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Garcia Gonzalez

Oscar Garcia Gonzalez


Professor Rebecca Lawson
English 115
24 October 2014
Essay 2 First Draft
Word Count: 635
You Decide Your OWN Future
Society places labels on every aspect of human life. Whether the label be based upon the
types of foods we eat, or the location of our high school. Society, primarily parents, claims that
depending on where a school is located, highly influences both the students capability of
learning, and the options they have of choosing and getting accepted into a good college.
Contrary to popular belief, a schools domestics and teacher appreciation have a small influence
on a students determination, but only the student has the desire to succeed. In other words, if the
student doesnt use teacher appreciation and the schools domestics to their advantage, they
themselves decrease their opportunities of becoming successful.
The San Fernando Valley is a prime example of such critical points of view. The San
Fernando Valley is a small county on the outskirts of the greater Los Angeles County. The San
Fernando Valley has about fifty high schools, which all have completely different reputations;
most based on their surrounding communities.
However two schools in specific present such critical categorizing of both parents of
students, and the surrounding community. Both schools represent polarized sections of the San
Fernando; and they represent the larger ratio of diversity. For example the first school is situated

Garcia Gonzalez

in a community of large stores and exquisite homes. Meanwhile the second school is located near
the off ramp of one the most commuted freeway in California: the notorious 405.
Its fair to assume that depending on where the school is located, affects either the
performance of the school or of the student themselves. One could assume that because one
school has the preference of having a nice community that its students will come from a higher
end family; while the other school has a more urban surrounding, making a community with
lower end families. Then given that students coming from lower end families will be less likely
to succeed compared to students coming from higher end families
Its partially true; students from higher end families are successful, but so are students
coming from lower end families. In other words, a students community, school, nor financial
background, generally should not play a large role on their success. For example, after observing
the first school, Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences, its noticeable that the students success
depends primarily on themselves, instead of the teacher.
At Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences, the high school located in the predominately
white city of Granada Hills, students in a regular senior English class were asked to complete
few tasks throughout the class period. Ironically, that is it. The teacher never talked to the class
in a form of discussion, aside from assigning a different task. However, that didnt seem to
bother the students, instead they actually directed their attention to their instructor, and were
diligent.
The students at Valley Academy of Arts and Sciences, and their instructor, responded to
societys controversial point of view. Society assumes that student outcome is greatly influenced
by their instructor; meaning that if their instructor is good theyll be much smarter, and vice
versa, but Valley Academy demonstrated other wise. They portrayed a different perspective of

Garcia Gonzalez
education; one that points out that a student needs no push if the will to learn is there. In other
words, students in that particular English demonstrated a want to learn by working diligently
without needing a teacher to constantly remind them what to work on.
Also, another factor that contradicts societys assumption is the fact that the class was
densely made up of Hispanics with few African-Americans. In other words, based on societys
assumption, the class should be filled with anything but minorities because of the surrounding
community.

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