Perpendicularity

Perpendicularity

“Can everyone please place their essays on their desk so I can collect them?” my teacher asks as I nudge one of my pens over on my desk so that it is be parallel with the edge of my notebook. I smile to myself, feeling confident and proud of the essay that I had finished editing last night for. The feeling of a thick, completed essay coming out from the printer slightly warm and neatly stapled was irresistible to me and last night was far more glorious because this was the biggest assignment of the semester. I lean down towards my backpack and take out my green color coded binder, flipping over the front cover to the section where I always keep the papers that I need to turn in that day, but my essay isn’t there, so I frantically file through the rest of the papers in the binders. It isn’t anywhere else either.

The incessant pounding in my ribcage beings to thunder as I notice from the corner of my eye that my teacher is starting to make the rounds to pick up our essays. My foot starts shaking and spazzing under the desk while my breathing comes in even more short rapid breaths. I dig my thumb nail into my palm until I can’t feel the sharp biting pain anymore because there is no way that I could have left the three thousand words that I spent hours upon hours laboring over last night at home.

Home. Home. Home.

The chaos. With everyone always ripping into each other and shrieking obscenities, there is a rare moment of peace, and with that peace just comes the anticipation of even more conflict to come. Misunderstandings are strewn over every room of my house like landmines; say something wrong or put pressure on the wrong place at the wrong time, and everyone will be attacking you no matter how hard you are just trying to keep things peaceful and balanced.

I dump all my binders out, knowing that with my organizational system, there is no way I could have put my essay in the wrong binder, but I still cling to the small thread of hope that I did. The stapled pack is no where to be found and once again I’m weighted with the feeling that my efforts are wasted because now all my meticulous work to organize and schedule and plan and predict have been for nothing since my essay is going be a day late and a letter grade lower. The random guy sitting next to me glances over, intense judgement in his eyes and his eyebrows furrowed as he scans my desk, noticing the missing, neatly stapled essay that would usually always be present and the random binders that are strewn across my desk, ruining the lines and angles that I spent such a long time putting together at the beginning of class. I look over sharply at him and forcefully meet his eyes.

“What do you want.”   

“Oh nothing… I didn’t say anything…”

“Good.”

Good. Good. Not good. I turn back towards my own desk and start putting papers back in my binder and binders back in my backpack. As I zip up my backpack, I can feel the metal of the zipper against my clammy palm. My desk may be neat again, but this does nothing to ease the feelings of failure I still feel in my chest every time I breathed. It digs itself deeper as my teacher nonchalantly strolls up towards my desk.

“I don’t have my essay."

My voice is muffled, and I look down at my desk, refusing to meet my teacher’s eyes which I know are hooded with disappointment and even more judgement than the guy sitting next to me. If I clearly can’t even have any control over the academic aspects of my life, it’s no wonder that my family is also always breaking apart in such an unorganized temper, like the harsh, right angles of perpendicular lines. My eyes prickle with tears, and only my insistence to not appear even more out of control prevented them from falling down my tense face.

Why can’t I ever do anything right?

I nudge a pen over on my desk again so that it’s parallel with the edge of my notebook again.

Segregation Verse Education

Segregation Verse Education

The World Bank states that South Africa’s government allocates twelve times more money on education per student than some other neighboring African governments, but accomplishes no where near as much for its students who are falling farther behind every year (Public). The reason behind this shocking data is Apartheid, a system of oppression that was implemented in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. For example, blacks were forced  to live on “reservations,” and through the Bantu Education act, denied the right to further education (History). Although though Apartheid ended more than two decades ago, the lasting socioeconomic effects of racial segregation are still evident within South Africa’s educational system and affect the eighteen million students who reside there.

Racial segregation during Apartheid still affects the modern day social structure; this directly leads to differences in education for different social classes. Research done by Cambridge college states that, “Achievement gaps may reflect the cognitive impairment thought to occur in evaluative settings (e. g., classrooms) where a stereotyped identity is salient (i.e., stereotype threat). This study presents an economic model of stereotype threat that reconciles prior evidence on how student effort and performance are influenced by this social-identity phenomenon”(New). This means that students who believe their social status will affect their achievement are less likely to achieve. Many black students in South Africa are told by society and the brutal history of Apartheid that they are less intelligent than whites. Because black students have this stereotype about themselves, they will fall under the effects of a stereotype threat, thus not being able to do as a well as many white students.

