Journal 13 - Angela

From the issues brought up in the readings draw a comic (with at least 5
slides) or write a poem (on the class's blog) that addresses a problem you
could relate to your educational experience caused by lack of funding and
offer a solution (you can use one from the readings or be creative).

"Freedom Writers", a film based on a true story from an LA classroom
Best summarizes, for me, the impact of funding on educational experience
Before her, the students used old books: marked up, decrepit, low quality, second-rate
Exactly what the school administration had seen in those students: unworthy
Her attempts at change were hindered by a lack of funds
Driven by the apathy at the top
Her passion drove her to take on side jobs to fund new books, enhancement trips to museums, et cetera
Showing exactly what funding, with the correct intents and usage, could achieve

***** I apologize for my sub-par and somewhat corny poetry, everyone!

Solution: From what I understand, the current money in education is given to high-performing schools in a "race to the top". However, I believe a clause is needed in this policy that provides underserved schools with the resources necessary to pursue goals for their students that may help them improve school performance as a whole.

Funding, Control, and Reform Journal... Edith C

F airness is necessary for equality

U nequal quality of education

N o soccer team

D rop out rates were high

I n one school year had 5 Spanish teachers

N o prom for my sister

G angs were uncontrollable

Solution: fair funding, funding based on need rather than have a revenue cap, eliminate proposition 13

Disability Snowball Activity (Continued)

When I first came to the United States I was treated differently because of my limited ability to speak English. I felt I had become a differently abled person.

Once in the summer after 9th grade, I had to retake Geometry. During the semester I had gotten a D so I was determined to earn an A this time around. I got perfect scores and felt privileged to have had the teacher separate me from the students who were unable to pass the exams.

A friend of mine was told he could not play basketball b/c he was missing an arm.

I was always seen at being "bad" at math by my family and teachers. I'm not bad at it, it just takes me longer to understand it. I'm actually good at it. I could have been better at it if I had been given the chance.

This semester, there is a guy that lives in my building who has autism. This is the first time I saw the effects of it as I watch him struggle with homework and social skills. I don't know how I feel about this.

At my elementary school, special ed students were separated from the rest of the students. They had different recess times and classes in a separate building disconnected from the main building. It was the lack of interaction and integration that influenced the misinformation towards students with disabilities. I am sorry for believing in the false stereotypes and misinformation and mistreatment they have experienced.

I feel very privileged. I was able to learn in class and never had to worry about if I could see the board, hear the teacher, read an article, or participate with other students. The system worked for me and benefited me.

Put on a low track because my teacher thought I had ADHD. I got tested and wasn't... She was just boring.

There were quite a few "disabled" students at my middle schools. My peers always give these students a hard time. I felt the same. But when I read about students with disabilities later on in my life, I learned that these "disabled" students were actually quite abled! I stand corrected.

In high school I was assigned to regular classes. During my freshman year, my teacher and I noticed that I progressed and learned the material much faster than the rest of the kids. My teacher decided that I should be placed in honors classes since I wasn't being challenged at all in these regular classes. They feared that these students in these regular classes would slow me down and I should therefore be separated.

It angers me that BART elevators are constantly broken and no one takes the time or priority to fix them. It reinforces the lack of awareness in society about this issue.

When I was a kid I made fun of those people who were acting weird and compared them with disabled people. And I shouldn't have done that and feel sorry for it.

My friend got into an accident before the semester started. She was on a wheel chair. She wasn't able to attend classes some days due to pain or doctor's appointments. Instructor failed her due to attendance. No compromise or sympathy, even on a matter she had no control of.

Snowball activity - Disabilities Reflection

I think I got ADD because I can't go 15-30 mins without falling asleep checking facebook while studying.

I have a friend who is deaf, Sarah, and when another friend was introduced to her and heard her speak (she sounds different because she's deaf and uses a hearing aid) she made a face and almost giggled. I was embarrassed for her and could see the hurt in Sarah's eyes. This isn't about school but I'm sure it happens to deaf kids at school all the time.

There was a student in my high school class who had dyslexia, but he was the only student with a learning disability so our school didn't have any support system available for him. A lot of us used to make fun of him whenever he read aloud or wrote on the board.

At high school, 3 elevators were installed because there were 2 disabled students. They were not encouraged to play sports (physically and mentally disabled.) They all want to be treated like everyone else.

In college I took a small discussion class in which a differently-abled kid would talk a lot. He would ramble and not make sense to me a lot of the time and I would get annoyed. My professor was rude to him and the whole class would role their eyes when he spoke. I still feel haunted by the way we disrespected him.

When I was in elementary school, I used to bully students who were differently-abled. Everyone did it, so I thought I'd just hop on the bandwagon.

In my college writing class the instructor asked me if I had ever been tested for a mental disability because my writing was not up to everyone else's level in class. I felt like an idiot. Although I passed my portfolio those words still haunt me.

