Education: As Bad As It Sounds

You can't escape it. The US Educational System is in its own Great Depression. Teenagers are less motivated to go to college, and some teachers are less motivated to teach. It's everywhere.

The problem is being blamed on inner-city schools in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. The buildings are in rough shape, the teachers are severely underpaid (and sometimes under-skilled), and the students are under-motivated.

The No Child Left Behind Policy was no help, either.

While the huge inner-city schools are failing and becoming unaccredited, the suburban schools are thriving. They have visible arts funding, visible science funding, and visible EVERYTHING funding (I find it quite unfair). Yes, due to the NCLB Policy, many of them are becoming unaccredited - this is because by 2014, every single student who takes the test must pass the elevated standards of 100%. Yes. 100%.

In the exurbs, however, one would expect a better school system due to the higher class citizens filling the population. That's unfortunately not how it works. Some schools are small enough to fit the entire district in one building. The students receive a great one-on-one attention from the teachers, and an almost nonexistent dropout rate. But is the education a world-class one?

Not in the least.

Let's face it; a diploma from South Nodaway R-IV High School is not as recognizable as one from Maryville High School, which is not as recognizable as one from Blue Springs High School, which isn't as recognizable as one from the Missouri Academy of Science, Math, and Computing, which isn't as recognizable as one from the Barstow Academy.

Here's the basic question: Why do students have to pay to get a world-class education, but those who can't afford it just get tossed to the side?

I feel as if I have crossed the rant-line and would like to hear the input of others on this almost ignored topic in politics...

Start Spreadin' the News: New York City

New York City: Center of the Universe. Times are shitty, but I'm pretty sure it can't get worse.

That's from the song, "Santa Fe," from the musical, Rent.

New York is the largest city in the United States it's central (not metropolitan) population is ~8 million. It's metro population is around 19 million people. The city is separated into five boroughs: Manhattan, The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. Each borough is legally a separate county in the state of New York (Brooklyn is Kings County). All five have a distinct atmosphere to each of them.

Traffic in New York (particularly in Manhattan) is awful. You would think that taxis, since they're a form of public transportation, would ease up the heavy traffic flow. But in reality, during the day, the streets of New York are basically rivers of yellow. Taxis are everywhere. New York also has a subway system. It's nothing to brag about - the lines are so confusing. If you get on the wrong train, you may end up far away from your destination. Not to mention they're filled with graffiti.

The entertainment scene in New York is ridiculously better than ANYWHERE else in the world besides, maybe, London. Broadway Street is home to multiple theatres that rarely sit empty. My first stop, if I were to go to New York, would be the Al Hirschfeld Theatre to see the show, Hair.

New York is home to several universities such as City University of New York (CUNY) and New York University (NYU - I'm applying there!). The New York City Public School District is home to an ungodly number of students. And to their benefit, when they have snow days, all of the theatres on Broadway give them half price tickets for something to do during the day. Isn't that just wonderful?

Here is a video of the many sights in New York City. It's basically just a tour of Manhattan, unfortunately.

New York is also where the majority of our movies take place. It's been destroyed several times, apparently...

The city is the definition of cities. It's a rule that you must visit it at least once in your lifetime. I still have yet to.

In Case You Disagree with Me

I'm making this post for two reasons:
1. I have to.
2. I rant too much about how much small towns, well, suck.

The opposition to my point-of-view can be found anywhere you go. Whether it's an inner-city kid who has been raised in the city their whole life, or a small town kid who just can't imagine being around so many people and things.

I mean, come on, who wouldn't enjoy three hours in traffic?

I grew up in a small town called Barnard, Missouri (it's about twenty minutes away from Maryville). 257 people lived in it. It was basically set on a face of a hill that overlooked the 102 River. Living there was great as a kid. You didn't have to have all the stores and parks that larger cities would have. But as I got older, it became more boring. For some reason, I just stopped, "Making my own fun," and depended on outside sources for it.

Anyway, Barnard was part of the South Nodaway School District, which contained two schools - one elementary (Pre-K - 6), one high (7 - 12), and about 200 students total. The kids there weren't raised to be open-minded, for the most part. It's just not a great education and social environment to grow up in. But hey, I made it out okay.

But Barnard was safe, nonetheless. Everyone greeted you whenever you went on walks (except the angry old women), and the town was just a good place to grow up - if you had friends.

Compare that to a city where you probably shouldn't let your kids walk around aimlessly unless you want them to get kidnapped...

The picture at top is the old Barnard museum/train station (that's only open the last Sunday of every month). Exciting.

Public Transport - Filled With Germs, But Convenient

Public transportation can be found in almost every city (of over 150,000 people) across the world. Whether it's the Parisian Métro, or San Francisco's ferry system, every one does the same exact thing: get people from place to place.

After the invention of the car, inner city populations began to fall as many people fled to the suburbs for safer and more relaxed living. Cars made it easier for people to live in a less urban setting and easily commute to the job-rich inner city (refer back to exurbs, suburbs, and urban areas post).

However, people forgot about the threat of heavy traffic. Did you know that a 60-mile trip from Los Angeles to San Diego takes about three hours during rush hour? This is why cities have established public transportation systems, such as subways, buses, and ferries, to get people moving from place to place without the worry of traffic.

I made the example of Los Angeles, but the city only has a bus system and a small part of the nation's train system, Amtrak. Paris, France, on the other hand, is rich in public transport - having an extremely efficient subway system, buses, and taxis. New York also has a great system, despite the lack of cleanliness on the subways and ferries. Seattle, Washington has a ferry system that takes passengers all around the Pudget Sound. The King County Metro system of buses also helps people from the eastern suburbs of Seattle commute into the city.

