The Bottom Line – The Lottery

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. These parents are willing to try anything to help their kids, even entering a lottery just for a chance at a better school.

Linda said something really important too. She talked about how charter schools help some kids, but not everyone can get in. Most of the kids who need help the most, like Black and Latino children, are the ones left behind. It made me think about how unfair that is. School is supposed to help all kids, not just the lucky ones. Kids should not have to win a spot just to learn.

In our group, we talked about how schools in rich areas already what have they need. They have good books, teachers, and clean buildings. But schools in poor neighborhoods don’t have those things. That is not fair. It should not matter how much money a family has or where they live. All kids should have the same chance to learn and do well in school.

For our project, we made a PowerPoint to show what we learned. One slide showed what families go through when they wait for the lottery. Another slide showed what public schools and charter schools look like. We added pictures of parents who were hoping for a better future for their kids. In the middle, we showed a picture of a lottery machine. That is because the whole movie is about how education is being decided by luck instead of fairness.

After watching The Lottery, I learned that the school system does not treat everyone the same. That is not okay. All kids should be able to go to a good school. Parents should not have to hope and wait to see if their child gets picked. Every student should have the same chance to learn, no matter where they live.

School is supposed to be for everyone. Kids should not have to win to get a good education. That is not fair. I hope things change in the future so that all kids can have the same chances to learn and do well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“Separate and Unequal” Education’s Broken Promise

Image
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 ...
Read more

Week One Blog - The Common School

Week One Blog This week, we learned about something called the Common School Era . That means the time in history when people in America started to believe that every kid should be able to go to school. Before this time, only rich kids or boys got to learn. But leaders like Horace Mann wanted to change that. He believed school was super important not just to learn reading and math, but to help kids grow up to be good people and help the country. In our group, we each picked a word, a phrase, and a sentence from the reading that we thought showed what this time in history was really about. Then we talked about our choices and decided which ones were the best to show the meaning of the Common School Era. The Word: Equality My classmate Ineesha chose the word “equality” because people during this time believed that school could help make things fairer. Horace Mann thought that if all kids went to school, rich or poor, then everyone could have the same chances in life. But even thou...
Read more