An Editorial from NYtimes

This is an editorial from NYTimes about the "Mobility Myth"

Readers Respond

Here's some comments from the NYTimes readers

The Richest

Richest are leaving the rich behind.

Check out the graphs, too.

And for fun, here's how they'll be impacted by Obama's new tax plan

Day 37

Lesson Plan Day 37 English 102

1. From Yesterday's YHR—Part of Angela's Problem
   
2. Essays
   
   1. Much better on thesis statements
      
      1. Especially compared to last spring
         
   2. Pretty good on support, although your RESEARCH SKILLS need work. Take Calhoon-Dillahunt's class.
      
   3. MLA improving
      
   4. Ready by Five—Biggest problem is finding good evidence
      
      1. Mary Nelson's essay
         
3. Calendars/Grade Changes
   
   1. Friday—"Discovery Drafts" in the computer lab C210—500 words by end of period (20 points)
      
   2. Monday—Sample Essays, continued discussion
      
   3. Tuesday---Computer Labs (C210), In-class Rough Draft—500 words (20 points)
      
   4. Wednesday/Thursday: Scoring and Peer Edit Rough Drafts, bring 4 copies.
      
   5. Friday—Final Drafts due—50 points towards final draft scores.
      

      
       

4. In same four groups
   

   
    

5. Nickel and Dimed Evaluation Chapter
   
   1. Friction (205)
      
      1. Define and give examples
         
   2. Also 213-214
      
      1. What are her solutions?
         
   3. How would this help Angela/Juan Peralta/others?
      
6. David Brooks
   
   1. First Article
      
      1. Breaking down the capital further
         
   2. Second Article
      
      1. What works, according to Brooks?
         
7. The World is Flat
   
   1. The Right Stuff
      
   2. The Untouchables
      
   3. This is Not a Test
      
   4. Dirty Little Secrets
      
8. The Stimulus Plan
   

Essays back Monday for 1130 class

How the Stimulus Plan Impacts Angela Whitiker

NYTimes breaks it down

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090214/ap_on_go_co/stimulus_stakes_who_gets_what

Day 36

Lesson Plan Day 36 English 102

1. In four groups
   
   1. I'd like us to have some notes we can keep up and refer to as we build the ideas from book to book.
      
   2. We'll start with Class Matters, then deal with Nickel and Dimed, then David Brooks, then The World is Flat.
      
   3. By the time we're done, we'll have lots of options for HOW to duplicate her success.
      
   4. The next step is for you to pick and choose which options you think will be the most successful.
      

   
    

2. Shadowy Lines That Still Divide
   
   1. On the surface
      
   2. in reality
      
   3. unlike to change because
      
   4. likely to change because
      
3. Duplicating Angela Whitiker's Success
   
   1. Human Capital
      
      1. Define and give example
         
         1. What's the strength of this approach?
            
         2. What's the weakness of this approach?
            
   2. Social Capital
      
      1. Define and give example
         
         1. What's the strength of this approach?
            
         2. Weakness of this approach?
            
4. Nickel and Dimed Evaluation Chapter
   
   1. Friction (205)
      
      1. Define and give examples
         
   2. Also 213-214
      
      1. What are her solutions?
         
   3. How would this help Angela/Juan Peralta/others?
      
5. David Brooks
   
   1. First Article
      
      1. Breaking down the capital further
         
   2. Second Article
      
      1. What works, according to Brooks?
         
6. Essays back, with some notes if time. If not, please bring them back tomorrow for discussion/questions.
   

Day 35

Lesson Plan Day 35 English 102

1. Angela's Climb Slide Show
   
2. Questions (hand in)
   
3. In groups
   
   1. On the surface,
      
   2. in reality,
      
   3. unlike to change because
      
   4. likely to change because
      
4. Duplicating Angela Whitiker's success
   
   1. Human Capital
      
   2. Social Capital
      

Homework: Read David Brooks. Underline/Take notes. He's gold for this essay.

Over the Weekend

Letters about student expectations From previous post.

Start up Risk Takers, Friedman's latest editorial

Good article on the FAFSA and making it less complicated.

Credit Crisis

Here's a 10 minute visualization of the credit crisis. It's not closely related to the topics we're studying, but still worth watching:



The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

West Valley Welcomes Walmart!

