Kelly McIntosh Final Draft

The Influence of School on a Generation

Since the beginning of recorded time there have been students and there have been teachers. Whether it’s an apprenticeship or a academic lesson, teaching has been around for centuries. As a country, the United States were founded by people who wanted to escape for religious and personal freedom. With settling in the United States came a new setting of teaching and learning. Since before the 1800 and up until now teaching and learning has changed drastically. Over the years the curriculum and the way that school has been taught has changed so much because of the progression of ideas. It has progressed to include more open ideas and a broader spectrum of information including controversial ideas and facts. In turn, this has produced progressively intelligent generations throughout the span of the United States.

Education is a staple of growing up and becoming a full functioning adult. Without education there would be no progression of ideas, technology, or people. If education had failed to develop the world as its known would not exist today; we would be living in a world where people stayed on the land they were born on, a world where people would barter for food and clothes; a world that would remain stagnant and unchanging. People are where they are today because of the ever changing ideas and concepts. And because of that it has made people intellectual being capable of curing diseases, going into outer space, and simply just staying alive past the age of 100. Without education and the changes it has endured, we would still be living like neanderthals.

Teaching before the 1800s was very simple and only consisted of a few subjects taught by common men. They were either school masters, or in the rural areas farmers, surveyors, or innkeepers. These men only taught boys because women and girls were told that they were to run the household and raise the children. Women taught the girls how to do things like sew, cook, clean, and take care of children so the men could go off and work. The boys, however, learned their basic ABC’s, reading, writing, religion, and sometimes grammar.12 This was the simplest of knowledge that the men and boys of that time needed to know because they were mostly farmers, blacksmiths, deckhands, and had other physical labor jobs. These types of jobs also brought up the opportunity for apprenticeships and the like for young boys to get into. Usually the boy’s father or a relative taught the boy the trade, but there were some instances in which the boy would get into a trade that was not family owned.

During the 1800s schools developed out of the simplicity and physicality that it once knew. Because of the development of technology throughout that age there was a need for more intelligent people. This brought around the development of the teacher, teaching, and what the students were learning. There was such a high demand for people who could develop and run the new technology that a change in education was necessary. Common schools started to spring up everywhere offering an education to children for free. Most schools of that time were private or tuition based so only a select few were able to attend, but with these new schools anyone could get an education. This was in part due to Horace Mann. Horace Mann was a Massachusetts man who had proposed this system of free, universal and non-sectarian schooling. Each district would provide a school no matter religion or social class. The funding for these schools came from taxes that the government collected. Mann hoped that these schools could provide a political education to the younger generation.12 During this time there was an increased need for more and better teachers; here they turned to women because they had a good maternal instinct and a high moral character. They also tended to be better with children and they were cheaper to pay than men. The women who became teachers, however, tended to be really young; as young as 14 or 15. This often led to the older boys in the class hitting on the teachers and disrupting class. But even though the women teachers had to deal with some negative things, this opportunity gave way for more ideas, political opportunities, and they felt a sense of public usefulness.12

This was also the century in which a teaching “norm” came along. There were so many new students and not enough teachers to teach them, so untrained people were teaching classes. After a while, however, the Normal School came along. These schools taught teachers how to teach and thus provided a norm for all teachers. This is also were sciences were introduced into the curriculum of learning. Even with good intentions, these schools were short lived because Universities and Colleges took it upon themselves to provide the schooling necessary to produce a teacher. Normal schools had a great influence on teaching and learning because it provided that common ground for teachers to teach and for people to learn rather than individual teachings.12

A lot of African American teaching efforts were also established during this time period. During this century the Civil War had ended and African Americans were no longer slaves. This was also the time of African American progression, especially intellectually. African Americans got the opportunity to go to school and get an education with the help of the Freedman’s Bureau. There was also the Port Royal Experiment that was an early attempt to prepare newly freed slaves for full democratic participation in post-Civil War society. Their goals consisted of making the freed slaves literate, economically dependent, and the promotion of civil rights. Here they prepared newly freed slaves for full democratic participation by providing them with a basic knowledge of politics, literacy, and economic independence. The Hampton Institute also gave way for further the education of freed slaves by providing them with an agricultural college and a Normal School so they could be trained to teach.12

As education in this era progressed there had to be some laws and regulations on it because it was becoming a sort of business. In 1867 the U.S. Department of Education was created in order to maintain efficient school systems and to promote the cause of education throughout the country. Henry Barnard was a man who poured his life and political career into bettering the education of the United States. After two failed bills he turned his attention to the creation of a state Board of Commissioners of Common Schools which passes unanimously. He was even elected to head the department. His job was to “collect information on all of the common schools by means of inspection or correspondence; to propose plans relative to consideration by the board and the state legislature; to meet with parents, teachers, and administrators in each county; to edit a common school journal; and to promote among the public, in any way possible, interest and information regarding the subject of education.” While doing his job, however, he found that no federal office gathered educational statistics of any kind. After that he requested that a few educational questions be added to future censuses. Him, along with his friend Horace Mann, as well as others interested in the education of the common school used the gathered information to dramatize the bad state of American education. The big question was, “should the federal government establish, support, and administer a comprehensive educational system, as many European nations did, or should it confine itself strictly to collecting and diffusing statistics concerning state and local systems?” After many years of trying to establish a department to deal with education an advocate for the cause named E. E. White read a paper at a conference that lead to sponsorship in Congress by General James A. Garfield. The on February 14, 1866 Garfield introduced a bill to establish a federal department of education. Senate approval came the following year on March 2^nd.14 By having a governmental department to deal with all of the issues that come along with public schooling, education takes a step forward to further provide education for those who might not be able to afford it.

Compared to before the 1800s the curriculum didn’t change all that much; however, it did change some in ways to prepare people for the new jobs and experiences people were going to face. Some of the subjects stayed the same, like reading and writing. Reading and writing are the basis for all learning and comprehension in any language and to have a basic understanding of this subject was impediment for all people even before the 1800s. Arithmetic, although not a new subject, was formally introduced during this time. Arithmetic consisted of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and other simple mathematical rules of thumb. This skill would help out in fields that requires their workers to know how to use math to do simple tasks. During this time, however, geography and history were introduced into the curriculum as a means of furthering the students knowledge of the world. At that time the world was expanding at such a rate it was a good advantage to have going into the working force. History was also becoming a big subject during this time because of how past events affected the future. Between the conquering of land, wars, and other important events in time, it was valuable to know what went on in their country and around the world.

