Final Essay

Lana Lopez Page 01

Ms. Williams

English 1A

20 December, 2013

Loss of Jobs and the current Living Wage and how these factors keep us down

In America the increasing unemployment rate and cost of living is keeping the average middle class citizen from attaining financial success. With little to no employment opportunities for the average person our chances for economic growth is very unlikely. America needs to form a solution that creates jobs and has a fair living wage that will keep up with the ever-growing cost of living. In the book The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Travis Smiley and Cornel West explains how incomes have not kept up with inflation and unemployment has grown rapidly for the middle class low skilled worker due to outsourcing of customer service jobs, which has led to the demise of the middle class and has created the new poor. I use this source to explain how the rapid cost of living is like quick sand pulling the average middle class citizen into great financial shambles. The American economy will continue to suffer without job stability and a fair living wage, which will make financial success/stability unattainable to the shrinking middle class. 
   The loss of jobs in the United States is preventing the average middle class American from achieving financial success. Outsourcing jobs is a huge culprit of unemployment as a result massive lay offs for the low skilled workers in America. 

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When these jobs are eliminated it takes away employment opportunity in our society and as a result it causes great financial debt due to the average person not being able to acquire income and pay their monthly dues. As stated by Smiley and West, “Let’s do the math: Incomes that haven’t kept pace with inflation + loss of manufacturing and outsourced customer service jobs + insufficient living-wage job creation + a recession that increased unemployment and downsized the middle class = the working poor” (Smiley and West 182). The average middle class low skilled workers opportunity for employment has become scarce which causes them to become financially unstable leading to their fate of becoming the new poor. Outsourcing is the twenty first centuries terminator doing away with job opportunities causing the elimination of the middle class. When low skilled employment is not offered due to large corporations use of outsourcing and downsizing keeps them from attaining a stable income causing financial deterioration and leading to financial bankruptcy. Therefor a once striving middle class American is broken down and becomes the ill fated poor, but If jobs were available and or created than these middle class citizens would have a chance at achieving financial success.

The American cost of living has become outrageous due inflation, yet incomes are not increased which makes it hard to achieve financial success. In America the cost of the essential needs such as: food, gas, education and rent has increased a tremendous amount in the past two decades, yet the average wage of an employee has hardly changed. As stated by Smiley and West, “ Incomes have increased by only 20 

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percent within the past two decades, yet the cost of living has risen steadily.... In may 2001, the cost of regular gas per gallon was $1.70..In February 2012 it averaged $3.50” (Smiley and West 183). When basic essential items begin to take a financial toll on your amount of expenditure, it causes a great strain and financial instability. When your average income is still the same as it was ten years ago it is not possible to keep up with the new cost of living since you do not have increased income to pay the difference. It leaves no chance for the ordinary citizen to become financially stable which leads to a higher chance of deficit spending. If these citizens had an increase in their income then they would be able to keep up with the cost of living instead of having to live paycheck to paycheck only barely being able to afford the basic needs. If incomes are not increased then Americans chance to achieve financial success will continue to decrease.
      When a plan to create jobs with fair living wages is created then chance at financial stability is attainable. When citizens are employed and make a fair living wage then they can afford to pay bills and stay financially stable. Until then the average middle class citizen will continue to live paycheck to paycheck. Also if jobs are not created then unemployment will increase and the American economy will diminish.  As stated by Smiley and West “With a Marshall-type of plan specifically aimed at struggling neighborhoods and grasping emerging opportunities, and with good living wage paying jobs, we can shore up families battered by bills and rebuild our troubled nation” (Smiley and West 187). We need create a solution for these issues and a plan like this should be created to help build the American economy. 

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Although we cannot control companies outsourcing we can control creating new employment opportunities for the unemployed. When we have sufficient wages and job opportunities then the chances of financial stability is increased tremendously. The increasing unemployment rate and cost of living will continue to keep the average middle class citizen for attaining financial success. 
     The American economy will continue to decline if a solution to create jobs with a fair living wage is not constructed. Without new employment opportunities for the average middle class citizen we will see a rapid growth in the new poor and the elimination of the middle class. Ultimately, the American economy will continue to suffer without job stability and a fair living wage, which will make financial success/ stability unattainable to the ever shrinking middle class. 

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Work Cited

Smiley, Tavis, and Cornel West. The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto. New York: Smiley, 2012. Print.

