What struck me as the most important was the difference in the quality of education between the poor school districts and the wealthy ones. There were both positive impacts and negative impacts of facilities in this film. The children from the wealthy school districts seem to be happy overall in their schools. The majority of them also seem to have set goals and a direction or path that they are following. Unlike the children from the wealthy districts, the children from the poor schools are exactly opposite. Their demeanor overall is unhappy and they seem to be lost in their sights for their future. The sense that the schools do not care about them creates a feeling of not caring about education. I guess you could say that they feel as if they are on their own without support from anyone. The fact that these kids are tied to one district depending on where they live gives you a great sense of unfairness. The unequal resources divided up between districts is a hard pill to swallow. Jonathan Kozol informs us, "These school districts get their money from property taxes. Therefore the wealthier neighborhoods have wealthier schools." As Americans this does not seem right.
My overall opinions of the faculties here at OSUM are excellent. It has great resources available for tutoring and small class sizes effective for learning. The technology available at this campus as far as general education courses go, is up to par. I am excited about the new building that has been approved for science and engineering classes. The ability to be able to finish college here in Marion would be a great benefit for me.I have absolutely no time to join any clubs here on campus, but would enjoy a fishing club if I had the opportunity. I also wouldn't mind attending some of the seminars here on campus if I had the time to do so.
I agree with you Sam, the balance between rich neighborhoods and poorer ones had a great impact on the way kids viewed their education and themselves. It did seem unfair not only for an educator to be in room with leaky holes and unsteady floors, but it was no wonder that many of the children in the film had stopped going to school because of the conditions of the building that they had to deal with on a day to day basis making them depressed and unmotivated to continue further.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I also have not had time to participate in much of the activities that OSUM offers. I am thankful for the smaller classes and the available facilities that I have had an opportunity to observe have been pretty impressive. So far the overall experience has been a bit trying at times but a good one overall.