Is the American Educational System Really Distorted?
Many educators are finding problems in the American educational system, particularly in higher education. For example, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa in their book Academically Adrift discuss the limited learning for students once they get into the college. They claim that a large number of undergraduate students show no significant improvement after they finish their four years in college. Another example is Goldie Blumenstyk, who in her book American Higher Education in Crisis?: What Everyone Needs to Know discusses the problems of affordability and argues that there are few people who can afford the constantly increasing tuition price of college.
At first glance, it might seem that Allan
…show more content…
She argues that the American educational system has a debating teaching style. To her, students who are participating in the debate are arguing for the sake of winning over their opponent to enhance or maintain their positions, not to discover the truth. In other words, truth is negotiated not claimed; agonism bits one truth against another truth rather than collaborating and negotiating truth. She refers to our tendency to seek knowledge as a metamorphic battle because the early universities were seminaries and the early scientists were clergy or devoutly religious individuals. Tannen also points out that the early training in the school was focusing on the formal rather than the relation knowledge, which acted as training for debate. Tannen also argued that women are less likely to be involved in the class discussion than men; women ask questions rather than challenging the readings. The reason behind it suggested by Tannen is that boys in the childhood had more practical experiences that encourage them to challenge the authority figures than girls. Moreover, the writer claims though graduate schools train scholars in rigorous thinking, the ability to ask tough and hard questions, women still tend to ask easy supportive questions. To solve this problem, Tannen suggests distinguishing between the constructive ways of debate from the nonconstructive ones by engaging in dialogue and analyzing their methods and data. Another …show more content…
Moreover, I don’t see the problem of fighting during the debate in the classes. Tannen’s point seems to imply that people do not respect each other arguments and this is patently false. In fact, Classes are normal and students are respecting each other’s opinion. In addition, women participate in the class and ask no less challengeable questions than men. Moreover, Gerald Graff in his article “Debate the Canon in Class” argues that the instructors should teach their students the conflicts around the issues in specific fields. To him, this gives students a better understanding because it shows how knowledge comes to be established in the context. He also claims that students in the classrooms are usually not encouraged to engage in a debate. So, they were not trained from their childhood on a debating teaching style as Tannen proposes. Also, it is always best to fight over problems in order to address it. Therefore, debate has its advantages and is not a problem as Tannen sees
Tannen points out “a greater percentage of discussion time is taken by men’s voices.” (2) She tells us why this is a disadvantage to the women in the classroom. She then continued to separate the two genders into their given stereotypes. Girls tend to separate themselves from large groups; they talk amongst
The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.
According to Tannen, she refers to the hostility within communication as “The Argument Culture.” It has become a war on words that continues to thrive off of conflict, animosity and tension. Tannen addresses the idea of debate, disputes, attack and criticism as a comprehensive list of words to describe her thesis. Tannen uses rhetorical devices by formulating the main points of her argument. She did this by convincing her readers and incorporating facts and reasons. Tannen states, “In close relationships is it possible to find ways of arguing that result in better understanding and solving problems. But with most
Americans have embraced debate since before we were a country. The idea that we would provide reasoned support for any position that we took is what made us different from the English king. Our love of debate came from the old country, and embedded itself in our culture as a defining value. Thus, it should not come as a surprise that the affinity for debate is still strong, and finds itself as a regular feature of the mainstream media. However, if Deborah Tannen of the New York Times is correct, our understanding of what it means to argue may be very different from what it once was; a “culture of critique” has developed within our media, and it relies on the exclusive opposition of two conflicting positions (Tannen). In her 1994 editorial, titled “The Triumph of the Yell”, Tannen claims that journalists, politicians and academics treat public discourse as an argument. Furthermore, she attempts to persuade her readers that this posturing of argument as a conflict leads to a battle, not a debate, and that we would be able to communicate the truth if this culture were not interfering. This paper will discuss the rhetorical strategies that Tannen utilizes, outline the support given in her editorial, and why her argument is less convincing than it should be.
“This Course prepares students for reading, research, and writing in college classes by teaching students to consider the rhetorical situation of any piece of writing while integrating reading, research, and writing in the academic genres of analysis and argument. This course is said to teach students to develop analyses and arguments using research-based content with effective organization, and appropriate expression and mechanics”. (1)
Are there more than two sides to an argument? The Argument Culture was written by Deborah Tannen (Tannen, 1998). She would have us believing that there are more sides to an argument than just two. Professor Deborah Tannen is a best-selling author. She is a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. She has written many books, articles, and educational essays. She would say that high-tech communication pulls us apart. She also states that argument culture shapes who we are. Tannen also believes that we can end the argument culture by looking at all sides of the story or situation. She seems to be very knowledgeable on the subject.
