Posted on May 1, 2018
WWI – WWII 8th Grade Studies
For our third trimester in 8th grade, we are studying WWI and WWII after learning about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We’re going into the studies of Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Treaty of Versailles. To get deeper into the topic, we’re reading the book Night by Elie Wiesel and groups are individually reading books about WWII. My group and I are reading the book Code Name Pauline.
Posted on April 24, 2018
The New, New Deal
As an intro into WWI and WWII, we are currently studying President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After learning about the list of “New Deal” organizations FDR founded, we were asked to make three ourselves. My group created the Reduce Plastic Use Act (RPUA), Distributing Equal Education Act (DEEA), and the English Learning Act (ELA)
The RPUA will reduce the amount of plastic used in America. Plastic waste is increasing by the day, and in order to gradually fix this dilemma, the RPUA will make stores charge 25 cents for plastic bags and give speeches to public buildings and places about plastic waste. By reducing the plastic use in America, we will slowly be benefiting the environment.
DEEA will provide under-served students with an equitable education. Money from the government will be spent to help fund schools in poorer districts. Even though the budget for schools in affluent districts will be lessened, DEEA will be providing under-served students with an equitable education. They will also hire experienced teachers willing to work in impoverished districts and will fund-raise for school supplies.
The ELA will widen the fluency level of immigrants or who have a low speaking level. They will hire teachers or people willing to teach English to Immigrants. The ELA will be government-run and paid and lessons will take place at public schools on the weekends. Their lessons are open to kids, adults, and senior citizens.
Posted on April 18, 2018
New York Times Op Ed Submission
Leaving our Future Generation’s Education in the Dust
By Colette Leong
Hempstead, a poverty-stricken district on Long Island supports people mostly of hispanic and black background had a 37 percentile rate of students graduating on time in 2017. While in Battery Park City, of mostly caucasian people, students had a 95.1 percentile rate of graduating on time. The differences are astronomical, deeming that we need a change in the public school education system. Battery Park City provides students with experienced teachers and materials needed to succeed in school, but Hempstead is lacking the money to pay for these essentials.
As the US continues to follow our inequitable education system, the general quality of education is decreasing. The broad topic of educational inequality surrounds the fact that the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor. Meaning impoverished schools in poor districts continue to provide an inequitable education as rich schools provide their students with a quality education. Since the US isn’t taking responsibility for the quality of education kids receive, impoverished kids education is at a loss because of the small amount of taxes their community collects.
Every year, affluent districts collect a substantial amount of taxes, but poor districts collect an insignificant amount of taxes. The majority of funding public schools receive come from the taxes citizens pay, differing from the amount of income citizens take home. Thus, resulting in a smaller chance of graduating high school, having experienced teachers, earning high test scores, etc., for impoverished kids.
This year, I visited GO, an organization that supports students in financial need with extra tutoring help. Since the US isn’t providing our current and future generations with a quality education, the government should take action instead of forcing organizations to be founded because of the cost of education success in the US.
The US’ education system is corrupted, leaving kids in poverty unable to afford a quality education and therefore remaining them with a unstable future. When our society continues to demand for an educated community, it is not the student’s responsibility to uphold their education, but is in the hands of us, as American citizens. We can choose to advocate for equal access to education for all, but not all choose to take the responsibility. As a community, we should all choose to publicly speak out for others rights. The quality of education is a denounced topic, but as we work towards an educated future for all, we have to choose to act now. If we remain silent, what difference in our society will it make? Help take a stand. Help make a change. Help our country. I believe as we walk towards the future, everyone should be able to contribute to our society without education blocking their opportunities.
Citations:
Semuels, Alana. “Good School, Rich School; Bad School, Poor School.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 25 Aug. 2016, www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/08/property-taxes-and-unequal-schools/497333/.
Harris, Elizabeth A. “Graduation Rate Made Little Progress, State Says.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 7 Feb. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/nyregion/graduation-rate-new-york.html.
Algar, Selim. “These Neighborhoods Have the Best HS Graduation Rates.” New York Post, New York Post, 11 May 2016, nypost.com/2016/05/11/these-neighborhoods-have-the-best-hs-graduation-rates/.