As the century began to change, so did teaching. During the 1900s 75% of teachers were women. There were still some male teachers, but they were more likely to be on the high education level such as colleges. Women who were teachers had to live under really strict rules: they had to be single and have no children. They were also paid badly and didn't have any benefits. Also, because of the mass amount of immigration that was taking place at this time the teachers were faced with the obstacle of teaching people who might not know the English language. Schools were also very similar to factories of that time; they were overcrowded, dark with no windows, and poorly ventilated. This lead to similar problems that factories had like the rapid spread of disease. These conditions were partly due to the fact that the schools were really poorly funded.12

African American schools were even worse off at the beginning of the 1900s; they got all of their supplies secondhand and were subject to even worse funding. However, with the Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education schools were no longer segregated. Before 1954 most public school systems in the South, and some in the North as well, were racially segregated. Some of the schools were segregated by law and others by culture and tradition. This case, not only impediment to educational progression, also marked the start of the end of segregation. With the development of public schools and industry after the Civil War it was necessary that children go to school to better prepare them for the modern life; however, Southern schools, as well as some in the North, did not enroll African American children. Because of this the Freedman’s Bureau took it upon themselves to educate the African American children. These tax-funded schools stayed in existence even after the death of the Freedman’s Bureau. Rather than allowing African American children into new public schools the South decided it would be better to fund separate school instead. It was a common theme in the South to have laws about segregation in school, and even in the West and North where integration was more common. As said by W. E. B. Dubios said in The Souls of Black Folk,

“The Negro colleges, hurriedly founded, were inadequately equipped, illogically distributed, and of varying efficiency and grade; the normal and high schools were doing little more than common-school work, and the common schools were training but a third of the children who ought to be in them, and training these too often poorly”

This clearly shows the conditions and the kind of teaching that African Americans had to face in the public school systems. Even though a lot of money was being poured into education very little of it actually went to African American schools. In 1910 $9.45 was being spent to educate a white child compared to $2.90 for an African American child. By 1916 that number had increased to $10.32 for white children while it decreased to $2.89 for African American children; because of this African American schools were inferior in almost every way. There were many minor court cases that progressed the integration of schools but Brown v. Board of Education was the official start to the end of segregation. Named after Oliver Brown, a man, who's daughter had to cross a railroad track and board a bus to be taken to an African American school on the other side of the town when there was a school a few blocks from his house, officially declared that “racial segregation in the public schools of he District of Columbia is a denial of the due process of law guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.11 Even though this ruling only applied to Washington D.C. It lead forth the change of segregation laws everywhere.

Attendance to school also went up over the course of this century. From 1900 at 6.3% of 17 year old in school to 1930 where 28.8% of 17 year olds were in school. It had also became stressed that mental ability was necessary for success. Even farmers taught their children the “Three R's”: reading, writing, and arithmetic as per the 1800s. However, in more suburban and urban areas they stressed a mastery of mathematics and language. This was actually the difference between a low-paying, unskilled job and a higher-paying position as an office worker. By the 1930s more students were going off to college after they had graduated high school.6

This was also a century of war and that meant that schooling had to be changed in order to accommodate this. During this century WWI, WWII, and the Vietnam War. took a toll on how things were taught and who were attending school. Because of the need for support for all of these wars there was a lot of propaganda that were going into the schools and what was being taught. There was also a draft that was taking place that took recently of age boys into the war because of a need for men. This meant that a good portion of the senior classes would be off to war. Propaganda also persuaded boys to enlist in the war voluntarily and made women want to help out, too. These things had a big influence on what teenage boys wanted to do or were made to do, and what was expect of teenage girls.12

During this time a man named John Dewey further progressed the way that education was looked at. Dewey focused more on how things were taught than what was taught. He believed that students do their best when they're able to experience and interact with what they are learning and that they should be able to take part in their learning rather than just being lectured to. He also considered educational settings a place for the students realize their full potential and the ability to take those skills acquired in school for a greater good. He also elaborated on the fact that education is key in creating social change and reform. Dewey had very specific ideas of what should be going on in the classroom and how the students should be taught. He stressed the two ideas that come together as one. He says that the curriculum and real world appliances should be taught together in order for the student to get the most out of their education. He said that this technique would deepen the comprehension of the material as well as their ability to apply it to real life situations. However, there were instances in which some schools would give the child too much independence for learning and he argued that this hindered the child just as much. Dewey was adamant about combining the two types of teaching into a perfect balance of the two.4

Dewey was a big advocate for connecting school subjects with the real world and the use of these skills in the real world. This was about the time that the curriculum was adapted to fit into the real world. Things like word problems in math came along to try and help student make sense of what they might need that particular information for. Likewise, common vocabulary was introduced so that these kids could have a wider vocabulary. Along with this adaption, the curriculum consisted of very similar subjects as did the 1800s like reading, writing, math, history, and geography. They also introduced things like current events as an addition to the histories.12

Advances in maths and sciences were also introduced to help progress the knowledge of the students. The most well known and controversial idea being the teaching of evolution. The Scopes Trial brought into light the clear controversy of teaching evolution in schools because at this time the country was still very religious especially in the 1920s when this trial took place because of the increased importance placed on Religious Fundamentalism. The Scopes Trial began when John Scopes, a high school biology teacher, was told by the American Civil Union to teach evolution in a school in Tennessee, a state that strictly outlawed the teaching of evolution. The Scope Trail was nicknamed the “Monkey Trail” because of the mistaken belief that Charles Darwin, the scientist that developed the theory of evolution, claimed that humans are descendants from monkeys. John Scopes was found guilty and fined $100, but this trial brought about the suggestion of non-religious teaching.5

War time education was also a very common thing of this time because of the amount of wars that had happened during that time period. During this time there was an emphasis on “one-world”, they were taught about the new developments that brought along the air-age, there were courses in anticommunism, global understanding, environmental education, free enterprise units, and physical fitness courses in order to get that current generation in shape for war and wartime challenges. This gave way to a better understanding of the world around them and what the country was dealing with at that time.13

As the century changes over to the 2000s many educational aspects change along with it. Compared to the 1900s the 2000s is an era of progression and intellectual expansion. As a result of the change that happened during the 1900s the 2000s was vastly different educationally. As the year 2000 approached more men were getting into teaching, even though the majority of teachers were still women. Not only did who taught the students change, but so did what they were being taught. Education formed a more concrete curriculum that included five core subjects: Math, English, History, Science, and Foreign Language.

Math had progressed so much over the past century that many sub-subjects had expanded out of it unlike the simple arithmetic that was so prevalent in the 1800s. Subjects like Algebra, Financial Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus all became common math subjects in schools around the world. This gave a way to explain things like if a air plane took an hour to fly 1000 miles with an air current of 50 miles per hour then how long would it take to return the tip with an air current against it at 60 miles per hour. The progression of math also made the students more capable of doing simple math tasks like making change or coming up with the tip at a restaurant. Most importantly the advances of math lead to even more advances in the Sciences. Like Math there are many sub-subjects that came out of the progression of Science like Biology, Physics, Chemistry, and Anatomy and Physiology. Even though all of these sub-subjects of math and science were introduced during the 1900s they really came about as being key subjects during the 2000s.7

English also expanded to include works for all over the world and from all time periods. Works from England, Germany, Spain, France, and many more other countries made their way over here to further elaborate on their history as classic American works do for Americans. Because literature and history have such close ties they're often taught side by side. U.S. History is often taught during the same year as American Literature classes. This gives the student a sense of connection between the stories of the past and the stories that the past created. Most importantly these subjects tie together common themes throughout history like war and the desire for peace. With insight from both the factual and interpreted side of history the students get to see how things have changed over the years in different educational aspects. I interviewed Ms. Coleman and asked how history was taught back when she was in high school which was 2000-2003. She said that history was primarily all lectures and note taking and that there wasn't a whole lot of variety in how the subjects was being taught; however, now it is evident by how I have observed her teaching and what she has told me, that active participation is now more common in the classroom than it was before.3 7

