It Should Be Right To Get Education!

Welcome To My Blog!

It was a long semester, which goes by so fast! This semester I learned lot of new thing, which helped me to go on to next step on my educational scale. In my English 102 class I choose Education as a my general topic, because I believe that how ever smart and confident you are, there is always room for improvement and to learn more thing. Education is one the key point for individuals development. Can you guys imaging if we did not had any education? I cannot!Dear classmates and English instructor by end of this blog I hope you will understand why I choose this topic and what kind the message I am trying to send to our nation regarding the education. I believe that United States in pretty good shape on educational scale but there is always something can be done so everyone could go to college! Nadira Mursalova

Decision Constructing

Decision Constructing In today’s society there is a huge debate on whether teaching should be in person or online. Technology is part of everyday life. Now, everything can be done through network such as job applications, applying for school, filling out the paper work, enrolling in classes, and online courses where teaching can be done through network supply. Beetham says, “Regardless of how institutions or individual teachers choose to use networked technologies learning takes place in an environment saturated with information and communication. Learners are increasingly networked” (Beetham, 2008). Everything is acceptable, because the United States is high tech. However, how can students learn or can they be taught to something through virtual environments. Online learning should not be forwarded or touted as beneficial to college students, because learning is often more difficult in an online environment. Many students learn better in a face-to-face class per learning styles and because most human circumstances do not take place in a virtual environment. Learning is frequently more challenging in computer-generated environment for a number of reasons. According to documentary Comparing Student Learning Styles in an Online Distance Learning Class and an Equivalent On-Campus Class by David P. Diaz and Ryan B. Cartnal, authors discussed that one of the distinguishing features of the most distance education classes is the absence of the face-to-face social interaction between students and teacher. Absence of emotional and social interaction in an online environment makes the leaning more difficult (Diaz and Cartnal). According to the documentary it shows the importance of having an interactive discussion between classmates and an instructor; because it is always easier for a person to explain ideas in face-to-face conversations rather than in online dialogue. People can use body language, eye contact, and can be active listeners in face-to-face conversations, while in an online environment. A person loses any chance of explaining themselves and eventually the conversation loses its value. In a personal interview with Ms. Amrulayeva, a Boise State student, she says that “In a regular class setting it is lot easier to communicate and be more social instead of in online class. It is easier to explain and deliver your messages to the instructor and classmates in a traditional class setting, because you can use your body language, eye contact, and a person can correct or be more specific in case of misunderstood or miscarried information” (Amrulayeva). According to Ms. Amrulayeva’s thoughts in traditional class individual’s speech is more valuable, because the sender can observe the quality of the message and how it is being received by the class and instructor. This helps the message or lesson to be corrected immediately if necessary. Effective listeners are more likely to respond in operational technique. Being an active listener and responder is very significant in conversation. The ability to listen enables a person to receive and respond to discussions, which adds value and quality to the conversation. According to Schutz and Lanehart, “The late conception allowed emotions to be organized and shaped, and because emotions and social interactions can convey valuable information and enhance cognitive processes, they have become viewed as integral to the learning process” (Schutz and Lanehart, 26). Since student and instructors cannot really observe and comprehend each other’s feeling being behind a computer screen, there is a lot less chance of understanding the true meaning or context of a conversation; which makes the online environment inflexible. In a personal interview with Jordan Illet, English teacher at Boise High School, she says “For me, a traditional setting is easier. I enjoy integrating technology into my classroom, but I would absolutely hate being behind a computer screen for most of my day. It is just so much more powerful to interact in person with the learners” (Illet). Subsequently, in online class settings students and instructors cannot have deep and meaningful discussions through a computer, because there is no inflection of voice and no visual or emotional cues. Most of the difficulties can be elucidated in the face-to-face discussion. Face-to-face conversations are more valuable, have higher demand, and have more impact on students in the long run. According the journal Students’ Perception of Value of Interactive Oral Communication as Part of Writing Course Papers, it identified that students are able to discuss complex ideas relatively easily in spontaneous conversation, than when students attempt to express complex ideas in a written paper. In their study Kruch-Appelbaum and Musial provide evidence that students perceive value in actively talking with others about their paper, rather than writing down their ideas about the paper. As well most students prefer face-to-face conversing with a classmate as compared to non-interactive written peer feedback (Krych-Appelbaum and Musial, 133). This evidence shows that when students are talking about classmate’s papers, the peer reviewer will give constructive and honest advice. Although, the learner does not have this chance in the virtual environment, because the learner does not see their classmates, so a peer reviewer does not take the responsibility seriously. Thus most students tend to disregard the provided information by other students, and they do not pay close attention to the material delivered by the fellow student, because the reviewer does not carry the full responsibility of the assignments. It is clear that in an online class setting conversation lose its value. Since, most of the time responders do not fully understand the main point of the conversation. Also people change their mind over time. To produce effective dialogue it is important to have active sender and an active sender and responder at the same time. College life is stressful. Every college student knows how it is hard and frustrating when they, as a student, cannot find the open class that it is essential to be taking during a specific