America the Land of Great Economic Wealth

Christian Guiao

Ms. Williams

English 1A TTH 9:00

12/22/13

America the Land of Great Economic Wealth

            America will rise again with the help of the jobs that feed the economy but this will not happen anymore due to the faulty job system that America have. Without Jobs to help the Americans it is hard to feed this economy that swallows everything it its path. In the book The Rich and the Rest of Us by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, it shows how in America there are little jobs that Americans can get and those jobs are not even going to help them rise up from poverty. This has happened because corporations send factory jobs overseas to cut cost and the remaining jobs that are in America has low paying jobs that doesn't help Americans get out of the poverty class. To rebuild America the government needs to regulate the job system in America, because America needs to have people working here and not overseas and have wages that can support a family so we can get out of this recession.

The loss of jobs here in America is the fault of big corporations trying to squeeze more money in producing their products. They want to pay the minimum and getting maximum profit so they get more money. They have done this by sending factory jobs overseas to cut production cost. West and Smiley states “Business leaders have prioritized the path to profit at all cost and opted to transport American jobs overseas, we have no choice but to explore ways to create jobs in our communities”(158). To send jobs overseas has been a steady trend in the America that it affected the people that used to have those jobs. Corporations send these jobs overseas because it will be cheaper for them to produce the product there. By sending the jobs corporations are getting more money and increasing their revenues because of cheap unregulated labor. The government should regulate these moves since it has been taking the jobs of the people here in America and pushing them more and more into poverty. With the jobs back here in America people might have the chance to rise out of the poverty but big corporations are using their power to stop any actions that might take away profit from them. An example of how corporations used their power is shown in the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA is a bill that enables businesses from America to send factories to Mexico and Canada and make products that used to be made here in America. Corporations has been relying on this bill to make more money so by having this bill revision the money that is going to corporations can now go to the people and the jobs that are supposed to be here can come back here.

            The loss of jobs here in America has been so severe that it can plunge this country to more trouble. If we don’t try to fix it then it will plunge this country into a point of no return where it will be hard to get up. The way that this country is going it will happen very soon. West and Smiley states “The United states has lost a staggering average of 50,000 manufacturing job every month since 2001. The country now ranks last among top 15 manufacturing nations in terms of imported industrial production: an ominous portrait indeed”(186). America is inching closer and closer towards economic destruction in every passing day that we don’t try to fix the problem. If we keep going head on without trying to change anything then the working class of this nation will lose while the one percent will not. We need to stand up for ourselves because if we don’t say anything then noting will change. The one percent doesn't care if they send jobs overseas because they are saving a lot of money but the working class does and they don’t try to do anything about it. They need to organize and make these corporations stop in sending jobs in other countries; they have to let their voices heard and make things happen. If the working class is united then the one percent will not have any choice but to comply with their wishes.

We have to rebuild this country from the bottom up to come back to the economic powerhouse that we once were. This country will not rise from the ashes if the one percent keeps beating the working class to the ground by shipping jobs overseas and giving them low wages. We need to set up a system where the working class can become the middle class again to have this country back to its former glory. West and Smiley states “We can help close the dismal blue collar job gap and put able bodied, low-skill and no-skill Americans to work on community based infrastructure projects…We can create dignified work that provide services and products that are essential for growth, survival, and better living…a plan specially aimed at struggling neighborhoods and grasping emerging opportunities, and with good living-wage jobs, we can shore up families battered by bills and rebuild our troubled nation”(187). An economy is build up of makers and buyers, an economy will not exist without one another because the two are co existing. Right now America only has makers and not many buyers because of the recession. Corporations need to realize that they just can’t keep making stuff without people buying it because sooner or later an inflation will happen and their product will lose its value because there will be many products but not a lot of people buying them. With good wages and many job opportunities the equation will be balanced and America might come back to its former glory. With constant pressure to corporations to change their policies then maybe we can finally see a change and the middle class might make a comeback.

America is in a crash course going straight to destruction. If Americans don’t take the wheel of this country then it will be heading into a head on collision and it will be destroyed and in pieces. There are many things that are destroying the once thriving economy of this nation but sending jobs overseas and low and wages that limit the people from buying goods is two of the major causes. We need to stop sending jobs overseas and we need people buying again to jump start this economy because if we don’t then it might get to a point that it might be too late for America to get out of the hole that it has dug up. In book Catch 22 by Joseph Heller it states “What are you talking about? America is not going to be destroyed. Never? Rome was destroyed, Greece was destroyed, Persia was destroyed, Spain was destroyed All great countries are destroyed, why not yours? How much longer do you think your own country will last? Forever?"(279). All thing have an end, no matter what you do there is always an end. Nothing Last forever and sooner or later America will be destroyed too. If we don’t act now that fate might be sooner than everyone has imagined and it might be too late to prolong its destruction.

