevera and Trotsky. Then the girl says that God looks like Marx and then we find the girl talking to God. This just made me confused because I had no idea what exactly was going on, I just saw the main message that there was a revolution going on in Iran. It leads to then a local current event on a movie theater that got burned down with people inside and the police standing outside, the girl over hears her parents and she feels motivated to participate at a protest with them. "The Water Cell" explains a story told by the father to the daughter on how the girls grand father was a prince, he was tortured and but inside a water cell and it depressed the girl in how horrible he was treated. She then sits in a bath for a long time to see how her grand father would have felt. "Kim Wilde" showed how the girls parents went to Turkey to bring her back modern gifts such as a denim jacket, posters and nike shoes. They had to sneek them in and when they give the gifts to the girl, it first of all makes her very happy and wants to go out and buy some tapes from the black market. The "Gaurdians of the Revolution" find the girl on the street wearing a denim jacket, nike shoes and a Michael Jackson pin on her jacket. The gaurdians wanted to take her away but Marji just ends up crying and lying about how her parents were dead and she needed to be home on time. The message of "Kim Wilde" shows the few rights that women have and how the new modern era is not accepted in their culture.
Hilary Chute Review of Persepolis
Hilary Chute does a complete review on the whole graphic novel on Persepolis and focuses more on parts that I didn't get to read. Chute gets into depth on the meaning of Persepolis on how dramatic the actual story is and its success. Chute observes on how there are constantly dead bodies through out the story and how majority of the drawings seemed to show more black. Black seemed to have represent the depression of the time in Iran during the revolution and war. Chute also does a review on the movie of Persepolis and its success as a low budget and experience movie. Chute then does a comparisson of the two. Chute also states the controversy that the movie made in Iran by having the President call the film "ant-Iranian" in how it doesn't show the true meaning of the "glorious" revolution.
The Chute review seemed to be more complicated for me actually talk about because majority of the article I couldn't relate to since I havent read the whole graphic novel and I haven't seen the movie. It was more interesting for me to read the acutal graphic novel that was provided for me. I enjoyed the reading and learned more about the history of Iran and see that they were headed to a more modern direction until 1980. I can't actually relate the reading to myself since I never really had a experience like that. I could kind of relate to the part when Marji finds out that her grand father was a prince when my father explained to me that my grand father was more than just a war veteran, but he was actually a very important under cover FBI agent after the military. I had that same reaction of picturing my grand father as a amazing hero as Marji had. I found the reading to teach me also about the very little rights that women have in these countries. If I could ask questions to Satrapi I would ask:
Hilary Chute Review of Persepolis
Hilary Chute does a complete review on the whole graphic novel on Persepolis and focuses more on parts that I didn't get to read. Chute gets into depth on the meaning of Persepolis on how dramatic the actual story is and its success. Chute observes on how there are constantly dead bodies through out the story and how majority of the drawings seemed to show more black. Black seemed to have represent the depression of the time in Iran during the revolution and war. Chute also does a review on the movie of Persepolis and its success as a low budget and experience movie. Chute then does a comparisson of the two. Chute also states the controversy that the movie made in Iran by having the President call the film "ant-Iranian" in how it doesn't show the true meaning of the "glorious" revolution.
The Chute review seemed to be more complicated for me actually talk about because majority of the article I couldn't relate to since I havent read the whole graphic novel and I haven't seen the movie. It was more interesting for me to read the acutal graphic novel that was provided for me. I enjoyed the reading and learned more about the history of Iran and see that they were headed to a more modern direction until 1980. I can't actually relate the reading to myself since I never really had a experience like that. I could kind of relate to the part when Marji finds out that her grand father was a prince when my father explained to me that my grand father was more than just a war veteran, but he was actually a very important under cover FBI agent after the military. I had that same reaction of picturing my grand father as a amazing hero as Marji had. I found the reading to teach me also about the very little rights that women have in these countries. If I could ask questions to Satrapi I would ask:
- What experiences did you have with friends, I notice in the reading that you never seem to be with friends that believed in the same way as you.
- How do you feel by having the President of Iran state your novel to be "Anti-Iranian"?
- Did you kept wearing your denim jacket and shoes after your experience with the Gaurdians?
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Mathias reading and Filmore reading
Frank Mathias is a military veteran and a writer, by organizing all of his documents from his time in the military he is able to write his books and memoirs in an organized manner to create an accuracy and effect in his writings. As Mathias talks more on how he wrote his memoirs in the military he expresses more on how a memoir is more unique and more powerful than any other memoir. Mathias says after talking about his third writing that "there is something about a military memoir that chills the heart of most historians." When I read this I managed to reflect a part of my life with it because my father is in the military for almost 30 years and he majored in history in college, military literary was always around my house, so when I read that quote I managed to picture how different a military memoir is to a regular one due to its emotional effect it can create. Mathias also explains that he doesn't have a lot of experience in memoir writing but since he is a front man military soldier coming from a dramatic point of view, his simple words can be turned into a dramatic piece of literature that is appreciated from all angles. I wonder though, since military memoirs are not as appreciated as they were before, how popular do Mathias memoirs and books really get? Does Mathias' books and memoirs influence more military veterans to write memoirs or publish their memoirs of their experience? Now that Mathias has experience in being a good writer, would he want to re-write his memoirs that he originally did when he said that he didn't have that much experience when entering the field of writing.
Nicole Filmore manages to grab the attention of the reader in the first paragraph by explaining a regular weekend with a giant twist in how her sister found out that she was pregnant. She explains on how she has never seen her sister cry and creates a image that most people can picture about a sad girl who found out she is pregnant infront of her family. Nicole shows a lot of what she was thinking during the situation and seemed to have been more worried about her sisters baby then she was, but it creates a very interesting reading that does not bore the reader. Nicole keeps talking about what went in her head and how all the attention of the house was going to her sister. Week by week the date for the baby approaches and it creates an opinion of Nicole on her sister and having a child in how she never wants to do it and that she doesn't like her sister. But when the baby finally comes she forgets about everything and says how beautiful the baby is and its become her passion in life. I can really relate to this reading because I have had friends who have had kids at a very young age to and I always play a role in support for them. But it is different for Nicole since she is the sister and she plays a bigger role that will change the life of everyone in that family. I really enjoyed this reading and if I could ask questions to Nicole I would ask if the baby is still her "everything" to this day? After helping to raise this baby so far does she feel that she can raise one on her own? When does she plan on having a baby?
Nicole Filmore manages to grab the attention of the reader in the first paragraph by explaining a regular weekend with a giant twist in how her sister found out that she was pregnant. She explains on how she has never seen her sister cry and creates a image that most people can picture about a sad girl who found out she is pregnant infront of her family. Nicole shows a lot of what she was thinking during the situation and seemed to have been more worried about her sisters baby then she was, but it creates a very interesting reading that does not bore the reader. Nicole keeps talking about what went in her head and how all the attention of the house was going to her sister. Week by week the date for the baby approaches and it creates an opinion of Nicole on her sister and having a child in how she never wants to do it and that she doesn't like her sister. But when the baby finally comes she forgets about everything and says how beautiful the baby is and its become her passion in life. I can really relate to this reading because I have had friends who have had kids at a very young age to and I always play a role in support for them. But it is different for Nicole since she is the sister and she plays a bigger role that will change the life of everyone in that family. I really enjoyed this reading and if I could ask questions to Nicole I would ask if the baby is still her "everything" to this day? After helping to raise this baby so far does she feel that she can raise one on her own? When does she plan on having a baby?
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