How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searching for a Solution

How Can We Help the Homeless and Should We?: Searching for a Solution Just a few months ago I was with my friends Mike and Kim and we had been walking around having a great time in the city. We then exited a store and Kim said something under her breath like, "Oh, no," when I looked in the same direction to find a middle aged man with a drunken stare to him. She knew this man as "the town drunk" and he had been homeless for years. He asked us for the time and we replied, but he didn't just stop with that and followed us across the street talking up a storm. He was telling his whole life story in the fifteen minutes we stood there: he talked about how he grew up living poor with his family and how he wanted to be educated and go through college to get a good job so he could live well. But he said his parents just didn't have the money and it was impossible. I felt threatened as did Mike and Kim from the drunken gestures of this man and thought to myself, if this man wanted to make something of his life, I mean if he really wanted to, he would try harder and somehow do what he wanted. We tried to leave as soon as possible. But then I began reading these essays about the homeless and it started to change my mind. The essay "Virginia's Trap" by Peter Marin especially effected me because of the way it portrays the young woman that has nothing going for her and almost everything against her. I though about this and decided I had misunderstood the whole plight of this population and thought there must be a better way to help these unfortunate people. How should we help the homeless and should we try even though they may not help themselves? I figure that is the most important question that needs to be answered if anything is to be done. Of the essays I analyzed Awalt's "Brother Don't Spare a Dime" was the one essay that went against the idea of helping the homeless because the author thinks it's their own fault for being the way they are. The other two essays are easier on the homeless and want to lend a helping hand. In "Address Unknown: Homeless in Contemporary America" James Wright thinks that helping the homeless by giving them more benefits that they will be more prosperous. Peter Marin has the same idea in "Virginia's Trap" where the young woman is in need of just a little bit more money to stay the way she is in a home but doesn't receive enough. While Awalt's narrow view of homeless people gives him the idea that all should not be helped in anyway, Wright and Marin go towards the idea of helping the people because they have already had a rough life and do in fact need this help to go anywhere in life. Awalt's statement that homeless people are a "waste of time" is a very general statement in the least. Throughout his essay he only mentioned working with one homeless person trying to help him through a detoxification program. This person failed the procedure and left to go back to the streets and drink again. (Awalt 239) Just because this one person didn't have the endurance to undergo such an operation doesn't mean others wouldn't. What we need to have is a more "hands on" program with these homeless people to give them the attention that they need so that a majority of the people will not end up like this but eventually in their own homes. The opposite view is shared by Wright and Marin in their more lengthy and detailed essays. Wright starts out saying that not all homeless are the same and should not all be treated the same. He states there are different classes of homeless people and there are the worthy and unworthy homeless, meaning that only some deserve to remain this way because they don't try to live otherwise. These small amount of people, about five percent, don't deserve the time and money spent on trying to get them off the streets but the only way to find out if they don't is to try at least once with them. If it doesn't work out that's a small amount of effort wasted but if it does work it is a grand success and another homeless person is off the street. Marin has the same view with "Virginia's Trap" adding a great deal of sympathy for the main character in the story by telling it from her point of view. Virginia is also in a different class of homelessness, the subset of the poverty that is marginally housed. She is "trapped" in between housing and none at all because of her poor background and problems with low income. The author even tries to help Virginia stay in her house at the time but it all collapses financially on her again. (Marin 250) That is why benefits for people who are actually trying to get back on their feet should be raised according to their situation. I believe that Awalt's view of the homeless is a narrow-minded, stubborn one and that Wright and Marin should at least try to help these people and give them the benefit of the doubt. I realized that I was wrong from my first interpretation of the middle aged man I met in the city and that it is hard for him to have a chance in this world without the proper money and help to back him up. In some cases the homeless may not deserve all the help we try to give them but if we are to destroy this ongoing problem we have to: as Wright states, "The federal government must massively intervene in the private housing market, to halt the loss of additional low-income units and to underwrite the construction of many more; and benefits paid to the welfare-dependent population must double." (Wright 265) I believe that this is a very good idea along with the increased effort of individuals that try to help these homeless and that it could seriously help the problem.