semester to keep up and get the requirements done quicker. For most college students it is a problem to find open classes. If a student was late for some reason to enroll into general education classes earlier when those classes were available, it is very difficult for them to find open spot. Likewise, some classes fill up really quickly, thus student needs to enroll at that time when it is obtainable, and otherwise student will not be able to get in. Everyone wants to take basic classes first and finish up with their requirements, so general education classes fill up really quickly. A student then is forced to take online classes, such as English, math, and science in order to fulfill the requirements. This can be extremely frustrating because students are paying for a class without a live teacher, less instructions and often times more work. College life is stressful and every student wants their class to be on the same day, have closer buildings and many other reasons. Students put in so much effort to reduce this anxiety level. These elements are more common on the students first year in school, especially if they are undergraduates from a different state or country. While students are trying to adapt to a new environment, there are other dilemmas elevates such as finding open classes. Thus, good timing is really imperative in academic existence. On the other hand, many others say that online classes are beneficial for students. Classes are easier to obtain, because the majority of students look for regular class before online when they search for classes. No need of attendance to class, having a lot more time to finish up with homework, all the supplies available through network. Student can complete their homework as long as students are connected to network, and distance learning gives more education about the progressing technology. Stinson says that “I can be in a hotel, or in an airport, or anywhere in the world, and I can get my work done. I'm very satisfied with the quality of the program — I think I'm getting more out of it than I would have at a traditional school”(Stinson 25). According to the expression as long as a student is connected to the network, they can get their assignments done anywhere in the world. While even though students can get work done anywhere and they do have entrance opportunity to any supplies through network, sometimes homework does not make sense. Student’s needs to ask instructor for clarification and this back and forth emailing will take longer time; which puts student into a situation where students cannot get their assignment done. Student may experience the same issue in the traditional class as well. While students know the instructor personally, know their office hours and phone number, so in traditional class it is easier to get a hold of teachers than in online class. As well as if student cannot get a hold of instructor then student can get help from other classmates. Even though in an online class setting a student has access to all of the supplies, then again the student does not have opportunity of making friends as in a regular class setting. In online class, students are less likely to build the friendship bonds. The ability to not attend class is one of the advantages of online classes. In a personal interview with Ms. Amrulayeva, she said that “One reason why I like online class is you do not have to attend to class, and you have one full week to finish and turn in your assignment, but on the other hand it is bad not having specific due dates, because you procrastinate, and think that you have whole week, therefore I will get this homework done tomorrow or after tomorrow, but end up doing it at the last moment most of the time” (Amrulayeva). Even though students do not have to attend class, have access to supplies, and have a lot more time to finish their homework, most of the time homework end up being last the priority in an online setting. According to the article “Review of Procrastination in Online Course” by Andrew M. Taylor, the author discusses that most of the online students are procrastinating and leave their homework to the last moment. Also the author states that procrastinators perform more poorly in online courses verses a traditional class (Andrew, 4). Another great example was discussed by the Elvers, G.C., according to an article “Performance and Attitude Differences” the author Elvers, says that “Procrastination is a larger issue in online courses than in traditional courses, and is more closely related to performance. This may be in large part due to the self-directed nature of online courses, and the fact that they do not have “the advantage of distributed practice that came from listening to lectures twice a week, every week” (Elvers, 162). The nature of online class, with so much reading, these classes tends to take more time than a traditional class. An online class modernizes the intensive reading and the extensive time commitment. Cristopher Conte says “Hundreds of studies suggest that computers can be effective teaching tools, though not dramatically better than other technologies or traditional instructional methods. Nevertheless, most of this research has focused on earlier, self-contained uses of computers, and therefore may be of limited value to the current debate over networking” (Conte 5). According to expression network makes learning easier, because student can search at any time as long as students are connected to the system. While according to Combating Plagiarism documentary by Brian Hansen, the documentary discusses that online students are more likely to cheat on their homework and tests than traditional students. Also Hansen explains that even though the plagiarism rate is high in high school students and in college students, he says that students in virtual environment are more likely to plagiarize, because of the internet connection while they are doing their homework or taking test (Hansen). It appears that since online instructors cannot follow the students, while students are taking quiz or test, the student has more freedom of access to their material and to the internet so it is easier to cheat in online class,which is not beneficial in future classes. If a student does not study or is forced to study, they are more likely to use all the supplies on the quiz/test; thus these basic education classes will not affect students in a good manner in future orientations. The fact is that most students are different. The individual must weigh the pros and cons and decide which class choice is best for their learning style. Then again traditional class is more advantageous and provides more upright outcomes than online class. Whereas, computer-generated classes’ limits individuals’ face-to-face interactions, by making students spend more time in front of computers, than having direct communication. Even in a world of technology virtual lessons are not beneficial, because the general public loses focus on the passion, voice, and social interaction in the real world.

