For my research essay I choose the topic of Education in Appalachia. I have learned a few things throughout the research. I started off with this assumption that the graduation rates were extremely low but it ended up being that only about 30% of students in the Appalachian region don't graduate from high school. I thought it was going to be a number in like the 60's at least. We have this assumption that Appalachians are just these hill-billy folks that don't care about anything in the world but I have also learned that the percentage of Appalachians that go to college and receive a bachelors degree is pretty decent, a lot higher that what I would have guessed. Throughout my research I have also learned a lot about Title 1 funding and what it takes to be eligible to receive the funding. But my biggest concern with all my research was not about how much money that schools are getting or where the money was going within the school but with the fact that congressmen want our students to be 100% proficient on their tests in the 2013-2014 school year. This just absolutely blows my mind. There is no way possible that is ever going to happen. There is no way that you can make every student excel and get perfect scores in every area being tested. I'm pretty sure that if some of these congressmen went back and took these test that they want us to be 100% proficient at, I guarantee they would not be 100% proficient.
My thinking on this topic has not changed significantly. I did come in thinking that the graduation rates were extremely low but I also came in knowing that the Education system in Appalachia was very poor. I as a future teacher want to help change these statistics. I want to help increase the graduation rate. I want these students to be focused on their school work and do well and school. I know for a fact my students are not going to be getting 100%'s on everything, but I do want to push them to get there, I want them to want to achieve that goal but I am not going to punish them for not and neither should the government by taking away their school's funding.
I think exploring education throughout the Appalachian region is an interesting and relevant topic. Everyone here at Ohio University has attended school in the Appalachian region. The research you did for your paper allows you to compare Appalachian education to many other suburban and rural areas throughout the United States.
ReplyDeleteI think that you chose a good topic to do your essay on because through Sohn's book that we read we were able to get a taste of how education is perceived in Appalachia. I like how you gave statistics about graduation rates, that was interesting to see and I also would have thought that the percentages would have been higher. I agree with you about how it would be nearly impossible for every student to be 100% proficient on their tests. I also agree with the fact that the congressman have unreasonable standards that they themselves would probably not be able to reach.
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