Interviews

 I am Kiersten and I interviewed a fellow education student, Rachel Gregory.

Problem: Whose stance in the presidential debate do you take in terms of education

First name of the person you interviewed and/or their title in the community (retired person, parent, businessman, etc)

Rachel,  education student

Tell the person about the problem you are studying. Then ask the following questions:

Is this a problem you think is important?  Why/ Why not?

Yes, because the children are our future and they need to be educated as well as possible.

Do you think others in our community think it is an important problem? why/ why not?

I don’t think others realize how big of an issue it is because it’s not as highlighted in the news. Most focus is on the economy.

What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

I am unsure of any policies having to do with this topic.

If their is policy around your issue/ problem/ topic, ask these questions:

N/A

Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem?

At the different politicians websites, news websites, ask other peoples stance.


I am Shea Bogart and I interviewed Courtney Lynch from class.

Problem: Stance on Presidential Election in terms of Educational Issues 

First name of the person you interviewed and/or their title in the community (retired person, parent, businessman, etc) Courtney Lynch. Salem State University student and athlete.

Is this a problem you think is important?  Why/ Why not? Yes, this is important to me because I am an education major and it will effect my future. I also am still in school, so higher education issues also directly effect me. 

Do you think others in our community this is an important problem? why/ why not? I think it depends on the person and who they are within the community. I can imagine how other majors would not be as concerned with the education politics for this up coming election. I think parents and teachers would think this problem was important however I do not think teens and children care much about the topic.

What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem? It does not really deal with any one specific governmental policy because it is the election of the president, but it relates to all policies and issues in government.  

If their is policy around your issue/ problem/ topic, ask these questions: N/A

What are advantages of this policy? N/A

What are disadvantages of this policy? N/A

How might the policy be improved? N/A

Does the policy need to be replaced?  why? N/A

What disagreements, if any, about the policy exist in this community? There are a lot of disagreements on which candidate would be the best to run our country. These are two very different presidential candidates and the whole country has opposing views in relation to the two. 

Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem? Interviews with other members of the community as well as reading and watching the news on the internet or T.V. will provide more information. 

 I enjoyed interviewing Courtney about my blog because I was able to teach her a little bit about the current election that she did not have previous knowledge about. I think it is important for her to be aware of the stand point of each candidate because she is going to be directly effected by their decisions ( especially ones in terms of education) in the next years to come. I also had the opportunity to learn a bit about her to[ic of Drug Testing for Welfare collectors.

I am Stephanie and I interviewed my mother about the topic.

Problem:  Whose stance do you take after hearing what both candidates have said/done so far as far as education?

First name of the person you interviewed and/or their title in the community (retired person, parent, businessman, etc) 

--Phyllis, my mother.

Tell the person about the problem you are studying. Then ask the following questions:

Is this a problem you think is important?  Why/ Why not?

--“Yes, I think it’s important because our education programs need to be very strong to compete in the world.”

Do you think others in our community this is an important problem? why/ why not?

--“Yes. I think the majority of people here do think education is an important issue. Most people realize that to compete in the global economy we need strong education.”

What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

--“No child left behind. I don’t know if they stopped that yet. But it’s not working, either way.”

If there is policy around your issue/ problem/ topic, ask these questions:

(WE’RE NOT SURE IF NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND IS STILL IN ACTION BUT WE ARE BASING THIS OFF OF THE THOUGHT THAT IT IS)

What are advantages of this policy?

--“Ideally, the advantages were supposed to be that every child had equal opportunity to equal education. However this never happened.”

What are disadvantages of this policy?

--“The disadvantages are that children are bussed out of their own neighborhoods instead of improving the school systems within their neighborhood. Another is that money given to communities is based on their successful ‘NCLB’ program.”

How might the policy be improved?

--“I don’t think the policy can be improved. I think it was an ideal, but was not practical.”

Does the policy need to be replaced?  why?

--“Yes. It’s not working at all.”

What disagreements, if any, about the policy exist in this community?

--“We have MCAS, and I have extreme disagreements. I personally believe in creative teaching and not teaching to a test. It’s making a high school diploma dependent on just written test scores and some children just absolutely don’t test well.”

Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem?

--Out in the community, through government, through the school systems, through organizations found on the internet (pro and con).

I really enjoyed interviewing my mom. Even though we live together, this is a topic that never hits the dinner table. She knew a lot about what goes on in education, especially in our community here in Malden. I was actually surprised that she had such strong opinions on this topic; I guess I never really realized how involved my mom has always been in my education as well as my sister's, who graduated UMass Amherst in 2009. My sister is now a teacher and I'm on my way, and my mother is proud of both of us. I'm glad she follows education so closely because A. she filled me in on quite a few things and B. she's really looking out for her kids! :)

 Here I am interviewing my mother about education in politics today.