TOW #30 - Letter to a New APELC Student

GOOD LUCK SURVIVING NEXT YEAR, NEWBIES!

Greetings, future students of Mr. Yost's class!

I am a survivor of the notorious APENG class from room  L08! You have a great journey ahead of you filled with adversities commonly known as TOWs and Timed Essays, but do not fear, for I, David, the Slayer of Vocabulary Words, shall give you words of advice to guide you through your way. Whether you will heed my words is up to you, but they might be the key for you to have a very challenging yet rewarding year.

Let's set something  straight right away; you are not going to get an "A" in this class easily. Heck, I was lucky just to stay in the "B"-range throughout the year! For most of the time, you will receive grades that will be below your expectation even if you pull an all-nighter (which really doesn't help at all) to study for your unit test or write an argument essay on why Mr. Yost is the best teacher ever. Do not let this fact bother you too much however, for this course is packed with college level contents, meaning that you are going to learn the same materials that many student will learn in their college freshman year .This is no simple feat, so feel proud!

To me, timed essays were a nightmare, and I have a feeling that they will a nightmare for you too. I mean, the only part that I actually liked about having a timed essay was giving myself a funky alias to keep my paper anonymous. In a timed essay, you will constantly be chased by the ticking clock, so it makes sense that most of you will start writing as soon as you receive the prompt. Do not be tempted to do that! I found it immensely helpful to use a method called HECTOR (Hunch, Evidence, Connection, Thesis, Organize, Reread) and to carefully think of what the author's purpose is. Although this process may cost you five to ten minutes, it helps you a lot on the long run because all your thoughts will be organized when you write. Do not underestimate the power of brainstorming and prewriting.

Because this is such a grueling course, you need to take an advantage of every resource around you. So make sure to visit Mr. Yost during his office hours in order to prepare yourself for the upcoming unit test or timed essays! Mr. Yost always tries to be flexible with his schedule so that he can help out each and every individual student during classes, lunches, study halls, and after schools. If you can set up a schedule for a meeting with Ms. Pronko, she will be glad to help you out as well. Make sure to visit these two teachers often, especially if you are working on a take home essay. They will be willing to sit with you and to make as much revisions and edits as you possibly need, so every time you change something on your paper, go visit them to see what they think of the changes.

Finally and most importantly, always stay positive! Without the right state of mind, this class will be downright brutal, so try to enjoy this class and cherish the memories instead of whining about failing a timed essay. It is hard to believe that by next year, Mr. Yost will be a father who will be talking about raising his torpedo baby (don't ask) to you in your class, because all he talked about in my class was about whether the baby will a boy or a girl (it's a boy) and how he will name the baby (I still think "Maayush" is an epic name). These are the kinds of moments that make the class bearable and even enjoyable, so always try to find positive aspects of APELC. And always remember: It's only just a school!

As a fellow comrade, I salute you, newbie, for your bravery (or is it naiveté?) to take on this challenge. I hope to meet you in the future as a mean-lean-TOW-killing-machine, and may Lady Luck be with you every single step of your rite of passage.

Sincerely,

David Min (aka Avid Mind, Nimdi Vad, Cupcake, Brainbow, and I AM ERROR)

TOW #29 - Waiting For "Superman" by David Guggenheim Argument

Imagine yourself running as fast you can just to see yourself getting further and further from your goal. This is one of many problems with the American public education system.

            When the educational reformer and the founder of Harlem Children's Zone Geoffrey Canada was in fourth grade, he was devastated to find out that Superman did not exist. No, he did not cry because it was like Santa Clause is not real, but because he realized that there isn't "anyone to save us" from poverty. Indeed, there is no such thing as a Superman who can make the lives of millions better, but there is such thing as education that grants younger generations the knowledge they need in order to survive in the world. However, the education that is renowned as the "ticket out of poverty" has not been doing such a great job lately as seen in Guggenheim's Waiting for "Superman". Generally speaking, the American public education system is failing due to improper use of the tenure system guaranteed by union contract and the outdated system of "tracking".

            Having a good teacher versus a bad teacher can make a world of a difference to the students. According to Guggenheim, students who learn from a high performing teacher is able to progress three times as fast as those who learn from a low performing teacher. While a bad teacher is able to cover only 50 percent of the required curriculum, a good teacher is able to cover 150%. At the end, however, no matter how great the difference of the impact the two teachers have on their students, they are both paid relatively the same and are given the same kind of privileges. In order for the American public education system to run more smoothly, it is necessary to have schools with mostly good teachers, but this is deterred by the current tenure system. Research shows that in Illinois, one in 57 doctors loses his medical license and one in 97 lawyers loses his law license, but only one in 2,500 teachers loses his credentials because of the tenure system that is defended by the teachers' union. Because the union contract prevents the bad teachers, also known as the "lemons", from being fired, the best that the principals can do is to exchange their lemons with other lemons at the end of the school year. This cynical shuffle is known as "the dance of the lemons", "passing the trash", or "the turkey trot", and it sums up the unbreakable negative cycle of the American public education system today. Because of the teachers' poor performance, the principals want to fire them. Due to the tenure system, however, the principals have to continue paying the teachers even if the outcomes are small. Then the principals exchange these teachers in hopes of getting better teachers, just to repeat the cycle for an another year. However, if the tenure system is removed, the schools can get rid of the bad teachers to make room for the good ones, and then the overall level of the school can be boosted.

            Another detrimental factor in American public education system is the concept of "tracking", or dividing students by their individual test results, neatness, politeness, and obedience to authority. The students on the upper track reap all the benefits while the students on the lower track have lower expectations and often worse teachers (sound familiar?). This means that even if the students on the lower track run faster, they are constantly falling behind, and it becomes increasingly difficult for them to catch up to the students on the upper track. As harsh as this sounds, the tracking system is specifically designed so that the students' academic careers are practically determined by the officials. This system worked great 50 years ago when America needed useful workforce. About 20% of the people would become doctors, lawyers, and CEOs, about 20% would become accountants, managers and bureaucrats, while the bottom 60% would become farmers and factory workers. The only problem with this today is the fact that there are not enough people to fill in for the jobs in high tech industries, meaning that the U.S. would not be able to compete in the global economy effectively in the future. It's clear that there are many problems with schools that have tracking systems, but how about the schools that does not have any? Guggenheim use Woodside, a school with a tracking system, and Summit Prep, a school that do not have one,  as an example of the unbelievable difference in academic performances. Out of 100 students, 62 students graduate, and only 32 students are prepared for four year colleges in Woodside. In Summit Prep, however, 96 students out of 100 graduate and are prepared for four year colleges. If schools abandon the tracking system and offer high level academic courses to all students, more students would be able to grow up to take highly skilled and highly paid jobs, and America would have a better chance of competing in the global economy.

            In a world where there is no Superman to save the day, people must rely on education to improve their lives and their country. However, due to improper use of tenures and the system of tracking, American public education system has been taking its toll on the American students and America itself as well. If these two problems are fixed, America would have schools in which all students have the equal opportunity to learn high level materials from a high performing teachers, and there would be no need to wait for Superman.