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.