The United States was founded on immigrants from different countries coming in hopes of religious and political freedom and economic opportunities. Making Foreign Language something that the students should learn was a great idea. Most schools only offer Spanish or French, but private schools also offer languages like Latin. As of now, a lot of the people that are coming into the states are of Latin(Spanish) origin, so its a good tools to have for jobs that require talking to people who are from those countries. Having this subject as part of the curriculum has made the people who are going into the work force more culturally aware and capable of handling immigrants from Spanish or French speaking countries. In my interview with Sr. Bilsbury, he shed some light on how Spanish was taught for him when he was in high school, which were in the years 1986-1989. He said that for the most part when he was in school they took a lot of notes, learned the grammar, and there wasn't a whole lot of language production; however, he goes on to compare it to how it is now and says,

“I feel like it has definitely changed and that our department focuses on communication between students in the target language; whoever is doing the work is the one that is learning. There isn't a lot of language acquisition if there isn't a lot of participating. They learn in a target language only environment that captures the energy of the teenagers and put it into the target language. There's a lot of work with partners like debating over correct answers for a pre-class activity while using target language. One experiment was the blog I did with my senior classes, so rather than saying it in class [they] could think it out and write what [they] wanted to say down, as well as reading in Spanish.”2

From what Sr. Bilsbury said it seem pretty clear that a lot of things have changed within the Spanish teaching department. Now students are practicing with speaking the language as well as learn the culture behind the language rather than just taking notes on grammar concepts and memorizing vocabulary.

Not only have the subjects themselves changed, but so has what is being taught in those subjects. Because this upcoming century is so much more advanced and progressed previously controversial and taboo ideas are making their way into the classroom and aren't being challenged like they used to be. As seen with the Scopes Trial of 1925 the teaching of evolution had been outlawed in Tennessee; however, as things progressed throughout the years evolution became more and more accepted as an scientific alternative to creationism. Even though some schools in strongly religious areas still don't believe in evolution they do teach it alongside with creationism. One question that still remains is, “Should Church-State separation be maintain?” On the yes side the argument can be seen that part of the First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,” which leads R. Freeman Butts to explain that schools are a state run institution and should be not affiliated with church and the Constitutional Amendment should be maintained. On the other hand Robert L. Cord argues in his book that “In 1791 when the First Amendment's prohibition that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion' was added to the United States Constitution, no other country had provided so carefully to prevent the combination of the power of religion with the power of the national government,” which goes to say that we had to draw that fine line for the government, not government run institutions.10 On top of the debate over Church-State separation sexual education was considered to be a very taboo subject back in the mid 1900s, but as time progressed people became aware that even though it is such a taboo subject teaching it to high schoolers is worth it if it means that less people are getting pregnant in high school and contracting STD's.

Probably one of the most important progressions that has happend is the accommodations that have been made for people with disabilities. Before it was known that mental disabilities were a genetic and uncontrollable thing people who had these disabilities were just considered to be stupid or not trying hard enough. However, as time went on it was found that some people had learning disabilities or social disabilities that influenced how they learned and interacted with the people that were around them that effected their education. Because it is now known that these people can't control how they learn or interact with people the educators are now able to make changes that are geared to how the people with these disabilities do learn and interact in order to make their education better. My father has dyslexia so I though it would be fitting to interview him on how it was for him when he was in high school between the years of 1977 and 1980. He told me , “[I struggled] with everything except for shop and gym. At the time I didn't know I had dyslexia. I tried hard, but it just didn't seem to work. In grammar school I would just move my eyes across the page and make movements with my mouth to make it look like I was reading. But anything that had to do with working with my hands I was good at.” When asked how dyslexia was dealt with he said,

“It wasn't handled at all, because no one knew. My father said that I just needed to buckle down and work harder, but I didn't really try at homework, but then again we didn't have a lot of it. And there was just no way of telling if someone was just sliding through then like I was. Math was difficult because of the numbers that got all mixed up and so was English because of the reading. But I managed to get by and I managed to cheat to get by, too.”

These kinds of disabilities weren't even known about until the late 1900s or even the 2000s so kids like my dad didn't get the help that was needed, but when asked if he thought things have changed since he was in high school he responded with, “Oh gosh yeah! They didn't have occupational therapists when we were in school. There was nobody to help you with that kind of stuff. You were able to squeak by because nobody noticed. Now they think, when the kid is having trouble, what can we do to help, not what is the kid doing wrong.”8 The fact that there are now people who help these kids throughout their high school career has made for people who might not be deemed intelligent to be some of he brightest people out there because they were able to get help and were helped to succeed.

Now more than ever before, high school graduates are going off to colleges and universities. Not to mention that there are more universities and colleges than there was as well. But, in her article “Failing college: why are we screwing up the world's best higher education system?” Katherine Mangu-Ward says that “Enrollment may be skyrocketing, but so are student debt levels and default rates. Tuition costs are increasing many times faster than income, or than prices in any other sector.” This clearly shows that even though many people are now enrolling in higher education the cost is also going up with it; therefore, making it harder to actually get that higher education. Not only that, but she also goes onto say that, “Students arrive on campus under-qualified, courtesy of an American public school system that has flatlined in quality while tripling its per-student cost. They do less academic work yet receive better grades than their parents did.” It seems that high schools are doing a bad job of preparing their students for higher education, which in turn, makes their success in colleges or universities sub-par.9 The Committee for Economic Development also agrees that “The education system needs to be innovative and it needs to reflect this economy that we live in now,” and that “America has got to invest in education,” as stated by Mike Petro, Executive Vice President, CED.1

Taking the history of education and the aspects that go into the education throughout the centuries the progression of the intellectual ability of the people can be compared to how the educational system progressed in both how the students were being taught and what was being taught. Common ideas and jobs of the centuries directly reflect the intellectual level of the people of the United States.

Before the 1800s most of the people had simple ideas and jobs. The lives of these people consisted of sleeping, working, eating, and other humanly needs, not a whole lot of people were self-actualizing people who wanted to do good for each other; everyone just wanted to survive. There were a few people who wanted to better themselves and make good for others but they were mostly politicians and doctors. There were very little people who went beyond farming, smithing, deck-handing, and other physical labor jobs. During this time people had simple minds and simple ideas. This was a time where men were superior to women, white families had slaves, and religion had a big influence on what everyone said and did. Education during this time was only offered to white boys who were privileged enough to have the opportunity. Women were told to stay home and do chores around the house.

As time progressed and it turned over to the 1800s more ideas were being introduced and progression of education made way for more intellectual jobs. Because of the introduction of Common Schools more and more people were able to get an education and further their intelligence. These schools started to spring up everywhere because there were more job that required more intelligent people as workers and having schools provided the children of that generation with a opportunity to further their mental capability. As the development of schools happened during this time so did the ideas and the jobs that were coming about. By introducing history and geography during this era of education the students broadened their scope of what they were learning; they were no longer just learning how to read, write, and do math. Having history and geography as part of the curriculum the students are able to see how other countries interact with their country and what had influenced the world that they lived in. Because of this newfound knowledge about the world around them they became more intellectual people because they were then capable of seeing things from an objective point of view. Not only that but by having the formal introduction of arithmetics gave the people of that time better preparation for jobs that required working with heavy machinery, finances, or production of good. This brought people out of an age where most of the jobs consisted of physical labor and barely any thinking. As people were getting smarter the amount of people who were participating in education also continued to grow; there were more people who were providing education or furthering their education. This also proved to increase the mental ability of the nation solely because of the sheer amount of people who found it worth their while to become an intellectual being.

