Cinnamond 1 Kyle Cinnamond Professor Raffaele Seminar in Composition September 10, 2020 The Path-Making Essay Caught in a constant cycle, a constant fear, a constant unknown, these kids walk the streets of their home not knowing what is truly going on. They have known the buildings of rubble and the sound of gunshots while they sleep, but do they know what is outside of the 5block radius they’ve been confined to their who lives? Having a good education and living in a wealthy area I never thought of the world in this light; I never saw school as an escape from the crazy word. Many kids in low-income areas wake up eager to go to school because they can see their friends, and for some getting out of their homes is a most to stay sane. The children in this photograph, no older than 4th grade, are oblivious to what is surrounding them because they lack one thing, education. The real question is why don’t they get a solid education like many other students? What stand out to me and makes me question the most in this picture is the brokendown buildings in the background. I have seen this firsthand before in the town of Chester, PA. In Chester the poverty rate is very high and there are dilapidated houses on every block. The first time I went to Chester, I was going to mentor a child who lived there. The goal was to give them hope for their future and show them how important education and helping your community really is. After 3 years of being a mentor to these kids I always had the same Cinnamond 2 question. Why is this town so very poor? Was it ever a nice place to live, and how did it get to the point it is today? After those few years of witnessing what kids who live in poverty-stricken areas went through, I was interested in what needs to be done to help. I now think I have an idea of what needs to be done but how to do it is very difficult. How can we provide education to these innocent children and tell them what to do in order to break free from the poverty cycle? During the pandemic might be the most important time ever to implement a new and improved education system. Many low-income families may not have access to the internet or a computer making it very hard for them to attend online classes and learn about what to do to protect themselves from Covid-19. Coronavirus is nothing we have ever had to deal with before. This picture below may just look like a sectioned of walkway to a building, but it represents much more than that. Both the walkway and the “ONE WAY” sign protruding into the prior photograph seem to force you Cinnamond 3 in a certain direction that may not be the best direction to go. In a school in a low-income area where most if not all the kids attending have serious socioeconomic problems, teachers are not able to devote more time to education and academic instruction. Adding on Covid-19 and the safety precautions that go along with the pandemic I am very curious to see how schools are able to adapt and if some kids will end up getting an education this year at all. Personal protective equipment, computers, iPad’s, internet service, and many more thing are going to need to be provided this year to students in order to ensure a productive yet safe environment. I am still attempting to find out how low-income school districts will be able to afford to give each kid a computer or tablet. Will these kids without one have to buy it on their own? I got in contact with one of my mentees’ mom who lives in Chester, PA to see what her sons’ school was doing for the schoolyear. She told me he was going to be remote learning for the fall and that they were going to reevaluate in a few weeks. In this picture it shows a boy with a mask on working in class but if you look in the background you realize how far away everyone is that is in his class. I am wondering if by having to be socially distanced in the Cinnamond 4 classroom it will change the social aspect of school. Due to it being so early in the schoolyear and not knowing the true effects of coronavirus on the education system yet, it is still hard to tell what, good or bad, will come out of this pandemic. Education will be forever changed but the question is, in what way. Snow Days may become a thing of the past with online school being brought to light. There will be no need for missed days of school for many reasons, and the school year could end earlier because of this. As. A society we will soon be able to answer these questions as the school year keeps moving (hopefully).
