Sunday, October 16, 2011

11:00 AM - No comments

Nigeria at 51

They say a fool at 40 is a fool forever, I try my best not to think the same applies to my beloved country Nigeria, but as times goes on I am starting to think maybe it the same saying applies to the country. Last week the Nigeria Independence parade was held in the beautiful city of New York, the people was celebrating the country turning 51, Even though the parade was fun, it got me thinking what has Nigeria achieved in the last 51 years since independence. It is not like the country provide the citizen with free and good education, or a good health system that the people of the country can rely on. Many things is wrong with the country yet some people of the country still claim Nigeria is the Giant of Africa. A giant that is known for corruption and lack of improvement.
It bothers me why a rich country like Nigeria has such a high level of poverty, I often ask my self why the majority of the people have not yet tasted the rich and wealth of the country. I dont understand why a great Nation that has produced some Intelligent and great people like Chinua Achebe, Wole Shoyinka , Flora Nwapa, etc can not be examined from the angle and the character of these intelligent and great people.
I am still dreaming of the day Nigeria will have electricity for a week without taking it out. The day when she will do her first heart transplant, the day when a child from the village does not have to go around selling bread instead he or she is in school learning how to be the world greatest leader, Maybe my dream might eventually come true one day when the government of the country starts working for the people.
I can sit back and act as if the problem does not affect me, but then I will be lying to myself. sometimes I think about the future generation of the Nation and I feel nothing but pain in my heart because I know the government is not making their future look bright. their future continue to blink like a old overused light bulb in the village. The greed of few people in the country have the future of the young generation in jeopardy. there is this Nigeria proverb that says" The alcohol that is insufficient for a whole town ought not to intoxicate one man", which means if a food or water is not enough for the whole community there should no reason why a man in the community should have a left over. This is not the case of the government. They don't really care if the people of the country starving or dying. all they care about is themselves
I know the country will change one day but my question is when will that happen when the government are not willing to change and the young generation are either scared to rebel or they themselves are as corrupted as the older generation. We celebrate the Birthday of the Nation every year without having nothing to show for it. I think it is tome for people to stand up against the government.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

5:25 AM - 1 comment

education and inequalities

Inequality within Education


Equality of Educational Opportunity: The principle that every child should have an equal chance of doing as well in education as his or her ability will allow (an introduction to sociology Browne, K 1992) A principle that was the core of the 1944 Education Act, and although the act was replaced by the comprehensive system at a later date, the heart of it was to ensure all children had an equal opportunity regardless of their sex, ethnic background or even social class. However, despite the original hopes that were placed upon it, the education system seems to fail in this area, as not all children of the same ability achieve the same success. The failure is often seen as an underachievement by the pupil, and that their social class origin, ethnicity and gender have an influence on how they progress through education.

Such children often face disadvantages in their social conditions such as poor-quality housing, high unemployment in their homes, contributing to difficulties in coping with their school work. For instance it is generally thought that the higher the social class of the parents, the more successful the child will be in education, this could mean that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds will have the “worse” schools, while in contrast, the middle and upper class children will probably have less problems and result in a better learning environment. Additionally, school’s in predominately middle-class areas have been found to have a more active parent-teacher associations to enable the extra help needed to ensure the children’s success(National Confederation of Parent Teacher associations 1991). While parents in poorer areas may find it harder to make such contributions, meaning the schools lacks support, having a knock-on effect within the pupils. Perhaps the working-class children are at a disadvantage from the beginning as schools are, and have always been as that is how they began, middle-class institutions, they teach predominately middle-class values of ‘the right form of dress’, behaviour, good language, etc. This may mean that the middle-class children could just treat school as an extension of their home life, appearing to the teachers to be tuned-in, while viewing the lower-class pupils as trouble-makers because they take a bit longer to ‘tune-in’.

The working-class child may see the atmosphere and values of school as unfamiliar, as they may differ from their home life. However what is unseen is the double journey working-class pupils are thrust upon in education - in addition to the academic hurdles they will have to face they do it while facing a wider range of problems outside of school. Their disadvantages are seen in the primary school and become more and more emphasized as they grow older and pass through each school in turn. They, some may say inevitably, fall behind as such becoming disillusioned along the way, is it no wonder that those who leave school with few or no qualifications are from working-class backgrounds. More often than not, a child’s background plays more of a part in their schooling than their raw I.Q. Perhaps though this is because we live in an unequal society, where the associated effects of home life, class background and the middle-class culture of school means the dream of total equal opportunities for all in education are just that, a dream.

A lot of the cause can also be attributed to some teachers as negative labels of the working class child are construed by middle class teachers which are in turn communicated to pupils who take all this on and become self fulfilling prophecies of failure. Positive labels are communicated to the middle class child as they are seen as ideal pupils who work hard and keep quiet, because their integration is easier – and so they too become self fulfilling prophecies, but this time successful ones. You can, of course, form a debate for those teachers who do spot and nurture some children’s talents. The sad thing about the debate against the last sentence is that it is only some, there a far more leaving education having never had their chance to enhance their abilities, to have their talent flourish and be commended for it.