cultural diversity in educatio

Since early American history, schools, like society, have addressed cultural diversity in different ways. In the colonial days, some attempts to adjust to cultural differences were made in the New York colony, but the dominant American culture was the norm in the general public, as well as most of the schools. As America approached the nineteenth century, the need for a common culture was the basis for the educational forum. Formal public school instruction in cultural diversity was rare, and appreciation or celebration of minority or ethnic culture essentially was nonexistent in most schools. In the 1930's, the educators were in the progressive education movement, called for programs of cultural diversity that encouraged ethnic and minority students to study their heritage's. This movement became popular in many schools until around 1950. Now, these days in education, the term multicultural education never escapes a teacher's thoughts (Ryan, 26). What does the term "multicultural education" mean to you? I means different things to different people. For instance, to some minority communities, it means to foster pride and self- esteem among minority students, like the progressive movement in the 1930's. Another example would be in the white communitites, that multicultural programs are designed to cultivate an appreciation of various cultural, racial, and ethnic traditions. Cortes defines multicultural education by the process by which schools help prepare young people to live with greater understanding, cooperation, effectiveness, and dedication to equality in a multicultural nation and inerdependent world (Cortes, 16). When I observed at Madison Elementary in December, I expected the school would be multicultural in the sense of ethnic or racial backgrounds. Instead, I was very surprised to discover that the school was predominately white students, with only a handful of African American students in each classroom. I did find out that the Wheeling Island area was in very low status pertaining to income. Not only did over half of the students receive free or reduced lunch, but the students academic skills were below the national norm. I never realized what an effect of economic status can affect a student's academic progress. Of course there are out lying factors, the parent involvement was at a minimum because most families consisted of only one care taker. To make ends meet the single parent had to spend most of his/her time working for money to buy clothes, food, and to keep their children healthy. Madison Elementary had made great strides to improve their efforts to better the students academic progress. The school had instilled different programs like A-Team, Pre-K classes, Reading Recovery, various health services, outreach to families, and many more to ensure that the students will succeed in their studies. The role of the teacher at Madison is to assist and guide the students through school with smooth transitions. This at times is impossible due to fact that some students in their classrooms have behavior disorders, not all of the students are on the same learning levels, and the teacher can only help the students at school, not at home. Sometimes the parents do not fulfill their responsibilities at home. The teacher must adjust to the students needs. "When dealing with multicultural issues in he classroom, teachers must guard against perpetuating racial and ethnic stereotypes, which is often done subconsciously and indirectly by failing to use linguistic qualifiers such as 'some,' 'many,' and 'most' when referring to cultural groups. There is much diversity within culture" (Ryan, 27). Teachers must also keep in mind that the process of social development entails the successful interplay between an integrating function and differentiating function. It is critical that multicultural education programs foster both. The challenge is simple but significant: Can we create places of learning where students are no longer strangers to themselves or to one another? The answer is clear: We must (Tamura, 24- 25). Students need to understand that they are participating in many different networks. They are involved in social networks, not just ethnic or racial ones; however, their cultural background and experiences may indeed have an impact upon the nature of their participation in these other networks. Students also need to understand they are also individuals with talents, skills, strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes (Ryan, 27). A goal for all students, American born or not, is to develop cross-cultural acceptance, to have them develop strategies to work through their own prejudices and to sustain their own dignity when they become the targets of prejudice. We as teachers must work very hard to teach children to sustain and protect our democratic way of life and to build a world culture of human beings who resolve disputes in ways that protect the rights of all (Higuchi, 70-71). The curriculum at Madison is different than any other school I have been associated with. Mr. Warren and his staff base the curriculum on the needs of the students. As I have stated in my journal, the language arts is the area of study with the biggest deficits. Math, Spelling, and Reading are the main emphasis of the curriculum. I witnessed a one science lesson with the gifted students. Madison has made great strides to improve in the area of language arts, they have improved many students' skills. They will continue their efforts until the students at Madison are academically strong in the area of language arts. When using multicultural curriculum, teachers must provide opportunities for taking perspectives as a way of helping all students appreciate other points of view, which will help them to identify, through contrast and comparison, their own personal characteristics as individuals. With this in mind, one is then able to establish an identity, along with a sense of control over it. Not all students learn the same. Teachers need to develop an awareness for individual characteristics as a prerequisite to developing instructional strategies that will