Shannon

Shannon Sullivan Chapter 12  This chapter is a more in-depth look at the previous chapter. This biggest topic that stuck out at me was the portion about chemical abuse in the classroom. You always hear about the occasional high school student getting caught smoking in the bathroom but an elementary student being drunk in class is just astonishing. Obviously the child is suffering problems beyond the fact that they are intoxicated but what does possess them to drink? How could they even possibly stand the taste of alcohol at such a young age, I mean they are practically still babies. It’s extremely upsetting. As a teacher you can only do so much to help and protect your students but to see one of your students come to class visible intoxicated must be horrible. What could be so wrong in a child’s life that they feel the need to turn to alcohol? Clearly there are many reasons why, but where are they picking the idea that alcohol is the solution to what they are going through? Even if the problem of alcohol isn’t present at home the odds are the children are learning to drink from such things as television, music, movies, or even video games. This is another problem parent’s need to be more aware of because it’s not just the problem of drinking they are learning from media it’s also smoking, cutting school, violence and sex. Computers and television should not be the only source of nontraditional education for students

Shannon Sullivan Reflections Chapter 8 The more in-depth my education gets on becoming a teacher the more I anticipate to be a part of the teaching world. However, I never thought to think about how much of a struggle it might be to break into the business. This chapter surfaces this problem with the story with Lorna. Sadly as the text says the problem of getting hired as a teacher is common one. I found it interesting that it said the rate of private schools have remained constant. It’s hard to believe seeing how many grade schools have closed in the past several years in the city. I wonder if when this was wrote they were taking into consideration inner-city private schools. Another topic i had never heard about before is the voucher system. Honestly I like the idea of the voucher system. Like a lot parents I know including my parents put their children through Catholic School which obviously isn’t the cheapest way to go, still have their tax dollars go towards public schools. Although this chapter seems to drag on it is interesting to see how many people are in the education system. It’s hard to believe so many people are involved in the education of children and yet we still are having many different problems in the school system. Shannon Sullivan Chapter 9  I liked this chapter a lot. It’s a slippery slope with the connection of the legal system and the school system. Now more than ever it seems that teachers and students have to walk on egg shells about many things including religion and what can be taught in school. One tiny incident can lead to a nationwide conflict, as seen in this chapter with the several examples of court cases. I was shocked at the story of the teacher Yolanda and the removal of // Macbeth // and // Of Mice of Men //. Both books are classic pieces of literature. They are not meant to brainwash students but to open their minds to different aspects and thoughts of life. Parents should be concerned about more crucial topics like if the child can even read or if their school is equipped with enough reading material for each student. They shouldn’t worry about if a teacher is introducing the most celebrated writings of all time. I don’t even know where to start with the topic of spanking. I remember a teacher telling me once that the punishment of a student should always fit the crime. How does one think laying a hand on a child could ever be a justified punishment? I can imagine all it can do is give the child a negative connotation with school. Furthermore does that mean even children with special needs were also treated the same way when they had done something wrong? I will never understand or encourage corporal punishment. Over all this chapter just makes me angry about how small minded people can be. It just seems that some people care more about their pride than they do for the sake of a child’s education

 Shannon Sullivan Chapter 11 I personally think this chapter is the most significant chapter in the book. It talks about the most crucial problems facing our children today. It starts off with poverty which is extremely heartbreaking considering it is something that a student has no control over and yet affects every aspect of their life including their education. Another thing that really bothers me is that the rate of poverty is increasing. How is this possible? The book says at minimum a family consisting of two adults and one child can live on less than 14,000 a year. I can’t imagine this considering my boyfriend and I and our child have a hard enough time making it by with bills and he has a master’s degree and a government job. The next thing they discuss is illiteracy. I was shocked to find out that 20 % of adults read at or below a 5th grade level, that’s 1/5 of adults. What are the odds that these people are actually educators? Thirdly there’s homelessness. Another heartbreaking situation considering the child has no control over it at all. According to the hope for homeless website, 1.5 million children go to bed every night without a home. How could you even call it that if they don’t even have a bed to sleep in? It also says there is a 1 in 50 chance a child can experience homelessness in their lifetime. These odds are outrageous. The last one I want to discuss is teen suicide. Something I feel schools do not talk about this issue enough or stress the seriousness of it to adolescents. According to the text, 50,000 adolescents take their own lives every year. They’re at an age where their lives haven’t even begun. Over all I think this is a very informative chapter, in fact each topic should have at least it’s own chapter.