Benefits of senior high students for

senior high courses

When a high school senior is looking at colleges to

further their education they have many deciding
factors that lie ahead of them. Do they attend a
college that is known for its academics? Do they
choose a university that is known for just its name?
Or do they choose an institution that is known for
its history of doing good in the community? These
are certain dilemmas that young people face when
trying to do decide where to go to school. The first
two questions seem reasonably common, but the
last question is not one that arises very often. A
college that has gained a reputation for doing good
in a community? Its almost unheard of, however

that is what Defiance College has achieved in its

years since achieving annual recognition for their
efforts to incorporate service learning into the
curriculum. Service learning is a method of
experimental education that takes the student out
of the classroom and into the local community. The
service learning project requires the student to
volunteer and relate their experiences to the
knowledge they have learned in the classroom. The
mission behind service learning is to mold students
into responsible citizens and to create a solid
community backing for the community service
done.
Who is service learning really helping? In the
altruistic sense, who is receiving the reward for
doing this community service? Are the students
receiving the largest reward by gaining knowledge

and becoming in a sense, responsible citizens? Do

the people who are being helped by the community
service receiving the most rewards? Or is Defiance
College the one who benefits the most from service
learning? Whichever way you look at it service
learning is benefiting someone.
Adam Smith stated that the baker does not bake
bread for the customer, but for his or her own
benefit.
Everyday a middle class child goes to school. They
are taught to read and write. This child is also
taught that they will play sports in high school,
have a perfect GPA and attend a good college.
From kindergarten through a child's senior year in
high school they are told taught what to want from
their future. It is not always the books and the
curriculum that shape these childens lives. It is the

teachers who tell these children to study hard

because college is going to be much harder. From
the first day of school every child is shaped to the
mold of what their parents, teachers, and society
want.
Coming home from the hospital every baby is
introduced to their first form of institution. Each
child's outlook on life is shaped by its parents.
Parents teach child certain morals that are vital to
live in society. Morals such as trust, virtue,
humility, affection, honor, and respect. Morals are
taught, but their are also things that are learned in
a latent aspect. The parents of a child create a
base for future learning that the child will
encounter. If the parents install good morals such
as the one mentioned above then their child has a
good chance of becoming a active member of

society. In the case of Bell Hooks, her "Mama" does

a great job of instilling morals (Hooks 86). Bell
goes to college and is able to be active within her
social sphere. Although she did not feel
comfortable, she was able to thrive within this
small scale society of Stanford. Her ability to live
within a society is proof that her mother instilled
enough morals so that Bell is an diligent member
of her college community. Meeting the challenge of
providing high quality education for every child in
America has been a setback for many years. So
why is high quality education important for all the
estimated 53,000,000 children, located in 50
states, in 85,000 schools, located in 15,000 school
districts? For the reason that, high quality
education is our future. If we do not strengthen
the education that is brought into our schools,

then we as a nation will not be able to reach our

full potential. The public schools began to decline
in the 1960s. The national curriculum began to
focus a childs mind to think in terms of being part
of a group rather then strengthen the childs mind
as an individual. Critical thinking in American
education is almost non-existent, which does not
allow students to think for themselves. Many
presume this was done to prepare our generation
for the global economy. Today we are taught The
Test. Some would argue the test is propaganda
used to keep Americas youth from being all they
can be. Todays curriculum in public schools does
not encourage cognitive or creative thinking.
Which would allow one to explore their ideas and
convictions of our for fathers that made this nation
so great. As a high school senior, who for 12 years

was never required to read one classic thinks

that the national agenda for American Education
has failed. Returning the schools back to local
control is the only solution, but returning
education back to local control also has its
problems. When poor communited The Federal
Government in the name of national pride could
provide some much needed resources to improve
infrastructure, that has for so long been neglected
in this great county. After all the federal mandates
have bankrupted many school districts, not
allowing them to build new schools since the 60s
in many cases. Students within many districts do
not have books much less much less schools
without leaky roofs. ducation is a very important
role in our lives. Everyone has been being
educated since the day they were born. There is a

rapidly growing demand for a higher education in

the world today. Although a higher education is
difficult to receive, the rewards of selfimprovement, job insurance, a development of
character, and social improvements are what is
going to satisfy you.
Sure it is hard go to school longer, but learning for
personal knowledge will greatly improve you. You
learn skills like problem solving which will teach
you to figure things out for yourself. A better
education will also gain you experience. You would
never know what you liked or did not like if you
never had a chance to experience it. I do not know
about you but I want to make educated decisions
in my life. If you dont know how to make educated
decisions, you will never be content with yourself.
How good does it feel to outsmart someone when

you apply what you have been taught or have been

able to help somebody just from the education
which you received? Knowledge is a very powerful
thing that can change the lives of others and
yourself.
With a higher education you are insured that you
will have a better paying job. I like being able to
spend money freely and a higher education allows
you to get the better paying job that will provide
this stability. The multi-million dollar businesses
are going to pay the big bucks to someone who has
the higher education and knows what they are
doing rather than the individual who does not have
the higher education. A better job will also provide
you benefits to a more successful life. Every person
I know has said that being successful is raising and
supporting a family. I know that if you have a

better paying job it will ease the process of

providing for you family and make it more
enjoyable. Access to the best possible education is
a right all students should possess. For some
students in Westchester County, this right can be
harder to achieve than for others. This is mainly
due to the fact that these children are of minority
backgrounds and are the victims of inferior
education, in both white and minority schools. In
fact, only 63 students of minority heritages
participate in Pelham Memorial High School
(PMHS)s honors or Advanced Placement (AP)
programs. This number comes out of a total pool of
530 honors/AP students at this predominantly
white school in Westchester County. (Survey of
honors/AP teachers at PHMS) This percentage of
minorities in honors/AP classes, less than twelve

percent of the honors/AP population, is a far cry

from the percentage of minorities at PMHS (22%).
The discrepancies do not end in the Pelham Union
Free School District; they exist throughout
Westchester County, where schools primarily
comprised of minorities constantly perform poorer
than their white counterparts. There are numerous
reasons for this discrepancy within an educational
system that is intended to be nurturing them and
lending them every advantage available. While
there are many people to place fault upon for this
disparity, every facet of the Westchester
educational system can take a piece of the blame
for its favoritism towards students of white
descent.
A major reason for the lack of minority students in
the honors/AP programs at white high schools,

such as PMHS, is a system called tracking.

Tracking is a process by which students are
separated according to particular measures of
intelligence into classes with curriculum deemed
suitable for their level of intelligence. However,
this system often creates more problems than it
solves as it often favors white students over
minority students.