As the century turned over to the 1900s even more subjects were being introduced and even more modern ideas were as well. This was about the time that people started to question their religion and what their religion was saying. The idea of evolution, being one of the best examples of questioning religion, gave way for a more scientific way of thinking about things. The wars of this time also progressed what was being taught in history classes and current event classes. The concepts about fascism and communism made the students of that time compare a different form of government with their own for the first time. This also taught the students of that time that not everywhere in the world is like the United States. The intellectual ability of the people of this time was vastly different from the people of the 1800s primarily because of the fact that they had more insight to the outer world than the previous century and they were also more involved in international affairs rather than what was going on at home. By this time as well the United States had slowly made its way to being one of the biggest world powers out there which had lead to the wars that had ensued during that time. This was mostly due to the fact of their progression of ideas and out of the era of slavery.

Now, more than ever, people are intelligent, can think for themselves, and accept new and controversial ideas without much refute. People now have the ability of to see someone else's perspective and understand what they might be going through simply because they have a concrete foundation of education on current events, mathematics, science, or foreign language. The intellectual ability of the people of the 2000s far exceeds the people of the 1900s, mostly because of the amount of information that is available to people because of the creation of the internet. The creation of the internet came about in the 1950s but developed into what we consider the internet today in 1993; however, what it is today is a combination of internet websites not what the internet is in its actuality, a network of computer networks. The internet and World Wide Web was developed as a product of intellectual beings being able to come up with a new idea because of knowledge that they had learned in school.

Because this is a paper that studies the correlation between the development of education and the intellectual ability of the people there are really no limitations; however, its not easy to judge the intellect of people. Everyone has the capability to learn and comprehend things it just depends on what knowledge they have access to. In this case the evaluation of intelligence is more on the basis of what they know. This is then compared to how people thought and what they did for a living during that century. Because there was more knowledge that could be accessed over time, in this case, it means that the people got more intelligent over time; however, as said before, the capability of intellectual comprehension isn't necessarily less. With this taken into account this paper would then argue that the acquisition of information makes a person intelligent rather than their capability to learn and comprehend. Another argue that could be made is that there are different kinds of intelligences and that knowing things doesn't necessarily mean that a person is intelligent. According to Dr. Howard Gardner people have different capacities for intelligence. He claims that there are 9 different kinds of intelligences: Mathematical, Linguistic, Spatial, Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Musical, Naturalistic, and Existential. With this said it could be argued that Native Americans during the 1800s were very intelligent naturalistically. The question of what intelligence is makes this comparison a bit more difficult to be concrete.5

How has the progression of education shaped the intellect of people over the years? Can it really be said that education has made people more intelligent or has given people the opportunity to know more things? Is intellect measured by what facts a person knows or about how well they can conduct themselves in certain subjects? The biggest question that still remains is how is intelligence defined. If its defined as the facts that people knows as well as their skills, then education has greatly influenced the intellect of the people of the United States; however, if its defined as Dr. Howard Gardner had proposed then people have always been intellectually exceptional. The point of view of the assessor determines the conclusion.

Over the past few centuries education has developed drastically; from fathers teaching their boys to public school with teachers and students of all walks of life, education has changed for the better. With that said, the intellect of the people of the United States have also progressed with it; from working in the fields to being able to construct something that can propel people into outer space. But do they have any correlation? Because they are so closely related education and how its progressed over the years has definitely made for more intelligent people in respects to how much people are able to comprehend; however, people have always been intelligent beings with the ability to be great at something that they love to do.

Works Cited

1. "AMERICA HAS GOT TO INVEST IN EDUCATION." States News Service 17 May 2013. General OneFile. Web. 22 May 2013.

2. Bilsbury, Robert. "Education Progression." Personal interview. 16 May 2013.

3. Coleman, Jennifer. "Education Progression." Personal interview. 16 May 2013.

4. "Dewey Applies Pragmatism to Education." Great Events from Histroy: The 20th Century. Ed. Robert F. Gorman. Vol. 3. Pasadena: Salem, 2007. 1245-247. Print.

5. "Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelegences." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 May 2013.

6. Lapsansky-Werner, Emma J., Randy Roberts, Peter B. Levy, and Alan Taylor. "Social and Cultural Tensions." United States History. Boston: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. 672. Print.

7. McIntosh, Kelly R. Teaching Intern. N.d. Raw data. Manchester Essex Regional High School, Manchester, MA.

8. McIntosh, Roger E. "Learning Disabilities." Personal interview. 22 May 2013.

9. Mangu-Ward, Katherine. "Failing college: why are we screwing up the world's best higher education system?" Reason Apr. 2013: 20+. General OneFile. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.

10. Noll, James. Taking Sides: Education Issues. 12th ed. Guilford: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2004. Print.

11. Tackach, James. Brown v. Board of Education. San Diego: Lucent, 1998. Print.

12. "Teaching Timeline." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 15 Mar. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/timeline.html>.

13. Tyler, Ralph W. "Curriculum Development Since 1900." Social Science Education Consorium (1981): 599-601. Web. 3 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_198105_tyler.pdf>.

14. "U.S. Department of Education Is Created." Great Events from History: The 19th Century. Ed. John Powell. Vol. 3. Pasadena: Salem, 2007. 1210-211. Print.

week 3

today i had to wash a couple of the police cars because, they were going to be to driven into bosotn for the funeral of the mit police officer that was killed in the line of duty, by the boston bombers. i find it very amazing with how many always show up to the police officers funerals. police officers from  all over the world show up. it is queit awsome i think because it shows how big the police brotherhood is and how strong it is. Ever police officer feels it in a way. what i mean is policer officers risk everyday their lives going into work but they do it anyway. things like this can really happen anywhere and people dont think it can happen in these small town places but it can happen anywhere. its not like that mit officer thought he was going to be in a gun fight when he went to work for a college police.

week 4

this is what my paper is all about, community policing.  what does that involve?  Is it any easier in the current technological era?  How many people are impacted positively by community policing in this day and age?  Community policing has been about for as long  as police have been, many years ago simply walking the beat was the ultimate form of community policing.  What started as a basic kind of skill has evolved into a complex and ever changing aspect of policing, which requires an in depth knowledge of modern technology  including using the world wide web as a huge tool and  as well as a great sense of how to interact with people.

week 6

On my last weeks of me doing my internship, I began my training for summer work job. I will be a Parking Enforcement Officer for the town of Manchester by the sea. During my training I learned a lot about the job and what it will include. One of the biggest parts of the job will include a lot of public relations because I will be out in the view of the public all of the time. That includes being very friendly with the public and with the kids in like the parks.  He suggested to always carry with me little police badge stickers for the children. Even though I will not be a real police officer, I will be wearing the Manchester by the sea police patch on my shoulder, so I am representing the whole department.  The job is parking enforcement and trying to keep the public traffic/parking moving smoothly and without any problems, but at the same time it is a lot of being out in the view of the public. I mean I will be out interacting with people of the town and out of town people in the summer then the actual officers themselves. So the parking enforcement officer role is a very big part of community policing.  

