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L&CS 121: Culture and Civic Responsibility
Self-Assessment
Fall 2010
Professor Deepak Sawhney
Name: Kathryn Lau
L&CS Advisor: Nancy Dulberg
Year in school: Sophomore
Minor: Psychology
Courses taken this semester: Math 1, Biology 50 and 51, L&CS 121, and The Bible and It’s
Interpretation
Service-Learning Activities: Tutored at the LEO Center in Oakland
Cultural Events Attended: Movie “Waiting for Superman”, Academy of Science in San
Francisco
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During the discussions in this year’s L&CS class, I have learned so much about the world
around me. I would say that my worldview has been more formed than changed. I am more
aware of how important I am as an individual and how I can make a difference. When reading
the articles in Rereading America and The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol, I learned a
lot about the education system and about low-income areas and schools. I have always
appreciated my education, however, it was never something I struggled with or thought about
everyday. Kozol wrote realistically about apartheid schools in America and how the education
system is the shame of the nation. He discussed topics like race and income and how they affect
the education of children. All my life I have wanted to be an elementary school teacher. It was
always so appealing to me. I love children, and I want to educate them. However, after taking
this L&CS 121 class, I have learned that teaching is not all fun and games. It is serious, and as a
teacher, I will have the responsibility of educating an entire class of students for a complete
school year. It is especially important in the lower elementary levels because that is where the
students receive their foundation for their future grade levels. I learned about details like budgets,
government funding, and a teacher’s low salary. One might think that learning about all the harsh
truths about the education system might turn a person off from wanting to become an elementary
school teacher, but it has just made me want to become a teacher even more.
This class was very helpful in educating me about the realities of the education system. I
am glad that I am more aware of struggling schools and teachers because this is the profession I
am going to occupy for the rest of my life. I watched the documentary “Waiting for Superman”
and it was extremely eye opening. I learned a lot about the higher positions of the school systems
like the superintendent of the Washington D.C School District Michelle Rhee. In the
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documentary, we also followed the lives of six young, elementary school students and their
struggle to get into a nice school. They lived in poor areas, so their neighborhood school was not
a very good one. It was heart breaking to watch because their parents were hard workers but just
didn’t have the means to go further in their education themselves. Resulting in them having low
paying jobs and not being able to send their children to good schools that would provide them
with a good education. When watching the movie, I couldn’t stand the stories of the poor or
“bad” teachers who were in their tenure and didn’t see any point to teaching their students
anymore. I realize that the movie was a biased film, however I did find myself agreeing with
some of the information I received. I learned a lot about numbers too because the film gave many
good statistics to how our country is doing as a whole in education.
I also learned a lot about the lower class in our economy in the book, The Working Poor,
by David Shipler. It discussed the people who live below the poverty line and focused on
immigrant workers. It was interesting to read about how important immigrant workers are to our
country. When Shipler was discussing immigrants, he said, “They are not Americans, but they
are an essential part of America.” I completely agree with this. I feel like many Americans want
the immigrants out of our country, without thinking about what that would mean for us when
they are gone. Unfortunately, if the immigrants were to leave the country and we had average
American citizens occupy their jobs, every product would rise to extremely high prices. I liked
how the book explained why there is a working poor and why it continues to exist. I feel like the
next step is to try to come up with a solution for the issue of immigrant workers. I think it would
be good if there could be an easier way for them to become citizens. It’s difficult to make such
large changes, however, the first step is to be aware of the problem. And I felt this L&CS 121
class helped me do that. The readings helped my awareness of the problems that are occurring
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and have further understanding of them. Also, learning about the topics of poverty and these hard
working people still not earning enough to provide for themselves and their family, helped me
have appreciation for what I have in my life today. After learning about all those struggling
people out there, I have a lot of appreciation for what I have. I have always been grateful but
after the discussions in class, it was all put in a different perspective. I feel like I knew poverty
existed before, however, it never seemed real. Now I know that it is very real. That’s why I also
liked this L&CS class because we got to go out and help those less fortunate than us.
This semester for my service learning, I tutored students at the LEO Center in Oakland. I
really enjoyed going every week because I felt like I was truly making a difference. I realize how
important it is to contribute to the community, even if it is just for a couple hours each week. It is
important to be aware of what is going on in our neighboring cities. I went in the earlier
afternoon, when there was sixth, seventh and eighth graders at the tutoring center. I tutored a
sixth grade boy during many of my visits to the LEO Center. He always did very well but
sometimes had difficulties focusing. One Thursday afternoon, he didn’t feel like studying for his
science quiz, and said that he was willing to just take an F as his grade. I was shocked by this and
encouraged him to study because it is important to do the best that we can. I felt as though I
made a tiny difference in this boy’s life because I encouraged him to keep going, even when he
didn’t want to. If I wasn’t there helping him, he might have been home alone, discouraged, and
might have gotten that F because he didn’t work. Even though I am only one person, I’ve learned
even the smallest difference is a difference and is equally as important as the big differences. I
feel like there are many big differences that need to be done in this world, however sometimes
those are too overwhelming to think about and it is difficult to see where to start. I think that a
good way to start making a difference is just with yourself as an individual and try to make
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changes in the areas in which you are passionate about. We can only do so much as an
individual, so why not do it?
Overall, I guess this L&CS class has just helped me understand how important I am as an
individual. It’s easy to think of ourselves as very small and that we can’t possibly make a
difference in this big world. I feel like this is the most important thing that I have learned this
semester. I do matter and I do count. If anything, after this class, I feel encouraged to go and try
to make a difference or educate others about all these issues. I know that I do not know
everything about the economy and how the education system is run, however, I am a lot more
educated now than I was before. I feel like this class helped me a lot in learning about the reality
of poverty and helped me realize how important education truly is.
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Annotated Bibliography
1. Kozol, Jonathan. The Shame of the Nation: the Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in
America. New York: Crown, 2005. Print.
The Shame of the Nation was about the education system. It discussed topics to race and how
they are related to low success rated schools. It discussed the harsh realities of low funded
schools and the lives of children living in poverty.
2. Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America. New York: Vintage, 2005. Print.
The Working Poor was also a very interesting book to read. It discussed the class of people who
are poor yet they are working full time. It discussed the topic of sweatshops and immigrants and
how little they are earning. Unfortunately, there are so many people living in poverty. People
cannot possibly survive in this world earning such low wages.
3. Colombo, Gary, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for
Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print.
Rereading America consisted of many very interesting articles. They were on many varying
topics such as “The Myth of Education and Empowerment”, “The Myth of Individual
Opportunity”, “The Myth of the Melting Pot”, and “Myths of Gender”. The book was easier to
read because of all the different articles. The book provided different views on the subjects
because different authors wrote the articles.