I agree with all of the 25 lessons, and she is right those lessons are easier said than lived. I really enjoyed this book though I share a lot of her sentiments when it comes to the conditions of America, the states, cities, communities, families and children. It bothers me that this book was published in 1993 and all the problems that she wrote about are still here and if anything from my prospective it might have gotten worse. I am positive the condition of American society overall hasn’t gotten better.
For example when I was going through the public school system Columbus, GA had a Head Start program, was leading with the idea of a Hope scholarship for College, and was investing in education. Now head start funding is being sent to the guillotine it’s a fraction of what it used to be and getting smaller, my sister has a 4.0 and might not get the Hope scholarship because they are "out" of money. They are giving teachers furl low days as if teachers weren't already underpaid they are making up holidays just so they don't have to pay them at all. There is also talk of cutting teachers and increases class sizes from 32 to as many as 40 in some areas. I remember being in a class of 28 and feeling crammed I couldn't imagine a middle school class with 40 kids in one room with one teacher.
The Public high school I attended is charging out of county/state tuition it’s one of the best high schools in the area. But it’s a public school which used to mean that it was open to everyone that paid taxes at least in GA overall not any more now certain counties are excluded. To me that means it’s a private school if there are exclusions. The fact that the high school is the best shouldn't give them the right to charge people for their child to attend a public school. It should be the opposite the school shouldn't charge because it’s the best, kids have to test into the school or be a “legacy" yeah it’s become that serious" that's how my sister was allowed to attended after she moved back after being away for two years. It upsets me that a child who scored high on the entrance exam would not being able to attended because their parent can't pay the out of county tuition.
I am not just picking on my home state and city I know it’s happening everywhere. And it’s a huge mistake teachers and funding for education should exempt from any type of financial cutback. People still do exactly what she described they say one thing and do something completely different. Children are our future. I am afraid of the outcome of the uneducated children that are going to be the product of these budget cuts. Having one teacher to a room of 40 kids in an urban area is saying just keep them from burning the building down and forget about teaching. There is no way that a teacher is going to be able to maintain control and teach. My mother was a middle school teacher she had 28plus students in her class but she taught in an underprivileged which made it difficult. My mother had control of her classes at all times in fact she was the teacher that got sent the overflow from in school suspension. The flip side was the new or inexperienced teacher who had no control with a class size of 20plus. It was difficult to keep teachers in those areas because the older ones would retire and the newer ones would quite. And all it took was for that one child out of 20 to have an outburst and the other 19 would join in. I couldn’t imagine a class of 40 all arguing and eventually fighting each other and the new teacher being overwhelmed. That’s a disservice to the teacher and the students. I don’t see it getting any better if we continue on the path that we are on. I plan on being one of those people who makes a difference my goal is to become a school psychologist and go into these areas and do all I can for the children and the parents. My Mother always said that it all starts at home that her job was made even more challenging because some of her students had no guidance once they left at the end of the day. The other problem she said was that some of her students worked harder in a day than she did there were kids that were in charge of their younger siblings and could do their homework because they had to make dinner. That is an unacceptable situation. No child should have to deal with that kind of responsibility in the 6th grade. I want to be the person who makes a difference in the life of a child who might have been lost in their day to day struggles or in the system of paper work. I want to follow her life lessons because they are all important to me being successful in my own eyes.
