I think for my presentation, I would like to use one of the suggested cites that we reviewed last class on Wednesday. At the moment, I am caught between using PowToon or Prezi, as both look very interesting and could benefit my presentation. As far as order of presentation goes and what material I'll put into it, I feel that I'll start off with asking what my main question was: "Is Private School really better? Is Public School really worse?" From there, I would like to go into my findings through my inquiry, presenting both sides of the argument and what the main consensus was, and then offer a conclusion based on those findings. (i.e. What my feelings on the conclusion are and whether it has led me to a new line of questioning.)

For our portfolio, especially on Weebly, do we need to continuously update all of our papers so long as we are making edits or additions to them for the inquiry project? Is there a certain order they need to be in (Ascending or descending order)? If we ended up not using some sources in our work, do they still need to be included in our Annotated Bib. if we previously considered using them at the beginning of the inquiry project?

Chapman, C., and Hoffman, L. (2007). Event Dropout Rates for Public School  Students in Grades 9-12: 2002–03 and 2003–
04 (NCES 2007–026). U.S.  Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington,  DC.

This article's main point is to list and briefly discuss the drop out rates in public schools mainly between the years 2002-2003 and 2003-2004, and to reflect on the rise or decline in the numbers presented through the information reported by individual states throughout the two year period. Also, the article goes to compare the rates between the 02-03 period with the 03-04 period of school dropouts in grades 9 to 12.
The reason I am interested in using this article for my inquiry project is that I think it could help if I could also potentially find an article relating to drop out rates in private schools as well for the same years, and comparing them to each other to see if there is any correlation. Since my inquiry is involving the differences in public and private school education, and the money that can sometimes make a difference, I feel comparing dropout rates is also an important factor, because generally dropping out tends to be a sort of last resort for some students who believe they will not accomplish anything remaining in school, and if I can find that drop out rates in public schools are higher than those in private schools, I feel it could make another point on how a public school education is often not as beneficial as a private school one, and how the money fed into the system can have an effect on that. I also personally have known people in both systems to drop out, though more in public school than private school, and when I asked them about their reasoning later, they admitted that they weren't getting anything out of school that they couldn't learn on the street or somewhere else without having to be "trapped" in class all day.
Thinking on my inquiry project now, I feel a little less confident about finding reliable text sources, as I looked at several others I had listed before this one, but they weren't at all what I had been hoping for, though I'm hoping with the proper research that I will find more reliable sources, and if my text sources are short I should at least be able to make up a little bit for them with interviews from other sources I plan to use later along in the process.

For a long time, I have switched between private and public school systems, and have been able to see both the good, the bad and the ugly of each of these systems, sometimes in the same counties or even in different ones. Because of this experience, I have started to question the gap between the two, since I have seen that there is definitely a margin between public and private schools that I feel needs to be filled. For my research, I want to be able to look at these differences between the school systems, to see if, in some ways, private schools are better enabled to succeed than public schools, and if the students attending each of these different schools are either enabled or crippled by these differences that are put into the system. Having experienced both sides, and having friends on either side of the separating line, I feel I would be able to conduct a more personal study between the two, and use my own experiences to help answer my questions about whether or not our nation really does put better abilities into the more financially well off schools than the other. We discussed in class this past week and the week before how schools are becoming more focused on money, turning the educational system into something of a business rather than an institution for learning, and one of my questions is whether or not we can see evidence of this idea demonstrated between the support and education quality provided for private schools and public schools. Do public schools only get the quality of education that they pay for through their taxes? Are private schools better off because they are receiving better funding through the tuition that the parents of their students are required to pay? Because of this, does this prevent public school students from achieving better goals, though they might be just as mentally and educationally well off, if not more so, than a student in the private school system? If all of these things are proven true, is there something that can be done about it, or have we been letting this trend continue for so long that there is really nothing to stop it now?

Reading all the articles that we have through the past few weeks, all I've really gotten to see are complaints on how the system is broken. And it hasn't really come as a shock to hear that, because we've been told that over, and over, and over. We KNOW the system is broken, but the issue is how to fix the darn thing. I feel like we've been addressing both sides of the issue, pointing fingers at this particular group or that particular group, but I feel the real start of the fixing process is when we kind of settle down and realize that each side plays a part in the dilemma. If we could first acknowledge that it isn't just one side or the other, that would be the first step. Once we get past that, it's a lot easier to possibly suggest compromises between the two to work towards a better system for everyone. And even if we can't immediately find an answer, just being aware that there IS a problem is really the first major step in the problem-solving process of fixing our slightly defective system. Because how can you hope to fix a problem you don't even know about? Knowledge is power, and understanding is an ally. By informing people now about the issue, we empower them to make a difference. People are always saying the younger generation is the answer, and really, they are. It isn't that the older generations aren't just as capable as making a difference, just that as the younger generations grow up they have more knowledge to work with, more understanding to mold their ideas into a better system. Students can learn to realize what the issues are, as teachers do their best to teach them about the problems, and help them find answers. As for me personally in this whole grand movement, every extra person that is active in trying to comprehend and find answers to the present issue with our education system is one extra person trying to make a difference at all. The more the merrier, because while just one person can always make a difference, it takes a lot more to fix a problem as broad as