Ground breaking today.
Add another dot.

Day 33

English 102 Lesson Plan Day 33

1. Essay back in about a week. May take longer due to longer essays.
   
2. College Dropout Boom/No Degree, No Way Back slideshow
   
3. College Dropout Boom questions
   
   1. Groups of four=6-7 questions per student
      
   2. Questions Due Monday
      
4. Homework: Angela Whitiker's Climb
   
   1. 202-218 by Monday
      
      1. Questions to "x" by Monday
         
   2. 219-233 by Tuesday
      
      1. Hand in questions on Tuesday
         

         
         

All along ask: How Can We Duplicate Angela Whitiker's Success?

Angela Whitiker’s Climb

Angela Whitiker's Climb

a. What test is Angela Whitiker about to take?
b. What does she expect will happen if she passes?
c. What were the conditions of her home life while she studied?
d. What was the cost of the entrance exam?
e. What did her parents do for work?
f. What had happened in her life by the time she reached the age of 23?
g. How does the article describe the neighborhood of Englewood and Ms. Whitiker's life there?
h. What did Ms. Whitiker do to keep her family out of the projects?
i. What role did Ms. Whitiker's son Nicholas play in the family's life?
j. Why was the outpouring of help from New York Times readers not enough to "materially change" the family's living conditions?
k. Why did Ms. Whitiker feel that the Robert Taylor Homes were "beneath her"?
l. What kind of perils and indignities did Ms. Whitiker and her family face when they were living in the projects?
m. How do the stories about Ms. Whitiker's car illustrate how her life was at the time?
n. In what ways did Ms. Whitiker's life change after she met Vincent Allen?
o. What was Nicholas' response to Mr. Allen's position in their lives?
p. What was the main focus of Ms. Whitiker's life between 1996 and 2002?
q. What was Ms. Whitiker's experience in nursing school like?
r. What was her reaction to her exam results?
s. Why was her son Willie not present at Ms. Whitiker's and Mr. Allen's wedding? How did Nicholas dress, and what was his mother's reaction?
t. How did Ms. Whitiker ultimately fare academically? Why was this not enough to land a job in a teaching hospital?
u. Why was working at the hospital on the South Side "unnerving"?
v. What kind of work was she doing?
w. How did Ms. Whitiker's income last year compare with that of other American workers? How did her rise to middle-class wages affect her relationships?
x. How did Ms. Whitiker's parenting strategies change?
y. Why is Ms. Whitiker's income not necessarily enough to make her life financially stable?
z. What luxuries do other people with similar income enjoy that Ms. Whitiker does not?
aa. What effect does Ms. Whitiker's working hours have on her and her family?
bb. What goals is Ms. Whitiker working toward? Which seem within reach, and which seem like long-shot dreams?
cc. What is Ms. Whitiker's ideal of middle-class perfection?
dd. How does her ideal compare with reality?
ee. In what ways has Ms. Whitiker's success come "too late" for Nicholas and Willie? What "painful decision" did she make regarding Willie?
ff. What goal did her daughter Ishtar accomplish?
gg. How and why is Ms. Whitiker trying to keep it "in perspective"?
hh. What aspiration does she have in mind for her son John?
ii. Why did Ms. Whitiker take a second job and what is it?
jj. What does she say is the most important thing in life?

College Dropout Boom Questions

College Dropout Boom Questions

1. What was Andy Blevins doing in the summer of 1995?
   b. Where had he been before taking the job at the supermarket warehouse?
   c. What was his wage? How did it compare with that of his parents?
   d. What decision was he faced with after he started working?
   e. What is one of the largest and fastest-growing groups of young adults in America?
   f. What statistic about Americans in the mid-20's has shown a marked change?
   g. Why has the American system of higher learning been considered "a great equalizer"?
   h. According to the article, what effect does economic advantage appear to have on graduation rates?
   i. What trend did the Department of Education discover in a recent study?
   j. How action has Lawrence H. Summers taken in response to the news of a widening gap between rich and poor students?
   k. How are poor and working-class students faring in a climate wherein more people are earning college degrees?
   l. Why does a college education seem to matter more now than it once did?
   m. How has the trend in economic mobility changed over the last generation?
   n. In what ways are colleges increasingly diverse? In what ways are they not?
   o. How do you interpret the "joke" about diversity at Harvard?
   p. What effect might a person's upbringing have on his or her expectations concerning college?
   q. What disparity in income can be seen between a college graduate and a non-graduate?
   r. What are some of the barriers to higher education for students from low-income families?
   s. How has the University of Virginia attempted to help students from low-income families?
   t. What steps is Leanna Blevins taking to help students from low-income families?
   u. What effect has affirmative action had on college admissions?
   v. What changes to the affirmative action policy have been proposed?
   w. How does Mr. Blevins describe the positive and negative aspects of his life?
   x. In what ways is the "conventional wisdom" about equality in education "not quite right"?
   y. What challenges do colleges faces in determining how or whether to help students from low-income families?
   z. What decision is Mr. Blevins facing, and what action has he taken so far?