Punishment vs. rehabilitation

Lana Lopez                                                                                                         Lopez 01

Ms. Williams

English 1A

03 November, 2013

Punishment vs. rehabilitation

The article, “Punishment vs. rehabilitation: A proposal for revising sentencing practices” discusses the difference in outcome when prisoners are given the chance to change and go through rehabilitation vs. only serving time and being sent back to an unhealthy environment after no help has been provided. Many prisons fixate on only serving time for punishment instead of rehabilitating the troubled prisoner. The system we have in place has a horrible recidivism rate which is proof that only making prisoners serve time for their punishment is not enough to help them return to society and live a normal life. Part of the time a prisoner is sentenced to should be focused on how to deal with issues that lead the criminal to the current punishment he/she is serving for. Also by creating a tie by checking up on prisoners after they are released keeps a person on parole in check because they know they are expected to be somewhere and keep a good record or else face the consequences and return to prison. Without rehabilitation inmates will continue a vicious cycle of continued crime because they don't know anything different. I believe that if prisoners had programs to focus on job skills and mental rehabilitation then the recidivism rate would surely decrease. I believe that prison is not the best solution for gang members because now they have no choice but to 

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be loyal to their gang due to being surrounded by even more criminals who are gang affiliated. Rival gang members should be forced to work and live together instead of being grouped with fellow members for “safety” reasons. Currently fellow gang members are grouped together which creates a stronger bond between gang members instead of forcing them to break ties and leave the gang life behind. Unfortunately even those few who want to break away from the gang life are not given a chance because they are watched by “sharks” who pray on weakness without protection. I learned that rehabilitating current inmates will create a better society for all because they feel comfortable and educated enough to deal with day to day issues instead of acting out. What confuses me is why we continue to lock away someone for years because of a crime, which then puts them in an enviroment where they deal with even harsher circumstances and are released and expected to be “normal”. How is someone suppose to conform to a whole different lifestyle without they help they need to change? 

Compassion

Lana Lopez   Lopez 01
Ms. Williams
English 1A
21 September, 2013


Should we have compassion ?

We live our daily lives forgetting that everyone has their own unfortunate situations and issues. Without compassion for our fellow man/woman we can not move together as a community to strive for a better place to live. It takes great compassion in each other to seek a change instead of ignoring issues that bring down a community or single person. As stated in Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle, “Compassion isn’t just about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased. ‘Be compassionate as God is compassionate,’ means the dismantling of barriers that exclude” (Boyle 75).
We tend to question if trouble adults deserve a second chance after ill-fated choices
made as young teenagers to become gang affiliated. These trouble teens seek love and
attention they do not receive at home and it is filled by the brother/sisterhood of
gang life. These young teens were ignored and did not receive the love and attention
needed to strive for a successful and healthy life style, therefore they were never given a
 first chance at a stable “normal” life. We need to have compassion for these “teens”

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who are now adults seeking a chance to make a real change for the better.  I believe we should have compassion for these men and woman because they deserve a chance at true happiness and the feeling of being loved. The only way a change will be made is if we take the first step by showing compassion and not passing judgement on our fellow man/woman and giving them a second chance.

3 paragraphs

3 paragraphs

When students aren’t provided with materials for a bright future a dark path begins to set in. Students begin to loose hope as young as 12 and become course teenagers who turn into rough edge adults. These adults become addicts and are uneducated, due to not being funded with the materials needed for even a minimal education. If these adults were cared for as students they would have had a better chance of becoming educated adults with a brighter future. Simple materials such as paper, pens and books may not seem like much but they can make all the difference in a young child's basic education which can lead to a better future. 

When wealthy children are provided with materials needed for a quality education  they begin to make assumptions of how lower class children will turn out. For example “ ‘a child’s in school only six hours in a day,’... ‘ You’ve got to deal with what is happening at home. If his father’s in the streets, his mother’s using crack... how is money going to make a difference?’ (Kozol 157).”  Wealthy children begin to build self entitlement and a barrier against the less fortunate children. Wealthy children should be willing to share the benefits they are fortunate enough to have instead of speaking down upon the lower class. By always providing the wealthy with an exceeding amount of funding their will always be a large gap in economic difference between upper and lower class education instead of equal education in the United States.

Sadly due to lack of school resources students with learning disabilities may never be diagnosed. According to Kozol 19 year old Raymond Abbott attended school in Camden and became “ a high school dropout with the reading skills of a child in seventh grade. A learning-disabled student who spend eight years in the Camden public schools, his problems were never diagnosed and he was passed on each year from grade to grade... It’s elementary schools lacked the staff to deal with learning disabilities.... Abbott, now a cocaine addict, heard the news of his belated vindication from a small cell in the Camden County Jail (Kozol 208).” Students like Raymond suffer from learning disabilities and are never taught to deal with them due to lack of resources. If Raymond would have had the help necessary to be a successful student his future may have turned out completely different. If resources aren’t provided for student’s like Raymond then there will be many other needy learning disabled children who unfortunately may suffer this same fate. 

