Don't panic, it's just a static...image that is.

In my last post I informed you all that I will be creating a multi-modal project that will persuade my audience that standardized testing is useful but should not be used as an exit exam.  Here is one static image that I will most likely be using in my presentation.

This is a satirical cartoon that actually makes a very important point.  The point of standardized tests is to make sure EVERY CHILD has learned what they "should have" learned by a given point in time.  They do this by giving as many children as possible the exact same tests as all the other children get and tell them if they don't pass, they don't get to go with all of their friends to the next grade, which in my opinion is frighteningly insensitive and horrifyingly un-american.

Don't we as Americans supposedly take pride in the fact that everyone here is allowed to be their own individual.  Their own individual who may be enthusiastic about math and science but never really cared too much for history or map-reading.  This individual may want to go on to higher education and become a scientist or a doctor, and this individual may also pass the standardized tests in math and science with no trouble, but as soon as this individual fails the social studies exit exam they are told that their dreams must be put on hold until they pass, even after they've completed 12 years of coursework and passed every single semester of that coursework.  Imagine how hearing that would feel?  Now imagine how hearing that would feel if spoken in a language you weren't quite proficient in?

I don't understand how this can be thought of as fair or in line with our country's principles at all.  High school diplomas are extremely important in this country and a person can feel crippled and discriminated against for not having one.  Maybe exit exams entail what one would need to know if a great deal of higher education is desired, but these tests are keeping an important survival tool from these children.  So thank you to the US education system for trying to return our country to the forefront of education, but don't do it at the expense of those individuals who may just have a different skill-set from the norm.  It doesn't mean they don't deserve a chance to reach the top of the tree as well.

Scholarly Articles & Standardized Testing

The end of the spring semester is coming up for us college students and as a final project in my advanced composition class, I am required to put together a multi-modal, research driven, persuasive argument.  The aspects of this project include a research paper and some other mode of presentation (a slideshow in my case).

Standardized testing has increased in popularity with each year since the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act was approved of by the federal government in 2001.  Schools are using these tests as the "accountability measures" required in NCLB.  I have chosen to research these standardized tests for my project, in order to acknowledge the fact that, while these tests are beneficial to some students and to the curriculum, they should NOT be used as exit exams.  One scholarly article I am going to utilize in my paper is a journal article entitled, 'To leave or not to leave?  A regression discontinuity analysis of the impact of failing the high school exit exam.' written by Dongshu Ou.  Ou is an assistant professor in the department of educational administration and policy at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

I know this is a scholarly article because the author is a P.H.D, which she received from Columbia University, a rather distinguished university if I may add.  Also, the journal in which this article was published is a peer-reviewed journal entitled Economics of Education Review, which means that the content is professionally accurate, and encompasses my topic within its scope.

In the analysis, Ou first gives the audience background information about what standardized tests are and how they have been implemented in our school systems as of yet.  She then continues on to make the claim that students who barely fail the high school exit exam(s) have a significantly lower likelihood of making it to post-secondary education than students that barely passed these exams.  Ou also states that, in a lower-income or non-english proficient setting, the stakes are raised, and those students who barely failed were now significantly more likely to drop out of high school before graduating than their counterparts that barely passed the exams.  Ou backs up these claims in the rest of her analysis by concentrating her statistical research efforts to New Jersey high schools from 2002 to 2006.  Using various data sources Ou proved through her New Jersey examples, that all of her previous claims were in fact true.

Let me know in comments if this topic is something that interests you and I will try to remember to share my paper with you upon completion.

Ou, Dongshu. “To leave or not to leave?  A regression analysis of the impact of failing the high school exit exam.” Economics of Education Review 29.2 (2010): 171-186. Web. 10 April. 2013.

Depression in College Students...

College can be, and probably is in most cases, the most enjoyable years of one's life.  You get to meet tons of new friends, escape from your parents, and even escape your hometown and state if you so choose.  Living on your own and having ultimate freedom can bring unlimited joy but it can also bring a lot of stress and anxiety to your life as well.

Oh you have plenty of scholarships and loans to cover the semester?  Not if you blow it all on insignificant things.  Don't worry about it though, you'll always get the same amount at the start of next semester right?  Not if your GPR falls below the scholarship requirements.  What starts off as the American teenagers dream can quickly turn into a nightmare.

Those troubles only concern scholastic and monetary issues.  The emotional struggles that arise are what can truly bring some students to the brink.  Best friends from home become strangers due to distance.  Trust is lost and bridges are burned that you once believed, with all of your heart, to be flame proof.  The person who is perfect for you in your eyes may decide it's not the perfect time.  The different levels of maturity between people varies the most at this point in life and it can be hard to deal with.  Trust me, I know.

This post goes out to all of those people who are going through a struggle in their college career, whether it's from one or all of these reasons.  What I want you guys as readers to get from this is that I understand you.  Whatever hardship you're going through right now, there are many others around you that are experiencing the same thing.  The good news is that from the bottom, all you can do is go up.  Coming from the most sensitive and understanding part of my heart, gig'em.

Struggles of the minimum wage worker

Minimum wage sucks!  I have no idea how some families are able to survive with most members making little more than minimum wage, much less individuals with no support or minors to claim??  I did the math.  Working at 7.25 an hour, even with a 40 hour week, will not even amount to 300 dollars per week.  It is these circumstances that force some Americans to take on two full time jobs, especially single parents.  There are 168 hours total in each week.  Two full time jobs will take 70 to 80 hours out of that.  If one wanted to sleep at least 7 hours a night, that would leave just under 40 hours of "free time".

You would think that a minimum wage job would be easy to obtain.  Wrong!  Albeit I am a college student with little work experience, each of the minimum wage jobs I have obtained were only after a great deal of time looking around and applying to countless employers.  I have never even gotten an interview unless I applied to 10 or more businesses/employers.  If you count all the man hours put into job hunting, it makes the minimum wage value seem even more thin and stretched.

Good news though.  Minimum wage is going to be raised, rather significantly compared to previous raises, from what I've heard.  It will certainly be a nice couple of weeks, maybe even months.  Nice, that is, until inflation sets in and the value of our dollars gets reduced down to make minimum wage feel the same as it always has.

What about food stamps and welfare?  Sure those things can keep a family afloat, but think about what it does to the moral of that family.  Do you think the parents feel good about not being able to provide for their kids and themselves, by themselves?  Do they even care about their pride at that point.  Not to mention those individuals that take advantage of the system to get more welfare support, leaving less for those that really need it.

The true solution may lie in the distribution of wealth here in America.  There is simply not a large enough percentage of this nation's money being circulated in the lower and middle classes.  The majority of our country's wealth is owned by a very small minority of disgustingly wealthy individuals. Sure some of them donate to certain charities, but the sad truth is that a lot of the charities they give to aren't even for the poor in our country but for third world countries.  Worry about OUR country first people!

I may be up on my soapbox right now for little to no avail but these are things that cannot be thought about enough.  What do you think?