The class inequalities are now branching into higher education since the cost of going to university has, more or less, passed from the state to the student. So the gap started in school is now going to impact on university life as well. Those less likely to be able to comfortably afford to go to university - the working classes - are, straight away, working on a handicap compared to those who can afford to do so comfortably, the middle and upper classes. The reason for the handicap in higher education is the need for the working-class students to have to work in order to ‘survive’ university life. This considerably cuts into research/studying time, due to longer days than others, and therefore increases the likeliness of lower grades. But this is how it has been for many, many years and how it will inevitably continue to be, as there will always be class divides and the differences that they bring.

Monday, May 17, 2010

9:49 AM - 1 comment

Archive

the interviewer is trying to find out why the person they are interviewing move to New York. the interviewee gave enoughs insight on why they move to new York city. from the way they give answers to the question being ask, you can tell they still remember a lot of things that happen back then . the interview with daisy kinard shows that she remembered her life before moving to New York n she does not think it a pleasant to remember. the interview with Anthony Avena shows that he did not really have a choice but to move. because he was a little child and his parent want a better life for him. the history context was figured out by looking at the front page of the archive paper. the experience of the interviewee relate to the the discussion in class because we talked about immigration. and why people move from one place to another. both interviewee shows that people only move because of better life , which we have discussed in class already. we also discussed that immigration happen because of better education and better job. daisy kinard prove that to be true because she move from the south to New York because of better education and better work pay.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

10:20 PM - No comments

the impact of race in our society

What is the definition of race? He term “race” or “racial group” refers to the concept of dividing humans into populations or groups on the basis of various sets of characteristics. The most widely used human racial categories are based on visible traits, especially skin color, cranial or facial features and hair texture, as well as self-identification. However, the conceptions of race, as well as specific ways of grouping races, vary by culture and over time, and are often controversial for scientific, as well as social and political reasons. The controversy ultimately revolves around whether or not races are natural types or socially constructed, and the degree to which perceived differences in ability and achievement, categorized on the basis of race, are a product of inherited traits or environmental, social and cultural factors. Racism have a lot of impact in the world we live in. the world is now defined by race, sometimes ones potential might be stereotype by their race. Racism is something that still affects a lot of minority in America especially African Americans. A lot of African American is being discriminated on because of the color of the skin; most so called black man do not get hired as white man.

Monday, April 19, 2010

9:13 AM - 3 comments

"Who Built the Pyramids," and "Born Rich"

who built the pyramid by Micheal Lefevre talk about about how it is stressful to be a working class in America . to Micheal being a working class means a person have to do all the work without being recognised for it. he feels that he have to struggle to make in the society because he needs every working hours in can get in order to make the ends meet in his family hold. he also think working class man are always thought as being illiterate and uneducated. he talked about how he wish he can be recognised for his work as being a steelworker instead of some snubby rich kid taking the recognition for it. he think life it unfair because even when he try to speak for his right he might get punished for it because he is just a working class working for some sunbby rich man.
In born rich a bunch of rich kids were interviewed oh how does it feels to be a child from a rich family. some of the kids think that there life is as perfect as it can get because they have everything they want , when it comes to money and class. they go to one of the most expensive schools in the world and dine at the best restaurant, they do not work but yet they are known for whatever reason. this kids can pass a class without even attending the class because of the status the society put them in.
the way people respect you in the society is based on how much money a person have and the people you hang out with . the rich will never be treated the same as the middle class because they have the money to buy there way through the society. the thing that
Micheal Lefvre and the rich kids have in common is that they both want to be recognised for something, only that the rich kids can actually achieve that goal without not doing much , while a working class might try to be recognised and at the end of the day he wont be recognised at all.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

11:30 PM - 2 comments

test at a work force

in any working company in America, every employer are suppose to be given some kind of test in order for them to be employed in the company. some companies only give a drug test while others give both personality test and drug test.the company that give both est to their employee before they hire them think they people they need in there company must be friendly in order for them to gain more customers and make profit for their company. in order for a person to work in a company like that , one must pass the drug test and also have a good personality , enduring and understanding. the purpose of the test is to see how well can a person get along with people around you.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

5:31 PM - 2 comments

the minimmum wage

The United States Department of Labor is a cabinet department of the United State government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S state also have such department.
The minimum wage of the United State is $7.25, this is the minimum amount of money that every state 'suppose' to pay their employee. even though the minimum wage suppose is $7.25; there are some State that pays lower than the federal minimum wage. the reason is because is that some states fiscal status is loser than the other. the state that pays lower might have a lower economy income than the state that pays higher. the same thing also goes to the state that have higher minimum wage that the federal. the expenses of the stated is higher than the one of the federal.