9 paragraphs

Lana Lopez Lopez 01

Ms. Williams

English 1A

07 October, 2013

9 Paragraphs

There are many schools that are fortunate enough to be funded with the necessary materials needed for a higher standard education. Schools such as Rye prep school are provided with classes that prep students for college, for example “The typical student, he says, studies a foreign language for four or five years, beginning in the junior year high school, and a second foreign language (Latin is available) for two years. Of 140 seniors, 92 are now enrolled in AP classes.(Kozol 152).” Students who are fortunate enough to have funding for programs like this are more likely to get into college and have a better future. Funding can make a big difference when it comes to education and the results it has on a child's future. 

There are many schools that are unfortunate and are not provided funding needed for necessary basic education. Students are deprived of teachers and basic classes needed to graduate high school let alone even have hopes to attend college. As Kozol states in Savage Inequalities “At Bowen High School, on the South Side of Chicago, students have two or three “ study halls” a day, in part to save the cost of teachers (Kozol 64).” If students cannot understand materials provided and do not want to ask questions during study hall then the money being “saved” by not providing a teacher is wasted. These students in poorer neighborhoods need more teachers because the loss of the education has a tremendous negative effect on their future.

The school funding does not have an effect on the education of a student the home environment is the factor. No matter how much funding is provided to a school district the home environment in the main factor of how a student will succeed in school. As a group of fortunate students discuss the 3 positions of funding with Kozol a students states “ ‘will probably make no major difference’ since poor children ‘still would lack the motivation’ and ‘ would probably fail in any case because of other problems’(Kozol 153).” There are many different factors that effect a child's education, if they do not have a stable home environment and support they may not have good odds to succeed. Its very hard to judge if an increase of funds would make a major difference in a less fortunate students outcome if they face major problems at home.

There are circumstances where school resources do not matter because the environment a teacher provides makes up for the lack of funds. Teachers like miss Hawkins who go out of their way to make a difference with no help with funding, for example “ The children are at work, surrounded by a clutter of big dictionaries, picture books and gadgets, science games and plants and colorful milk cartons, which the teacher purchased out of her own salary (Kozol 58).” When a student feels cared for and knows someone is hoping they will strive for a better future they build confidence in themselves. In these rare cases funding doesn’t matter its the connection a teacher builds thats makes a child's efforts worth while. 

In circumstances when schools and leaders show little faith in students failure is inevitable. As Kozol sits with the head of counseling at Chicago’s Calumet High School and states “ We have second and third grade readers... We hope to do better, but we wont die if we don’t (Kozol 64).” If a students is given up on due to being behind then how will they ever catch up? Leaders like this should be ashamed, if every effort is made and a student is educated on why things are important then they begin to connect lessons into life lessons. A student in a poorer neighborhood needs more motivation in school and they aren't being provided this in Calumet High School. 

There are unfortunate circumstances where funding would be appreciated but parent values is the real issue. In poor neighborhood’s like Winnetka, Chicago children face the battle of education alone because parents themselves are uneducated. As Kozol discusses unjust circumstance in Winnetka; he reads “The Journal” and points out the major issue at hand and states “ ‘Changing parent values’ is the ideal answer to the search because, if it were possible, it would cost nothing” (Kozol 164).”The major fight of funding in poor neighborhoods and whither it would help could go in circles, but it is a proven fact that if a child has the help needed at home he/she will excel in school. These unfortunate children are fighting a losing battle with no help at home to endeavor for a change a cycle of uneducated parents and children in these poor neighborhoods will continue until someone finally lends a helping hand.

When students are fortunate enough to be provided with proper materials a quality education is what reflects their character tremendously. Students at Rye High School in New York are confident and well spoken Kozol states “ Throughout the discussion... there is a degree of unreality about the whole exchange. The children are lucid and their language is well chosen and their arguments well made...” (Kozol 153). When students are provided with materials for a quality education they have the confidence needed to have debate or discussion, whereas a uneducated student wouldn’t know how to start a debate. A quality education builds more then just a GPA it reflects the confidence a student has in ones self expression. 

When proper materials aren’t provided a child's inner creativity may never be discovered and their dreams may be diminished in the process. Children discover themselves through many different creative processes such as; art, music, sports and even science but in Savage Inequalities Kozol discusses a school like Goudy and how these less fortunate children are never provided these materials. For example, “ there are no science labs, no music or art classes and no playgrounds (Kozol 80).” Children who go to schools like this never get an opportunity to express themselves in a creative way, therefore they lack social skills needed as adults to fulfill their dreams. Children need creative programs to learn self expression , therefore they can turn their dreams into reality.

