Writing this paper was actually really fun. At first, the topic seemed too big to tackle. When I first wrote out my mind map, I thought I knew what I wanted to write about. I typed out my first rough draft and something just seemed a little off. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about the topic I originally wrote about, it just didn’t move me the way I thought it should (it was a topic I had covered in papers previously, and got kind of old, I guess). I remember sitting in my Psychology class before Comp looking over my printed out draft. I had an epiphany and realized this is all wrong (referring to my draft’s topic)! I had a wild brainstorm and wrote all over the top of my draft about what I actually wanted to write about–DPS. It was unfortunate having to explain to my group members as they revised my draft because almost all of it would be thrown in the trash in light of my new topic about DPS.
Of course it wasn’t ideal having to completely type out about 6 pages of a rough draft that didn’t even closely match the topic I now have written my paper about only to scrap it and write a whole new essay. I almost thought I was going to have a hard time filling up about 6 pages worth, but by the time I finished my essay about DPS, it came to be about 8 pages long.
In the process of writing this paper, I almost immediately knew the texts that could help formulate my argument about DPS. I found it particularly useful to quote from Loeb’s Soul of a Citizen, Kozol’s Amazing Grace, and MLK’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. Loeb helped me formulate my definition of citizenship and why it’s important for everyone to be involved. Kozol was also useful to cite because like the children in the South Bronx, the children in Detroit are also largely being ignored by the rest of society. And I used a powerful quote from MLK which mentioned that ‘injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere’. When I first read that quote in this class, it stood out to me. Then, when writing my paper about DPS, it was like it fit perfectly into my argument–the schoolchildren of Detroit face such inequality in their educational system that it is completely unjust.
I am not a tech savvy person by any means, and it took me way longer than it should’ve to set up my pages and create drop down bars (even looking back I find it amusing). Ironically I found forming the webpage itself more stressful than writing the paper–that was the easy part! Besides that, I did really enjoy being able to incorporate graphs, pictures, and videos into the website along with my paper. I think especially for my topic about DPS, viewers need to have more than just written words to feel the injustice these children face. Being able to add pictures and videos helped to do just that. It’s visual evidence, and to know that my words on the page match up with what is being shown in these photos and videos makes my argument even more compellingly heart wrenching (and it humanizes the situation too).
I knew the state of DPS schools was awful to begin with, but you never quite understand just how awful things actually are until you scroll through the countless videos and images. I remember as I went through many of the videos, I thought this is like something out of a horror film…except it’s not. These conditions exist and children are supposed to be “educated” in them. As I watched the videos I began to cry. I was embarrassed that I had let this happen, that the metro Detroit area had let this happen, that the state had let this happen. I was embarrassed for being in a position of white privilege. I was ashamed that I often made petty complaints about my public school education while these kids sat in classrooms, hungry to learn, but not able to because the system failed them and it in large part has to do with institutionalized racism. These kids deserve safe classrooms and schools, qualified teachers, and plentiful resources to help them succeed. If I had these things with my public school education, why can’t they? The color of your skin and your socioeconomic status shouldn’t matter, but unfortunately society makes them matter. Regardless, we all have some learning to do. We (by this, I mostly mean whites) all must learn to accept that human beings, no matter what background they come from, should all have the right to a genuine, proper education. After all, education used to be the great equalizer. But then it got all fouled up with racism, neoliberalism, and a plethora of other issues. I’ll leave off with this though: one question I have posed to myself throughout this entire process is how can humans sometimes be so inhumane? Answer me that, because I have yet to do it myself.
The "Exciting" Life of liz 