3 Paragraphs

        Schools should be well equipped to accommodate and serve the students in their institution. If the school is not equipped to this then the students will fail. Jonathan Kozol sates in Savage Inequalities “Would you want to study in this room? I’m Surprise the fish don’t die”(180). If a school is lacking the materials to teach then the students might not even want to go to school. They will feel that going to school will not help them succeed because they are not getting any information and knowledge because of the missing equipment and being in a rundown school. This happens to a lot of students because there are a lot of schools in the country that is not getting the proper funding that they need. If this continues then the students affected will only hate school leading them in the end to not go attend it anymore.

            Funding is a key piece in the students’ success in learning in school. If there’s no funding to buy textbook and resources then the teachers will have a harder time teaching the students. Kozol “I had 45 children in my fifth grade class. The teacher sometimes didn't know you, she would ask you, ‘What’s your name?’”(128).  Teachers are a major part of learning, without them the students will not learn anything. If a teacher is struggling in the class then they are dragging the students with them. If they can’t even remember the students in their classes’ because of overcrowding then the students in are suffering. The teacher can’t help every student that is failing because there are too much of them. This why it is vital to have proportionate classes so a teacher can be effective and helpful to the students.

            Having resources is needed because without it the students are left with nothing to study about. Poorly funded public schools suffer low test scores because students in these schools can’t study. Kozol writes “My mother offered to help me with my science, which was hard for me, but I could not bring home a book”(134). A student that can’t bring home a textbook to study from will not pass a class. They need the basic resources such as textbooks and reference books to do better in class. Without it they will lose more knowledge and gain nothing. This is why it is important for schools to have materials because without it the students in the institution are destined to fail. 

Failing Schools

                Schools that are in lacking funds and resources will have a hard time teaching the students and helping them understand the courses. Students in this type of environment will not learn anything and will be thrown into the real world without the knowledge that they need to succeed. In Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol its states “I visit four classes taking places within another undivided space. The room has a low ceiling. Again no windows”(105). The students in these classes will not learn anything because of the type of environment. The information that the teachers are trying to give to the students will not be heard because of overlapping voices from the teachers and the noise from the four classes. These circumstances force the students to fail and destroying their future after school.

                Tennyson High in Hayward is a great example of a school that is struggling because of no funding. Tennyson High is scoring 658 API which is 148 less from the statewide goal of 800 API. Since of the low scores it has received less funding than the school that are scoring higher than them leaving them with few resources to help their students. If they receive little funding because of the low test scores then they will not have the resources to help the teachers to teach more thoroughly and help their students so they can get a higher API score the next time. This system is only hurting the schools that have low test scores because it will be harder for them to break the statewide goal because of they are lacking the resources and funds and in the end get them to fall farther and farther from the goal.

                Tennyson High is fairly similar from the schools that are talked about in Jonathan Kozol’s Savage Inequalities. These type of schools are getting little funding because of the system that belittles the schools that have low test scores. The system needs to be change so that the schools that are struggling get more funding so they can help students that are in their schools. If this system continues to thrive then we will see a lot more schools that will fail the students in their institution because they have no means to help them succeed. 

One Paragraph

                Education is something that is vital for a person to succeed. Without the proper education the person will have a higher chance of falling in poverty and not getting back up. This is why it is important for people in schools to have the proper funding and resources to have the best education that they can get. In Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol he writes “Chicago does not have a junior high school system. Students begin Bethune in kindergarten and remain here through eighth grade”(57).  The students that are subjected to this type of system are more likely to fall into poverty than a person who had all the years of schooling completed. Without going to junior high school the student are lacking the information that they need to do good in high school. In the end they end up failing high school and then college so in the end they get stuck with low paying jobs. It is not the fault of the students or the schools but fault of poorly funded schools. The government should give more funding to the schools because it will make or break a student’s future. 

