Disclaimer: This is a draft of my current favorite idea for this speech, so I would love tips on different angles to focus on or things to highlight or take out, I definitely went for a narrative style for my draft, but let me know if you have any tips for me!

As a wide-eyed, tie-dye wearing first-grader, I never thought that I would be bored of spending time playing outside with other kids; sadly, I was wrong. On my first day of classes, I remember skipping into school with my shiny blue lunchbox and well-worn purple notebook, excited for my first day with the other, surely eager students. While my excitement towards learning was my own, it had been carefully woven from years of living and breathing my mom’s passionate recitations of various short stories and novels. I believe in the value of a good book. My love of reading has been molded from my earliest memories, becoming a reflection of the love my mom poured into every word she so carefully delivered. So, I pranced into school ready to share my passion for imagination and fairytales, but absurdly, no other students seemed to share that passion, preferring instead to spend their free time chatting about Ross Lynch’s perfect hair or Mrs. Goldsmith’s new dress. Now, I wasn’t a complete outlier, and like all kids I enjoyed playing on the playground and coloring with my friends, but without many students who had similar interests, I ultimately felt lost in the classroom. Little did I know, this classroom atmosphere was normal, and I, evidently, was not. Luckily, I wasn’t entirely alone, my new friend Katie was equally as confused by the class. However, she was more interested in division and multiplication as opposed to literary heroines and whimsical worlds. Katie and I found ourselves feeling similarly about our first-grade experience, similarly bored, which was not only frustrating, but confusing. Eventually, I began to overhear my parents’ discussions with the administration, pleading for a solution to my increasing-boredom and lack of interest in what I was learning. At the time, I was puzzled by the situation. I didn’t understand what it meant to be reading above grade level, just like Katie didn’t grasp why her math skills were out of place; I just knew that I loved reading and Katie loved math. The next week, I had no changes to my first-grade routine, however, to my complete horror, Katie was nowhere to be found in class. Despite my panic, Mrs. Goldsmith assured me that everything was perfectly normal, and that Katie had been placed into the accelerated program for math. My confusion doubled, as my parents and I had been repeatedly informed that there was nothing the school could do to supplement my reading skills, and I was never tested or given the opportunity to try a new class. As a 6 year old, I didn’t understand why there was such a great distinction between math and reading. What made Katie more capable of advancing grades? What made my skills and talents lesser than Katie’s? To be perfectly honest, as an adult I still do not understand the reasoning behind keeping some students stagnant, while supporting the ambitions and skills of others. While a 6 year old me couldn’t comprehend this divide, I still felt the sting of inadequacy and was set up to feel inexplicably inferior to a friend that I considered to be an equal. The further I progress in education, the more this divide frustrates me; the characters may have changed, but the narrative did not. In a system that disproportionately propels some students, but not others, I believe in providing equal opportunities for all students. While math is certainly important, I believe that the value of a good book is equal to the value of mathematical disciplines. I believe that intelligence has many faces that should not be discounted.

Hey All!

I have decided that for my Civic Issue blog I will be pursuing a political blog with a special focus on international relations and foreign policy in relation to current crises, as this was the civic area that I felt most compelled to, and was most interested in, addressing in my blog. Additionally, for my Personal is Political blog I have chosen to discuss free-ranging stories regarding my family’s various encounters with critical elements of American civic life and pressing civic issues.

I hope everyone enjoyed their snow day!

This I Believe Podcast Ideas: 

 

Diversity within Advanced Educational Opportunities (K-12)

I have always loved to read and write from a very young age, however, despite the fact that I was reading at upper-middle school levels in the 1st grade, along with one of my very close friends, we had zero opportunities to advance our reading skills through the school. Sure, there were gifted programs for kids who were excellent at math or science, and those students could even skip grades in school or take advanced math classes at the middle schools and high schools, but for students who excelled outside of their grade range in reading and writing, there were no spaces or programs for advanced development. As a result, myself and other classmates certainly felt inferior to students that were allowed in the schools “gifted program”, which required advanced knowledge of STEM area subjects, but did not provide opportunities for students who excelled in the humanities or English. This was a great source of frustration for me, as it established the idea that students who excel at STEM are superior to those who excel in other subjects. I have lived in Arizona, Oregon and Pennsylvania, and have found this issue in every school system that I have been in.