Higher Education Questions

-How should income, race, legacy, athletics and test scores factor into college admissions decisions?

-If a low-income student, a high-income student and a legacy student have equal test scores, should one be given advantage over the others in being admitted to a college? If so, which one? Why or why not?

-Do employers place too much emphasis on college degrees for hiring and promotion decisions? Why or why not?

-Should private colleges and universities undertake to diversify their student population by income level? Why or why not?

-Should the government offer incentives to colleges and universities to provide access to low-income students? If so, how? If not, why not?

-Should everyone work toward achieving a college degree? Why or why not?

In the Basemet of the Ivory Tower

Here's an article a number of you have mentioned in essays or discussion.

Here's a key passage:

America, ever-idealistic, seems wary of the vocational-education track. We are not comfortable limiting anyone’s options. Telling someone that college is not for him seems harsh and classist and British, as though we were sentencing him to a life in the coal mines. I sympathize with this stance; I subscribe to the American ideal. Unfortunately, it is with me and my red pen that that ideal crashes and burns.

Sending everyone under the sun to college is a noble initiative. Academia is all for it, naturally. Industry is all for it; some companies even help with tuition costs. Government is all for it; the truly needy have lots of opportunities for financial aid. The media applauds it—try to imagine someone speaking out against the idea. To oppose such a scheme of inclusion would be positively churlish. But one piece of the puzzle hasn’t been figured into the equation, to use the sort of phrase I encounter in the papers submitted by my English 101 students. The zeitgeist of academic possibility is a great inverted pyramid, and its rather sharp point is poking, uncomfortably, a spot just about midway between my shoulder blades.

For I, who teach these low-level, must-pass, no-multiple-choice-test classes, am the one who ultimately delivers the news to those unfit for college: that they lack the most-basic skills and have no sense of the volume of work required; that they are in some cases barely literate; that they are so bereft of schemata, so dispossessed of contexts in which to place newly acquired knowledge, that every bit of information simply raises more questions. They are not ready for high school, some of them, much less for college.

I am the man who has to lower the hammer.

The Early Catastrophe

30 million word gap by age 3

The Number One Emailed Story

On the NYTimes:
"Student expectations cause grade disputes"

Day 31

English 102 Lesson Plan Day 31

1. Bonus Points?
   
2. H/I Self-Critique
   
3. Take Home Critique Returned
   
4. How to Grade the Essay
   
   1. Sample Essay
      
5. How to cite a web site
   
   1. In text
      
   2. MLA works cited
      
   3. Using Word with Office 2007 and later
      
6. College Dropout Boom, video
   
7. Homework: Class Matters--No Degree, No Way Back to the Middle Class
   
8. Final Drafts Due: Thursday February 19^th. Bring one copy to turn in and intro/conclusion for you to read from.
   

   
    

A Vision of Students Today

Weekend links

YHRepublic Editorial on Financial Aid to Illegal Immigrants

YHRepublic Editorial on Guest Worker Program

Downturn dilemma: Foreign professionals and worker visas

As joblessness soars, employers are under mounting pressure to save U.S. jobs by laying off foreign professional workers first, a scenario that for many H-1B workers triggers a frantic search for a new employer to sponsor them so they don't have to go back home.


Military Path to Citizenship (Friedman might say, why not do the same with college degrees?)

Our Greatest National Shame, editorial by NYTimes writer, Nick Kristof
hint: This guy is in COLLEGE.