meet the learning style of each student. Teaching to a variety of learning styles will increase the probability of student achievement, thereby leading to a greater internal locus of control and improved self-esteem (Ryan, 27-28). Some think that Cortes has the right idea by introducing five fundamental concepts that all elementary schools should introduce to help their students develop greater insight into human diversity. His first idea is individuality and group identity. He believes that students need to understand the significance of groups- racial, ethnic, gender, cultural, religious, and others. In addition, they need to understand that each individual can belong to many different groups. These groups may be based on birth others the result of choice and experience. Belonging to this group may influence the ways an individual thinks, acts believes, perceives, and may be perceived by others. His next idea is that multicultural education involves the study of objective culture like food, clothing, music, art, and dance. Teachers should not stop there. There is also a subjective side to each culture like values, norms, expectations, and beliefs. The subjective culture involves the interpretation and expression of even universal values. Cortes states, "While learning about the many variations in people's racial, ethnic, gender, religious, and cultural experiences, students also need to recognize commonalties, which can serve as bases for building intergroup and interpersonal bridges." This is the bases for his third idea, similarities and differences. You may use the similarities as a starting point, but in order to bond you must find the differences and address them seriously. The differences lead to multiple perspectives and points of view. This his Cortes' fourth concept. When diverse individuals and groups come together with different experiences, traditions, and views multiple perspectives hit and sometimes cause conflicts. A muliticultural person should understand different points of view, and the elementary school is an ideal place to begin developing this concept. Next you must build common ground. Schools also need to help students develop the skills to find common ground with those of different backgrounds and heritage's. This requires practice and experience. Schools should provide safe settings with a comfortable climate in which all students are encouraged to draw on their cultures (Cortes, 17-19). Sometimes we can acquire cultural ways without even knowing that we are doing so; it is like the air we breathe. Not know that our behavior is governed by there cultural ways, we often do not see the need for change. Most teachers have been trained in educational programs that are not geared to the needs of the urban schools. They are normally familiar with the white middle-class schools. Indeed, a culture of teaching exists in America that still espouses the notion that poor children and children of color, on average, do not learn as well as middle-class and affluent white children. A typical urban school serves students from ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds that are different form a typical suburban school. Some think that urban schools posses students with low test scores, a high number of discipline referrals, little safety and strict security, a high dropout rate, and few honor students. Over the past three decades, most teachers in urban schools have been inserviced to death. Most believe that many of the problems they face are caused by those outside the schools. Most of them think that they have been involved in change but, the same range has always been present throughout the culture of schooling (Parish and Aquila, 299). Changing the schools must have new purpose and produce new outcomes. Most educators know that the quality of education received in America is highly correlated with the socioeconomic status and rave of a student's family. Yet to suggest that educators bear any responsibility for this reality will bring not only denial but anger-as if the outcomes of schools have nothing to do with the work of teachers and principals (Parish and Aquila 299). With all of these dimensions into context, multiculturalism may be associated with the celebration of cultural diversity. In overemphasizing the importance of group membership, such programs can over shadow the significance of individuality. Schools need to give equal time to the importance of individual development and achievement. And students need to be empowered with an internal locus of control that will help them develop a stable, personality that is aware of its strengths, weaknesses, potentials, and limitations. In previous years most school children were separated by groups and were taught to be prepared to take their place in the world. Today, children are encouraged to be creative and to achieve. It is ironic and distressing that many schools still remain locked I that earlier vision. They continue to package students into tracks, ignore individual learning styles, and generally overlook related individual differences. At Madison school every student was treated as an individual and every student was given an equal opportunity to succeed. I believe that Madison is a successful multicultural school with the students needs being their first priority. Diversity need not lead to separateness. But the failure to develop intergroup understanding through constructive multicultural education virtually guarantees societal division based on ignorance. Multicultural education belongs in all schools not just in districts with large multiracial student bodies, because all students will share the same multicultural nation. Therefore, all elementary schools should expose their students to a broad range of our nation's racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity (Cortes,20). Schools do not determine whether or not multicultural education will occur. The societal curriculum guarantees that it will. Schools can only chose whether or not to participate in this process. For the sake of our children; I hope schools accept the challenge and address it seriously, now and in the future.

