The Ones Who Schooled Citizen Mom

Students from Mr. Hesse's Strawberry Mansion High social science class respond to Amy Quinn's visit.

Although Ms. Quinn wrote the article "Back to School in the Suburbs," which made me a little confused, it all started to get in my head when she came in to talk to us to make her statements a little clearer. I could absolutely feel where she was coming from, even though she said [the article] was made so that we would be angry, but deep inside I felt exactly the way she did.

See me, I did attend a private school that my parents spent lots of money for but it just got to the point where they couldn't afford it any more. My next choice wasn't to come to Strawberry Mansion, but at the same time I had a baby and this was my closest neighborhood school. So here I am, in a whole different curriculum that I have never been exposed to, and if I want to make it I have to do what I have to do for me to succeed — no matter how bad the school is.

This is my second year here and my grades are awesome. It's not that the teachers aren't teaching, it's the kids that don't want to learn. So if you want to be something in life, start trying to make a change now before it's too late.

—Charde L.

Amy Quinn came in to my school today, and we had a discussion about her article that she wrote about public schools. After she explained why she wrote her article, I see her point of view on public schools so I am not upset. Furthermore, she was just trying to get us to see how other people look at us. We had an interesting discussion and [Quinn] feels that we can do something about our education.

—Latashia W.

I think Amy Quinn's presentation was good. We were able to get our point across to her. On the blog I would like to say Strawberry Mansion is not what you think it is.

—Jack C.

I think [Quinn] coming here was nice, but her paper was very disrespectful. She's an OK person but I really don't know her, so I won't pass judgment. But I thank her for coming.

—Dayleesha R.

So there's this woman named Amy Quinn, she wrote an article on her outlook on public schools and I felt as though she was being judgmental looking from the outside in. She actually came into the school many may think is dangerous and had a discussion with us. I really saw her views on things and felt as though she had a point, and I agreed with her to the fullest. She actually was for us and not against us. I also think it was very beneficial and although many are still mad at her, I say get over it!

It was one of the best experiences in my life and I just want to say thank you and I hope to see her at our graduation, so that she can see that we will and can succeed with all the negativity around us.

—Taalibah M.

I knew we had someone visiting today but did not know how well it would go, so I wanted to see. At first when [Quinn] came, the room was filled with questions — you could grip them like bubbles in the air. But after she answered our questions and gave us an understanding about her thoughts on public schools and how safe it can not be, I understand now where people are coming from.

We don't really see how unsafe it is, because we have grown up around it and have been living in it ever since, so it's like the good, rich and famous to us. But for people on the outside looking in, they think we could do much better and learn much more in public school.

And it also should be much more safe than it is. We are graduating every day we stay alive in public schools. It's a blessing for me.

—Jasmine N.

What I thought about the class we had today with Mrs. Quinn was that it was interesting because people made really good points about the difference in public schools and private or Catholic schools. We talked about how dangerous schools in Philadelphia [are] and how the learning isn't the same for suburban students and public school students.

—Bryan S.

What's going on in Strawberry Mansion? Nothing much, Amy Quinn came and visited to talk about how we felt about her article. Wasn't really no need for me to say anything because my response was posted already, but we had a nice discussion. And we would like for her to come back to Mansion.

—Monet W.

Today Ms. Quinn came to our class and explained to us what her article means. To me, I don't think it's a difference what school you go to. To me if you go to school to learn then it don't matter what school you go to. Look at me — I don't live around here and I choose to go to Mansion. I had the choice to go to a charter school and I choose to stay here — so it doesn't matter where you go. If you go to school to study, then you're going to learn no matter what.

—Celeste T.

Ms. Amy Quinn wrote an article about public schools. She came in today to discuss it. I thought her conversation was very interesting, we discussed the facts and what affects our education.

—Anthony S.

It all started one day in Mr. Hesse's class. We read this article in the newspaper called "Back to School in the Suburbs," and we read it as a class. When we read it, we took it as like she was being very racist and looked at all black kids that went to public schools in all black neighborhoods [as] all stupid and all they know is the streets. So [Mr. Hesse] told us if we wanted to reply, we could, so some students wrote back and told her what we thought.

Then she decided to come in and meet us, so today 9/29/08 Amy Z. Quinn came in to talk to us about the article. At first everyone wanted to jump on her because we thought she was being very judgmental. But she started talking [about how] she is all about public schools — she believes we just need help and explained to us how she felt. After that, I started to open my eyes to realize that she is informing us on how the world views us in many different ways. I really liked it and learned lots of things.

—Carla R.

Today was a great experience, it was the breakdown of both worlds. For example, I never knew about the suburban school life, but now I know. I want to thank Mrs. Quinn for writing this article, it really made me think about a lot of things.

—Christopher T.

I think that Ms. Quinn coming to talk to our class made me think even more. I am going to remember that it does not matter what school you at, to get a good education it's the way you present yourself, and if you really want to learn. Ms. Quinn made great points on telling us about her life, and what we can do on helping our education.

—Sean L.

Overcoming environmental and peer pressure: Her coming to the class really made me think about what I grew up around. People should be able to go to any school [they choose].

—Raymond C.