| My exchange internship has ended now. I was working at the Hong Kong Youth SPOT centers in June and the New Haven Solar Youth camp in July. The experience as a whole was positive and worthwhile. As a teacher-to-be, I'm glad to know what is it like to teach in an Asian city and the New Haven housing projects. Both presented unique challenges that I had never encountered, but I'm now a better teacher because of them.
The most important revelation for me was how Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs applies to students' motivation to learn. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs places "the desire to know and to understand" as the 6th out of seven needs, above among others the physiological and safety needs that must be met before students could even think about learninng. Hong Kong is a model city because it fulfills those two basic needs, physiological and safety, for most students. In New Haven, particularly the housing projects, those two needs are usually not met. How, then, can anyone reasonably expect students to perform their best in schools? The No Child Left Behind law unreasonably expects all students, regardless of family income and municipal safety, to perform equally well on reading and math. Those external factors, how much a family makes and how safe a city is, have a direct impact on a student's academic success. If recognized as such, the No Child Left Behind law must include in its budget funding for more neighborhood policing, universal health care, and universal food stamps. When I say "universal," I mean truly universal, covering people of all ages. People forget that fathers and mothers need to eat too. People forget that when a father without health insurance is sick, the entire family suffers. Therefore, if our society agrees that the burden of educating students rests upon the government, the government must also bear the burden to fulfill the physiological and safety needs of a student's ENTIRE family. If our government agrees that No Child Left Behind is the way to go, then it must fund universal health care, universal food stamps, and more neighborhood policing. Our schools must not allow No Child Left Behind to judge a student's success without taking into account the challenges faced by that student. Holistic assessment is fair assessment; unholistic assessment is injustice.
The character I'm writing about pushed me toward the relevation above. Shakila is a high school intern at the New Haven Solar Youth camp. On the second day of training, Shakila told us that her 8-year old brother was shot in the stomach by a stray bullet. The reality of this horrific "accident" is what students like Shakila and her brother live through everyday. Is it fair then to call them failures in school? Aren't they amazing for surviving and learning
under these conditions? No Child Left Behind sees them and their schools as failures. That is injustice. |
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| I'm beginning to get really good at writing long papers all in one
night. So far this semester, I've written a 15-page paper in less
than 24 hours and a 10-page paper in less than 20 hours. It's
such a bad habit!
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| Today in class, Bill Summers looked at me and said, "We scholars..." I asked, "I'm a scholar??!"
What an assumption, Bill!
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| So...it's weird. When did I start to think this way??
I was in a Sophomore Class Council meeting, and we were discussing how
best to vote in additional members. I was making an argument,
and I used phrases like, "for us to be a legitimate body."
When did I start to think like that? I have somehow transferred
what I learned in govt classes to what I say in student govt.
Crazy!
It is fascinating to watch how Yalies maneuver in student politics, the
campus-wide Risk game, and study groups. After all, they are
supposed to be the next generation of decision-makers. It's just
fascinating, fascinating!
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