Entering The Conversation Essay 'American High School'

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Dutton-5th AP Lang November 6, 2013 Entering the Conversation Essay The “American High School” was originally intended for students who wanted to further educate themselves. That was until Horace Mann decided to modernize the education system by introducing standardized textbooks, extending the school year from the original two to three month periods to ten months out of the year, and finally making attendance for school mandatory. The main focus point on educating American students in high schools has sadly altered throughout the years into a civilian-preparation center. Teaching them how to sit quietly for numerous hours out of the day trying to retain information, while their enjoyment for their courses is slowly dying. Students are also maturing much earlier than when the education system was first created, therefore keeping them in…show more content…
Botstein focuses on the numerous cliques you can find in an average high school. Typically, the sports teams are constantly at the top of the social food chain, yet this is not the case after high school, the “outsider becomes the more successful and admired adult” (Botstein). Students are faced with being blockaded from the actuality of adulthood; high school is just too unnatural. They begin to develop false images about adulthood in their minds, mainly because young students are now becoming mature much earlier; therefore the students that were seen as children as the education system was first created are now young adults that are “well beyond the developmental point for which high school was originally designed” (Botstein). This is a main issue in our modern education system as a whole; perhaps we could fix this problem by allowing students to graduate earlier in order for them to “take a place of responsibility”

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