Failing Schools Strain to Meet No Child Law

I was reading the NY Times and came across an article about how bad the school systems are getting and not just the ones in MD so I decided to blog about it.

The article is about the many schools in the US that are not up to educational standards and it starts by talking about CA. It said with the No Child Left Behind Law that is now up for renewal in Congress that drastic measures are going to have to happen in the schools that are doing poorly, such as teachers and principles getting fired, closing schools down and handing them over to private firms, a charter operator, or the state itself, or a major overhaul in governance.

It is predicted that 6,063 public schools in CA will be declared in need of restructuring in 2014 when the law requires universal proficiency in math and reading.

The law is currently "branding" many schools as failing but not enforcing drastic changes from them. This causes many parents to become angry with the school system.

Under the Now Child Left Behind Law, a school that is declared a low preforming school for 3 years in a row must offer its students free tutoring and the option for them to transfer.

And after 5 years the schools are treated as irredeemable and its prescribed that they start over with a new structure, new leadership and teachers. It also gives the school the option to reduce school size or change who is in charge of hiring.

The article even has a blurb about MD. It said in MD 49 schools in Baltimore have fallen short of achievement targets for 5 years or more.

I am surprised that more schools are not preforming at that low level in Baltimore. As someone who has lived in Baltimore City my entire life and luckily has never had to go to a public school, I really hate the school system and I know it hurts more people than it helps.

Drastic restructuring of the school system needs to be done so the people who have no other option but to go to these schools can have a chance of having a good future because as of today very few do.

Bug List #3

This weekend I went to a bonfire with people I went to high school with. They had marshmallows and hot dogs for toasting but the pokers you used to toast were too short. You had to stand too close to the fire and then you felt like your skin was burning it was not fun. So the toaster sticks were designed poorly and should be longer so people don't have to stand in the fire.

Editorial - Project 2

Abstract of the Design Problem: Our society tends to dislike people who are not like them especially when it comes to the topic of homosexuality and gay marriage. We need more openness and tolerance for difference.

Mariam and I are going to work together on this project. Our goal is to get awareness out there in simple but almost obvious ways. We are going to use symbols and things that are already associated with homosexuality to do this. Such things are the color purple and the upside down pink triangle.

Right now our main project will be to make rings. I think we could put the symbols on the rings. So we could have the triangle on one.

Once again I used wikipedia for help to do this assignment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_symbols

"The Verizon Warning"

I was reading the NY Times the other day and the article "The Verizon Warning" caught my attention. It deals with free speech which I know isn't really a social issue but it is a topic that we have brought up in class on more than once occasion.

The article is about Verizon and how how they censored political speech on one of their mobile devices. The prob was that Verizon denied an application from Naral Pro-Choice America which is a reporductive rights group from sending out certain text messages. Veizon said that its policy was to refuse "issue oriented" text messaging programs from any group that "seeks to promote an agenda or distribute content that may be seen as controverisal or unsavory to any of our users." After the problem was disclosed Verizon said that their new policy is an open network to any legal communication.

This is a case of textbook censorship. And if it had been done on normal phone lines it would have violated common carrier laws that bar interference with voice transmission.

Since we have freedom of speech for a world that used to be just paper and ink we now need policies so we have freedom of speech in our new digital world.

What is Social Design?

There are many definitions for social design and the term is put to very many different uses around the globe. It is sometimes defined as a design process that contributes to improving human well being and livelihood. It says that creative professionals and designers have a responsibility and are able to cause change in the real world.

It is also defined as a an activity and that it should not be framed with connotations of charity, aid donations, help, etc... It is not voluntary work but should be seen as professional contribution that plays a part in the local economic development or livelihood.

Some say that social design focuses on designing systems that join elements of communication, new product development, and the environment. It is also increasingly used to describe the design of the social world.

I would like to thank Wikipedia for helping me do this assignment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_design

I am the TEACHER.

If I was hired to teach the first four weeks of a new class called Design Like You Give A Damn, I wouldn't structure the class that different than it was. I would have put more emphasis on the actual project on the first 2 or so classes so people knew what they were allowed to do and not to do. I also would have done the brainstorming with the design team right away because that really helped me. But thats all I would really change, I really like how the class is open with each other and how you don't have to raise your hand to talk. I like how every class is different and I am not always sure what we are going to do, it isn't boring like most classes.