blog 13

Today we had a huge huge huge talk with one of the casts of our skits. The skit is good but it is no where where it needed to be at this stage of the game. We attribute some of the fault to ourselves because in the beginning we did not assert our authority as much as we should have since we are students just like them. We realized a few days ago that this needed to be done and we needed to get them with higher energy levels and to have ALL of their lines memorized as the other skits do. The skit is definitely getting there and it will go over well in the fundraiser. The other skits are going really well. Words Words Words in particular is going better than we ever thought it would. They are very motivated and their movements are very animated and they have a very high energy level each time they perform. This is something the other groups don’t do. They don’t give us a lot of energy and don’t push it as much as the other cast. We also had one of the middle school singing groups that will be performing come in and sing it for us today. They did an accapella version of the song some nights by fun. It was really good and it sure to be a hit in the fundraiser. 

week 12

As if finding mirrors wasn’t hard enough buying them was worse. We went to the self check out line and rang up all of our mirrors and then put in the money. But like a vending machine it just at all of our money. We  went over to the cashier that was standing by to watch over the self check out and told her about our problem. She came over to try and fix it and could not figure it out for the life of her. After that she called over a manager who clearly thought we were trying to steal the mirrors. I mean seriously who does that. She kept shaking her head and saying how it never happened before. Then she even asked the other woman if she saw us put the money in the machine. And of course that lady said no. after the whole ordeal she finally reset the machine and all that came out was a quarter. She talked it over with the first lady and then finally decided that we were being honest and let us leave with our mirror. We didn’t even consider installation of the mirrors once we got there. After getting them into the dressing room we opened up the boxes and realized that installing the mirror was way out of our leagues for installing, but Mr Hunt one of the janitors at our school agreed to do it for us which was really nice and now all we have to worry about is stools and racks. 

blog 11

Shopping for the furnishing for the dressing room was actually pure torture. You would think that finding 4 mirrors, 4 stools, and 4 dressing racks would be relatively easy. Well no. Driving to 8 different stores and calling what feels like hundreds of stores we only managed to find the mirrors. The mirrors themselves were difficult enough as it is. The first store we went to of the day was home depot. We easily found 3 of the mirrors we needed. We then decided to go to the other home depot down past the north shore mall. Luckily we found the mirror and thought that the rest of our tasks would be easy because honestly this is just simple shopping. NO STORES HAVE CLOTHING RACKS.  Actually none. We would go in and ask for clothing racks and every single time they would be like oh yea that’s in aisle 12 or whatever and we would go off and they wouldn’t be there. The aisle would have like hampers and other laundry needs in it. We were out for about 4 hours just trying to find rolling clothing racks, which were in our budget. It honestly was just not happening but then finally in one store we found some for 20 dollars. Or what we thought was 20 dollars. After we went to check out we realized that it was incorrectly labeled and they were actually 50 each. So as of right now all we have are mirrors for our room.

Week 6 Post 3

Today we worked on the cookie mixes. These are individually “one batch” cookie mixes that people can buy. The idea was just created a few weeks ago and they are already a hit. They come in 4 of the types that the cookies are sold in. The only issue is that we haven’t come up with a great way to package them. We have to weigh out every ingredient one by one for each mix, which is really time consuming. We also don’t have an efficient way to poor the mixes into the bag. We put a plastic plate on the scale and then measure out the ingredient and then we fold the plastic bowl into a funnel shape and then try to aim it in the bag. It would be a lot easier if we didn’t do them by weight because then you could measure out a cup of flour and poor it in a bag, but we cant. I think the idea of the cookie mix is really good, that way they can make fresh baked cookies in the comfort of their own home.  They will definitely be big during the Christmas season so they have a couple of months to work out the kinks before the demand is too high.

It is so weird to think I have been working there for six weeks. It seems like less but also feels like its been forever. It has definitely been a good experience but I am pumped that it is almost over and summer is that much closer to starting.

Week 6 post 2

We got three HUGE orders for home goods, TJMaxx and Marshalls.  These orders are awesome because they are so big that it keeps everyone busy. The only issue is that it always seems to come at the absolute worst time.  For some reason the Kitchen felt really busy and these orders were going to put it over the top. Going in today (Wednesday) I could tell everyone was on edge. The kitchen is hot, the cookie production isn’t fast enough and the bakers are coming in two hours early, so they are tired. I feel like there is always so much to do but for some reason I can only help so much. The packagers have their assembly line down to 3 people and that seems to be what is the fastest and most efficient for them. The bakers have one and two person jobs, so one persons mixing and the other two are on the Vmag and then I am usually de-binning cookie rolls or doing the dishes. A lot of times it is helpful to have me around but others I feel like I am in the way.  Everyone in the office is now preparing for the fancy food show In New York City this weekend. They have the whole booth set up and have the displays perfect. The show is so that vendors and storeowners walk around and test people’s products and hopefully decide they want them in their store. This is a great way for the company to expand and get more customers. Too bad score ends soon or else maybe I would have been asked to go with them!

Week 6 blog 1

Monday was an awesome day. I started out in the bakery and then when the boss walked in and saw me sitting on a milk crate watching one of the bakers use to mixer she realized there was nothing for me to do. She walked back into the office and after a few minutes she came back with a task for me. I was to go through all of the address of the customers and make sure they were correct and complete. I had no idea why they were having me do this. I didn’t want to ask questions and annoy them so I just did what I was told. In the beginning it was hard to do it because I would be given the name “ The café on Elm” and it didn’t have a state so I had to ask Rochelle because there were too many Café’s on Elm on Google. Rochelle then gave me access to QuickBooks, which was actually really cool. It showed me all of the orders that had gone out to each store. After I finished these Nicole printed them on labels and I was then given two huge boxes of post cards that said, “Come find us at the fancy food show”. This was being sent to all of their customers so that they would go to the fancy food show in NY this summer. I then filed orders and did some other odd jobs. I really enjoyed being in the office, I felt so much more involved.

blog 10

Words words words….the one skit that has come the farthest since we have been working on the fundraiser. Initially we worried about the skit and how good it would turn out but after having many practices and really pushing the girls to be ridiculous and crazy and really channel there inner monkey and actually act like monkeys on stage. That group has learned there lines the quickest and none of them have ever missed a rehearsal which is really great because with such a small group in a skit if even one member of the cast is missing it becomes extremely difficult to rehearse because the lines are so back and forth it is nearly impossible for us to do anything with them especially once they are off book and learning blocking. The actors nightmare however is not going as well as we wanted with in a little scary because they are the opening for our fundraiser. The whole cast of the actors nightmare is brand new to acting and luckily they all know there lines which is a huge relief but sadly they can’t seem to figure out how to put their lines in the correct order. In rehearsal sometimes when we are trying to do run-throughs they will skip a few lines and then go back to them and repeat themselves later in the show and it all gets really jumbled which is what we are trying to avoid but hopefully in the next week they will have it down and ready for the fundraiser. 

blog 9

Though the dressing room is finished there are still some things that need to be done to as final touches such as installing the mirrors, lights and putting in chairs. Before now the “dressing rooms” could never be used for what they were intended for because of the sheer amount of junk piled up in the rooms. Before each show the cast would have to get ready in the restrooms as opposed to using the dressing rooms. Not only Is there junk piled up in the dressing rooms but there is also another room that is floor to ceiling filled with props from past shows. This room is called the pod and it is literally just a huge metal box. The props in there are so old that we have found a giant 6 foot foam goblet that no one can place what show it was in. It is beyond ridiculous and we cant even touch upon clearing that out because there are just so so so many giant piece of wood and heavy things that we cannot carry and even if we were able to lift them we have no place to put them  because the drama department has no place to put them. In fact the drama department space is so disregarded by everyone that they use the storage space dedicated to drama program to store massive amounts of paper and the foamy walk thing for the graduation. 

