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History Benchmark Q2- Women's Rights

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 12:30 pm

Link to my video:

http://www.schooltube.com/video/94e0f18067e246029059/

I chose this topic because women's rights is something important to me, as well as a delicate subject. I wanted my project to serve as a reminder of all of the hardships women have gone through in the past in order to be seen as equal. What I like the most about the project is the examples of historical women I've used as examples as well as all of the background research. Something that was challenging in creating this project was picking the perfect sound track and the format in which to present it. One of the most interesting things I came across was the fact that women almost gave up on equal rights several times as well as during WW1. I feel that this project could improve with more description. I did not put as much words in the final presentation as I originally planned. Something new that I tried was using C-Span for this project and I feel that it could have gone better. Overall I really enjoyed this project I felt that it was a very nice change and it really resonated with me. I now value women's more then ever.

Lobbying post 4 Letter to representatives

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 8:32 am

For the fourth part of this lobbying assignment I decided to contact, Council Woman Joan L. Krajewski. She is the one that represents my district, district 6. Council Woman Joan L. Krajewski is the Vice-chairwoman of the public safety committee, "She sits on the Committees of Public Property and Public Works, Licenses and Inspections, Public Safety, Fiscal Stability, Legislative Oversight and Disabled and Handicapped. She was first elected councilwoman in 1979 and has since continued on a similar path. She was the first woman in Philadelphia City Council history to hold the position of Majority Leader. I also found out that she grew up in the same neighborhood as me and I found that very interesting.
Council Woman Joan L. Krajewski is one of the people that is directly responsible to me. I was hesitant in contacting her, for I was unsure of the method to use. I then decided on writing a letter, I came to the realization that it takes a long time for the letter to get through. In order to inquire regarding my topic I contacted her through phone, and email as well as the letter. I also forwarded the email out to the governor and our city's mayor; they have yet to reply to me.
In the letter I wrote, my reason for contacting them, along with links and a summery of my previous blog posts. In the letter I explained the safety in schools problem and how much education reform is needed, along with statistics on the high school drop out rates. And proposed several changes in order to better a students school life. I am still waiting for a reply from any or all of my representatives and am hoping for a positive response.

The letter I wrote:

Dear Representatives:

My name is Elona Myftaraj, I a senior at Science Leadership Academy. I am working on a project, and lobbying for education reform is my main point. I am contacting you because you are my representative and I hope it wont take too much of your time to reply to me. I am contacting you in order to discuss, and make aware a few serious problems in our school system. "Across United States public schools, just 74.9 percent of students who were freshmen in the fall of 2004 graduated from high school on time in 2008, according to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics." There have been many school related incidents that I fear has many students feel that they are not in a safe environment. This is a link to a blog post I wrote on education reform, and suggestions for change. http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Lobbying-_Education_Reform:2

A perfect example of my lobbying topic is the violence erupted at South Philadelphia high school where off-campus and lunchrooms attacks targeted about 50 Asian students, injuring 30, primarily by African-American students. The Asian students boycotted classes for more than a week after the attack, stating that they had endured relentless bullying by African-American students while school officials did nothing about their complaints. I want there to be a change in education and in schools because there are many kids that come from "The Hood" or bad neighborhoods, and I believe that schools should be a safe haven as much as a place of learning, kids need to have a place or person they trust and I believe that this is a part of a teachers job.

I feel that it is incidents such as this that make students loose faith in schools and the school system. Therefore I am asking for your help to actively join me in taking action for education reform and an accurate schedule along with locations for public meetings regarding education reform.

Thank you in advance

Sincerely

~ Elona Myftaraj

Marriage Licence

Posted by Emilisa Lopez in American Government - Laufenberg on Monday, December 19, 2011 at 8:48 am