I am privileged to be an able-bodied person and it manifests everyday. I do not have to worry about ADA accessibility, being able to play classroom physical disabilities, or how quickly I finish my tests. In my theater class in high school, one of my friends was differently-abled. He made me realize that unlike him, I don't have to worry about whether my acting partner will feel burdened and turned off by working with me due to my physical ability.

I witnessed a disabled person be ignored. The person was on a wheel chair and didn't have any preventions to communicate. However, because he was in a wheel chair, he was ignored.

I havn't been treated differently because so far I don't think I've been labeled as differently abled so that makes me feel privileged.

Journal 12 - Disabilities. Natalie Johnson

Do you think that disability is more a concrete physical/mental characteristic or more a socially constructed way of classifying people? Reflect on your experience with disabilities in school. In particular, was there ever a time when you or another student was treated unfairly by a teacher or other adult because of a disability?

In terms of the first question, I'm not exactly sure what I think. I do believe that disabilities are a physical or mental thing that actually do exist. This is an obvious fact- some people have physical and mental disabilities. However, I do also think that there is a socially constructed classifying system for disabled people that is not necessarily the best way it could be.

I cannot think of a specific time in my life when anyone was treated unfairly due to a disability. However, I do know that the disabled kids at my high school were in completely separate classes from everyone else. They were not integrated into the school at all- completely isolated into classes only with other students of disability. I don't think that this is how it should be- of course if students with disabilities want to be separated into different classes so that they can be catered to more easily for their certain needs in the classroom, I think that that is completely fine. However, if a disabled student wants to be in classes with everyone else, I don't think that they should be automatically segregated against their will. They should be given the chance to be in classes with everyone else, because they may be perfectly capable of learning in that environment with all the other students depending on their disability.

Here at Cal, it is much different than it was in high school. I have a friend who is almost completely deaf, and uses a hearing aid. She has someone come to her classes with her and type as the professor is speaking so that she can keep up with what is going on in class. There is a specific propgram set up at Cal that does this for deaf students, and I think it is a great resource that is completely necessary. Disabled students are also given very early Tele-Bears appointments, which in some cases I think is great and in some cases not so much. For example, my friend has diabetes, and she is considered disabled. I don't think it's really fair for her to have an early Tele-Bears because her diabetes literally doesn't affect her classes at all. It isn't a situation where she has doctor's appointments all the time and needs certain clases to work around her medical schedule- even she herself has said there really is no point to it. However, that's just sort of a tangent- overall I think it's good that students with mental and physical disabilities are given priority in classes because they do have certain needs that should be catered to.

Journal 12- Fazal Mogaddedi

This was a tough question to answer, but after thinking about it for a while I think disability is something that is a concrete/mental characteristic and it can also be a way of classifying people as well. I went to a high school where we had a room that was primarily to teach "special education" kids, and I knew one of the kids who was in that class. The interesting thing is that kids that I knew loved rap music, and he rapped at school all the time. At lunch time he'd battle students in the cafateria. There were times where he was alitle incoherent, BUT there were also times where he was able to freestyle and be totally coherent and everything! No one could deny that this young man had a mental disability, but when he'd freestyle he'd be able to put words together that rhymed, he'd be coherent in his rhymes, and he'd have a lot of fun throughout it all. I remember I always thought why he wasn't allowed to take the classes that all the other students were taking, and why he was stuck in a special education class. I'm not denying the fact that he doesn't have a mental disability, but why couldn't he have been taught the material in a different way. People have different learning styles, so maybe that was something the school could have done just to see if he or any of the other kids in special education could comprehend the material given. Another special education student who I knew was really excited for college, he was going to begin attending the local community college that I attended but he never did. I asked him why one day, and he said that his parents didn't want him attending. I knew the young mans brother so I approached him and asked him why he was unable to attend college and he said his parents said it'll be a waste of time for him to go, he'd be better off staying at home with his family. I think that's why it can be socially constructed as well, people just assume that people with disabilities won't make it in life so they just never give them the chance.

journal 12 TERUKO DOBASHI

Born with Crack in my system I always was more hyper than the other children, loud and hated to be told what to do. I was classified as an ADHD student yet was never placed on medication because I was able to keep up with my schoolwork. I believe that disabilities are ways in which society constructs binaries between who is made to survive and who will be the weakest link. I do not believe that students with disabilities should be segregated in all of their classes unless they ask for that specifically. In my high school we did have a separate part of my school totally dedicated to the mentally disabled students and we never got to see them unless they were selling popcorn at lunch time but otherwise they never existed and we were never aware of their circumstances so understanding was lacking.

I believe a lot of teachers classify students who are just a little bit harder to handle as disabled or problem children so there is some sort of reason behind the way they are acting rather than the idea that the teacher may not be doing everything in their ability to assist the student. I remember reading an article called Naughty by nature which talked a lot about African American boys and the perceived notion that black boys are just naturally more naughty than other students and teachers have to be harsher on them to help them out. I believe a lot of teachers classify most of the these African American boys ADD or ADHD positive so that they are exempt from the blame of their unsuccessful outcome.