Works Cited: Amrulayeva, Zulya. Persnal Interview. 2 Oct. 2011. Andrew, M. Taylor. Procrastination in Online Courses. Texas Wesleyan University, Texas. Nov. 12, 2006. Print. Beetham, H. Learners’ Experiences of Learning: Experiences of UK Universities Proceedings of 6th International Networked Learning Conference. Halkidi, Greece, April 2008. Print. Conte, Christopher. Networking the Classroom. CQ Researcher. 20 Oct. 1995. Web. 9 Oct. 2011. David P. Diaz and Ryan B. Cartnal. Comparing Student Learning Styles in an Online Distance Learning Class and an Equivalent On-Campus Class Cuesta Community College. The CQ. Researcher. Washington, DC. Sep. 1999. Web. 9 Nov. 2011. Elvers, G. C., Polzella, D. J., and Graetz, K. (2003). Performance and Attitudinal Differences. Teaching of Psychology. New York Press. Feb. 3, 2003. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. Hansen, Brian. Combating Plagiarism. The CQ Researcher. Congressional Quarterly. Sept. 19, 2003. Print. Illet, Jordan. Personal Interview. 28 Sept. 2011. Krych-Appelbaum, Meredyth and Musial, Joanna. Students' Perception of Value of Interactive Oral Communication as Part of Writing Course Papers, Journal Articles. ERIC via U.S. Dept. of Education. Alabama. September 1, 2007. Print. Lyons, Linda. Should High School Require an Online Course? Gallup. News. Oct. 18,2005. Web. Sept. 29, 2011. Schutz, P.A., and Lanehart, S.J. Introduction: Emotions in education. Educational Psychologist. ERIC via EBSCO, LiLi. New York, Apr. 2002. Print. Stinson, Matt. Distance Learning. CQ researcher. December 7, 2001. Web. 24 Sept. 2011.

My Best Friend Aline and Gradation Day Me, Zarema, and Mimi.

My Best Friend Aline Amisi and me. We just got of school, it was really fun to have friend like her. She is from France, so she thought me lot French words. I was actually pretty good at too. If I can find any open classes for next semester I am going to take French class, to be able to speak more fluently.

Class of 2009. This Day was the best day i my life, even though I would not see my high school teachers and classmates any more, I knew there will be new adventures, like college. Recently, me, Zarema, and Mimi, went on dinner and talked about old school days. It is really good to have good memories from school years.

Our English Class!

Last Day In our English Class! It was fun to have crazy class and careering instructor. Our class was one of the friendlies class ever, all of us work together to achieve our goals step by step, and if anyone needed help someone was always there to help out. I think this was just because we had great instructor, she tough us how to have each others back. After this experience, I realized that being friendly and helping to others actually decreases the inequality and discrimination in classroom settings!

Brochure

Visit to Boise State University

November 16, 2009. Me and My Friends visited Boise State University!

Education

Interview with Zulya Amrulayeva, Boise State University Student

Nadira Mursalova: How many online classes did you take? What were they? Zulya Amrulayeva: I took two online classes. One of them was sociology 101 and other one was education technology 202. NM: According to your experience which class design is harder online or regular class? ZA: In both settings are harder, but from personal experience traditional class is easier, because you have more time and interaction with teacher and student in traditional class. NM: Why did you take online class? ZA: Schedule inconvenience. NM: Did you like anything about being online student? ZA: One reason why I like online class is you do not have to attend to class and you have one full week to finish and turn in your assignment, but in other hand it is bad not having specific due date, because you procrastinate, and think that you have hole week so I do this home work tomorrow or after tomorrow, but end up doing it last moment most of the time. NM: Which classes’ workload is harder? ZA: I think it depend on subject in both situation. My sociology online class was supper hard there was always too many writings and class discussions so I had to focus on this particular class lot more than my other traditional classes, but my second online class, education technology 202, was not really hard overall I spend only five to six hours per week and I focus more on my other classes. NM: In which class version it is easier to communicate, interact and make friends? ZA: Of course it is easier in regular class to communicate and be more social instead of in online class; because it is easier to talk, you can use body language eye contact, so it is easier to explain what trying to say. In online class you have to write everything and sometimes writing does not make sense even it does when you talk. NM: What is the difference in student relationship in online and traditional class? ZA: First thing in online class, there is no bond between students. We had a group project due in sociology class, so me and my other group members come up to meet and work on it together, but it did not happen, everyone had some things to do, so we end up just dividing up the work and sending to each other the pieces. Well in traditional class when we have group project we come together and everyone does something and if someone needs help to collect information as a group we help to each other, so it ends up being more productive and more successful project. Also this way you can build relationship. NM: Would you recommend online class to other students? ZA: I would recommend online class to others only if there is schedule inconvenience and they have to take this class to be able to get into higher level next semester, than yes but otherwise I would not recommend online class to other students. Other reason why I would not recommend online Mursalova 14 class to others because students learn more in traditional class than in online, so traditional class is an advantage in log run. NM: Is it easier to contact online instructors or regular class instructors? ZA: It is easier to contact regular class teachers at the first place you see them every class period, and most of the have office hours in the compass so you know where and when to find them if you really need help. Well in online class you email them, most of them pre-good retuning back within 24 hours but sometimes is may take longer. Also as said it is lot easier to talk than to write your thoughts