When materials are supplied in abundance a child may begin to feel that this now     owed to them instead of a luxury. In Savage Inequalities Kozol discusses how wealthy children begin to feel superior and entitled when discussing less fortunate children. For example, “ Using federal taxes for the poor ‘would be like giving charity,’ and ‘ charitable things have never worked... Charity will not instill the poor with self-respect.(Kozol 157).”   These wealthy children do not realize how fortunate they are being funded with supplies and materials, therefore they begin to look down upon the less fortunate and speak poorly of them. This entitlement is not what we want children to become accustom to, wealthy children need to understand the supplies and funds being provided for them are a privilege. 

School resources

Lana Lopez Lopez 01

Ms. Williams

English 1A

02, October 2013

School resources

Providing resources unequally within school districts can negatively impact  children's education. Children need many different types of resources to keep up with the new technology that now is standard in the real world. In Savage Inequalities Kozol visits public school 26 in District 10 and states “The school, I am told, has 26 computers for its 1,300 children” (Kozol 107). How are these children that go to school 261 suppose to acquire computer skills when there are 50 students for every one computer. Also public school 24 (Riverdale) in District 10 received computers as Kozol states “ The local board decided to give each elementary school equal number of computers, even though the schools in Riverdale had smaller classes and far fewer students”(Kozol 103). Though the board “equally” distributed computers it should have been done by student population. Due to the fact that the students in school 261 have larger class sizes they already suffer from lack of one on one attention, they should at least be given enough computers to do class activities to learn computer skills like other privileged children do in their district. Resources like computers make a huge impact and can change a child's educational outcome.

A child feels that he or she is cheated when they visit other schools that are kept up and provided with simple things such as: pencils, paper and text books. Children are very perceptive and although they may never acknowledge they feel this way as adults we see the disappointment in their faces.  Children in these districts start to feel betrayed by the education system and loose hope as young as 12 years old. For this part of the district it means no growth in education because this child will grow to be another uneducated parent and the cycle will continue until a change is made. Children need certain resources to feel that they are getting an equal education to give them the drive to strive for change and until this happens the circle will continue.

The types of citizens that are produced from lack of poorly funded public schools

are adults who occupy unskilled or in-demand jobs not careers. Due to these poorly funded schools children give up on going to college and striving for a higher education and settle for jobs such as: “ ‘cosmetology’ (hairdressing, manicures)(Kozol 92).” These children are falling into the gap the government wants them to fall into. Instead of fighting against the grain and making the best out of what they have and or doing fund-raisers and coming up with some type of conclusion of their own these adults just let the government keep them in the unskilled job market. By making a change and creating your own better education it will instill the importance of education to the younger generations. 

Low-achieving schools in the Bay Area

Lana Lopez Lopez 01

Ms. Williams

English 1A

30th, September 2013

Low-achieving schools in the Bay Area 

According to the Oakland Tribune there are “over 188 statewide schools in California that are deemed “persistently lowest- achieving.” These schools have shown no growth in standardized test scores since 2007 in math and english. All Three of Haywards High schools land on this list, which requires them to make a change giving them a couple of different options to improve the schools overall education experience. The schools have the options of: “replacing the principal and staff, closure and charter conversion. If these school want to receive “federal school improvement grant funds must do so by this fall; otherwise, the timeline is unspecified.” 

The similarities that these persistently low-achieving schools face is lack of funding. Due to the “no child left behind act” many schools who score low on standardized test do not get the same benefits that higher-achieving schools who score well do. Lower test scores mean less money given to the school by the federal funding, whereas higher test scores mean more money, also money per pupil is distributed unequally due to the fact that the larger schools who have more students get the same money as the schools with less students. When you break this down you understand why the schools in Savage Inequalities suffer just like the high schools in Hayward, without help they will never improve to get more money for a higher education. 

In Savage Inequalities most of the students and teachers know that they are settling for a little or no education, most children give up by sixth grade knowing that they have no support. Maybe These Hayward high schools show the effects of students that feel this way. These students may need more support and one on one attention from teachers and parents so that before they get to the high school point they will become a better student who acquired the skills needed to understand the basic skills needed to be above average once the reach the high school level.

Like many others I believe that our education system is flawed in many ways. Many students are overlooked and classrooms are overcrowded so badly that students will never be able to get the attention they need to be successful. I understand that surroundings are very important but I would rather the school buy new books and tools needed to provide a better education then spend it on a leaky roof. Schools do get old and need maintenance but in many cases they need to be torn down and rebuilt due to the cost of fixing being more then rebuilding. Homes are being built faster than schools and counties aren’t compensating for student ratio to homes. We will continue to see this problem until someone finally realizes we have enough homes and not enough schools!