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. He learned that it was his responsibility to learn and entertain himself. That is how he began using that lesson to entertain his students. Gatto believes that schools are not allowing students to reach their own potential to gown as individuals. Gatto
By showing to the readers that he was once a public school teacher it helps them see him as an expert giving his own expert opinion. He stresses that the public school system is doing the youth of this generation an injustice. He does this through analyzing the goals of education, not schooling. He uses the third goal a lot which is to make each person their best that they can be. He also says the today’s school system suppresses the word genius.
In Stanley Milgram’s article “The Perils of Obedience” the author finds that adults have the capability and willingness to go to extreme ends, even inflicting pain on others, to follow orders and show obedience. Through the author’s extensive experiments he has found time and time again that average, ordinary people will inflict pain on other human beings when ordered to do so by a person in authority. Dr. Milgram says that obedience is rooted deep into the human psyche and can be a more powerful force on a person’s actions than their learned behaviors of “ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct” (693). Milgram’s experiments consisted of an “experimenter” that was overseeing the process, a “teacher” and a “learner”. The subjects were informed
Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment and Stanley Milgram’s Behavioral Study of Obedience have provoked controversy amongst individuals interested in the study of human psychology. Critics have claimed that both studies were unethical and caused serious harm to the participants. Although both trials were later reviewed by the American Psychological Association and approved, many debates and additional research ensued. The strengths, weaknesses and underlying ethics of both studies still provide ample reason for further examination. Only three months after the start of trials for Adolf Eichmann (a Nazi war criminal), Milgram formulated an experiment to question this dispositional view.
They stress day and night over these overrated tests, like previously stated channeling out the imagination, curiosity and good will. Besides being an imprecise measure for students, they use them to judge a teacher’s performance as well, essentially used to either reward or punish them. Standardized test are not helping us very much right now. In conclusion, the usage of standardized tests should be discontinued or by the very least lessened. These tests are not helping people, it’s initially having a negative effect on students and teachers.
Lots were apparently drawn, but it was arranged that in each case the volunteer would be the teacher. Teacher and learner were then taken to a room where the learner was strapped into a chair and electrodes fixed to his wrists. The volunteer/teacher was told that the punishment to be applied was electric shock, and that these shocks could be extremely painful, although they would cause no permanent damage. Next the volunteer/teacher was taken to his own room where he was given his instructions; every time the learner made a mistake, he was to give an increasingly high electric shock by way of punishment. The intensity of these shocks - as displayed on a 'shock generator' - ranged from 15V to 450V.
Heid 1 Jennifer Heid Professor Harris English 1000 29, February, 2014 Final Draft Do you think there could be another event like the holocaust due to the amount of Obedience to an Authority figure? In Philip Meyers article, “If Hitler Asked You to Electrocute a Stranger, Would You?” A social psychologist named Stanly Milgram, working at Yale at the time, put his theory on obedience to the test. Milgram uses cause and effect to find his theory. Milgram uses actors to act a scene where the “ learner’ gets electrocuted by the “teacher” to show obedience to the authority figure. In addition, in Milgram’s theory of obedience, he uses “teachers,” which are the “subject” to authority.
Justin Wallace Psy 101-25568 February 10, 2012 Dr. ReNae Healy Critical Thinking After viewing the “Quiet Rage” film, there was a lot to consider. The experiment was quite interesting seeing how the subjects seem to forget their actual identity, and saw themselves as the roles presented (Prisoners and Guards). Although, it was just an experiment it reflected a significant similarity to past and present societies and situations; for example, Jim Jones of Jonestown (Past), and Osama Bin Laden (Present). Jim Jones and Osama Bin Laden used sophisticated Conformity, Compliance, and Obedience Training on their subjects, in order to have utter control of hundreds of people. Jim Jones used individuals who were in refuge from the chaos that was going on in the United States of America at the time.
Whenever the pupil answered incorrectly, the teacher was instructed to throw one of the switches, starting at the lowest voltage and progressing to the higher voltages. The pupil, of course, was not actually receiving shocks, but he would act out preplanned mistakes and feign pain upon receiving the "shocks." About midway through the series of switches, the "pupil" would complain loudly that he wanted to stop, kick the wall, and scream. At the highest levels of shock the pupil would remain silent. All the while, the experimenter, wearing a white lab coat and carrying a clipboard, would instruct the teacher to continue with the "learning experiment."
He soon “fell into line” after the principal of the school called a meeting with him and the parents of the students he was failing. Even though Jesness presented very good reasons as to why they were failing, it did not matter. After being let go from his teaching job he realized there was no way around the floating standard, so he began to dumb down the curriculum and in return this put all of the students at the same level even if some could excel if they were pushed harder. Jesness brings into view the idea of a fixed standard, and asserts that state testing such as the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills does not grant students the ability to learn as much as they could. Jesness goes on to say that if students were to take Advanced Placement tests then this “would free teachers from the pressure to adjust the content of their courses and would assure students and their parents that the standard for each course is fixed, not floating”.