Public transportation really depends on the city you're in and the size of highways and streets there are. Some cities have great highway and street systems that enable cars to travel quickly around the city (without ever having to go into the city itself). If you look at a map of Indianapolis, for example, there's a large ring around the city with several interstate highways traveling towards the center from the ring. It relieves traffic, and aids passers-by by dodging the traffic-heavy inner city.

The video posted is Paris' Métro system. The system itself is filled with stops (two of them at the Louvre - it's a HUGE museum). The trains also travel very fast, which is nice if you're in a hurry.

Ex[Sub(urban)]

We were discussing in class how to make our blogs more interesting by branching out to other related topics. As an example, we discussed, for my blog, writing about the differences between urban, suburban, and exurban areas.

A good example of this would be Kansas City, Missouri.
Urban: Inner-city Kansas City (downtown, the Plaza, etc.).
Suburban: City limits touching Kansas City's (Lee's Summit, Grandview, N. Kansas City, Independence, etc.).
Exurban: Outer-Lying cities (Peculiar, Platte City, St. Joseph?).

These cities are often referred to as commuter towns - the inner city is often home to many jobs of the commuters from the suburbs. Exurbs developed during the 1970s, when many urban areas faced job losses and increased crime.

In the US, suburbs and exurbs often house the middle and upper classes. They're outside of the crime-ridden inner city and are at a short enough commute to not waste lots of gas money. In Europe, however, it's different. The suburbs are filled with crime and urban decay, while the inner cities are extremely expensive to live within.

Paris, for instance, brings in the most tourists per year in the world. In order to attract more tourists, the French government (in the 1950s) built housing projects in the nearby city of Nanterre. These huge buildings housed hundreds of immigrants from North Africa and Asia, while the native Parisian population enjoyed the beautiful city of Paris just across the Seine River.

I have an Algerian friend with an aunt who resides in a wealthier suburb of Paris. He often refers to Nanterre as, "Nonterre," which means, with bad French grammar, "No land."

This is a map of Paris and it's many, many suburbs. It gives me a headache.

A Bit Far From Home: Nice, France

I visited Nice in June 2009, and loved it.

Nice is the fifth largest city in France, and lies on the Mediterranean Coast, about an hour away from the Italian border. Its beach is not covered in sand, it's actually covered in large pebbles that bruised my ankle when I went swimming. Its climate is like that of Southern California - hot and dry in the summer, and cool and wet in the winter (but NEVER like Maryville).

Nice has no distinct skyline like a typical city - most of its building are less than 10 stories high, making it look less metropolitan that it actually is. In 2007 the city of Nice opened a new public transportation system - trams. They travel, quite quickly, throughout the city and nearly hit pedestrians, such as myself and my friend, Ruth Ann. But they are very convenient and smooth-riding.

When I went to Nice, there were no clouds in the sky, and the Mediterranean Sea was incredibly blue. Most of the citizens are very friendly (particularly the merchants at the souvenir shops), and cafes line every narrow street. Yeah, some streets in Nice are so narrow, only tiny Smart Cars, bikes, and pedestrians are allowed to go through them.

If emigrating to Europe was financially sane, then Nice would be at the top of my list of cities to reside in.

This link is basically the old town of Nice - Vieux Nice.

The Dreaded Crime

When I listen to many people from Maryville talking about how much they like it here, they always mention the, "low," crime rate. I admit, it's not a Compton or East Saint Louis, but there are some issues we need worked out. In 2008, there were two murders in three weeks (one was alcohol related and the other was during an intense argument that ended in gunshots). But that is not the point of this post.

Every time I hear that Maryville's a safe place to live in, I wonder what makes it different from major cities, aside from the gaping population gap. One cannot just escape crime; it's everywhere. So why would one want to inconvenience themselves by going to a place with limited jobs and that's 2-3 hours away from the nearest major cities? The answer is almost always the crime rates.

Here, one can find out the individual crimes that took place in Maryville in 2003, according to the FBI. As you can see, not much has really happened. If you click here, however, and scroll over to the Crime Rates tab, you can find that you have a 1/35 chance of being a victim of a crime in Maryville. Compare this to Seattle, Washington, where you have a 1/124 chance. So why isn't everyone looking for a safer place moving to Seattle? The question remains unanswered.

I understand the desire to live away from urban areas, and I understand why people find that Maryville is quite safe because, for the most part, it is. But I do not understand why the only reason to live in a smaller city (which is entirely inconvenient) is because of the low crime rates.

I suppose it all depends on the person. Some parts of Maryville are sketchy.

... And All That Jazz: Chicago, Illinois

Two years ago, I traveled to Chicago with my high school band. The real purpose of the trip was actually a Midwestern band contest. However, the performances were only a blur.

I love Chicago. It's the Midwest's New York or LA. It is the birthplace of the skyscraper, so naturally, I would love it there. On my trip two years ago, we went on a fabulous dinner cruise that traveled north and south along the Loop's shoreline with Lake Michigan. The skyline is magnificent at night.

Chicago is home to several theatres in the Loop as well as smaller community theatres in the suburbs. The city is home just over a million people (and recently declining). It is the third largest city in the US and the largest in the Midwest. And since it's but a 7-hour drive from Maryville, I'm going to be doing some road tripping when the opportunity comes.

Would I live in Chicago? Yes and no. North Chicago is filled with fine educational institutions and great hospitals, but the south side is crime-ridden. The murder rate in the south side is tremendous. One may remember the incident a couple years ago with a celebrity's nephew being murdered (sadly, I cannot remember which celebrity).

Since this video is just an informational, there's not much to say about it. It covers most of the main areas and attractions of the city, and it makes me want to visit the city again even more.


This is the photo I took during the dinner cruise. It was a desktop screensaver on my computer for about three months.