Personla Inter view with Jordan Illet, Boise High School English Teacher

Interview with Boise High School Teacher, Jordan Illet. Nadira Mursalova: Do you prefer students taking online classes or in-school classes? Jordan Illet: Online classes require that students are not only self-motivated, but proficient (sometimes advanced) in reading, writing, and comprehension abilities. I was never a student that could have been successful in an online class, mainly because there is little personal interaction with the instructor or other learners. I have a feeling that many students need that interaction in order to be successful. So…I guess my answer is that I prefer students to be in-school for learning, though there are students would thrive in an online learning environment. NM: Do you thing students are more successful in online or traditional class setting? JI: I believe that the traditional classroom setting is more effective overall for learners. It seems that online coursework consists of students reading text and spitting back information in the form of a test. I believe traditional classroom teachers have more opportunities to allow students to interact and practice content. NM: Why do students prefer to take online classes? They think it’s easier? JI: I think some students prefer to take online courses. Some students would prefer to complete their entire education online. This could be for many reasons including the fact that the social aspect of school is difficult for many students who feel they truly don’t fit in. Many students are missing credits, or have fallen behind with classes, and online courses are a good “fix.” Again, online learning is appropriate for some but not all students. NM: Do you think students think online classes are easier? JI: I have heard students comment that online classes are easier. One student mentioned that he finished an entire semester course in just one weekend. Students often have some “help” from friends to complete the course. NM: Why the district does allows the students to take online classes, when there is some colleges do not except online class credit? JI: That is a good question…I guess I wasn’t aware that some colleges did not accept online class credits. NM: Do you think online or traditional version is easier to teach? JI: For me, a traditional setting is easier. I enjoy integrating technology into my classroom, but I would absolutely hate being behind a computer screen for most (or all) of my day. It is just so much more powerful to interact (in person!) with the learners. NM: Does student/teacher relationship is better in online or in traditional class? JI: While I am certain that online learners/instructors have a relationship, to me it seems about the same level as two friends having an online relationship: shallow. I just don’t see how you could have a deep, meaningful discussion with another classmate or an instructor through a computer. There is no inflexion of voice, and no visual/emotional cues. NM: In online class setting, students have more chance of cheating, do you think it will be helpful to achieve in their future life? JI: NO. NM: If the district knows that students can cheat on their test/quizzes why are they still allowing students to take online class? JI: Another good question…I’m not sure if I have an answer for that NM: In future life the percentage of students taking online classes will increase or decrease? Why or why not? JI: Well, the number of students in online courses is already increasing, and I imagine it will continue to increase. Unless the online course requirements/regulations change (especially for high school credits), I can’t imagine how I could endorse the concept. Truly, online learning (if mandated) would remove teachers…good teachers…from the classroom. Students would not be exposed to powerful…real…learning. This cannot happen.

Letter #1

New York State Education Department 89 Washington Avenue Albany, New York 12234 Hello! I am student at College of Western Idaho. I am currently working on a project, which is about education and I am trying to gather some information, and I’m demanding to reach some advisors to help me out with this project, as well as get more idea how is our educational standards are in our nations. Also I am trying to learn more about does our educational system is good enough or what we can do to better it. Also, I just have couple more question on this subject; if someone will answer those question will be so helpful! Is that anyway you fellows could help me out? Thanks so much! Sincerely, Nadira Mursalova