Posted on April 3, 2018
China Trip and Spring Break
This spring break, along with my Mandarin class, we went to Shanghai, Suzhou, and Beijing. Afterwards, I visited my cousins back in Shanghai and traveled to Tokyo and Karuizawa. Touring China with my class was both culturally shocking for me and opened up a new part of China I’ve never experienced. Some of the most prominent places we visited that stuck out to me were the Forbidden City, The Great Wall of China, Tian’anmen Square, and visiting the high school in Suzhou. Visiting Tian’anmen Square was really interesting for me because I got to learn about and see communist China which I’ve always wondered about. The Forbidden City and The Great Wall of China were really surreal to visit and see because they are both a major part of China’s history. Along with the prominence in Chinese history the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China holds, I’ve always wished to visit both. Another highlight of the trip was visiting the high school in Suzhou where I got to meet my buddy who I’ve been emailing and where I got to experience Chinese school life hands on. I’ve also built a stronger relationship with my teachers and classmates.
Posted on February 13, 2018
甄嬛传 Zhen Huan Zhuan (Empress in The Palace)
In Mandarin, we are watching a Chinese TV show called 甄嬛传 Zhen Huan Zhuan based in the Qing dynasty in ancient China. By watching this show, we are learning about the ancient times in China and it definitely is helping us improve our Mandarin pronunciation and understanding. We are also preparing for our China trip in the spring, and are using the TV show to help us understand the traditions they use in China.
Posted on February 6, 2018
High School Visit
A few weeks ago, we visited the LREI high school and visited Math 2, Chemistry, History, and English. We got to sit in on high school classes and interact with the students. The classes seemed much more advanced than our classes in the middle school. Though there will be a big gap between middle school and high school, I am excited to begin high school.
Posted on January 30, 2018
New Humanities Book: All American Boys
We have recently started a new book: All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. They delve into the deep and serious topics of police brutality and racism. When we started this book, we were first asked to answer the prompt: What comes to mind when you think of an All American Boy? Most people thought of a white male, but as we’ve been learning, people who identify as “American” regardless of their race or ethnicity, are as much American as they are with a white person. This book follows Rashad, a black teenager training in the ROTC, and Quinn, a white boy who defines the stereotype of an All American Boy.
Posted on January 16, 2018
中国菜(Chinese food) Presentation
In Mandarin, we are getting ready for a Chinese food presentation. We will each choose a province to present about: 四川 (Sichuan)，湖南(Hu Nan)，广东(Guang Dong)，and 江苏(Jiang Su). Though the separate provinces all are Chinese food, the different provinces have different tastes and flavors. We are also learning more detailed words to use in our presentation when explaining a type/style of food. Some words we’ve learnt are: 辣 (la) (spicy), and 麻(ma) (tingly spicy). For example, 四川 (Sichuan) food consists of mostly spicy food. So if I were to write a sentence explaining about how Sichuan food is spicy, it would look like this: 四川的菜很辣因为他们用很多的花椒。(Sichuan de cai hen la yin wei ta men yong hen duo de hua jiao) (Sichuan food is very spicy because they use a lot of Sichuan peppercorns)
Posted on January 9, 2018
My American Born Chinese Essay Writing
In my American Born Chinese essay, I think I crafted an effective thesis and have referred back to it in my body paragraphs, but could’ve added on to my analysis and pushed my thesis more in my body paragraphs. My thesis was clear and got my point across, and I referred to it multiple times in my body paragraphs. But at the same time, I could’ve pushed my ideas further in my analysis and made my body paragraphs stronger.
Posted on January 9, 2018
Winter Break
This winter break, I visited my grandmother in Northern California, and saw my cousins. Every winter break, I visit my grandmother which allows me to see my family on my mom’s side every year. I also saw my cousins over the winter break who I only get to see three times a year. We went to San Francisco, and places around the Bay Area. I spent the New Years in San Francisco and saw the fireworks, but the next day, my cousins left back to Shanghai. Overall, I had fun, but was very sad to leave.