THE DUTIES OF A SECRETARY

When we enter a law office the first individual we meet is the legal secretary. She is the one withe responsibility for the correspondence, records, and other affairs of a.law office. The word "secretary" reflects its Latin root secretum (secret), which originally referred to a person who acted as a confidant, and handled matters of a private nature for his principal. The executive position or executive secretary is one of major responsibility in business or government. First responsibility of a legal secretary each day is open, read, and note all mail received that day. It is Important in a law office. The mail often includes legal documents crucial to a certain case that day. She must be familiar with all standard forms used in the office. Affidavits, bills of sale, deeds, leases, mortgages, powers of attorney, propositions, and wills. Tape Shorthand theory means the writing down of dictation from an employer, and then transcribing the material onto sheets with the aid of earphones and computer. Every secretary is required to have a skill speed of 80 WPM before graduating, also when taking the civil service exan. In some offices the dictation is seized by one secretary while the typing is completed by another. Usually larger offices hire clerk typist. It is important that secretaries are capable of reading each others shorthand notes. Every legal secretary works with computers, duplicators, stencil machines, but the dictaphone is usually the most frequently utilized. Information must be transcribed quickly, and accurately in attractive form. Filing systems are important to any secretary. The files at any office must be maintained in perfect order, so that any file may be located promptly by any person authorized to use the files. General secretaries often work inside an organization where company records are maintained by special file clerks inside a central filing room, but the secretary may still remain responsible for all the filing. A secretary must learn the rules of four basic filing systems. The alphabetic, subject, geographic, and numeric systems. Also the vertical files, card files, and open shelf files. Files for audimated data pocessing are required by many firms. Two remaining basic skills of general and legal secretaries are: Receptionist, trained to meet and route visitors, customers, salesmen, and handle nuisance calls. They greet all visiters with the "red carpet treatment" by treating them with royalty. The well-trained secretary who is able to accept responsibilies who is able to relieve her employer of many management duties is a real valuable employee to any company. I studied the secretarial course at BOCES for two years. I understand the responsibilities of a secretary. The general or legal secretary understands the basic fundamentals of the work that requires additional "specialized" training. The secretary is trained to fill all these skills, a person who knows many of the confidential matters of her office.. This stops unnecessary interruptions, delays, confusions, and clears the employers desk faster. She understands which phone calls to route immediately to employer or which file to hold until she can supply him with needed reference material. Secretary sits in on conferences when a trusted witness is required. Her manners on the telephone sets the manner of the office. She is an all around daytime hostess for her employer and also his receptionist. A Secretary must act as part of employers memory with her instant recollection of the exact location of filed material. She must prepare an up to date appointment book Success working at a secretarial career requires special talents and special schooling. There is no reason why any high school senior can't enter the field and become a competent legal, or general secretary.