Altering Existence

Even thought our nation is civilized and industrialized country, our communities still face discrimination and inequality throughout the educational existence. The 1995 film "Dangerous Minds" reflects real-life problems faced by the students in poverty-stricken urban areas. Some of the problems include prejudice, low self-esteem, and lack of opportunities. Crone in his documentary How Can We Solve the Problem of Racial/Ethnic Inequality? Says that, “As I matured, I began to see and realize what these things meant. I observed many instances of segregation, meaning that the minority population is separated from the majority population in many different ways by the informal norms, customs, and laws at the time” (Crone, 85). As mentioned on Crone’s expression, individual come across with discrimination and racism many times throughout their lifetimes, but not always respond to it. Even though the American drama film, Dangerous Minds, shows that everyone does not getting equal attention and equal right in school zones, it is should be every student’s responsibility to fight for and achieve their goals. Each achievement desires hard work. To be able to achieve personal goals, primarily a person needs to take an action, a person needs optimism and back up from their superior such as teachers, coaches and most important their role models/parents. The Dangerous Minds movie’s setting is a troubling representation of poverty happening in the nation. The city residents are mostly immigrants from disadvantaged family backgrounds and experiencing discrimination in society. Their surroundings and discrimination cause them to have low self-confidence, low self respect and depressing perspective of life and one of the biggest reasons for all these consequences is that those students had blocked opportunities by the school, which cause them to become violent and disappointed with their surroundings. The reason is that low-income and children with deprived background will need more personal attention in the classroom to make up for what they might not get from their family environment. As a result, in Dangerous Minds instructor, Louanne Johnson, uses different tactics to build relationship between schooling and students. These tactics might be against the school policies but it definitely works on students who are in need of more attention. Discrimination and inequality against colored people, is one of the major gap that our society cannot get rid of. According to the Opportunity at the Crossroads: Racial Inequality, School Segregation, and Higher Education in California article, it addresses the immovable and persistent underrepresentation of African American and Chicano-Latino in California higher education. By examining the academic resources, presentation, and postsecondary outcomes of students from public high schools with different racial compositions. As a result from this information it provides evidence for the degree to which social stratification in California public higher education is linked with racial isolation and unfairness in educational resources and postsecondary preparation during high school for African American and Latino students (Teranishi, Allen, and Solrzano, 18). As verified in Opportunity at the Crossroads article, it is very clear that discrimination and inequality for African-Americans and Latino students is still progressing in twenty first century, especially in bigger states such as California, where are majority number of community are immigrants. Landscape plays huge role in discrimination and inequality, referring to “Dangerous Minds” movie took place in Belmont, California. The movie 'Dangerous Minds' centers on the students of Carlmont High School who are mainly of Latinos and Black straight. These inner city kids grow up in an environment with poor socio-economic conditions, which lead to many problems. The problems which they face and the reason behind their actions were evidently illustrated throughout the movie, where these students were separated from the rest of the high school and putted in one classroom. Blocking minorities from the society leads to more crimes and corruptions in the nation. In his book How Can We Solve the Social Problems?, Crone says that “When people believe that they can upwardly mobile via legitimate means they are likely to believe that they need to resort to illegitimate means” (Crone, 123). This expressing means that if society blocks minorities with discrimination and inequality, then people are more likely to use illegitimate means such as selling illegal drugs, violence, and gang affiliation to earn position in life. Consequently education is the key for solving these problems. To be able to achieve and be more successful in educational scale, nation must end the racial gap in school zones. Kennth, Jost in his documentary “School Desegregation,” argues that African-American and Latino minors holdup significantly behind whites on every significant measure of academic achievement. The racial gap in learning is one of the main reasons for minorities’ isolation in school zones. In addition to this disagreement, the author also gives facts about the consequences and the author says that “Traditional Civil Rights advocates largely blame racial isolation for the lagging performance of blacks and Latinos” (Jost, 15). Overall if academics will give equal right and equal amount of attention to every student there is no reason to believe minorities are not intelligent enough to achieve their goals in life existence. Abigail Thernstrom says that “There is absolutely no reason to assume that because schools are heavily Hispanic or black that these children can't learn, that they have to sit next to whites or Asians in order to learn” (Abigail, 16). It is very wrong to say that schools are separate out or brought together, because cities are becoming more heavily minority, well there is nothing as an community can be done about that, only thing that school districts can do is to avoid the minority isolation and make sure every single student gets equal and enough education so they can accomplish their objectives. Nonetheless, even that every success desires solid effort and time period, which is up to students’ choice and decision. Works Cited: Abigail, Thernstrom. No Excuse: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning. May, 2003. CQ Researcher. Print. Crone, A. James. How Can We Solve Our Social Problems? How Can We Solve that Problem of racial/Ethnic Inequality? (2nd ed). Pine Forge: Washington, DC, 2011. Print. Dangerous Minds. Dir. John N. Smith. Perf. LouAnne Johnson, Raúl Sanchero, Emilio Ramírez, Carla Nichols, Alvina, and Stephanie. California, 1995. Film. Jost, Kenneth. School Desegregation: How Can the Promise of the Equal Education are Fulfilled? 23 April 2004. CQ Researcher. Web. 6 November 2011. Teranishi, Robert, Allen, Walter R., Solrzano, Daniel G. Opportunity at the Crossroads: Racial Inequality, School Segregation, and Higher Education in California. Journal Articles. Blackwell, Malden, MA. 2005. Print.

