“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” -Nelson Mandela

Think about that. Think about how Nelson Mandela compares education to normal day life. Education is such a powerful tool, and sadly some cities are lacking it. I'm currently taking a course called "Education In Modern Society" and we are watching a documentary called "Waiting For Superman." In this documentary, we are exposed to different ways education affects students living in such diverse locations around the United States. There are two students that this documentary focuses on: Daisy and Anthony.

Daisy is a Latina elementary student from East Los Angeles. Six out of 10 students from Daisy's school do not end up graduating. Now, Eastern L.A. has roughly 123,000 people. About 9,000 students every year fail to complete high school and earn their diploma. Nine-thousand too many. Daisy explains that one day she wants to become a veterinarian or a doctor. The odds of her successfully completing high school, attending college, and receiving the Ph.D. is 14 percent.

Anthony is a fifth-grade student in Washington D.C. He attends one of the worst-performing elementary schools in the United States. After elementary school, Anthony has one way of being able to get the opportunity to a better education — SEED Charter School. In his case, there is a 50 percent chance that he will be accepted and given that higher education.

The horrifying statistics of these two students makes me really upset. These two elementary students are minorities, and attending low-income schools, but that should not affect their education. These two elementary students have hopes and dreams of becoming triumphant adults one day. Their hopes and dreams are compromised by education in modern society.

Now, why is it that these students have to suffer and receive a lower education than students that live in higher-income families? Teachers are trained to educate all students equally. Teachers are not trained to educate high-income family students differently than low-income family students. That makes me question the education that the teachers have received.

Here at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD), I'm majoring in English Education and double minoring in Deaf Studies and Theatre. Watching this film and trying to picture myself in a low-income schooling system makes me want to educate students that much more. There are ways to simplify education at a rate every student can handle. It's been done before, it can be done again.

Us teaching majors can watch "Waiting For Superman," take in the information given, and use that in our studies. We can use the low percentages to say, "Hey, this doesn't make me happy. The statistics are extremely low and I want to make them higher." We all need to come together and figure out how we can change students minds and make them want to come to school. Let's figure out how they can want to learn, and continue education after high school.

Two ideas I've come up with include more one on one time between the student and the teacher, more in-class homework so when the students go home, they can spend more time with their family.

I really believe that more one on one time between the teacher and student would benefit both parties. When the teacher gets to know the student on more of a personal level, they can figure out how he or she will learn more efficiently. When the student learns more about the teacher on a personal level, the student can gain more confidence knowing that the teacher understands their needs and can be trusted to help.

I've read several articles on having more free time with family and doing more work in class. I truly believe in this statement. Quality family time is super important and should be a part of every child's life. Back in elementary school, I had taken a math class that had homework assigned via podcast outside of class, and you were only allowed to work on it during class. To a middle-schooler who isn't that good at math, this was very difficult. I had to watch these videos and somehow learn from it only to wait until the next math class to ask any questions or receive any help. This was a huge problem for me. I had to take hours out of my "family time" after school, for more school. I understand this was a practice and my school was only experimenting these videos to figure out if they were more successful than teaching in class, but I don't believe they were. Losing one on one contact with my teacher really affected my grades. Not being able to spend more time with my family after school really affected my mood.

The Department of Education in modern society really needs to focus on who teachers and educators are really affecting in their experiments and need to take into consideration that everyone learns differently. Educators should take the time to figure out what works best for their personal students, not for the entire student body of the United States. I believe that when I become a teacher myself, I can help those statistic numbers rise instead of fall. I want to eliminate statistics like Anthony and Daisy and reassure them that they can make their academic dreams come true. Knowing what I do now, I hope to find in my however-many years of teaching, that the Department of Education succeeds in getting more students to graduate high school, and earn that college degree willingly.