Myah Clark Professor Collier English112.SMRT 2 21 November 2014 Essay #2 Public Schooling: Draining Students of their Freedom and Creativity In John Taylor Gatto’s “Against School”, he explains how he thinks public education cripples our kids and why. He starts his article out by making a point that both the students and teachers are suffering from boredom. The students also pointed out the fact that the teachers didn’t seem to know much more about what was being taught then the students themselves. On the other side of the spectrum the teachers are just as bored because they feel the students are rude and only interested in the grades. He then continues on to say that we shouldn’t blame the teachers or the students; in this case, we should blame ourselves.
5.06 * Nile Verleur 4/11/15 Article 1 Report: Our High Schools May Not Adequately Prepare Dropouts For Unemployment 1. What is the essential cultural observation or situation being satirized? What clues lead you to this conclusion? * This article satirizes the lack of support geared towards creating successful students and the misuse of support programs and resources applied towards the failing and less successful students. For example, the author uses sarcasm to point out the lack of support for students when he quotes, “Our public high schools place too much focus on preparing kids for professional careers.” The author later criticizes the unorganized approach teachers take towards the discipline and teaching of students when he quotes, ‘"Educators do a lot to ensure that the most hopeless students slip through the cracks...
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.
In the essay “School Is Bad for Children,” the author John Holt argues that traditional schooling prevents children from using their curiosity and stunts their interests in learning. He believes that in the school system, children do not have a chance to learn what they like; they learn what the teachers tell them they must learn causing them to become passive learners. The children don’t have a chance to learn from mistakes or through other children because they are scolded for talking and having wrong answers. John Holt believes that because of all this children learn to hate school and he proposes ideas to reform the school system and make it a more efficient place for children to learn. Holt was persuasive and I found myself agreeing
Moore ends his statement “Grow up, get some books, and go to your room.” His word choice implies that Barnes has not grown up and Moore is grounding him for doing something bad as if Barnes is still a kid. Moore also disagrees that teachers and their evil unions are the issue with the American system. He believes the systems it self is flawed. He uses and example from his senior year and how he took over the school legally. At the end of his story he says the ex-principal was a good person at heart, and even though many teachers suck, the majority care and do not get paid much.
Waiting for the Superior Hero In the film, they revealed how bad teachers are often transferred from one school to another. This can be seen as a rotation cycle which is not turning out well for the public school system as well for the students. The reason being why a school lets a teacher go is because they discover that they are not doing their job efficiently which leads students to not learning. When students do not learn at least the basics of education, then they do not meet the state standards and cannot enter the next grade level. With this in mind, administrators are stuck trying to figure out what in the world are they doing wrong.
Blinder’s essay was thought out and written properly on one point I think was off. Blinder referred to the “No Child Left Behind” as an institution set up to help student get ahead, when that very program nulls the thinking of students. Alan Blinder will need college students to work “on developing a creative workforce that will keep America incubating”(Blinder 12) but within the No Child Left Behind Act students are forced to learn at the same pace as the slowest student in the room, which does nothing for the new innovator of tomorrow who will become bored with school after having to slow there pace of learning. If Alan would have used this act as a part of his reform in the educational system it would have supported his claims of the system that we already have is hurting of future and not insuring that our younger generations will be able to compete in this
School Uniforms cons Antonio Rozier 3/15/13 Pd.2 Antonio Rozier Period 2 3/15/13 School Uniforms Con Ever since the 1920’s people have believed that school uniforms help students improve their grades and their behavior. Well this theory is not true what so ever school uniforms do not help students improve anything. Kade A., a sixth grade student, was asked how he felt about school uniforms he replied “No, I don’t like them, because they are uncomfortable, and make you feel like you are in your church clothes all the time.” (“Teen Ink” 1). A high school student was also asked how she felt and she responded “I do not like school uniforms because they take away student’s individuality.” (“Teen Ink 2”). These two students show that school uniforms do not help students improve their academics and also students do not like the uniforms at all.
Like if a bully told you “your shirt is ugly, only old people wear that”, then obviously they are trying to help you not dress like your great grandma at school. As you can see, bullies were really put on this earth to point out your problems so that you can improve on them and become a cool kid; because if you are not cool then you’re obviously going to get bullied. An average 7 out of 10 students have admitted that being bullied has helped them become more popular at school. This is an extremely nice thing for bullies to do for
Knowing that students are a greater risk of dropping out when they perform poorly in school, yet increased rigor in the classroom as a strategy to decrease the dropout rate, as identified in the No Child Left Behind Act has created a “Catch-22” situation for educators (Bridgeland J. D., 2009). However, the number one reason given by the National Center for School Engagement as to why students drop out is not standard based system or high academic rigor but boredom and a lack of connection to real life (Diplomas Count: Ready for What? Preparing Students for for College, Careers and Life after High School, 2007). Personal experience shows these all to be true. An all too