When
I started reading Brannon’s article, I really felt this sense of understanding, because for the past however many years that I’ve spent being required to write in the dreaded 5-paragaph format, with five sentences to a paragraph, double spaced, focused on three central ideas, I’ve always felt that I was going through a perpetual loop of required writing without really getting any better
at it. I would do the writing that was required, listening to the same lecture on how to properly format the paragraphs, both in written and typed format, and then go through the motions, and turn in the completed assignment with no real feeling that I understand just what I was writing about, only that I wrote about
it and in the proper form. I never stopped to consider if the writing inside of those uniform paragraphs really meant a thing, or if I just clumped them together to appease the requirements that my teachers would push on me to get me to fulfill that format. And, really, since getting to college, that form of writing that was drilled into my head over and over again has kind of fallen through. Five paragraphs isn’t the minimum or maximum anymore, and being asked to focus on just three main points is something like a joke. There aren’t just three points to be made about anything, and there aren’t just five paragraphs to write, and it isn’t even about the format of your writing so much anymore as it being sure you know what you’re talking about for however many paragraphs you do have. With the old format that I was always reciting and
rewriting, just to get the five paragraphs out, even if I’d exhausted my three focus points, I went ahead with that age-old tactic of “fluffing it out”, where I added useless bits of drabble just to meet the necessary quota and then printed it out and handed it in. I never learned how to expand ideas, because there were never more than three main ideas you needed to focus on, and any more
or less than that were unnecessary. But here in college, ideas are everything, and if you can add more ideas, that’s even better, so long as you can make them make sense. It isn’t about form anymore, like we’ve been led to believe for endless years of education, it isn’t about “writing in an arbitrary formula merely sustains the deficit perception” anymore. It’s about forming a conscious effort in our writing that goes beyond simply setting
up our thoughts in neat, orderly, five line paragraphs.

Reading Freire’s article on just how the educational system seems
to be set up really gives a broader view to the way teachers and students are  generally set up to interact. I feel he has a really, almost painfully accurate  view of just how our educational system has been built so that students are  meant to act like obedient tape recorders, storing every piece of information  they are given without really giving thought to its meaning, and spouting it  back when asked to. Mike Rose’s article reflects the very imagery of the banking  model of education that Freire talks about, discussing how many of the teachers he encountered often went about the classroom having the students respond to them as was necessary and giving them items to read or ‘reflect’ on without actually giving the student an adequate chance to consider the work for  themselves or give them a broader spectrum of education other than read, write, recite and repeat. Thinking over what the problem-posing education suggested, and trying to imagine what it might appear as, I feel that it would require more of the kinds of classes that ask the students to openly participate, like in discussion groups, directly addressing each other after being given several problems or ideas to really consider and openly talk about, giving them the chance to think for themselves about how they would respond rather than just reciting what might be the teacher’s perspective on the issue and carrying on without any more consideration. Freire says it that “Problem-posing education  is revolutionary futurity”, and looking at more and more classes in schools today, it is easy to see what he meant. More teachers are venturing outside of the teacher-student superior-inferior role and becoming more of an observer as they set the students together to contemplate more thoroughly and seriously about the problems they are given and other realistic issues without relying too heavily on the teacher’s own perspective to guide them.

    I'd never really stopped to consider how the changes in my life, both large and small, and the people along the way had affected just how my trajectory altered and shifted. Looking on it now, being able to reflect, it's a lot more obvious just how many things have had influence on my school life.

• My mother has always been the biggest influence in my life, and watching her raising myself and my brothers with such care and determination has always pushed me to follow her example and to accept any challenge if it comes at me, even if I don't feel like I can ever overcome it. Especially in school, I wanted to follow her example and be the best I could. It was through her encouragement and my own stubbornness that I decided to follow a path to becoming a vet.
• Many people have influenced me, both positively and negatively. My mom has always been a constant ally to whatever cause I put myself into, and my best friend of many years has always been there to give me a shove when I falter. They both taught me to accept the difficulties of life, because there are many, and to also look for the bright side of every dark side.
• One of the most influential people to enter my life in school was also one of the least encouraging. After switching schools in eleventh grade, I endured a year of being reminded by my AP English teacher that I was from a public school system and might not be able to cope with the workload expected of a higher class system. Because of her, I pushed even harder to beat her expectations of me, and proved her wrong by achieving the highest score on our exam in a miniscule class of nine students despite having always received the lowest scores in the classroom.
• Achieving that milestone made me realize that just because others might have expectations for me doesn't mean I have to comply to them, especially if they are meant to bring me down from the level I know myself to be at. My mother also taught me never to accept people's judgments of me, because no one knows me better than me. It's because of that, and the push to excel,
 

Reading Mike Rose’s article
was really like reading an essay written by myself or one of my friends going through, school, though not everything that Rose discussed is something I myself have gone through in the school system. But reading through the descriptions he gave about indifference becoming a larger part of how he survived in the Vocational School system reminded me very much of how I made my way through school, though I was never in the same setting. When he describes how he would attempt to complete different work, like math problems that he would sit and not be able to work through without going off into a daze to ease the frustration of inadequacy, I didn’t see Rose sitting there narrating the story, but more of a mental image of myself in middle and high school trying to tune out things I wasn’t able to carry out on. “You try to focus on the problem again. You scribble on paper for a while, but the tension wins out and your attention flits elsewhere. You crumple the paper and begin daydreaming to ease the frustration” (188 Rose). That particular phrase is almost an exact description to me of how myself and close friends of mine would
sometimes pass through a class that we couldn’t manage to grasp or find interest in. A class that we might also consequentially be doing very poorly in. Also, reading Rose’s descriptions of how his other classmate, Ken Harvey, made the shocking and enlightening statement of “I just wanna be average” (186 Rose) made me think of how so many people struggle to be outstanding in school, to make their own statement to ensure they have a chance to be somebody other than just another high school kid. This piece made me look at school not only as a learning experience but also as a scramble, like Rose points out, to make someone out of no one and to make a statement. Everyone works insanely hard to
make a statement for themselves, even if that statement leaves them dangling at the bottom of the proverbial chain—but it still gives them a name, regardless. Realizing the wish to just be average, to just be whoever you are without making a mad dash to prove something to everyone else, is an ideal not many people seem to  recognize is perfectly alright. And Rose makes that point.