Marrisa: Blogs 2 - 15

Blog 2:

            Today, I finally met Hannah Harp, my SCORE mentor. She was relieved that Genna had given me ample material to read and to become familiar with, so that we could jump right in. I had taken notes and highlighted, circled and wrote questions on the papers I read, so I asked Hannah the questions I was not able to find answers to on my own, after looking online and talking with various people.

            I did some more reading on my own last night, on the main countries that the MGH GHHR focuses on, such as South Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya. I presented my notes to Hannah, explaining to her what I read and giving my opinion and how different aspects of life there made me think differently about how I live in the United States. For instance, the controversy surrounding female genital mutilation. In AP Psych, we talked about the term "framing", which more or less means the way someone presents something, such as the "glass half full" versus the "glass half empty". The anecdote from psychology class is relevant, because the term "female genital mutilation" elicits horror and shock, when in reality, if performed in a sanitary, medical environment, it is similar to having a male's penis circumcised. For me, it was almost surreal, when I realized this, because as a woman, it seems so foreign, to think of that procedure done to me, despite the fact that most men in America are circumcised. I think it's an essential part of working in a place the MGH GHHR to be able to sit back, think about something, and realize the connection between one culture's customs and another's, and piece them together, to the point of realizing that maybe people aren't so different after all.

Blog 3:

            Today, there were two radiologists that are visiting the United States for four months, in the office. Gladys and Patricia are both from Kenya, and are kind, but high maintenance. I felt sorry for Hannah, because she is a research assistant, but the two women treat her like their own personal secretary, and demand she get them phones, schedule transportation, and call her at all hours of the day for truly lilliputian tasks. Hannah complies with it, because she virtually has no choice, but I can't even imagine how frustrating it must be for her.

            The ladies wanted to see MGH, and I hadn't really seen it before either, aside from having been to the ER for a family matter, once, so I was looking forward to seeing it. Hannah and Chol - one of the medical students I mentioned in my first blog, who will be one of the first doctors in South Sudan - showed us around.

            MGH prides itself on its focus on research, and has earned its reputation for being the place of many "firsts". For instance, it was where the first ether surgery took place, meaning it was the location of the first anesthetized surgery. The patient had a tumor in his cheek, and the dentist and surgeon were there - it isn't like modern day, where there are oral surgeons - and a sponge of sorts was dunked into ether, waved in front of the patient's nose, and it knocked him out.

            The "surgical theater", as it was called, is still intact, and has become a museum of sorts, which we visited. There is a painting, that accurately portrays how the surgery was carried out and who participated, and what I found amazing was that the doctors wore suits, full suits, to operate. It's strange to think that doctors didn't always wear scrubs, and they didn't always have gloves and sanitary products, and sterilization. They would hope from patient to patient, with one's blood on his hands as he went to the next. What's more remarkable, is that even now, in the year 2013, there still are thousands of doctors that do not have those luxuries. Gladys pointed out that it was only relatively recently, that washing hands became routine, which is scary when I think about it.

            Finally, we went to the MGH Museum, which, I never knew even existed, but apparently, it is still pretty new. It was a small, but phenomenal, and interactive place. I was able to "diagnose" patients and read up on the other "firsts" of MGH, and label blood cells and parts of the brain.  

Blog 4:

            The office was very crowded today. For some of the day, the radiologists, Gladys and Patricia, came in, to get their phones and white coats, and to fill out paperwork, as well. Additionally, there were two students from Milton Academy who are going to the Bahamas for six weeks for research this summer, with epidemiologist Dr. Ahn, one of the doctors in the office. They had to fill out paper work, as well, and went out to lunch with a visiting researcher, Brent, and Dr. Ahn. Furthermore, Chol was here, too, with Karen and Andy.

            Chol is a South Sudanese medical student, who met Dr. Thomas Burke, the Director of the MGH GHHR, while in South Sudan, and befriended him. Chol and Dr. Burke are currently writing a book about their friendship, and what has come out of it, in terms of the efforts locally. Karen is the one writing the book, and she and Andy, of True Story Media, also do the filming of the documentaries and video clips for the MGH GHHR projects.

            It's interesting, because I can hear and see Chol answering Karen's questions, and they both become irked because Karen expects Chol to always know "why" certain traditions are the way they are, and he doesn't - just like we do things we don't really know the "why" of. Chol was telling me before, that he used to walk days at a time to get to school, even as a young child, and Hannah said that he would be learning biochemistry in the dirt.

            Chol had grown up in a nomadic community, and for a few years, until he was about 12, he worked at a cattle camp. He didn't even learn how to read or write until he was that age, and now he's going to be a doctor. I find that motivational, inspirational, and mind-boggling, to be honest. I mean, I used to complain about walking to the bus stop in the snow, which pales in comparison, of course. His father had three wives, and he is one of 7 or 8 children, I believe. He explained that when a child is born, a goat is slaughtered centrally in the village, and the head is given to the old men and the women, for wisdom, because they eat the brain. Hannah worked in El Salvador throughout college, and she said that as the guest at someone's house, she was given the pituitary gland.

Blog 5:

            I finally met Dr. Burke and Dr. Ahn today, and as cheesy as it may sound, I honestly felt like I was meeting celebrities, because it is truly remarkable what this department does. For instance, Chol is a medical student, is here in another country, and is writing a book; Genna is going to nursing school, works for Planned Parenthood, and does the grunt work for Dr. Burke and Dr. Ahn; Hannah is going to start medical school this summer, and also does the grunt work, and worked in El Salvador for years, doing community based projects; Dr. Ahn is an epidemiologist and is the logistical person and is hands down the most efficient human being I have ever met, and is going to the Bahamas for research, and Dr. Burke is the Chief of both the Emergency Department at MGH and the MGH GHHR, is writing a book, spends time in the office in meetings, then works until 3am at the ER, and is going to Kenya for the summer with Harvard students for research. No one sleeps, they live on yogurt, and they are generally positive, funny, and genuine people.

            SCORE truly has been one of the most valuable tools of my high school career, because it  is showing me what I want and what I don't want and what I need to do to achieve my goals. More specifically, before starting SCORE, I knew I had an interest in global public health, but did not yet know as to what capacity I wanted to work in: research or medical.

