It appears that testing is a waste of time, but in reality, it prepares students for future success. Another question that occurs is: What are students gaining from these different tests each year? Many people debate whether the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is considered to be pointless. Maybe these tests are teaching students accountability and responsibility, two vital tools for success in life. Within in the article, “No Child Left Behind: Test-Obsessed Education Won’t Move Us Ahead” the author, David Marshak, slashes the No Child Left Behind Act.
In the article, “Why Johnny Can't Fail”, Jerry Jesness admits he has played a part in the “floating standard”, but he does not agree with it. The floating standard lets students proceed to the next grade level even if they are not fully prepared. Jesness claims the floating standard is easier to give into rather than to set high standards that some students may not meet because having it in place not only keeps students happy, but also keeps the parents content. When Jesness first began teaching he failed students, but learned that giving students the grades they deserved was not the norm. 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.
In Albert Camus’s The Outsider, freedom is portrayed as the conformity with the guidelines and expectations created by society, and following this rules in search of acceptance. Meursault is the “outsider” in the novel, because he refuses to be what society expects of him. Instead he chooses to be different and live by his own set of rules and expectations. Mr Keating from the movie “Dead Poets Society” is a high school teacher for the private school Welton, who gives his students a new perspective in life as they begin to follow their own dreams and ideas, which completely contradicts the expectations of their parents and school representatives. In both the novel The Outsider and the movie “Dead poets Society” it is evident that liberty does not exist, since a person is only free while obeying society’s guidelines.
“Sadness of Desire” Richard Rodriguez: The Achievement of Desire As I read Richard Rodriguez’s The Achievement of Desire a feeling of sadness overwhelmed me. Typical of what Richard Hoggart terms “scholarship boys”, Rodriguez felt he could not admire his parents and still pursue his desire to be like his teachers; educated and successful. Rodriguez’s desire to be like his teachers caused him to abandon his family. The thought of a human being alienating themselves from a loving, supportive family in pursuit of achieving a personal desire makes me sad. As a “scholarship boy” he allows himself to be embarrassed of where he came from and that his parents were not as educated as his teachers.
"How not to talk to your kids: the inverse power of praise" Summary and Response Assignment Summary (They Say): In the article "How not to talk to your kids: the inverse power of praise", Po Bronson wrote that the power of praise can make the child less intelligence and some other will think that it will help the child to preform better at school. There a child name Thomas (his middle name) who were told by his parent that he was very smart. He was one of the top one percent of the top one percent student in school. His father knew that his son will give up once he try thing that he wouldn't be successful at it. When it come to something when he don't like, he will try to avoid it.
Payne states that impoverished students face inequality at school, insinuating that the school should be responsible for helping to provide for these students so that they can have a better education. Gorski sees that responsibility lies most likely with us, who can aid teachers in offering a hand, as they are underpaid and are not able to do much on their own. The two authors have clashing ideas as to why students are in poverty: Payne believes that the impoverished students are lazy and have their own set of
Matthew Claypool English 1120 3/8/15 In John Gattos, Against School, the author talks about how our school system as we know it today is failing at educating us. And the weakness of the school system in the United States in general. Schooling is not educating. We are taught that in order to be successful we need to be schooled. Which is not true.
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.
That parents stress to children the importance of education all their school lives, but they continue to give money things that are less important, instead they should put money towards the teachers who wants to help make a difference in every child's life. Barber believes that parents should actually display their actions that they care and value their education. He explains who are to blame for the lack of quality education in America. The generations before the young and the government have a partial blame in why the school system is failing. Barber's argument is more superior, because he takes the sociopolitical context of education in to account, where as Henry does not.
Due to this, single-sex schools have been established to combat these issues. Are we doing a disservice to boys and girls by keeping them segregated? Is this ethical? How will boys and girls effectively co-exist once they are no longer in school? The following paper will argue against single-sex schools and display various reasons as to how they are counter-productive to student needs.