Educational Achievements

Education is the key point for achievements. As a nation, many countries have more educated people throughout the world today, than have had been in past. Some countries are better off on this scale than others are. According to a new report from the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center by John M. Lee, Jr. and Anita Rawls Russian Federations’, have higher college graduation rates than the United States does (Lee and Rawls). In order to be more successful in higher education, the United States must integrate lowering the cost in education, imply equal educational opportunities for men and women, and increase face-to-face classes instead of online schooling. Education is expensive. Expense is one of the main points why some high school graduates cannot attend college worldwide. Alternatively, some of the high school graduates do attend college but cannot finish it up, because of expense or need of employment while in school. According to a documentary Working Their Way through College, this documentary discusses and touches some important points about college employment and difficulties in the United States while in school. This documentary states that during 2003 and 2004 academic year, roughly 70 to 80 percent of undergraduates worked while they are in college. The documentary statuses that on average, employed students spent almost 30 hours per week working while they are in school and one of the main reasons is to pay tuitions and to help pay their expenses (Working Their Way through College). As it expressed in the documentary that most US students work while they are in college, students are less likely to graduate within four-year period or perform poorly in their courses. To get over with this gap, the United States must adapt some alternatives from other countries to manage and decrease the student employment. It is very true that many college student’s work while attending college. In the personal interview with Shusha Ahmendova, Student of College of Western Idaho, she said, “First year she enrolled in Boise State University, because this school offered lot of high quality education and lot of carrier opportunities. While when she enrolled to school she worked full time as well, and after month or so in school, it became more difficult to manage both of them at the same time and pay for tuitions and requirements. After first semester, I had to quit school because I could not afford it and I could not just quit the work and go to school because I had bills to pay off. Year later after quitting the BSU she enrolled in community college, College of Western Idaho. It was lot cheaper in here so I did not had to work full time, so I was focusing on school more” (Ahmedova). Employed students know how hard and frustrating it is to keep up at school and work at the same time. Consequently, most college student quit school or transfer to smaller community colleges to be able to work and pay their bills. If the United States wants to increase the graduation rates, it should decrease the tuition and supplies cost in college or supply students with enough Financial Aid, so they do not have to work while in school. Providing with enough financial aid and reducing the college cost increases the graduation rate. According to a new report from the College Board Advocacy and Policy Center by John M. Lee, Jr. and Anita Rawls they stated that “Russia is the world leader when it comes to graduation it citizens from college. Fifty-four percent of the Russian Federation’s population aged 25 to 64 has an associate’s degree or higher. Furthermore, writers added to their report that most of the Russian students does not work while they are in school, so they focus on education more deeply, as a result students complete basic higher education (4years) within four years” (Lee and Rawls). According to report, one of the main points for high graduation rate success is that most of the educations in Russia offered free. Since most of the Russian citizens have more freedom and ability to attend to school and not worry about the expense so much, it pushes the country to be dominant on educational scale throughout the world. One of the main reasons for this is college expenses are a lot cheaper in the Russian Federation. While financial difficulties play a key role in the United States low college graduation rate. In the personal interview with Austin Rambow, assistant manager in Darmody Enterprises, he said, “I want to go to college, but I cannot do it because I need to work full time to be able to afford myself and my family. He says that prices for college have gotten way out of control, it is almost so only people with money can go at all or you have to get a bunch of debt” (Rambow). Since American education is expensive many high school graduates cannot attend college after graduation or later on. According to Study in Russia article, it states: “Compared to many other countries, the cost of studying in Russia is very low. Most Russian nationals are not required to pay tuition provided they get good results in their course of study. Although international students pay tuition, in comparison to many other places costs are still low. Tuition for degree study can range from $2000 to $8000 per year, with other costs (room & board, books, etc.) ranging from $1500 to $5000 per year, depending on location and spending habits. In addition, it is possible for a small quota of international students to have their studies financed through Russian federal fellowships” (Study in Russia). If citizens within the country have, more chance to attend to college it is more likely that country will develop faster and better in long run. Gender equality plays a huge role in educational success. Russian Federation holds up on equality, so every single student gets equal attention and equal rights on major selection. Even though the United States contributes lot of the freedom for it community, America still has huge equality gap to go over, to be able to be leading on every sector worldwide. If the United States wants our society to move toward the goal of gender equality in education, through which women have equal opportunities with men, it must get a wide variety of schooling. According to James A. Crone, book How Can We Solve Our Social Problems? It states that even in 21st century many American women struggle in school because of unequal education and allowance. In addition, it state of affairs that women blocked out of some sports because of their gender (Crone, 102). Conferring to the expression, even now, many American women held back because of gender inequality. According to Gender Equality in the Russian Federation documentary, it states: “Throughout the last 10 years, Russia's education system has faced several major changes due to social and economic reforms. The number of students in higher educational establishments rose by almost 40%, mainly due to the increase in female students. Between 1992- 2000, the number of male students rose by 25%, and females registered rose by 50%. Now, there are more women enrolled into higher education than men. However, it is difficult to state whether introducing the charge of fees for higher education has affected female students more than male, since there are no government statistics that include a gender breakdown in this field. Nevertheless, the allocation of the federal budget money has been criticized for becoming increasingly gender asymmetric in concern with the traditional male professions to stay free of charge” (Gender Equality in the Russia). Because male and female students have nearly equal shares in all stages of education in Russia, Russian Federations have fairly higher graduation rate than United States does. Face-to-face education is the most effective way of learning. Most colleges in the United Stated offers online courses, so many students are taking online classes for time management. Since many students work while they enrolled in the United States, students force to take an online class, so they do not have to attend a class. Online education does not contain the benefit as face-to-face interactions; many students tend to perform poorly in the online environment. According to the article Community-College Student Perform Worse Online than Face to Face by Ryan Brown, author states that college students enrolled in online courses fail or drop out more often than those whose coursework is classroom-base. It also states that students in an online course had an 82% chance of completing the course, compared with a 90% chance in face-to-face courses (Brown). According to the article in a virtual environment, students are more likely to drop out or fail the class than in traditional class. Since most of the Russian schools prefer face-to-face education, students more likely to pass their classes and graduate within selected period. Students in traditional class setting become more realistic in class discussions instead of computer-generated environments. In a virtual environment, students do not get to act to discussion right at that moment thus discussions losses their values and person changes their ideas over the time. Thus, traditional class settings are more educated and helpful for student’s development. Any action taken toward the education helps to provide better schooling. The most important thing is assuring every single student has the right to go to school whether they are from high or low-income families. Cost is the primarily step which needs to be taken, to make higher education more available to the entire nation in the United States. To be able to succeed and raise the graduation rates is important for the United States to take some serious action towards the strengthening policies and helping out to its citizens so everyone could achieve.

