Letters to Arne, day 1

I'm on a Regional Advisory Committee for the US Department of Education, and my first meeting is next Monday and Tuesday, in DC. It's finals week at my school, so after they finished their English 2 exam, I asked the kids to write letters to Secretary Duncan telling them what they think the government should do to help them get a better education. Here are some excerpts (and two full letters at the end) from some of my students.

“If we get together and do like play interesting games that will keep you motivated that you will do the best you can or something. Everyone will want to play and that could make a big difference in our grades. Having something fun around would change the way some children look at and act towards school.”
- VC

“I think children would be more eager to learn if there were some sort of reward to be given for excelling.”
- TM

“I feel that we need your help to make us more successful in school. I also think that people all over the U.S. should get the same high quality education that we are getting hear at Bertie Early College.”
- JJ

“I am writing to tell you how our school can be improved. The way I feel is we need more books.”
- CH

“I feel that, maybe, if getting an education was a little more fun. Yes, I know what your thinking, “here we go again with this fun stuff,” but your wrong. I don’t mean fun by playing games everyday. I mean fun like not having to take long notes or sitting in class all day long with written assignment and bunches of worksheets. That is probably what makes so many students fail. […] Do you know how it feels to be trapped inside four walls for 7 hours straight? Well, I sure do, and its not fun.”
- KJ

“I think the government should do to help kids get a better education is get more teacher. I think teachers should have teachers assantine to help them. The assantice teacher can help kids that need help to most . And provide us with enough books to have a class set for class. One a book we can take home.”
-JN

“As an early college student, I feel there are a few things you could do to better my education. The first thing would be to make sure our teachers have enough books for everyone to have their own. Having our own books would allow us to take them home for assignments or to study. Also, make sure we have the equipment needed to make our education and learning experiences better. Things like projectors, enough computers, lab equipment, and more would be nice.”
- HW

I have been asked by my fantastic teacher Ms. Pennell to give my ideas for a better education. Because of such I would like for you to grace me with the honor of reading this letter thoroughly.
Now, as for my ideas. First of all, in some schools, such as mine, we have to take online classes. Although these classes are very convenient for the school some just aren’t good for kids. Spanish or other foreign languages are much less simple when your teacher is a monitor that burns your retinas. As of such I would thank you to do something about these. Second of all, though not terribly relevant, food is supposed to help us think. Though appreciated oftentimes the food isn’t all together tasty and sometimes, for people who do not or cannot eat certain things, children don’t eat. Third, some schools, like ours, do not have a library. This is fairly important to some students because they enjoy reading. Because of a lack of libraries children are left to do nothing when they finish their work and often resort to talking. Therefore we would appreciate a library so kids can study, read, or avoid getting distracted by other bored children.
Thank you Secretary Duncan for reading this. I hope you have a nice day.
With regards,
AQ

Dear Secretary Duncan,

As a public school student, I have great concern for my education. Everyday, I see students unhappy and weary teachers. Many people already know that the school systems aren’t the best and wil always need funding. As a way to better our education, we need two main things; resources and more class variety.
In some of my classes, there always seems to never be enough. We usually never have enough textbooks. Pages torn, ripped out, and written in, those are most of our books. I’ve seen classmates brag about the “good book,” books that look the closet to being new. Sometimes there just aren’t enough books and we can’t take them home for help or we are forced to share them in class. It becomes a struggle at times, but we manage.
Being a teacher’s daughter gives me more insight to the needs of students that teachers conceal for our benefit. The situation is almost like a parent spending money they don’t have just to get their children everything they need to live comfortably. Our teachers don’t have much funding from the school system, if they get any. Teachers try their hardest to get reference books, tutoring software, and other materials need to run a decent and functional classroom. They make class as interesting as they can to educate us, but not having enough is cruel and unusual punishment to students and teachers.
Finally, cutting some of the most important classes can alter a child’s future forever. Learning different maths, sciences, histories, and englishes are important, but having an art class or music class could be the only thing that sends a student to college with a scholarship or sends them to a dead end job trying to make ends meet. I understand budget cuts must be made to gain more money, but we should find some sufficient way to gain money and keep these electives.
Education is in great demand for a good future, but it starts early to obtain it. How can we obtain it without enough to get there? We can, we just need a little more resources and keep electives.
Sincerely,
RB