Negative Teachings

                The tools that we need to succeed later in life are learned while we are going to school. Most of our time we are in school trying to gain knowledge from the teachers, they are there to teach us the tools that will give us a better life after high school. This is why it is important that the teachers that are teaching the students are well equipped so the students' future will not be squandered away. Teachers that don’t have any passion and respect for the students that they are teaching will only destroy their ambitions and expectations of the student when they finish school. These teachers will only poison the young minds of students and lead them into a stray life in the future.

                Students who are exposed to unqualified teachers tend to fall behind in class leaving them to be behind in school as well. If a student is behind in one class because of a teacher that does not care about their class and is not capable of helping students then the student will have a harder time in school because of added pressure from the threat of failing a class. The domino effect comes into play because he will give more time to the class he is failing to pass it but giving less attention to other classes. This might lead to him/her to fall behind in other classes since all their time is directed to the class that they are failing. It is the teacher’s job to get a student back on track and help them to have a passing grade on the class but there are a lot of teachers that does not care enough to help struggling students.

                Having the wrong knowledge is more harmful than having no knowledge at all. If a teacher who does not know anything about what they are teaching and are giving out wrong ideas and teaching the students then it would just harm the students listening to it than help them in any way. Everything you learn in class is attributed and is required to pass the class that is higher that one, but if you have been taught misleading teachings and ideas then you will fail the class because of major confusion and contradicting teachings. If this happens then the student will need to undergo a reboot to  unlearn the things that he learned that is not helpful and is unrelated to the class that he is in. 

What we see at school

Mirror Neurons are very helpful since it affects our emotion, attitudes and action without us knowing that it is there. It is greatly used by the media to set trends and social movements by showing things on T.V that we sublimely follow because we saw on T.V done by famous people. If mirror neurons are used to brainwash our society then how come schools never use to persuade the students in this country to be more active in school. In the Passion Project the narrator talks how mirror neurons can be used by teachers to greatly influence their students because they are very close related throughout the whole school year. Teachers are there to not only teach the students but to sway students to be more into education. Students unconsciously use their mirror neurons and copies what the teachers is doing. In the article “What do mirror neurons mirror?” by Pim Haselager it states “the activity of mirror neurons is often conceptualized as a form of representation”(2). If a teacher is lacking in passion when teaching, then a student might copy them and mirror the same feelings that the teachers is showing and this will lead to students falling behind in the class or school. But if a teacher show excitement towards the things that they are teaching then the students will act and feel exited too. It also states that “neurons are said to represent action means, action ends or goals, and intentions”(3). Students in any level of school have different intention but if a teacher’s goal is just to get paid and not to teach then the mirror neurons in the student’s brain might affect our own goals and change it so we are not leaning towards learning anymore. Since goals and intention is mirrored by mirror neurons then teachers should re-evaluate their intentions toward teaching so they can be a major influence to their students and not be a hindrance and bad example to them. Mirror neurons is a major asset to teaching so teachers should be more aware of how they act in front of their students because in the end  they might mirror the bad things and not the things that will help them from succeeding in school. 

Pim Haselager, et al. "What Do Mirror Neurons Mirror?." Philosophical Psychology 24.5 (2011): 607-623. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Sept. 2013.

About me

         To begin with I need to tell you guys that the blog space is really new to me and a little bit weird. I’m not really into social media so doing blogs is out of my comfort zone. I ignored any social sites like facebook, twitter, tumblr or my space. The only social sharing that I use is Instagram because in opinion it’s not a social site but a picture sharing app that makes you share photos to the world. Blogging requires you to write about your life and you’re thoughts but I’ve never been good at sharing my thoughts in forms of words and paragraphs. I want to show and say what I’m thinking and who I am so it might take some time for me to adjust to the blogging world.

                I have many things that are important to me. I think a couple important things in my life are my friends and family. Without them I know I will not be the person that I am today. They have helped me through thick and thin. My friends always have my back and I know I can count on them if I need help. My family is also there because I know that friends come and go but family will always stick together no matter how much you messed up.  But I think the most important thing to me is my faith. My faith has pushed me to keep on going even though sometimes I felt that I should give up. Having faith in God really helps you think in a different way because you know that there is someone there that will not leave you. A couple of things that I’m passionate about are reading, playing guitar and gaming.

                 This is my second year at Chabot College. I’m at school to finish my major and have a good job when graduate. I know that if I don’t work and study hard then there is a chance that I will not be successful in life. I want to give my family in the future a good life so finishing college is an important goal for me. I will learn many things from this English class, like writing more professionally papers and helping me understand issues in the world. Perseverance and patience will be the key to help me through college because without it I know that I will not succeed.