Works Cited: Ahmedova Shusha. Personla Interview. Nov. 27, 2011. Brown, Ryan. Community-College Studentds Perform Worse Online than Face to Face. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Washington, DC. July 18, 2011. Print. Crone, A. James. How Can We Solve Our Social Problems? (2nd ed.). Pine Forge, Washington, DC. 2011. Print. Gender Equality in the Russian Federation. OECD. FAO Gender and Land Rights Database. Oct. 26, 2011. Web. Nov. 29,2011. Lee, J. Michael and Rawls, Anita. Countries with the Most College Graduates. The College Board. 2010. Print. OECD Gender Initiative. OECD. Web. Dec. 2, 2011. http://www.oecd.org/document Rambow Austin. Personal Interview. Nov. 23, 2011. Study in Russia. Simon Haskell. CQ Researcher. Moscow, Russia. Web. Dec. 1, 2011. WordlPress.com Web. Dec. 2, 2011. http://rankingamerica.worldpress.com World Resources Institute. Ranking America. Copyright 2008-2011. OECD. Blog. Nov. 28, 2011. Working Their Way Through College. ACE Issue Brief. May, 2006. Web. 9 Nov. 2011.

Reflection

Transformation This Semester I have really learned to give myself more credit on what I have done. In English 102, I learned to write how to make a connection between positives and negatives also become skilled at how to observe things from different viewpoints, and become a curious researcher. It had been a short but at the same time exhausted semester for me which goes by so fast. What I found interesting is that English became restorative mediator to me. Being able to write an essay and talking about everyday life experiences and problems which our nation faces everyday helped me out in many ways. The biggest help for me was that I could write how I was feeling at that time and then be able to write an effective paper to get my point across, as well backing up my thoughts with scholarly researches. Overall I wrote three papers in this class, including some short journal entries and discussion board conversations. Well, these three papers were totally different from each other, but connected in same subject. As I go back and refresh my mind on all of those assignments what I had done, it helped me to understand how each assignments were connected to each other, even when I felt that they don’t have anything in common. One previous assignment makes a step to other task. After spending nearby quick time period on each essay, I learned that in every future assignment, our tone gets more aggressive and more intelligent. I believe this is because we judge deeper in future assignments than in past. Plus we were able to add more emotion and be well-dressed than in past paper. Writing had been a problem for me since I was a kid. I was pretty successful in all the other subjects, but writing assignments were the dilemma. I never could understand why we should write, and how people could choose a particular topic and write about it pages long essays. After this class, I understood that writing is actually shapes our intellectuality and gives a sense of being human. By being able to write we can actually incorporate or exclude any subject to each other. If person is a good writer, by his or her writings he/she can convince the reader to any elevation. Thanks to writing we can tell to people what we actually feel about the subject or an object. So this course thought me importance of the writing in our life. I am proud of myself and skills which I earned thanks to this class. This ability will stay with me forever, because I know I will use this talent in future classes as well as in real life. In addition, I learned how to incorporate this ability to outside sources and use this tool as a guide for future problems. The first essay what we had to write was on Local level. In this essay I had to evaluate something, so I compared and contrast online class vs. traditional class. In general I had to argue over, why is one better than the other. In this essay I wasn’t very successful on my organization and being one sided. I lost my end points where I had to stop. Accordingly, I had lot of ideas in one paragraph instead having one idea in one paragraph and I was talking about one thing at the begging and my paragraph would end up with something totally different. Consequently, it took me a while to figure out how to separate one idea from another, thus one idea leads one paragraph. This essay reminds me one of the stories which I read in high school (Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography: By John Long, 669). This story was about how journalism progresses year by year, and how they use photo montage to make a real photograph into not real or vice versa. However, I used the same tactic. On my Local Argument essay, I take my instructor’s, classmates and Writing centers suggestions. At the first level my instructor and writing center offered me to work on organization, also my instructor showed me that having clear