Deprived From Success

If I was not required to go to school, would I be the same person I am today? Would I be sitting in front of my laptop typing a paper about school? Would I be on the side of the road not knowing how to read or write? As much as I used to complain about waking up in the morning to go to school, I do not regret it. Not only do I believe compulsory education can sometimes disempower the American population, I believe it is what helps us shape out the rest of our lives. In some cases the government does not step in to help students further their education when necessary. I provide examples through my own life experience and through true story movies whom also experience financial difficulties.
I grew up in a low income neighborhood and went to a school that was not well funded. In elementary school, I was too young to know about our school’s financial status. When I turned 12-years-old, I moved to Bufford, Georgia. This school was nothing compared to the ones in San Antonio! Now I had at least three working computers in each class, new books with no graffiti, and desks that looked as if they had just came out of the manufacturing company. It was like nothing I had ever seen. The material they had in my new school was so much more help to my learning. The school had computer programs demonstrating step by step math problems and they had educational programs that helped us locate countries and continents. It was a great improvement in my education. By the time I entered high school, I had already moved back to San Antonio. I found our resources to be a disgrace. If we were luck, we had at least one working computer in each class, all our books, along with our desks,were tagged in. Our school had low TAKS scores and low attendance, putting our school at risk of suspension and disclosure. Some teachers and counselors were pushing us to do well on the TAKS while others were telling us that it did not matter to them because more than likely our school was going to be shut down and they were already finding other jobs. How does that encourage the student? If the teacher does not show a positive attitude and they are unwilling to help, then what makes you think a student is going to have an eager attitude to do better? As in the movie Stand and Deliver, Kimo, a calculus teacher, had to talk to the students and give them faith that they could do it (“Stand and Deliver” 1988 film). If the students don’t have motivation, they more than likely won’t motivate themselves.
According to Texas State Law, the government provides school with financial help according to how well students do on TAKS and other tests. Well think about it, if a school or district with a low financial status is already doing poorly because they can’t afford proper teaching materials for classes and students, how is depriving them from financial help going to make the students do better? Schools obviously need better materials to learn from. And in order to receive better material, schools need financial help from the government. In the reading “Still Separate, Still Unequal” by Jonathan Kozol, they show a perfect example of my theory. Take Mireya’s, a local high school student, dilemma for example; “I don’t want to take hairdressing. I did not need sewing either. I knew how to sew. My mother is a seamstress in a factory. I’m trying to go to college(Kozol, pg.253).” Mireya preferred to take AP classes to help further her education in preparation for college. She did not want to follow the family tradition of becoming a seamstress. But because of the school's low financial status, the school did not offer AP classes. This is where the governments is supposed to come in and help improve a child’s education.
I believe educators and administration have an impact on your education? In the movie Dangerous Minds, The North Carolina High School had a dominant race of Hispanics, and teachers treated the students as if they were nobodies and criminals. Luckily, in this movie, the students had a teacher who cared about what the students did with their lives. It was because of this teacher that the students had a different perspective of what their lives were about. In this particular movie, the Principal did not care how important a student’s situation was, if they did not knock on the door on his office door before entering, he would turn the student away and not listen to a word of their situation or problem. The Principal did nothing to benefit the students at his school. In the movie, Michelle Pfeiffer reports to the Principal countless times with her concerns and ideas, but like his students, he would ignore her(“Dangerous Minds” 1995 film). If the Principal does not make an effort to help students, then how are they suppose to improve?
Though the choice of a student impacts their education, financial assistance is required to obtain a higher education. A student can't pursue an education on their own. Whether mentally or financially, students need all the support they can get. So should the government have a school shut down because they do not have all the material to learn, or are they going to withhold learning material from the future doctors and lawyers?