Notes article 3

Notes Article 4

"Excerpt from Equality of Educational Opportunity (Coleman Report)." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Sept. 2010.

·         “The great majority of American children attend schools that are largely segregated—that is, where almost all of their fellow students are of the same racial background as they are”

·         “More than 65 percent of all Negro pupils in the 1st grade attend schools that are between 90 and 100 percent Negro. And 87 percent at grade 1, and 66 percent at grade 12, attend schools that are 50 percent or more Negro. In the South, most students attend schools that are 100 percent white or Negro.”

·         The average minority student scores lower than the white student

·         Southern students for any race score lower on averae than northern students

·         In the North and West about 20 percent of Minority students drop out of school

·         The average white student is affected less by school conditions than the minority

·         Improving the condition of a school will help minority more than white student

·         A students success is related to the educational background and goals of other students

·         Nonschool factors lower grades also

·         Some minority students perform much better than white students.

Article/notes 2

Evans, Robert. "Reframing the Achievement Gap." Phi Delta Kappan Vol. 86, No. 8. April 2005: 582-589. SIRS Researcher. Web. 20 Sep 2010.

·         “the achievement gap has far more to do with social and economic factors that schools cannot control.”

·         The most definite gap is between Asian/white students and African American/ Hispanic students

·         Many minority students do great in school

·         Most bad minority schools are predominantly Urban

·         Some things that lead to less success are bad teachers, Violence, Few computers, large classes

·         Minority kids living in good conditions can do bad also

·         What kind of things kids do outside of school shape their in school success.

·         Number of books in a home affects literacy

·         “Much of the achievement gap appears to grow over the summer, not during the school year.”

·         Some minority students believe if they behave and do well in school they are acting “too white”

Notes for article.

 Whitmire, Richard. "The Education Gap: Why Minority Test Scores Lag." Gannett News Service. Nov. 5 1997: n.p. SIRS Researcher. Web. 16 Sep 2010.

·         Most of the learning gap occurs before minority children enter kindergarten.

·         “In SAT scores, the gap is roughly 100 points in both verbal and math.”

·         There is not that much proof teachers and students of the same race do better.

·         Rural/ small towns actually spend more on minority students.

·         The reason that most minority kids fall behind before school is parents font read to them, and the community is weakened without things like good family, community interactions, church.

·         “At the University of North Carolina, psychologist Craig Ramey showed that a high-quality preschool can boost IQs by 7 to 10 points, with the gains holding as the children entered adulthood. Their average IQ is 100.”

·         Smaller classes have proven to help minority classes more.

·         Better parenting will help children perform better in school

·         Private minority schools score better than public

·         Parents are more involved in public schools

·         Minority families offer less support to students

My Research Topic. Racism in School.

    My topic is about racism in schools. I want to cover things like how teachers are racist towards students and how students are racist to one another. Also I want to cover how the ethnic population of a school affects its condition.
    My questions are
1. How does race affect a students success in school?
2. How do ethnic population of a school affect its condition or funding?
3. Are teachers racist towards students or is it only a student to student issue?
4. How does racism in school affect life at home for victims?
5. Do victims of racism receive a worse education from the teacher because of their race?
6. Do school districts with a mainly minority population receive less funding.
 Those are my six questions about my topic of racism in school. These are the topics I would like to cover about racism in school.

Preliminary Research.

Book: Whale Talk

Topic: Racism in Schools

Search Terms

1.” Minority Race School Achievement”

2. “Funding for Public Minority Schools”

3.” Segregation in Schools”

4.” Civil Rights in School”

5.” Conditions in Minority Schools”

6.” Teachers in Minority Schools”

7. “Failing rates of Minority Children in School.”

Racism in School.

                The main issue in Whale Talk is racism. Since it happens in school, racism in schools seemed like an appropriate topic.  One statistic I know is that 365 out of 596 schools in Chicago are failing. These schools are predominantly Hispanic or African American. This goes to show these minority schools aren’t being funded enough. Also the drop- out rate for Hispanic students is higher than for white students. This shows that these students don't receive enough attention or do poorly so drop out. Finally the U.S. government spent 656 million on military operations last year and 43 million on covert ops. This goes to show that we can and should put more money into funding schools since we put so much into other things..

                I am happy with my topic. It relates to my life because schools around me have this happen to them. One school close to me recently failed. I think this should change and we should be aware of it.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/racism-schools/?page=2 Info

Picture http://censorbugbear-reports.blogspot.com/2009/11/afrikaner-poverty-malnourishment.html

Novel Pen Pal Letter.