Lobbying education reform 3

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 at 9:49 pm

The status of my lobbying topic, education reform is not doing very well as of this year. There has not been much change between the committee and council members that support my topic. There has been a lot of talk but no real action with education reform. President Obama gave a speech in July of 2011 and again on september 23 2011, stating that his administration would provide relief from the no child left behind act, he directed secretary Duncan to move forward with plans to provide flexibility to states looking for greater relief under the law, this law was supposed to make sure that every child got an excellent education.
Even though this was set to take place, very little change to be seen. In fact there has been more negative change then positive. Because of the failing economy the Pennsylvania public schools with about $1.5 billion in education sector cuts and a 50% cut for state-owned/funded four-year colleges. This has caused many several schools such as Cardinal Dougherty to shut down. There has been a lot of talk and few meeting about education reform, but no real action has taken place to benefit education.
I also found several places during my search, places that I could visit in order to sit in on the meetings regarding education reform. At some of these place if and when I get a chance to speak I will bring up foreign education systems. What is working for the other countries such as Germany, South Korea, and Japan that is not working for the states. During these meeting I also wish to bring up the case of the feeling that the schools bring to kids, and whether we should change it. Whether we want the kids to fear or feel safe in schools, are all things to bring up. The representation of US schools in the world community is also of concern and something that should be discussed. The fact that neighborhood schools in the states are in conditions compared to at times worse then jail is a growing concern. In the past being educated and able to attend school was a privilege and a dream for a lot of kids, now days it is seen as a nightmare waiting to end. Its time to change the views students have on school to a positive one.

http://www.cardinaldougherty.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDs-QSwLls8&feature=fvst

http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget11/summary/edlite-section1.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLzCBAFStm0

http://www.psea.org/general.aspx?id=7882

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrNTE7nNVkY

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/budget_reform/030811-education-slammed-in-pa.-budget-cuts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbGQjA9pH4I&feature=fvst

http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh6-cauZkzo

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/education-reform-2011-obama-5054121

History Of A Bill-BM

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 7:43 pm

The legislature law I decided to focus on was the Fair Labor Standards Act and Equal Pay Act I made a video comparing types of jobs that both man and woman were subjected to and man get payed more for. The fact that woman and man both worked in the same fields doing the same jobs and making a lot less. I found the reason behind women making less money in the same field was because women were seen as the home makers so they didn't belong in the workforce, and giving them a much lower salary was to discourage them from working. I told the story of my bill then telling a story of my bill from where it started off, to the bumps on the road and to what it has become today. I have found many sources to help with this project including the child labor laws of the time and the changes that occurred because if the child labor laws.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNO1io69Yl8

History of a Bill BM-Myftaraj

Posted by Anonymous in American Government - Laufenberg on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 7:42 pm

Lobbying- Education Reform

Posted by Elona Myftaraj in American Government - Laufenberg on Monday, October 17, 2011 at 12:00 pm

The United States of America. Hearing these words used to make other nations tremble, but now we are falling behind on education because the students don't feel compelled enough to learn. Comparing America to Asia and Europe our primary and secondary education standards have been increasingly decreasing. For example a school in Asia had a higher rate in test score then one in Europe. Several places in Asia require students go to school year round, in South Korea the students are in school from 8am to 5pm everyday and many stay much later for study. Europe ranging from around 4-8 hours per day.

I want to lobby for the better education reform so that the U.S will once again be the greatest nation for education. We all know that the universities in the U.S are the greatest, but I believe that fundamental education should be just as important. We know that we have Harvard, Yale, Princeton and many more incredible universities but we are laking in elementary, middle and high schools were the students will feel secure and willing to learn instead of feeling forced to.

There are of course high schools that graduate students that end up attending these Ivey League universities, but what about the rest, what happens to the students that don't get into big named school, and not to mention the students that drop out of high school all together. I believe there needs to be an education reform, we need to create more schools such as Science Leadership Academy were the students feel welcome, were the teachers are first our teachers, our friends , our councilors, our back up, our safe place.

In January of 2010 violence erupted at South Philadelphia high school where off-campus and lunchrooms attacks targeted about 50 asian students, injuring 30, primarily by African-American students. The Asian students, boycotted classes for more than a week after the attack, stating that they had endured relentless bullying by African-American students while school officials did nothing about their complaints. I want there to be a change in education and in schools because there are many kids that come from "The Hood" or bad neighborhoods, and I believe that schools should be a safe haven as much as a place of learning, kids need to have a place or person they trust and I believe that this is a part of a teachers job.

Some of the main supporters for my lobbying idea are the Education Reform Center, and the Education Reform now Foundation. One of the biggest posing challenges for this however, is the budget crisis, schools have had to lay-off teacher because they cant afford to pay them, and some of the neighborhood high schools cant even afford supplies needed for every student let alone higher teachers. The United States needs to spend more money on education because it is one most important things that keeps the nation together. And it is necessary for the continues growth of a nation and the well being and comfortable life for its people.

What we need to change:

What we need more of:

http://www.edreform.com/http://www.edreformnow.org/