 

The Need for More Spaces for Kids

I definitely favor the first idea because it feels more personal to me, however, something that came to my mind when I thought back on my childhood was how much fun my sister and I used to have at art classes and recreational sports clubs in elementary school and middle school. The best part is that for the most part these spaces and activities were free of charge, or had a very low fee per activity, as many were sponsored by public schools in our area. However, today it seems that there is a complete lack of these spaces for kids, as many programs such as the ones I described are disappearing due to a lack of funding. When I drive around places I used to live I barely recognize them anymore, arcades, toy stores, and other recreational spaces for children are missing. Even the places meant for kids that are still around have had to drastically up prices in order to stay afloat, meaning that these spaces become less accessible. I have spoken to some of my old teachers from middle and elementary school, and they say that this generation of kids is the worst they have ever seen, as they are growing up far too quickly, and are even shopping stores well outside of their age range such as Sephora and Lululemon. I believe that a lack of emphasis on extracurricular activities and spaces specifically meant for children is to blame for this phenomenon of children’s behavior. 

 

Personal is Political Blog Ideas:

 

Free-ranging Style of Collection of Family Stories

Unfortunately, I have a very dysfunctional extended family in pretty much every way. While I am close with all of them to at least some degree, my extended family is primarily divided between Oklahoma (mom’s side) and California (dad’s side) which are obviously fairly far away (which is probably for the best). Though I certainly love my family, a great number of disparities and gaps in health, education, access to resources, occupation, and religion have made the dynamics between my family and my extended family somewhat of a minefield of odd, disturbing, and frankly just sad situations. For the purposes of this blog, my family’s various stories and life experiences highlight essentially every realm of civic life and the myriad of issues that follow represent critical disparities in the American system, particularly regarding healthcare and education. 

 

Thematic: My Family’s Successes and Failures in Public Education

As I mentioned above, my family has many ranging experiences and issues regarding several civic topics. However, the most prevalent gap within my family’s chaotic and sometimes misguided understanding of the world lies in the complete and absolute chaos that is the American public education system, specifically regarding literacy. While public education is certainly highly important, it has without a doubt failed some of my family members through generations, but has also proved to be extremely beneficial to many members of my family. The absolute rollercoaster of quality within my family members’ education represents a vital issue in American society, as some members of our nation are greatly disadvantaged in terms of educational opportunities. 

 

Civic Issues Blog Ideas: 

Politics Blog: U.S. Foreign Policy

I am a political science major, and I am particularly interested in pursuing a career in the field of foreign service, so naturally I am always scanning the news for events of interest in current foreign affairs. In general, I love to learn about new international events, and with the current political climate domestically and internationally, it is crucial to analyze the impacts of events abroad, and reevaluate our own views on the policies utilized by our government to deal with international crises. Additionally, American diplomacy is a frequently shifting arena, with policy changing rapidly due to administration differences, so discussing the ramifications and future policy directions would be very interesting. In a time with so many international conflicts, I would likely spend the majority of this blog discussing the issue of America’s responsibility and what our role could/should be in the coming conflicts based on national ideals and citizens views on international affairs. 

Education Blog: The Role of Public Education

Education is a topic that I also find highly interesting, as my family alone has had so many different experiences with the public education system that I have seen a myriad of life-defining impacts based primarily on the quality of someone’s education. A topic that I am particularly interested in is the quality and validity of the dispersal of public education funds, as often schools seem to be spending much time and money on the wrong things. Job-focused programming within schools is also a hot topic, as many schools starting at the high-school level are beginning to focus less on more general education requirements and more on career specialization, which could eventually create disparities in the quality of someone’s overall education and knowledge base. The ultimate question of public education at every level, and especially in college, is it’s viability, as an increasing number of students are struggling with debt as the costs of attending public universities continue to rise.