We went out to PS 98 on Monday December 14. The event we were going to attend (DEER) was canceled so we did other stuff around the school. We helped organize the library. There were two people working in the library neither of whom spoke english. One lady was able to say the word “five.” It is interesting that everyone spoke Spanish while only a couple people spoke English. I didn’t realize that there were people in Manhattan who were able to make it through their everyday lives without speaking English. I was also surprised that a public school in manhattan would put such little emphasis on speaking English. This could result in these kids speaking only Spanish which would make it harder for them to go about their everyday lives. The event we went to do was canceled because the librarian leading the event had to be a substitute teacher for a class learning about holidays. At our school when we need a substitute the school calls one of it’s many back up teachers. At under funded public schools, they have to use teacher who are doing other things to fill in. Even if the teacher is busy they have to cancel anything that is less important. On top of that, the neighborhood we were in had the most affordable housing in manhattan ($430ft^2). I think this would encourage the population to be people who have less money and can’t afford more expensive housing.