            Since being here, I have decided that I do in fact want to become a doctor, and I will apply for the five year medical program at NUIG in August. While I enjoy research and asking and answering questions, I have confirmed that being a doctor is truly what I want, and have finally gained the confidence in myself to pursue that.

Blog 6:

            Hannah has been teaching me how to successfully conduct a literature review. Her approach is much more hands-on than that of my ASR mentor, which is great, and isn't to say that I don't value my ASR internship, it's just that this is a better suit for me. She gave me helpful hints as to how to search more efficiently on PubMed, such as adding asterisks, tildes, "AND", "OR", and "NOT", as well as using quotations, and question marks. I cannot even express how much time these shortcuts will save me, because they cut down the results from thousands to a few dozen, which is much more doable.

            Hannah also suggested that I record the search terms used, the date of the particular search, the number of the initial results yielded from the search, and how many were actually viable, which I did do, because in a literature review, this is what is important to include.

            I also had to write a small section, explaining what is included. This means, basically, identifying and explaining to the reader, the particular cohort the review is focused on. My inclusion criteria, for instance, is "malnourished HIV positive pregnant women residing in Sub – Saharan Africa with no known coexisting diseases, written in English".

            I developed this inclusion criteria as a harmony based on what my interests were and what materials I was given and found to read. I initially had an interest in HIV and Hannah and I went back and forth brainstorming questions, and the ones that had numerical answers were weeded out, because that means I can't write a review on them. Eventually, I decided on what I was most intrigued by, and strung it together to determine the criteria.

Blog 7:

           

            In addition to showing me how to narrow down and filter out my searches on PubMed, Hannah also taught me to look at the references in the papers I found helpful, to see if they cited anything relevant and useful to my search; this process is called secondary research. Hannah sent me a copy of a literature review that she did, not too long ago, this morning, so that I could have an example handy to consult, if I needed a clearer picture as to what I was doing.

            The most valuable material item I have discovered, is my passion for sticky notes/organization/planner. I have become a crazy labeler, because it is necessary, when constructing a literature review. I have various folders in different binders, coupled with the plethora of sticky notes I use, and different pens to synchronize the information I'm reading and what I need to take note of.

            As much as one might laugh at me saying this, the hardest part of all of this, is truly eliminating excessive information. It's difficult, because  the relationship between malnutrition, poverty, education, healthcare, maternal health, and disease (such as HIV) is cyclic, meaning that one leads to the next, so it is hard to determine where to cut short the information. I need to do this for the background section of my literature review, because I need to explain "the problem", which I have identified as being the trifecta of public health concern: maternal health, malnutrition, and HIV, particularly in Sub - Saharan Africa.

Blog 8:

            The other most challenging aspect of SCORE, is the patience required to do a thorough literature review. For example, if I am reading a paper on vitamin A deficiency, and the paper cites another paper, to be thorough, I need to find that cited paper in the references, copy and paste it into PubMed, find it, then find the full version for free somewhere, print it, and skim it, to find the section that quotes what I want. Despite it being agonizingly time consuming and tedious, it is essential, and it's a worthwhile habit to develop, in order to do a proper literature review.

            Today, I was able to sit in on a meeting that Dr. Burke and Dr. Ahn had, with a radiologist, from MGH, I want to say, but I honestly can't quite remember. In a previous blog post, when I was listing the current projects and endeavors of both the people in the MGH GHHR individually and collectively, I forgot one monumental achievement: the department has basically implemented an entire emergency medicine department in Sagam. This meeting that I was privy enough to listen in on, was about the potentiality and feasibility of developing a radiology department. 

            It was interesting to watch the three of them - Dr. Burke, Dr. Ahn, and the radiologist - go back and forth with each other and think so rationally and deliberately on the spot. They suggested things and immediately the ideas were bouncing back and forth about why something may work, why it might not, the funding, the practicality, and so on. For me, to think of all they did so thoughtfully, it would take hours, but I suppose that when you only have a few minutes for a meeting, you have to make every second efficient and productive.

Blog 9:

            Today was more of a sentimental, laid back day at the office, because I learned more about everyone's personal lives.

            Hannah is one of ten children, which I found incredible, because my grandmother was one of seventeen kids, so I was surprised that nowadays someone who have that many kids.           Genna has two sisters, and he father committed suicide when she was in her sophomore year of college. Consequently, her mother and youngest sister live nearby, and she currently lives with her other sister, who just earned her Master's in Public Health.

            Dr. Ahn works 8:30am-5:30 pm Monday - Friday, and works from home for about an hour or two on weeknights and most of Saturday, but somehow still manages to get his family ready in the morning for school and spends time with them when he can, which is pretty impressive, if you ask me, considering the colossal amount of work he does, and even when he isn't, he's on his phone and calling or texting new ideas.

            Finally, for Dr. Burke, it's just easier to count the hours in a day that he isn't working. As I have said, Dr. Burke is an ER physician at MGH, and is the chief of the GHHR division, as well as of the ER department. He is also the medical director of a chartered plane group, that charges upwards of $70,000/person to go on trips for about a month, to different places worldwide. So he oversees the doctors that accompany those travelers, and sometimes is the doctor on them, as well as writing the book. Dr. Burke is like the energizer bunny. For instance, yesterday, he was in the office all day until 4pm, in the office meaning maybe in another office having meetings, but still, working for the GHHR. Then at 4pm, he left to go to the ER and worked a shift until 3am this morning, and will be in the office any moment now, and has this same schedule for the next 9 days. The man never sleeps. However, despite his massive accomplishments and impressive resume, that comes at a price. He's only just recently been married, at 52, because he never had the time really to date anyone, and his wife lives in Washington, and is a pediatrician, so they don't have much time for one another. He used to live on his boat in the navy yard, because it was easier to walk there after a shift than going to a house, which he only just recently bought.

Blog 10:

            Today, Genna and I went on a little road trip into the financial district. We went because a large consulting firm down there donated 50+ laptops to medical students/ hospitals in Sagam. The laptops were already brought to the office a while back, but there were still 12 laptops that were not properly "wiped", meaning that there was still encryption and coding on the laptops, in turn, making them inaccessible, so we had to return them to the consulting firm, to have their IT department take care of.

            First, we had to drive to Medford, to go pick up the laptops from Dr. Burke's house, as they were in his car, in his garage. It was a nice drive, not too far away, and Genna and I had a heart - to - heart and shared high school stories. Once we arrived at Dr. Burke's, we had to figure out the combination for the lock for the garage, and then we loaded the laptops from his car into Genna's car. Afterward, we drove to the consulting firm, and we were in a pickle, because we couldn't find parking, and 12 laptops weigh a lot, and there were only two of us. So Genna parked illegally, by a loading dock, and I waited in the car. Genna carried all 12 up at once, and at one point, used the side of the building to readjust the boxes. I found it terrible that everyone who passed her gave her a look, as though to say, "What are you doing?", and yet, no one even offered to help her. In fact, two smartly dressed young men walked by her, checked her out, then made obscene gestures; I thought of how inappropriate that was, but also just how wrong it is that they would do that, but would not offer help.

