Blog #2 Googly Eyes and Pipe Cleaners

The overall subject of this Onion article is school funding or lack thereof (budget cuts). It is blanketed by a story that presents a ridiculous anxiety that stems from a school losing funding for googly eyes and pipe cleaners. I think that the audience is anyone who knows anything about educational budget cuts, so basically everyone. Although, I do think the meaning changes depending on who the audience is or there are just two meanings that the audience on either side could take from it. One could interpret it as showing just how ridiculous budget cuts are becoming or you might think that it is making fun of those against budget cuts for areas such as the arts that aren't seen as crucial to education. The article is presented in a sort of hysterical way. The teachers and parents that the article quotes are worried that if it's googly eyes and pipe cleaners today, what will it be tomorrow? The article in and of it itself is pretty ridiculous because there probably aren't many educators who are nit-picking at the small things they can't buy anymore, but it's not having these classes/disciplines altogether that's the big issue. When reading this article, depending on which side you stand, you could be disgusted when thinking about the reality of it or it's just amusing for it's absurdity. The author uses quotes to help string along his argument that this is really something to be noticed. If it was true it would seem to appeal to emotion in that people would feel the need to be sympathetic but really it just makes you wanna chuckle...or laugh. The author is writing as though he has a stake in this issue. He pulls comments from the oppressed side and it seems as though he is part of their Discourse. If one were to take this article seriously it might seem like he really doesn't want budget cuts to affect the use of those great googly eyes and pipe cleaners we all know and love!

Blog #2

Pipe Cleaners, Googly Eyes Cut From Elementary School Arts Budget

PARAMUS, NJ—With students set to arrive in about three weeks, teachers at Washington Street Elementary School were scrambling Monday to deal with a new round of budget cuts that slashed funding for the pipe cleaners and googly eyes they say are the cornerstone of a humanities-based education.

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Pipe cleaners have been used as a form of artistic expression for generations.

"We are closing the door on our children's creativity," said Melinda Jarvis, a first-grade teacher who has used bendy and twisty materials in her art lessons for more than 15 years. "Without pipe cleaners, these kids will be totally unable to transform everyday objects into things with skinny arms and legs. We'll just have a bunch of egg cartons sitting around. How is that going to teach them anything about the rich artistic traditions that have shaped our civilization for millennia?"

Jarvis, who plans to lead an Indian-style sit-in on the first day of school to protest the cuts, is only one of thousands of educators across the country to face dramatic drops in their arts budgets over the past several years. In Boca Raton, FL, there were reports of up to 16 kindergartners sharing the same pine cone. More than half of Iowa's elementary school students gave their mothers crumpled-up Kleenex wrappers taped to tongue depressors as Valentine's Day "roses" last year. And a school in Oxnard, CA was reduced to having students draw crude eyeballs on scraps of construction paper handed down from third-grade classes.

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A petition decrying the cuts drafted and signed by concerned third-graders in Ida Rosen's class in Marquette, MI.

Bergen County superintendent of schools Jim Eckford said his office was forced to make some very difficult decisions, and that Washington Street Elementary School students and teachers alike would simply have to adjust to the new reality this fall.

"I would love nothing more than to see every student be able to make as many Santa Clauses with big, bushy beards as their hearts desire," Eckford said. "But these are tough times, and the fact of the matter is, cotton balls don't grow on trees."

In light of the budget tightening, Eckford suggested teachers develop creative outlets for their children that involve pebbles or paper-towel rolls, or somehow combine art class with lunch period.

Local parents have joined the chorus of opponents, pointing to the need to stay competitive with better-funded private schools in which students have unlimited access to pipe cleaners and have been known to glue googly eyes to other googly eyes.

"Cutting pipe cleaners and googly eyes is simply going to lead to the elimination of more items from school budgets, like Popsicle sticks and yarn," said Geraldine Mailer, president of the Washington Street Elementary School PTA and a mother of four. "To write out one's name, or the name of one's mommy, by pasting dried macaroni to colored paper is to illuminate the human soul. We're going to wind up raising a generation of mindless conformists."

Mailer said that the deprivation could lead to future problems, including low self-esteem, juvenile delinquency, and a chronic inability to create homemade cards and scrapbooks.

"If we're going to deny our children access to diverse forms of mixed media, we may as well just shove a piece of paper in front of them, stick a pencil in their hands, and tell them to have at it," Mailer said. "But is that what we want for our kids? Is that what we want for art?"

Blog#1: Post

This blog is about the role and impact of a teacher through the eyes of one teacher. The subject is terribly controversial and this blog really hits home on who might be on each side of the debate or just what the debate might look like. The piece seems to be addressed to the audience that is attending this slam, but also it seems to the general public and more specifically those who may not give good teachers the credit they deserve. I believe that this would be more motivational if it were recited at a teacher’s conference for example and would be more persuasive/defensive if it were recited to a group of people who Mali is arguing against (he names the Others, “lawyers”).

The argument appears to be that teachers “make a difference” and that they can be looked up to by students because of this. Mali attempts to lay out how making a difference looks. Because Mali is so emotional about it I think that it is hard not to involve your emotions as well. The slam has a sort of upward momentum and ends right at what is the climax of his performance/argument. There seems to be more than one purpose here. On the one hand is seems that Mali is attempting to bash and ridicule the people who may not think like him but at the same time is informing him of what teachers are doing for students and what impact they are making.

Mali starts out by putting the audience in the opposing group’s shoes and starts to make fun of them, but then instead of ridiculing lawyers, he starts to support his side of the story. The author uses real world and seemingly true experiences to support his claims and it seems to be very effective. Because teachers are usually in their classrooms alone it would seem very weak for him to just say it is to because it is so since no one besides the students would really be around to see it. Each example is pretty specific but does involve different realms and disciplines of school (calling home, reading, math, grades, etc.)

Mali uses humor and sarcasm and examples to build up his argument and it seems very effective. Perhaps I am biased because I am a pre-service teacher and would need to ask a range of people to know if it is effective for all audiences. The quote of the lawyer in the beginning of the clip (“Those you can do and those who can’t….teach”) seems to be an Argument Ad Hominem or Ad Populism, depending on how one sees it. Mali body language also helps his ‘act’ and while Mali is talking from at least a comic and teacher Discourse, he seems to also be wearing the common man/teacher persona so as to be on the same level with the audience, whoever they may be. Since this is on YOUTUBE there is of course a place for comments and on this particular video (of which there are many duplicates) there is a lot of positive feedback—as least as far down as I have read. Perhaps I had not been exposed to this kind of argumentation before, but I thought he was pretty spectacular! Enjoy!

Blog #1: Taylor Mali On What Teachers Make

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxsOVK4syxU