Robert Velardi

The book that my group is working on is The Underground History of American Education: An Intimate Investigation Into the Prison of Modern Schooling.  The author is John Taylor Gatto.  John Gatto is a former school teacher for nearly 30 years, and in his book you can really tell that he is all over the place with the different topics that he discusses, by the way that he jumps all over the place.  To be completely honest the book is pretty difficult to understand/read because he is all over the place, it is almost like he has turrets as he is writing his book.  The cover of the book is very interesting, and does a good job at depicting what the book is going to be about.  It shows three students running into a building with a lock on it, that is supposed to be representing a prison.  On the top of building it says "FORCED SCHOOLING", then on the other side of the building it shows the same kids that were running into the building coming out as wind up toys ...

Not only did the board of education fire brown, but they took action on his family too.   The board of education fires Brown’s wife, two of sisters, and his niece.   They also burned his house down.   Brown was also a pastor at a church, and they fired him for that, and they also stoned the church, and shot weapons at him.   It really is a shame that Brown had to deal with this at this time.   It goes to show how much religion was involved in the school system. “Though the issue of equal educational opportunity remains serious business, virtually no one today thinks of it as an issue that one might have to die for” (124).   It really is eye-opening to see what people had to deal with back then.   Luckily, we do not have these severe of problems, but we have problems of our own in the school system. African-Americans were discriminated on during this time in the school, and that is why they need protection when they went to school in Little Rock....

When I was in school I never was one of those students that was a fan of standardized testing.   I felt that it was more a test to see if somebody has good test taking skills or not.   It also measured your stamina for taking tests, because these tests were a very long process.   I remember we had to break apart every section with the back of a pencil before we began otherwise the teacher would think that your test has been tampered with.   two things that I had always agreed was were trade schools, and the fact that it allows job security.   I realized that when I graduated high school I would go on to college to eventually get a degree to help secure a job.   Well what I see now that happens to be very common, is that students are exiting college with degrees, but are unable to find jobs.   Not only are they not able to make any money, but some of the students that graduate also have loads of bills to pay from school debt.   I agree with ...

Everybody comes from different walks of life such as their ethnicity or religion.   Regarding whatever ethnicity you are you should never be discrimated based on your ancestors.   As everybody know the United States of America is called the melting pot for a reason.   The reason for this is because at one point or another, everybody’s ancestors immigrated to the United States of America.   Everybody’s ancestors are from all different countries, which makes the United States of America such a great place to live.   One thing that was apparent in the older years was when there were immigrants from another country, they all seem to congregate in the same place, such as in the reading when it says that New York had the most Italians, and Polish people than anywhere else. “In the 1920s, New York had more Italians than any city in the world except Rome, and Chicago, more Poles than any city except Warsaw” (146). It think it is awesome that every area wherever, im...

It does not really take a rocket scientist to see how much education and schools have changed throughout the past years.   For one, schools used to take place in a small hut on a prairie, now schools are in public buildings throughout the entire world.   Most of earlier years of persons life are spent in schools, so it is important that the learning atmosphere is suitable for all students.   One thing that my group really focused a lot on was the way education itself has changed in these schools. For one, the way of education people is constantly changing.   When my parents went to school there was no such thing as computers or any technology like we have currently.   If my parents had to research on a specific subject, instead of going on the computer or smart phone, they would have to go to library, and find a book on the subject that they were doing research on.   Another thing is, if they have do a report on the weather in a certain city, instead ...

To be completely honest I never was one of those people that loved to read or enjoyed reading.   I think part of the reason was because I would rather be outside with my friends in the neighborhood riding scooters, playing tag, or playing kickball. The earliest experience that I can think of, of me becoming literate is when I was in the 3 rd grade.   Every year in the Summer my school was always assigned a summer reading program.   This summer reading program would require us to read an assigned book or two, and do a project on them.   I distinctly remember my mother requiring me, and my brothers to read 30 minutes each and every day.   We would have to stop whatever we were doing, and do our reading for the day. It was a pain in the neck. I remember my brothers, and I would look up at the clock every second to see how much time has gone by, and how long we have till we can go back to what we were doing.   Even if I was in the middle of a paragraph in a ...