Going Public: American Education Summer II 2025

In Part IV of School: The Story of American Public Education , we watched a movie called The Lottery . This movie made me feel really sad. It showed how some families have to hope their kids get picked in a lottery to go to a better school. That means their child’s future depends on luck. That is not fair at all. In the movie, parents and children went to a big room where names were being called. They were hoping to hear their child’s name get picked. Some kids got in, and some didn’t. The parents were nervous and scared. A lot of them started crying when their child did not get picked. That part made me feel emotional. It is not right that going to a good school is like playing a game. My classmate Jennifer said that many parents in the movie had a hard life. When they were younger, they didn’t have support or good schools. Some of them got into trouble because of it. But now they want something better for their children. They want their kids to go to college and be successful. Thes...

In Part III of School: The Story of American Public Education and the video How America's Public Schools Keep Kids in Poverty , I learned that schools in the United States are still not fair. A long time ago, schools were separated by race. Now they are not supposed to be, but many schools still don’t have the same things. Some schools in rich neighborhoods have lots of books, new computers, and good teachers. But schools in poor neighborhoods, where many Black and Latino kids live, do not have the same. They have old books, broken buildings, and not enough teachers. This is not the fault of the kids. It happens because schools get money from taxes in the neighborhood. If the area is poor, the school gets less money. That is not fair. In the video, a teacher named Kandice Sumner talked about this. She said people call it an “achievement gap” when poor students don’t do as well. But she says it’s not a gap, it’s an “education debt.” That means the country owes these kids more help ...