In Praise of the F Word

 Sherry's essay "In Praise of the F Word", I enjoyed very much as the title you expect she is talking about the F word in profanity terms. But after getting started you realize that's not what it's about but about failure. Sherry also talks about how telling a student he will fail encourages him to change his attitude and care. The essay also makes a point about education now days that if you just pass someone on there not getting educated but on there way to failure. Failure is a strong word and I know personally if I am told that  im going to fail something i'll strive to do better in the fear of not passing or succeeding at something. I also experienced myself as I hate math with a passion. My freshman year in high school I was in spanish, and my teacher was one of the track coaches at the time. Well I took advantage of that and would rarely show up, until she told me she was going to fail me if I didn't start showing up to class. I was in shock so I took it seriously and did end up showing up to class and passing. Sherry's essay was good and made excellent points, as well as telling what teachers are doing today and what needs to be done about it, letting kids know they can and will fail if they don't try.

Kozol examines

While reading Kozols stories in the book Savage Inequalities, so far I have noticed that one aspect that Kozol analyzes is the teachers. As teachers have a role that they play in children's life's, and whatever decisions they make or do in the classroom affect the children's decisions later on in life. Or possibly at that moment it may alter a choice that they have to make on the spot. In the story "Other People's Children", Kozol states a phrase in regards to the teachers and or school board, " They can't read, but give them the diploma. The parents don't know what's going on. They're satisfied." That's wrong by no means should any teacher or faculty in a school settle for less than the best from students. By some teachers not caring it will effect some later on in life. While I attended school I hated math and still do. My seventh grade year I had a teacher who did not care, was never on time , and would just show up to be there and collet the paycheck. This class was my math class, because I seen this over and over I didn't care either and was lucky if I even showed up to class. In result I fell behind in math and in result now in my life it has come back to haunt me in the end. Yes teachers now could try harder, and should take more pride in there students as its more rewarding to both sides and is the right thing to do instead of just giving up because of the neighborhood, parents, and families, or just because that check suits you. And you want to leave a posisitive future for time to come as these kids are the future.

Why did you decide to come to college?

I decided to go to college because of personal reasons, goals of being successful, wanting to make better income for the future to support a future family. In 2009 my little brother passed away, which is what has played a role in me coming back to school. I also have always wanted to attend college and prove to myself that I am something, and not somebody else just out in the world struggling to survive. Just attending college is a goal to me alone, in taking the step and coming back to school. Later on in life I do want to have a future family and kids. I want to be able to support my family in all needs and provide what I wasn't able to grow up with and enjoy. Being financial stable is huge in life, and I fill going back to school can help me reach that goal. Without it I might be working that 9-5, not being happy and struggling living that paycheck to paycheck life. Hopefully school turns out for the best, and I just have to keep at it and not stop for no reason.

Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

Botsein assumes that the audience will agree with schooling in getting rid of middle school. As he states "elementary school should begin at age 4 or 5, and that we should entirely abandon the concept of the middle school and junior high school". No I have to disagree with what he thinks, because I beleive you can't have that seperation of age in the same building. Kids might tend to act more inmature or some cases mature, and puts a at risk factor for younger kids being exposed to situations there not ready to deal with. Peer pressure would be off the charts by doing this as well, and sorry to say but I think It would do nothing but make things worse. I would keep schools how they are now though you still have your cliques, and peer pressure it just wouldn't be with older kids having contact with the younger kids, they would all be around the same age group.

When College Fails Us question

My experiences with college so far have been good. So far it has been positive and nothing negative about college for me. I am in college because I want to pursue a career that I want to do the rest of my life. Currently I drive a forklift at a warehouse, the money and atmosphere is good, but not were I want to be my whole life. College is worth the time, effort, and money if you know what you want out of it. If you attend college having no path your going to hit a dead end, and be out money and time that could of been spent somewhere else. Yea some schools are more expensive but you get what you pay for now days so in the long run if you know what you want, and the money is there I say go for it.

