Motivational Monday 2!!!!

Whoot whoot! It's the week of Thanksgiving ((: Only a two and a half day week and a long weekend ahead! Take time to enjoy this long weekend, everyone deserves a little break!

                                                                                                                              ~Ally

Motivational Monday!!!

School can often be very frustrating and challenging, but hard work always pays off in the end!! Have a fantastic week everyone (:

                                                                                                                                   ~Ally

Dress Codes.

Dress codes. Just about every school has them, though some schools have stricter policies then others. Within the past few years, schools have seen a particularly strong uprising against these policies by students as well as parents. Many of the dress code polices were created from sexualizing  the female body. A middle school student from Versailles, Kentucky, Maggie Sunseri, says that "My principal constantly says the main reason for [it] is to create a 'distraction-free learning zone' for our male counterparts". Parents everywhere have stood up against claims like these, stating that rules promoting these ideals one, makes girls become self conscious about their body and two, teaches both boys and girls that if male students or faculty are unable to focus due to how a girl dresses then it's her fault.

Sunseri actually made a documentary where she interviews some of the students in her school asking about what they thought of the dress code. This video really highlights how negatively a dress code can bring down the confidence of girls as well as the bias in dress codes. To watch Sunseri's video click here.

Anna Huffman also decided to take a stand against dress code by launching the #IAmMoreThanADistraction on Twitter. She received tons of feedback by girls everywhere sharing their own experiences.

 


Strict dress code rules are one of the main factors that have been creating the stigmatism of "boys will be boys" which is not and should not be an excuse for boys having poor behavior. Laura Bates, co-founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, said, "There's a real culture being built up through some of these dress codes where girls are receiving very clear messages that male behavior, male entitlement to your body in a public place is socially acceptable, but you will be punished."
Besides that, many girls will be pulled out during classes and be told to go home and change into more appropriate clothing. Even simple acts like these subconsciously creates the idea that creating a "distraction-free learning environment" for males is more important then allowing a female to receive education.

Websites used:
 http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/10/school-dress-codes-are-problematic/410962/

Standardized Testing

Standardized test. quite possibly the most feared words of any student. Whether its MCAS, SAT or one of the many, many other tests created to test the comprehension of material by students, there are very few, if any students, who like them. To my surprise however, standardized testing has been around for quite a while. In fact it was used by China during the 7th century to test if a person is suited to work in the government. They were also used in Boston during the 1800's to judge how well each school was teaching its students. The more modern standard testing we know of today came about in 2002 when the No Child Left Behind Act was passed under George W. Bush. This act made yearly testing in math and reading mandatory. From this, schools must be able to show "Adequate Yearly Progress" (AYP) or else the state could take control over or close the school. In 2009, the "Race to the Top Program" was passed as an incentive for schools to become better/have higher standardized test scores. Through this program the top scoring schools split and extra $4.35 billion in funds.

In more recent years, it has been brought up that standardized testing is not an accurate measurement of every students knowledge since people have different ways of learning and demonstrating what they know. However many points have been brought up that standardized testing is the most logical way to test students ability in an equal an non-discriminatory way. While researching this topic I found this blog that pretty much sums up all these main points! Click here to check it out (:


                                                                                                                  ~Ally


Websites Used:
http://greengarageblog.org/12-primary-pros-and-cons-of-standardized-testing
http://standardizedtests.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006521