After Action Review

I think overall my first project went well. I think I put my signs in really smart places on campus, the high traffic parts in the garages. I think using gold and black was a good idea too because I think it drew more attention to my signs. I probably should have left them up longer but since one was taken down I don't know if any of them would have made it. I should have made it clear that I wasn't with the Towson Admin because then people might have left me more comments and felt more open. Putting the signs up at night when no one was watching was also a smart idea because I didn't draw attention to myself. My project would have been more successful if I had recieved more comments from people because then I could have gone to the admin and told them how many people HATE parking at school but with the 60 or so I got it isn't enough to make Towson even look in my direction.

Project 1

For the first project my topic was parking at Towson. My friends helped me put up three signs that i made in each of the parking garages at school. The signs were about how people felt about the parking at Towson. I had a comment box on each one.

Timeline

I was just looking at a few people's blogs and I realized that I didn't put my timeline up yet, so I will do that now. Its Sunday and the project is due on Tuesday so I don't really have much time left. I decided last week that making lifesized cars was too much for me to do in the time we had left so I was wondering about changing my topic but there really wasn't time for that either. So I am sticking with my parking topic and instead of the cars I am just making posters. I have one done and I am currently workinh on another. I don't know how many I am going to make. I am using gold (yellow) and black paint because I think it will grab the attention of the students better. I am also going to attach a comment box on each poster I make. I am still not 100 percent sure that I will be allowed to post the posters but I am going to put them up anyway, I am going to put them up Monday late at night so when everyone gets there on Tuesday the posters will be waiting for them. Thats where I am with the project so far and what I still have left to do.

#2 on my bug list

I work at Dicks Sporting Goods in Whitemarsh b/c my friend worked there over the summer. I work in the apparel area so I pretty much unpack boxes of clothes, put out and and process clothes, fold and refold clothes, and clean up the pads where clothes are deal with returns and the fitting rooms for hours on end. On Saturday I was unpacking boxes of $10 shorts and each pair was in its own plastic and I just thought what a waste of plastic. The shorts are cheap and they do not need special packaging to keep them safe. The packaging for the shorts as well as many other products Dicks gets in is not designed well because they are wasting plastic and that is why this is my #2 on my bug list.

Notes on our reading

So I have been reading Cradle to Cradle for class and a lot of facts and information have really stood out to me but one thing really made me think.

On page 36, they give you what they call an "interesting fact." The fact is that the 91 Exxon Valdez oil spill actually increased Alaska's GDP or gross domestic product. This happened because so many people came to Alaska for the clean up so the restaurants, hotels, shops, gas stations, and stores had a leap in sales.

Its hard to think that something so awful for the wildlife in Alaska could benefit the area so much economically.

The outcome of the oil spill still effect Alaska today. The wildlife today have problems such as tumors and genetic damages. State parks, habitat ares, and state game sanctuaries were lost. And the ability for fishermen to make an income went way down.

Just because you clean up a problem doesn't mean it is gone.

My first post.

So here it goes, my first posting for this class. I promise that my blogs will not be about all of my personal problems. First of all I don't have that many of those and I don't want to waste everyone's time with the ones I do have, I am just going to write about and sometimes rant about items that relate to our class.

So I want to do the first project on the parking situation at Towson. I paid $230 for a parking permit this year so to me thats means that when I come to Towson no matter the time it should be easy for me to find a spot, I don't mind driving around for ten minutes or so, but that isn't true. Today I got to school at 11 for my 12:30 class. I have so much to do that getting to school when I paid a lot of money to be able to park just doesn't make sense to me.

I don't really know what I want to do for the project though. I know that most people at Towson hate the parking so I know that people will be on my side. I was thinking of posting some kind of signs in the parking garages but I don't know what I would put on them. I could also write a letter to the ediotor of the Towerlight and see if it makes it into the paper. I really need to think about what I want to do.

The parking situation at Towson will also be my #1 on my buglist. The parking garages are not designed well, they don't have enough spots for students. They are also very tight so my car gets hit a lot.