Erica Goldson Valedictorian Speech Response Erica Goldson brought up a very controversial and very interesting topic about our current education system in the US. She states that students are so focused at memorizing data and getting good grades, that they miss out on the whole idea of learning and being educated. I agree with her, students should be learning and absorbing the material, instead of memorizing for the next big test and just forgetting about it later on. Graduating seems like the top priority in students nowadays, and to me that is just upsetting. And the students who are very talented and are very motivated to learn and be driven in a non-academic subject seem to have a more negative image than the people who are driven by academics.
However, Ho ignores the importance of the actual knowledge, and I cannot agree with him. Based on my own experience, the knowledge that I received in the school and college were very helpful to me. Even, despite the fact that I had to memorize all the formulas in the math and physics, remembering the names of all main cities in the world, learning poems and poetry - I was able to use all these knowledge in my everyday life. It made me feel confident and expanded my horizons. I do like Ho’s passionate idea of the freedom, but , in my opinion, a required amount of the basic knowledge is necessary, because it’s wrong and unacceptable to “…put Mussolini in the same category as Dostoevsky.” Because this is a basis of bases, and every educated and self-respecting person should know it.
People in poorer communities tend to face harder obstacles like a bad home life, hard economic times, and influences that push dropping out of school. These students also have to deal with old, out-of-date school supplies like textbooks-even their teachers tend to not be as qualified as teachers in wealthier school districts. Furthermore, due to standardized testing, teachers in these poorer school districts tend to teach to the test by teaching with the drill-and-kill method where kids are being taught by memorizing certain multiple choice questions and answers (Neill 29-35). Surprisingly, high-stakes test like promotion tests are the main contributors to retention of students- most of which have learning disabilities. Retention, though, has proved to not help students academically.
Everything academic revolves around the year-end state testing to the point that other subjects are usually neglected. Reading, math and writing are the main thrusts of schools, and are obviously important. However, critics state that children are not receiving well-rounded educations because of the emphasis on these subjects
Therefore you would need to try and make it more engaging and stimulating, perhaps by making it more difficult or time-consuming so the students really have to work to complete it. If the activities are taking longer than expected and you can see that the children are struggling, things again would need to be addressed and changed. Without evaluation the learning activities things would never change and learning would become incredibility boring. We all need to reflect on learning to make improvements for a better learning environment for children and young adults.
The only negative I see in the self-contained setting is the fact that the kids are sometimes cut off from the general education students. Socializing and interacting with other students is very important during a student’s educational experience. This is the time where kids learn to be tolerant of other people’s differences and learn to work with others. The inclusive classroom to me should only be prescribed on a case by case basis. I feel it is a good idea in theory but in some cases it is just not a reasonable solution to me.
It is hard to focus and my study methods are vastly differed from those of an average college student. I am an aspiring student but struggles with focusing in on main projects as I want to ramble in a different direction. In order to get past this I must get in to a routine that requires a type of consistency in my studies. In the same way, Malcolm X had to learn to enhance his education he had to study consistently all day and every free moment in his day. I have to do the same in order to become a successful student.
Having done all that, there will be no obstacle that can keep students from being successful in college. Time Management is something that is very important to have because if we do not know how to manage time college will be a lot harder than it is and it can cause failure. If people do not manage time, old habits will control the time and will set limits on peoples achievements. So in order for that not to happen get a calendar and write down everything and organize all of the things that have to be done like sleep, activities, school work, studies, etc. Try different calendaring systems and see which one is best.
Solutions for problems like these are hard to come across, but if people took it upon themselves to try to educate them self by reading and writing more than they do it would help them in the long run. There was a table “From Reading at Risk” by Shea, Scanlon L., and Aufses presented that showed how many people actually take the intuitive to read for the purpose of educating their self. The people within the school systems should take a look at all of the problems with the Education system. It all starts with the adults in charge. Not every parent has the financial Stability to send their kids to schools with great education programs, as shown in waiting for Superman.
Everything that came up under “Challenges” was true for me. The challenges that related to me most were having difficulty managing time and losing interest in long, complex projects. However, the suggested strategies for these challenges are actually very helpful and I will definitely be using these suggestions from now on in both my short and long-term career goals. I learned that I am a Thinker rather than a Feeler – meaning I base my decisions on logic versus values. I have always thought I was more likely to use my feelings to make decisions rather than what my head tells me – but this assessment says otherwise.