"Fighting for Our Lives" offers great insight into the current state of public dialogue. Deborah Tannen describes how our public interactions have increasingly become "warlike", in the way we discuss ideas, the way we cover the news, and the way we settle disputes. She observes that an adversarial approach has become the standard as much in public dialogue as it has in "just about anything we need to accomplish". Although she concedes that "conflict and opposition are as necessary as cooperation and agreement", she believes that the balance has been tipped in recent years. An "argument culture" has pervaded American culture, and the consequences are real.
“If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a packet. There’s kids in here that don’t learn like that. They need to learn face to face. I’m telling you what you need to do. You can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell ‘em.” Texas student, Jeff Bliss, decided to take a stand against the lack of teaching going on in his class (Broderick).
After reading Joel Spring?s book, and reflecting on some of the issues facing our schools, it is apparent that our educational system requires much attention among our nation?s leaders. While the system has transformed in many beneficial ways, we are still plagued by the growing problems of society. I look forward to reading another book by Joel Spring, and developing my evolving understanding of the educational system within the United States.
High school and college dropout rates are at an all time high. Secondary school students are told throughout high school that if they don’t go to college then they will never be successful. Going to college doesn’t always make a difference because many career choices such as teachers and lawyers are highly contested and result in either no job or low salary. Low pay deters teacher’s motivation and they tend to work part time jobs to supplement their income. Public schools standards are comparable to a kangaroo court’s procedure; private schools are known for better teachers, environment, and test grades. The major problems in the public school system include the lack of funding, lack of resources, and lack of standards.
President Ronald Reagan once described America as, “A Nation at Risk,” He was addressing this statement to the education department thirty years ago and meant it as a wake-up call. He was aware that the United States was falling behind in education and needed to take action in order to prevent the demise of the country. Reagan correctly predicted the grim fate of America if education did not see improvement. Today, research finds that American education is failing to provide the necessary skills to succeed in college and various careers. The quality of education in America is a growing issue and every year graduate students are finding it more difficult to obtain high paying jobs and start his or her career. According to studies conducted globally, the curriculum in America is not as advanced and years behind international schools in countries such as China and Japan. There is much controversy in government over what can be done to reverse the situation in public schools but possible solutions that have been suggested are hiring more qualified teachers, more classroom time, and investing more money into education.
In this chapter, Heinrichs argues that people have an issue with differentiating between arguments and fights. He cites ancient philosophers and studies about marriages to support his argument that when people resort to fighting rather than arguing to resolve issues, their outcome is inevitably doomed. They fight to win and overpower the opponent, whereas they argue to win over the audience, and the latter provides them with an outcome in which both parties are appeased. Heinrichs further argues this idea by pointing out the benefits that come from persuading one’s opponent through an argument, namely, that no vengeful reactions are incited and the opponent leaves the argument agreeing with the other person, not angry at them. He supports
A mere question is how Tannen pulls the reader into her article titled “The Argument Culture.” Deborah Tannen uses multiple rhetorical devices such as language, logos, and imagery to explain in depth the “adversarial mindset” plaguing America and shows us her solution in the article “The Argument Culture”. Tannen wanted to inform Americans how argument based we truly are and persuade us to make change. Like I stated earlier Tannen begins this process by placing a question in our minds, “Balance. Debate. Listening to both sides. Who could question these Noble American traditions” (Tannen 403)? Tannen then structures her article to develop understanding of the concept among the uninformed. Ethos, Pathos, and Logos also play a key role in the description of the culture, but Tannen adds in real life examples and imagery to create mental
When looking at like, as a whole, the differences between men and women seem small. Even insignificant when a step is taken back and the real issues that concerns the daily lives of human beings are thought of. Life, death, family, survival in general as the world changes. As has been said before, the more that changes the more that stays the same. The issues confronting men and women and the education process are complicated ones. Some claim that men (boys) have had centuries of preferential treatment in institutional learning settings. That feeling has led to a shift of thinking in the educational system. As a shift of thinking happened to attempt to become more inclusive for girls, it left some thinking, of course, that things had gone too far. Making an effort to level the educational system does not mean things have gone too far. It must be realized that gender differences are here to stay in combined schools and the dynamic should be embraced to improve education for all.
In your lifetime, it is destined that you will meet someone so convicted in their own ideals, they will fight you, science, and all manner of fact and logic to further push their own understanding upon others. This behavior is unacceptable in any regard and the role of teaching individuals how to formulate opinions and use reasoning to defend them must be filled. Philosophy and debate should be taught as a requirement to graduate high school because it offers improvements to language, introspection, critical thinking, and prepares students for a career or college.