            Before Genna had gone up, she left her phone, so I could call up to the office if I had to, and said I could move the car if needed. I told her that I was more of a country road person, braking for turkeys person, not a city driver, especially during lunch hour. Sure enough, the meter maid walked over, tapped my window, and told me to move, and I politely said that my boss would be right down, and then we'd be leaving. Shortly after, Genna comes back to the car and says that the IT desk associate would not take the laptops because she didn't have her ID on her, so she had to come back down to the car to get that and then go back up. We drove around the corner, and illegally parked again, and naturally, the same meter maid came over, and said she was glad we had moved, but that we need to move to somewhere we actually can park, and thankfully, Genna ran to the car and we made our escape.

Blog 11:

            When Dr. Burke is not in the office, I am able to use his own private office to do my work, which is wonderful, because then I do not have to be constantly shuffling my papers and reorganizing every time someone comes in to the general office and wants to sit at the table.

            Being in his office, I can see his personal library, and I have written down the names of a few books I hope to read this summer, to further expand my knowledge in public health. He has a good collection, it seems, from memoirs to manuals, to the history of particular epidemics and diseases, as well as books on human trafficking and defining the rights of people for healthcare and treatment.         

            I am currently working on a summary I am turning in to Hannah, about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. At one point, ~30% of pregnant women in South Africa were infected. Despite the prevention of mother - to - child - transmission (PMTCT) program being "implemented" in South Africa in 2002, it did not garner attention or momentum until about 2008, and the summary I am putting together, will answer that, as it does not make sense, to at least me, personally, as to why a country with such an alarming number of infected citizens, would not want to strengthen and reinforce an initiative like the PMTCT program. The more I read about South Africa, the more information I gather to support the summary and my contentions for the lag in effort.

Blog 12:

                I have finished the summary I put together for Hannah, which organizes the cause and effect of recent events, in a basic way, and just outlines the key points of issue and success. I found working on this summary to be very intriguing, because the country of South Africa has the highest number of women infected with HIV. In fact, in 2010, 30% of pregnant women nationwide were tested HIV positive, causing approximately 70,000 babies to be born HIV positive, as well, with an increased risk of childhood death, as HIV is associated with 50% of deaths for children under 5 years old.

            The major attempt to combat the HIV epidemic in South Africa, was the PMTCT program initiated in 2002, significantly later than that of other countries. Furthermore, it was not until 2008, that the program gained momentum, as I said in my last post. The primary reason for the deficit of adequate development was due to the lack of clear support of government involvement. The president was fickle about his personal and political stance on HIV/AIDS, and resigned himself multiple times from involvement. The government also adamantly refused to accept that HIV causes AIDS, and denied that it was and still is an epidemic. The government also rejected donated aid and medical treatment. This nebulous reaction to the epidemic hindered productive intervention and treatment for six years, and is described to be an “attitude of defiance”, (Schneider, Fassin).

            After 2008, under new leadership, there was a noticeable mark in improvement. In 2008, the Minister of Health launched the PMTCT accelerated plan (A-Plan), which was aimed to reduce the transmission from 12% in 2008 to ≤5% by 2011. In 2009, President Zuma’s speech on World AIDS Day demonstrated clear support of government involvement in the “war on HIV/AIDS”. Finally, in 2010, more women met the criteria for coverage under HAART.

Blog 13:

            This morning, I was reading more on South Africa, and one paper really captured my attention. One question asked in the paper is why is HIV mostly transmitted heterosexually in South Africa, despite being transmitted homosexually, elsewhere? The answer can mostly be broken down to birth control, infrastructure, protection, treatment, the prevalence of poverty and co-existing diseases. Birth control is a common issue because women do not have the accessibility to it, because of social factors, laws, poverty, and lack of education, healthcare, and transportation, pride, dowry, and religion. Consequently, they have more kids, and abortion is seldom an option, sometimes resulting in mothers consciously not seeking treatment for their children, and deciding to take food from her unhealthy children to give to her healthy children, as a means of keeping the ones most likely to survive.

            I think it is important that the paper addresses that question, because there is still a harsh stigma on those infected with HIV/AIDS, which is unfortunate. People need to realize that there are plenty of HIV/AIDS infected persons who contracted it from birth or blood transfusions or unsterile equipment. Especially in the United States, there is a stereotype that all HIV/AIDS positive persons are Caucasian gay men who have unprotected sex, or are "wild" people somewhere in the great depths of Africa, which clearly is not the case. In college, I hope to be a part of an HIV/AIDS organization or foundation, and hopefully do my part in sharing knowledge with others about what it truly is, to spread awareness, and to encourage understanding and tolerance.

Blog 14:

            This afternoon, Genna, Hannah, and I went out for lunch together. It was nice actually because we got to loosen up from a busy day, with everyone in and out of the office. Hannah apologized profusely for having to call out sick yesterday at the last minute, because of a migraine, which I told her not to worry about, because I had plenty to do on my own, and the great thing about research and literature reviews, is that it mostly is just independent work, which I like. I prefer working independently, but having other people in the office, so that it is still entertaining but also educational, because I can always ask either Hannah or Genna for help if need be. I could completely empathize with Hannah, because, like her, I suffer from migraines, as well, which are no easy thing to overcome.

            Tomorrow, I'll do more of a comprehensive summary of my experience at my SCORE internship, but I will say that one skill, among many, that Hannah and the MGH GHHR have taught me in my five weeks here, is the value of cooperation, patience, and self - control. There have been plenty of times where Hannah and Genna have been treated terribly by superiors (not in this office) and they vent to each other and to me, but then get right back on the phone and act as though nothing happened, still chipper and willing to please, which is commendable. It's important to be able to be so flexible, because if you cannot manage to get along with colleagues or to communicate effectively, then working is a wash, because it won't be hardly as productive, and can make for an agonizingly long day.

Blog 15:

            I can't believe that this is my last post, already. I have to start out, by saying how incredibly grateful and appreciative I am for having had the opportunity to work with the MGH GHHR and Hannah, in particular. I see what other people have been posting, and it's remarkable as to how many people have been anticipating the end of SCORE, whereas I don't want my SCORE project to end. I could honestly see myself working here for sure when I have already practiced for twenty - odd years and want a change of scenery.

            Hannah has taught me so much, it's difficult to capture and put into words, because I'm sure that I don't even yet know quite everything I have learned. She has taught me how to better conduct literature review and how to more efficiently search, with all of the search term tips she gave me. In addition, because of being in such an environment, I was able to finally decide that medical school is where I am meant to be, and so I will apply in August, to do the six year medical program at the National University of Ireland, Galway, which is where I will be studying biomedicine this year. Furthermore, she has given me amazing insight and advice, such as repeating to me the advice her friend's dad once told her years ago, that it's important to always work harder than your boss, which I do find to be good input. Finally, she has also given me the scoop on everyone in the office, in the sense of "this is what ___ accomplished", but "this is what it cost him/her", so it is well balanced information and suggestions. I finally got my MGH GHHR fleece, too!

            Since freshman year, the only two things I was really looking forward to in high school, were my ASR internship, and my SCORE project. I can honestly say, that SCORE has by far exceeded my expectations. I just wish it had been for longer.