1 Notebook CH 9 MARITAS BARGAIN Maritas Bargain

1. Notebook

CH. 9: MARITA’S BARGAIN

Marita’s Bargain 12/7/17

MARITA’S BARGAIN BY ALEXANDRA CALLAGHAN, BRIDGET HANRAHAN & SARAH DIPIRRO

SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER In Marita’s Bargain, Gladwell starts by saying that KIPP academy holds their students by very high standards. At the academy the students were chosen from a “lottery” and many come from poor households. It wouldn’t be expected of a school from the area of the city it’s in, but it is well run and the children are well behaved. Gladwell mentions that the school year worked on different schedules for the students in the city and the country, during the 19 th century. Reformers wanted all the students to get enough education and they made sure not to over work the students. America’s school system runs like “clockwork” & even believe it or not can cause insanity! Gladwell argues that the school year should be lengthened to that of the South Korean or Japan school year, this leaves less time for students to forget the material that they learned the year prior. This is because studies have found that the long summer months leave students in the Lower class with lower scores then those in Upper class. The students at KIPP make a promise with them. They work hard and get good grades: and “KIPP promises that it will take kids like her (Marita) who are stuck in poverty and give them a chance to get out. ”

EARLY AMERICAN EDUCATION • In the nineteenth century the reformers wanted to make sure every child went to school and all children got enough schooling to learn how to read and write and do basic arithmetic and function as productive citizens • In the city, many schools mirrored the long and chaotic schedules of the children’s working-class parents • They didn’t believe in over loading the students with work

SCHOOL WORK CAN EQUAL INSANITY • In 1871, US commissioner of education published a report by Edward Jarvis on the “Relation of Education to Insanity. ” He found 1, 741 cases of insanity and concluded that “over-study” was responsible for 204 of the causes of mental disorder • Pioneer of public education in Massachusetts, Horace Mann, believed working students way too hard can create “most pernicious influence upon character and habits…. Not infrequently is health itself destroyed by over-stimulating the mind. ”

KIPP ACADAMY (KNOWLEDGE IS POWER PROGRAM) • Established in the mid-1990 s, KIPP is a middle school located in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City, the South Bronx • No entrance exams or admission requirements. Students instead are chosen by lottery, with any fourth grader living in the Bronx eligible to apply • KIPP is most famous for their mathematics, and in seventh grade, students start high school algebra

THE SCHOOL YEAR • At KIPP, they start school at 7: 25 am with a course called “Thinking Skills” at 7: 55 am. 90 minutes of English, 90 minutes of Math everyday (except 5 th grade which they do 2 hours of math a day). Hour of Science, Social Studies and Music. On top of that they have an hour and fifteen minutes of orchestra! School ends at 5: 00 pm, which starts homework clubs, sport teams and detention. Some students are at school from 7: 25 am-7: 00 pm! Students are spending 50 -60% learning than a traditional public school student. • Even more, Saturdays they come in 9 am-1 pm and Summers 8 am 2 pm. They also do an extra three weeks of school in July.

PARENTING STYLE (CONCERTED CULTIVATION) • Alex Williams who is nine, who’s parents believe in concerted cultivation (is a style of parenting that is marked by a parent's attempts to foster their child's talents by incorporating organized activities in their children's lives. ) • He goes to museums, gets enrolled in special programs, goes to summer camp where he goes to classes. When he is bored at home there are plenty of books to read and his parents see it as their responsibility to keep him engaged in the world around him. • If you are raised in a different environment do you have a different take on school?

THE BARGAIN • Students at KIPP will get up at five-forty-five in the morning, go in on Saturdays, and do homework until eleven at night and in return, KIPP promises that it will take kids who are stuck in poverty (like Marita) and give them a chance to get out. It will get 84% of them up to or above their grade level in mathematics. Roughly 90% of KIPP students get scholarships to private or parochial high schools instead of attending their own desultory high school. 80% will be the first ones out of their family to attend college. • This can be beneficial to children in poverty but, is it too much to handle?

TEXT-TO-WORLD • In other countries like Korea and Japan the school year is very different then it is in the United States. Here a normal school year is only 180 days. In South Korea students go to school for 220 and Japan for 243 days. My question is does this make a huge change in the way the students learn but also does this put more pressure and stress on them as well? This showed how also they are good in subjects like math because of all the schooling they do with little breaks during the school year.

TEXT-TO-SELF • Public High school for us can be challenging. But what its worth we might not be in a private/academy school but that does not mean we struggle. 10 th grade for me was one of the most challenging years I have ever had. Getting up early and doing homework most nights till 11: 00 p. m. and having a least 2 test a day most of the weeks. Even though we don’t get the work like KIPP Academy there are still lots of pressures in a public high school with the work we get. But everyone struggles differently with school and care about it differently.

Marita’s Bargain 12/7/17

Marita’s Bargain 12/7/17 Answer these questions in your notebook 1. Based on what is discussed in this chapter, does hard work or luck play a more important role in achieving success? 2. If the rich people had been placed in KIPP, would they be smarter than the poor kids who went through KIPP? 3. Is the ceaseless amount of work worth the chance to escape poverty? Why or why not? 4. What separated the rich students from the poor students? 5. Is the lottery system of selecting students fair? Why or