703 Churchville Road
Bel air Maryland 21014
September 3, 2010
Dear The Tao Jones,

     Hi my name is Cole . I really enjoyed reading the book Whale talk which is about you and your struggle against racism and bullying. Over this summer other than reading your book I did many things. I went to Chicago and stayed at a resort for a PCA convention. I also went to Ocean City and Fenwick. I know you are just getting out of High School while I am just entering it. I am a Ninth Grader at John Carroll. I like to run which is a similar sport to yours, swimming.
     I thought that the book was great. I really enjoyed it and thought you handled yourself well in a lot of tough situations. For example when Heidi tries to rub her skin off you manage to keep calm while your dad chased after Heidi’s father. Also when you risked your own life to save a baby deer that was being hunted, you were being selfless. I can’t deny you lost your cool once in a while but that was only when others were hurt, and never for your own revenge. For example when you found out a boy was hurting you girlfriend’s friend you chased after him.
     I think Chris Cruther’s writing style was very realistic. He told the story almost exactly like it happened. I felt like I was reading a journal somewhat of your experience through your last year of High School and a few flashbacks. I think you were a very realistic character. You acted like a normal person would and seemed like a normal High School student. I definitely could believe you to be a real person because you seem to have a realistic personality.
     I have a few questions for you about your story. First off is how you think your life would’ve unfolded if your dad had not died. Would it be a change for the better or for worse? Also how do you think your life would’ve been if never met your therapist Georgia. Would you have been as athletic as you are now? What would your personality be like?
      There are a lot of ways to raise awareness about racism and bullying. One of the easiest ways is to simply approach your parents or teachers about it. They can easily help with your problems and it makes them aware of it. Also you could make a website about it. You could list the effects of it, and how you can help stop it. This would make people more aware of racism. I think that this novel didn’t make me more aware of racism and bullying than I already am. They are both real problems in my world and I see the every day. They aren’t always major but they do happen.
     Well I must stop my letter here T.J. I think you were a great person how you helped Heidi and deserve the best in your life ahead of you. I wish you the best of luck and keep your calm and helpful attitude always.
Sincerely



Cole. A

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.woodbridge.lib.nj.us/teenslookwhatwefound_files/image006.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.woodbridge.lib.nj.us/teenslookwhatwefound.htm&usg=__lMHBvs6vXl3yo4tSMQWtgp0YxaY=&h=186&w=128&sz=4&hl=en&start=0&zoom=0&tbnid=PRMnSYBM-g5hGM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=70&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwhale%2Btalk%2Bbook%2Bcover%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D585%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=78&ei=MYuNTKuyI8GBlAewuIVh&oei=MYuNTKuyI8GBlAewuIVh&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0&tx=41&ty=45

Book Introduction and Summer Reading Questions.

     My book is about a High School Senior named T.J. Jones. He is struggling against bullies and racism all while trying to run a swim team for his school, Cutter High. The author Chris Crutcher is a writer who usually writes about serious social issues and other serious subjects. A lot of his books are not accepted by some schools because of the content they contain.
   Now for the questions.

1.      Who is the main character and what is he like?

The main character’s name is The Tao Jones or as he is usually called T.J. Jones. T.J. is a very athletic person who is a great swimmer and basketball player. He is a helpful person who volunteers a lot of his time to other things. He is also a stubborn person as he finds it hard to let go of bad things that have been done to others.

2.      The three parts of the story.

The beginning of the story covers how T.J. got adopted and why he is creating a swim team for his school. The middle of the book tells about how the swim team gets better every swim meet and the social problems each character starts to overcome. The end of the book is when the team finally achieves their goal- which is to get varsity jackets, and they all overcome their social issues. However, T.J. sacrificed his jacket so everyone else could get one.

3.      Experiences characters had and what the author is trying to say through them.

T.J. Jones has a lot of bad experiences usually included bullying, racism and even being shot at.  He is called racist terms by other adults and is even shot at after a basketball game by the angry loser, but T.J. manages to ignore it all. I think Chris Cruthcher is trying to say that you shouldn’t let bullies get to you. If you ignore them like T.J. does, you will be better off like T.J. is at the end when all his bullies are punished or change.

The Issues

            1. How does bullying affect three characters in this story.

            2. Two specific events where these social issues seem real and important.

One specific event is when the little girl rubs her own skin off to try and look white. This makes racism seem real and personal because it could really happen to someone we know and can inflict a major injury. It could really happen because the girl’s father tells her to do that. Another event is when T.J.s father is killed because they took in the Heidi. This seems real and important because once again it could really happen to someone we know and can change people’s lives forever like it did to T.J.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/chris-crutcher/whale-talk.htm

Cole's Unique Profile

Cole’s Profile

My name is Cole.A and I am a thirteen year old freshman in High School. I went to Middle School at St. Pauls Lutheran in Kingsville. I Run track and Cross Country for sports. I have two other siblings. One brother who goes to John Carroll already and a little sister in fifth grade.  This year in High School I want to keep good grades and do well in sports.  Finally I also enjoy playing guitar, and running on trails.