and strong thesis actually a fundamental level for good essay. I went back and re-read the draft and highlight the main ideas throughout the essay. Later on I divide up the entire essay into small portions and stick in one idea in one paragraph and find good sources which backed up my thoughts. Also, I stick in one idea in one paragraph and made sure that ending sentences of last paragraph is actually opening sentence for next paragraph. This way, my transitions were smoother. Last draft came out in much better shape with stronger thesis. After this lesson I became export about digging deeper in my own ideas, backing up personal thoughts with good sources, and expressing myself in lot clear manner on the paper, and not being too personal in research papers. Later on there was second assignment, Film Analysis. This paper was lot easier or I thought this way. Because I was thinking that I’ll watch the movie, pick the negatives about the movie and give the solutions what needs to be done to increase the quality of education. This paper was more judgmental, it kind reminds previous essay, Local Paper, in prior paper and this paper are similar because in both of them, we judge. In film analysis essay it was easier because you took the pessimistic of public and write what you think about it and back up your thoughts with research. Also, in this essay I was focusing on small words in the essay so it sounds smoother, I started writing like: author says, argues, or explains and start the quote. This makes essay look more documentary and be more connected text to the quote. Also, this small changes and twists make quote look like part of essay. In addition this essay thought me proper citation of the source. By knowing citation rule it makes lot easier, to show your readers where the ideas come from and what writer’s viewpoint about the proposal is. Towards the end of the semester there was final paper, paper on Global Level. This essay was made of all components that we been learning throughout the semester. This essay had on it base of everything; it had emotional portion, argument piece, and comparing and contrasting of two things on Global level. I would say this was the highest level for everything. We had to put together everything now, that we learned and analyzed in past. This essay was the most leading because as we progress farther into the end of semester, we tend to move quicker and unravel all meanings. This paper came out lot better than verses to other essays. But I still had some problems. This time I was too harsh from one point view. Subsequently, I worked through the essay and try to be equal for both sides and show to my audience how we as a nation progressing and educational scale comparing to other countries. I bring up solutions which showed why governments have to change some policies to be able to give quality of education to its community. I find that this portfolio is great helpful tool. This way I can go back and see how I started and how I ended this journal. This portfolio helps me to refresh my mind about all the experiences I had during every assignments. I literary, break my thoughts, ideas, experiences, and collect all of those emotional and physical feeling in this short paper. This class thought me lot of stuff. Well, being an online student thought me how to monitor time, and be your own teacher. I get lot of help from my instructor, but at some point I asked question to myself and eventually I was the one who get to find the answers. I learn how to be more motivated and directed, which is, I set goal and achieved it and never let it go if I fail at some point. Reading and writing been trouble for me in past, but not now. I learned how to acquire my negatives and start restoring myself. In past when it comes down to writing I felt like not being able to sleep. I can’t sleep when I have too many problems or question marks in my head. Same as writing when you have paper to write you can’t ever find the best topic to start. You have lot of ideas in your head, but can’t see the connections between them. Or don’t know which one would be the best to start with, to write about so you can be multifaceted and unexpected to your audience; also not provide general thoughts which knowing by everyone. I get done lot of stuff in this class. Now I can freely tell what literacy does to my identity. Throughout the semester I restore myself and learn how to cover my negatives and not be afraid of asking for help when I need to. Overall I feel like I did a decent job in this class. Not being English native, I achieved my goal, and I feel like I am ready to move on and be in higher division classes. Moreover, I think if I accomplish this course, being full time student and full time employee, there is no reason I can’t success in higher and harder category in regular basis.

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