Children Left Behind Summary

The story, Children Left Behind was about the struggle of inner city kids compared to kids that 

went to schools that had money and support. It express how the conditions of the school play a factor of how kids learn, and retain knowledge in being in a comfortable environment. Makes good point of how some teachers in inner city schools, just show up to collect a paycheck, not worried if the students pass or fail or were they end up in the future. And how if you were a child lucky enough to not attend one of these schools then you would benefit from it. Also compares schools and just how you benefit more from having better things and who has a better chance at moving on in life.

How task two interview went

I don't have any questions remaining, I believe everything was covered.


It was rather easy after having the outline, Kyle made the drive from Kansas so I could interview him. During the interview I typed up his responses so I would have them in front of me to work with.


The interview was conducted at my house in the office room.


I learned alot in regards to his views on education, and why he dropped out, and his future plans.


I'm not really sure what you mean by transition to the writing process?


My sentence structure still worried me a little, and that I wasn't able to correct all my mistakes.


By having other people do a review of my paper, the peer review hasn't helped that much depending who I was paired with. And taking my time and reading the paper out loud to myself so I can try and catch any mistakes I made.

Reponse To task two

- The thesis of my paper is, Kyle has a strong opinion about education and a good reason for it.

-Some of the main points are:
* Who kyle is and what he does for a living now.
* Kyle's opinion on education and sports and, if education can benefit you in sports.
* If education was a positive experience or negative and why, and who influence his opinion.

-The peer review helped me see that my sentence structure needs some more work. And in just pointing out the small mistakes I made in some spelling and commas.

- Getting a outline of what to do was a tremendous help, before that I had no idea of were to begin and was stressed out about it. The outline helped me get over that.

- On this paper I received 3 pages worth of info, outline, and wrote my first draft then typed it out after words. As well on this paper I sat and wrote the entire paper in one sitting.

- I wrote the paper out first then I typed it out, also creating the outline was a big plus in helping me with the paper.

- I was most pleased with this paper in the fact that I wrote it in the correct format, because at first I was unsure if I had done so.

Becoming Educated

When I graduated from high school, I did not know what I wanted to do with my life or what career I wanted to pursue, yet my mother, and aunt wanted me to continue my education. My mom attended college so it was very important to her that my brothers, I did. I believed that getting a college education was what I was supposed to do to become a educated person. Though at that time in 2003 when I graduated I was doubtful on college I had no clue what I wanted to get into at the time. I also was lacking on enthusiasm and commitment I just wouldn't of had my heart into it. An educated person is not only someone who has a degree or high school diploma, but also someone with a general knowledge about many subjects and ideas.  He or she should be able to observe, understand, form an opinion, and communicate with others in life. Being that I rarely paid attention to such issues as government, the environment, schools, and finances.  I  learned about these over time, and now at the age of 26 consider them important in every day life. An educated person has a continued desire to learn the rest of his or her life.  Since I have returned to school, I now have the ambition and the drive to obtain a degree and a goal to do the best that I can, though working a full time job doesn't make it easy at all.  When I am not in classes, I work hard at my job, and trying to accomplish any homework and gain more knowledge each day in and out of the class room.  Occasionally I am reminded of the immature teenager I once was by some of my younger classmates.  I'm curious if they realize they are jeopardizing their educations when they ignore the hard work and skip classes. An educated person is someone with a clear contact between his or hers education and society and someone who can apply what he has learned and use those skills to better people’s lives as well as your own. Your certification is in your degree.  You may think of it as the ticket to the good life, such as making money and going on in life with a loved one. We mostly think of an educated person as having a degree and finished with learning.  I know of no one person who could possibly know everything.  I believe an educated person is always changing day and night at any given moment, is at a different learning level.  Learning is a life long process where the many experiences we face help us out later in our lifes especially in society.