Blog Highlights - July 11th

"The service that I have completed over the last week has been an eye opening experience. I have seen areas of Trenton that I would not have otherwise seen if I had not enrolled in the Bonner program. I was able to see Trenton post economic boom into the divide of the city that it is now. I hope to relate my service experience to why Trenton was destroyed from deindustrialization and suburbanization." -USA 101


"I was surprised by almost all of the students were very excited by education. When the teacher announced that the class was going to skip math for a day, the students actually made her teach them math. They would not let her skip the subject and were excited to learn the new information. Also, all of the children hoped to go to college and become things that require a higher level of education." -USA 101

"The students in Trenton schools are all capable of being very intelligent and all-around, smart kids, but the inadequate education has already kept them from being on the intellectual level that kids their age should be." -IDS 100

"The differentiation in quality education based on class continues the class levels of students beyond their education.  Getting a poorer quality of education reduces the ability for students to increase their rank in the future. This idea of income, class and education are prevalent at the field site where students fall behind in school, because they lack the ability to receive a quality education." -IDS 100


"Alea is a 13-14 year old, African-American girl who was born and raised in Trenton who has several siblings. These statuses were not chosen by her, yet they can be used to identify her social status.  Since she lives here in Trenton, not by her choice, and she is of African-American dissent, there are certain assumptions that come with those ascribed statuses that may, or may not be true. The status of gender, race, age, and ethnicity can all be considered master statuses. Students like Alea also have some achieved statuses. Some of those statuses may include being a rising freshman in high school. All of these statuses have different roles. The roles of being a teenage girl in Trenton could include maturing earlier, getting a job, and taking care of younger siblings." -SOC 101