South Africa’s education system reflects the lasting economic effects of Apartheid also. Although many may believe that Apartheid was an issue of our last generation, the extreme differences of economic status present between poorer blacks and richer whites at that time have still traveled down through generations. The Joint Education Trust conducted an analysis of national school effectiveness within South Africa and it revealed that, “by the age of eight, the poorest 80% of learners were already considerably behind the richest 20% in terms of performance on the same tests”(Commey). Clearly, economic status plays a large role in quality of education and because the economic effects of Apartheid are still present, Black South Africans are being denied their right to equal education. This also spirals into a vicious cycle as students with more education receive better jobs as adults and can provide a better education for their own children, while poorer students who receive lower income jobs will not be able to do so for their children.

Although Apartheid was abolished decades ago, there still exists lasting socio-economic effects that still impact next generations through issues in education. It is essential for us to realize that even though Apartheid may only seem like a part of the past, it still affects millions of children.

Image of a rundown, predominantly black school in South Africa. (Laquet)

Works Cited

Commey, Pusch. "South African Education Is in Serious Trouble." New African May 2014: 22. Global Issues In Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

"The History of Apartheid in South Africa." The History of Apartheid in South Africa. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

Laquet. Flickr. Yahoo!, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
"New Economic Research Study Findings Recently Were Reported by Researchers at NBER (Stereotype Threat And The Student-athlete)." Economics Week 5 Sept. 2014: 125. Global Issues In Context. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

"Public Spending on Education, Total (% of Government Expenditure)." Public Spending on Education, Total (% of Government Expenditure). N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.

Gertrude's Shame

Gertrude is the original reason that Stephen Kumalo was forced to travel to Johannesburg. Her activities and appearance are a source of shame for Stephen and for herself. Mr. Paton uses the character of Gertrude to represent the desire to survive through any means necessary.

"You have shamed us, he says in a low voice, not wishing to make it known to the world… She looks at him sullenly, like an animal that has been tormented" (30).  

"I do not like Johannesburg… I am a bad woman, my brother. I am no woman to go back” (31).  

"Gertrude's dress, for all that she might once have been rich, was dirty, and the black greasy knitted cap that she wore on her head made him ashamed” (33).

Gertrude feels that she is obligated to take any means necessary, in this case becoming a liquor seller and a prostitute, in order to survive in the society that she lives in.

In order to survive in Johannesburg, Gertrude feels as if she must take any means necessary, but once she falls into a cycle of shameful, desperate behavior, she feels like it is impossible to ever come out of it.

Ginger Schmidt, Hana Brett, Booker Martin, and Josef Orner

Ms. Tompkins

World Literature Honors p.2

8 October 2014

Cigarettes and the Little Locked Suitcase

Cigarette

Quote 1:

“‘I can’t find a single fag end.’

‘So?’

‘I feel depressed,’ he said” (Sijie 16).

Quote 2:

“‘You’re right, I’m shivering and I’m cold, like an old man at death’s door.’

I found a fag end in the bottom of my pocket, which I lit and offered to him. But it slipped from his fingers at once and fell to the ground.” (Sijie 33).

Suitcase

Quote 1:

“‘It reminds me of a scene in a film,’ said Luo. ‘You know, when a stolen suitcase turns out to be stuffed with money...’

‘So, are you weeping tears of joy?’ I said.

‘No.  All I feel is loathing.’

‘Me too.  Loathing for everyone who kept these books from us’” (Sijie 99).

Quote 2:

“We crept up to the suitcase. It was tied with a thick rope of plaited straw, knotted crosswise. We removed the rope and raised the lid in silence. Inside, piles of books shone in the light of our torch: a company of Western writers welcomed us with open arm” (Sijie 99).

Thesis:

In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, author Dai Sijie employs the symbols of a cigarette and a locked suitcase to portray how when coming of age, a loss of hope can lead to selfish and immoral actions.

Water's Wonders

Anything can pierce water’s smooth surface

but nothing is as strong as it.

It never gives up

carving at massive canyon walls for centuries

deducing them to dust.

Adaptable

versatile,

it covers huge percentages of our globe.

Sustaining billions of lives.

Be like water.

Flexible cooperative

determined persevering

necessary.

What Shapes Our Perspective?

Finger Print

Perspective

Monk

Man Chopping Wood

Trees

Good vs Bad

Single Tree

Pendulm

Glasses

Scale

Tree and House