According to John Taylor Gatto and Michael Moore in “Against School” and “Idiot Nation” the American Schooling system deceives the public into believing that it is being educated when in fact both men agree the system is conforming Americans into childish consumers bereft of truly significant learning. Both of the authors discuss consumerism in their stories; John Taylor Gatto does not discuss it as indepthly as Michael Moor, but he does mention it on page 154, basically saying that school trained children to almost not think at all… (Gatto 154). Michael Moore speaks on consumerism for about a length of 22 paragraphs at a minimum. “The schools aren’t just looking for ways to advertise, they are also concerned with the students perceptions on various products… Companies conduct market research in classrooms during school hours. “ (Moore 141).
He then continues on to say that we shouldn’t blame the teachers or the students; in this case, we should blame ourselves. He says we are all to blame because the obligation to amuse and instruct ourselves is entirely our own choice and that if we are bored it is nobody’s fault but our own. Gatto is correct in his assertion that the current school system is harmful to students in that it robs them of the ability to be free thinkers. John Taylor Gatto learned as a child something really important in life that was taught by his grandfather. He expresses that “Of course, teachers are themselves products of the same twelve-year compulsory school programs that so thoroughly bore their students, and as school personnel they are trapped inside structures… The obligation to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn't know that were childish people, to be avoided if possible.”(1) Gatto learned that being bored was an action that he was only responsible for.
The teachers blamed the students but they were trapped in the same strict structures of the compulsory school program as the students. He then suggests that maybe that there is not a "problem" with the schools. That they were right when they designed the school to do just what they are doing. Designed not to teach us but to keep us from ever really “growing up.” With that thought the author asks, "Do we need school?" Gatto gives us examples of well-known people who have accomplished great things in their lifetime and were not educated through the school system.
* This suggests that while the deprivation model may be applicable to prison environments, it may not be relevant to violence within psychiatric institutions. * Massacres are often a form of institutional aggression often committed during wartime, such as the massacres of Jews during World War II. * Milgram argues that this happens due to the situational pressures of war, which causes soldiers to obey their leaders. * This can be demonstrated by the fact that in the Holocaust, many soldiers claimed that they were simply following their superiors' orders. * Goldhagen argues that the Holocaust was not due to obedience, but due to the anti-Semitism which was prevalent at that
It is their job to make sure they’re kid is under good influence. Twain satirizes that and blames it as a reason of corrupt children. It is the same way as a lawyer has a job to be against the lying of others in court, but they themselves lie. 3. Bad Habits of Huck “ I had stopped cussing because the widow didn’t like it, but now I took it up again because Pap had no objections” (24).
The Propaganda Machine History can be a source of great national pride or great national shame, but it is something that everyone should be truthfully familiar with. In “Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong”, James Loewen point out that sometimes history can be taught in a way that hides the shame and promotes patriotism. The United States of America has events in its history that some teachers leave out in class, some events that do not paint the United States is a good light. Learning the true history of our past can help our nation prevent making the same mistakes in the future. Many people look to their forefathers for a source of pride.
Yet I believe that this book, “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier, should be kept in schools to be read by teenagers. Many people believe that this book should be banned for the fact that it talks about bullying and violence. In a couple parts of the story, Jerry is beaten up. There are also multiple parts where the Vigils or Janza bully a kid. But that isn’t so bad that we should ban it.
The hidden curriculum has a big influence on pupils, its one thing to teach the child educationally but if the child is treated unjustly (no voice) by the school system then a much more negative message is given to those pupils about the nature of society. According to Functionalists, meritocracy exists in all of society. Parson (1961) believes in the wider society everyone is treated the same and that your position is determined by your effort and your will to achieve. So society is said to be meritocratic, as everybody can achieve if they want to. Durkheim (2002) Believes that there are fixed rules for all and by transmitting the norms and values across society, it is then fair and meritocratic.
Another modern example of Indoctrination is the teachings the government supplies the teachers. Government can make a mistake and have the student’s up to any history of significant or non-significant matters. The only thing worse than a student not receiving an education is a student receiving the wrong information. Our society mostly today does a good job of persuading through advertisements. When we watch television the same thing happens to our brains as happens when we hear a story, our critical minds shut down and we absorb what the story is saying.
More so, it is being done internally by teachers (Falk, 616). The stakes are so high they manipulate test results by keeping certain students out of the testing environment. It has been reported that kids were purposely held back so that their performance will not bring down the test scores that the more intelligent students submit. I agree with that Lindsay Jillson argues about how standardized testing has jeopardized a student’s future because of the sanctions that are given to them for being less intelligent. I just do not understand why the main focus of our education has to be all about test.