Year Round School: An Annual Mistake

Throughout time education has been considered a process that every so often must be improved. The education quality in the U.S. has declined over the years and people have been looking for a way to make improvements. A more recent proposal has been to go from a traditional nine month schedule to an all year program. Supporters of year round school claim it gives the student a better education. However, the prospect of year round school is not beneficial to the taxpayers pocket, to the education a student receives, or to the people involved with the district. All year school ends up costing the school district and surrounding community more money than a traditional nine month schedule. "More funds would be needed to cover the costs of paying the teachers and staff for one full year instead of for 180 days work." ( Sevetson 2). "Teachers currently make an average of $37, 000 in the United States. However, the costs would increase to $53, 000 to keep the teachers for a full year." (Somerby 8). Currently, a district uses a lot of its budget on paying teachers. Once the increased costs are put in place, the budget depletes rapidly. Yet teachers must be paid, as they are the cornerstone of education. Also, it takes additional funds to run the school all year, due to things such as air conditioning in the summer (White 28). Many schools due not currently need AC systems to be used. However, AC is a costly amenity and if schools are held open three additional months, AC becomes a heavy factor. Not to mention, the level of supplies and paper that is consumed would be more than 33% larger (Sardo- Brown 26). Costs per school for items, such as paper, increase due to constant use. (White 29). Students would be deprived of such simple items such as worksheets or class handouts. Outside costs, such as transportation and equipment for activities would go up for constant maintenance (Sardo Brown 27). Buses that travel every school day use the districts money for gasoline and repairs. The money needed to cover the maintenance These costs can be very hard for a district to swallow, because they must be covered by someone. Taxes would have to shoot up to solve the dilemma. Overall, the costs add up and equal a loss for students environment. Due to the structuring, students and teachers would not be given time to recuperate from the prior year and to prepare for the future. Many students use the summer for a vacation with their parents. However, with a school in the summer it would be much harder for a family to find a convenient time. Research shows that students would be more likely to burnout from school as they are not given an extended break in the summer (White 29). Teachers are also not given enough time to prepare for their next incoming class (Sevetson 3). An unprepared teacher can only mean much more time wasted. The summer has also been a time when students can change their lifestyles. "Many students and teachers rely on the summer for a chance to mature and grow a little older. With year round school, many lose that chance to change an attitude problem or become wiser." (Sardo- Brown and Rooney 25). It is important that students continue to mature throughout high school. Year- round school does not guarantee that this will occur. Time spent with friends would also decrease as many students run on different schedules. Friendship is one of the most important things in the development of today's child (Sardo-Brown 27). However, year round school separates most students into about two or three different schedules (Somerby 8). Students are not given any preference as to which one they follow and it is simply a luck of the draw. The biggest problem would be the adaptation to a schedule by the students and teachers. For students already in junior high or high school, year round school would be a hard schedule to follow (Sevetson 2). After years of following one method, they would be told to suddenly switch tracks completely. Students would then lose a chance for improved education. Similarly, teachers would not have the time needed to take additional classes to improve their teaching methods (Somerby 9). " How can a district expect education to improve if teachers can't improve their own personal education ?" (Somerby 9). Students moving out of the district would be in conflict with a district that had a nine month schedule. "For a military family or any family that is at risk, a year round schedule can only mean a nightmare." (White 27). Also, special events such as graduation or the beginning of the school year would all be lost in the shuffle from year to year (Sardo- Brown 27). This means that after years of hard work in school, graduating seniors would all but not matter. A revision does indeed need to occur in the U.S. education system. The facts all do point to other countries flying by the U.S. However, year round school is not what students need. It has too many downfalls and not enough benefits. Costs and scheduling are too huge of problems to be ignored. The nine month schedule must remain the basis for education in America. The changes that need to occur do not involve the schedule. They concern the actual education taught in classes. A change to the traditional calendar only sinks education lower off the charts.

THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD

A caterpillar crawls along a desolate branch. His many appendages grip the gray bark as he undulates his body along the path in the shade. Creeping steadily forward he is looking for the proper place suitable enough for him to change his identity. Upon finding a twig sprout where he can get bilateral support, he builds his cocoon. After his cocoon is finished the caterpillar crawls in for his metamorphosis. If one is to see a cocoon on a tree it does not resemble beauty, it is a bland piece of wound thread like material with a hole in the top. When one sees a butterfly they may look twice or stop what they are doing all together and chase it around following each of their sporadic movements as the hot sun illuminates and watches from above. Identity has changed. What once was a little ugly caterpillar that kids would go around squishing and people would flick from trees when given the chance, went on to be an ignored sack secured to branch. Nobody pays attention to the fact that beautiful butterflies are the results of these common eyesores. As the caterpillar grew older it matured and changed, from being stuck on land to airborne, from being ugly to beautiful, from being young to old. All living things mature, all things change, wherever time is a variable identities are changing. Janie is no different from these things, she too has a changing identity that can be traced throughout four main parts in the book. Janie is a young girl who at first docent even know her own identity. Being rose by her Nanny in a house full of white people, you could see how this could have been the start of an identity crisis. Janie was always treated like a white person during her youth, the people Nanny worked for dressed Janie as if she was white, they sent Janie to school with the other white children, and Janie's friends were all white. Janie knew no better than to think she was white. That was her identity. One time when a picture was shown to her of her and all of her friends, Janie was missing and in her place was a black girl in her dress. She had no idea she was different from the other children. Black, black as night and different from her friends, this was a change in Janies identity. Janie now thought different of herself knowing she was black. Her identity had changed for the first time. Janie was sent off to marry, Janie had envisionments of marrying for love and romance she says to Nanny after marrying Logan "Ah wants things sweet wid mah marriage...." . Janie had thought to her self "Husbands and wives always loved each other, and that was what marriage meant." (both exerts p.20-23) this is what Janie wanted, this is what Janie did not get. Janie had a bad marriage with Logan because her identity had changed. Janie went from being told what to do, to her own woman. Now Janie was ready for what she wanted, and now she knew who she is. Peoples perspective of Janie is a different kind of identity, but is still part of ones identity. People saw Janie as Logans woman now, man saw Janie as a good looker, and Logan saw Janie as his object. While outside pumping water, Janie noticed a man walk by. That man noticed Janie too. Jody Starks was his name and he was traveling south to an all Negro town. Jody noticed Janie as a beautiful woman who should be doing nothing but sitting on the porch in the shade. Jody offered to take Janie along with him to Eatonville to be his bride. Janie Accepts. Her identity has changed again, now she is Jodys woman. Upon arrival to Eatonville, Jody becomes Mayor of the town, buys land, cleans up, builds a store, and builds a post office. Now Janie is considered the Mayor's wife and Store keeper. Except by Pheoby her friend. Pheoby saw Janie as a exemplary woman beautiful in her ways, and knowledge to back it up. Janie and Jody didn't get along for long, soon Jody was pestering her about the store and how she should be working harder. Jody also had a problem with the way other men were looking at Janie when she wasn't looking. Jody made Janie wear her hair up in a hair rag which Janie did not want to do, this takes away from Janies own choices which makes her more Jodys Woman. Her Identity changes more to Jodys Woman. After Jody dies many suitors try to woo Janie into marriage with them, but she does not wish to get married. Janie's identity has changed now, she is a single woman living on her own and doing just fine. Along comes Tea Cake to flirt with Janie and she flirts back. The whole town notices and thinks of Janie as a flirt messing with a no good man. Janie marries Tea Cake for love and they live a simple life on the Muck harvesting beans. Janies identity has once again changed to Tea Cakes woman. Janie and Tea Cake live a very happy life on the simple land. At one point Tea Cake beats Janie just to show everybody else who's boss. This reinforces Janies identity as Tea Cakes woman. After Tea Cakes death Janie is once again a single woman, though she dearly misses Tea Cake. Janie returns to Eatonville and moves back into her old house. Janie lives a simple life from then on with a fixed identity of her own woman. All things mature and all things change, identities change so one can learn and grow old. As you can see Janie has endured her metamorphosis and turned out as a mature individual.