Classrooms for kids
In my Humanities class, Rhetoric, we recently finished our second unit. In this unit, we furthered our knowledge of rhetoric and the impact it can have. We studied different situations where rhetoric has been used. We focused on the literary devices used in rhetoric and how those devices have an impact on the words, their context, and the impact on the audience. We watched the vice presidential debate and studied rhetoric between now elect Vice President Kamal Harris and Vice President Mike Pence. We met with Ugo Okere, a man who was running on the ticket as a Socialist to be elected in Chicago ward 40. As a class, most of us met in-person to walk through and learn about the MLK Living Memorial in Marquette Park. To wrap up our second unit of Rhetoric, I was asked to write an Op-ed. I choose to write mine about Chicago, CPS, and the current struggles Covid-19 causes for students.
In this op-ed, I included rhetoric to help appeal to the reader. I established logos by including three cited sources and three credible facts. I established ethos by mentioning that I am a student and that I have siblings in CPS schools. I established pathos by stating how this pandemic and the closing of CPS schools have affected me and my family. A rhetorical device I used was similes, this helped me compare objects and situations. Another rhetorical device I used was enumeration, this allows me to add more details when making a point. The last rhetorical device that I will point out is hyperbole. I used hyperboles to help show how important this problem is and how we need to help these students.
Opinion: All students deserve a chance in life
2020 has been a year like no other. Between the pandemic, shootings, and protests, school seems like the only escape for most students. For decades schools have initiated safe space programs for students in need. Due to Covid-19, CPS schools are closed for in-person learning. Many CPS students this year have now lost access to some of the most essential things for their education and overall safety. For some students, this may be access to reliable internet, and for others, access to breakfast and lunch.
For some students, not having access to the classrooms and the school building can cause them and their families a lot of problems. According to CPS, roughly 4% of the students enrolled in CPS schools are currently in temporary living situations. This is roughly 12,000 students from kindergarten through twelfth grade. With schools closed and online learning taking its place, most of these students lost access to computers, internet, lunch, and a warm place to go in the winter.
It turns out 84% of CPS students qualify for free or reduced lunch. So when CPS closed its school buildings in March, they started to serve meals to communities and students all over Chicago. I am from a big family on the northwest side of Chicago. My family qualifies for reduced lunch at CPS. After the schools closed, every couple of days we would go to our neighborhood elementary school and get bags of breakfast, lunch, dinner. We would also receive cartons of milk. This helped my family out a lot. I am a high school junior and the oldest of six children, and like most families, groceries cost a lot over time. With the extra help from CPS with free meals and help from IDHS with the P-EBT card, my mom says that my family was able to save about $2,500 in groceries this year.
In April 2020, Mayor Lightfoot then announced that CPS was investing $2.5 million dollars to ensure that all students in temporary living situations would receive internet access and computer devices for the 2021 school year. That helped to fix the technology barrier for many students. I don’t know how these programs are going at the moment for the students and parents taking part in them but let's be honest, no one predicted that the third-largest school district in the country would be almost completely online. With the stress this school year is causing on students, parents, and teachers, I think that CPS and Chicago could do a little more to help us all out.
With the winter rapidly approaching and the temperature dropping, many students need a warm place to go during the school day. I believe that the school buildings should open back up for the 12,000 students in temporary living situations. Giving students a warm place to go during school would not only help them academically but in all aspects of their life. They should have access to reliable wifi, a working computer or tablet, a warm place to stay, and food to eat. Many students don’t have access to these things and will be struggling this winter. If you opened up CPS schools, these students would be given the opportunity to catch up with their other classmates and excel in school.
Covid-19 still exists, and positive cases in Chicago are rapidly climbing. We can not ignore the fact that going back to school may not seem like the safest idea. But I believe that with the proper funding and attention to safety, we can make this possible for at least 12,000 students in temporary living situations. This would require Chicago to step up and put policies in place to get this pandemic under control. However, this would also require CPS, CTU, and Mayor Lightfoot to work together and collaborate on securing proper funding and resources necessary to make this happen. It is important to make sure that we do what is best for all students in Chicago, especially those underserved and underrepresented.
Comments
Post a Comment