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Educational reform and change
Educational reform and change
Educational reform and change
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Individualism and self-reliance is at the core of American values. America is known for its independence, which is why it’s considered “The Land of the Free.” Many people from different cultures come to America because of this. Independence is enforced at a young age in America in many different ways, which is not usually seen in other cultures. The American education system is connected to this idea of independence and causes students to focus less on learning the material and instead focus on knowing the bare minimum of what they need to know.
Individualism and self-reliance are enforced at a young age in America. In “Individualism in Education Reforms” written by Collin Scott Bertram, he states that, “The connection to education is that
America has not changed it’s educational system in over two hundred years. For this reason, our students and population are falling further and further behind. Our society has done nothing but move forward, so why hasn’t our learning? Everybody has a story, opinion, or response to education. We need to invest in refining our tools to succeed, to create a better sense of self, and a stronger, more well-rounded nation. The American educational system is hurting students by passing them without merit and relying on standardized tests; however, many are now running back to these hollowed halls to ensure better futures.
Individualism and conformity seem to be the exact opposites of each other, but what if being individual meant conforming to the way of everyone else, and what if conformity was the key to being apart of a community? In the essay by Andrea Fishman “Becoming Literate: A Lesson from the Amish” the author looks at the conformity in the Amish culture in regards to education. However, in the essay by Stuart Ewen “Chosen People” Ewen discusses how mainstream America prides itself on individualism. Both essays explore the complexity of being an individual in societies that thrive on conformity.
The human mind is perhaps the greatest object on the earth, animate or inanimate, but without the proper training, the mind is a relatively useless tool. Through the development of formal education systems, humans as a whole have tried to ensure the training of all minds so as to continue prosperity for the world. Most of the time, though, education systems do not realize the harm they are doing to developing minds and the subsequent negative consequences. Among the largest of these inadequate education systems is the American primary schooling system. The American education system is in fact failing; it continues to deplete children of their natural creativity and thirst for knowledge while preaching conformity, which in turn creates an ill-prepared and incompetent public.
The audience includes people who deal with policy change in government, schoolboards or even parents interested in their child’s education. McGray achieves his purpose by painting a picture of American society today through examples and shows the progression of foreign education through historical evidence. Through anecdotes, expert opinion and statistics, McGray successfully informs the audience of how foreign education is ignored in America despite the growing need for such education in the future and urges change in school curriculum.
Labaree discusses how the United State’s education is in a school syndrome, as people in America want schools to teach society’s ideals as well as let people express their individuality. These two demands are polar opposites that cannot be achieved. As the focus goes towards balancing these in hopes of improving society as a whole, the bettering of actual student learning is put on pause. Labaree talks about the beginning of education reform, in the 19th century, being the most successful in developing society; however, as education reform continued throughout time, its effectiveness wore off. He then addresses how the desire for education reform is more about improving society than it is about learning. He finishes his argument by providing possible solutions to fixing this problem, but states that fixing this problem will never happen because no one is willing to give up both demands. Overall, Labaree goes in wonderful detail explaining the problems of education reform. What made me choose this article was that he addressed the desire that people have on school systems in promoting both society normality and individuality. This correlates well with my topic in whether public school systems promote conformist ideals or individuality.
Individualism is the fundamental concept that proves the only person to whom a man should be held accountable is himself. It is defined as the philosophy that “regards man—every man—as an independent, sovereign entity who possesses an inalienable right to his own life, a right derived from his nature as a rational being,” (Individualism). Throughout history, individualism has led to many successes integral to the development of the modern United States. Due to the individual tenacity, determination, and desire for freedom of former colonial leaders and the Founding Fathers, the American colonies were able to separate from Britain to become the United States of America. As Caleb Jacobo explained in his arti...
America is a place that encourages children to grow up and be independent. From what we
Education is the backbone of most nations. Proper teaching to students ensure things such as better technology, better fund distributions, running operations like businesses, military training, and the government. Sadly, our nation is very low on the ladder when it comes to education. Students First has pointed out that most children are reading below their grade level, are respectively the 20th and 27th best nation when it comes to Math and Science, and there is no signifigant change. Americans are however getting an education, though lower than against other nations America still are able to make a living with their lives. There is much needed improvement, but at least Americans are not completely ignorant. Citizens can make a living with their lives and though not as intelligent as someone from Korea or Japan there is no way to dispute that our education system is doing
When you think of education, the thing that probably comes to mind first, is the institution of formal education, i.e., primary, secondary and then higher education. We have this closed perception that education has to be formal, and nothing else. Often times we, as human beings, tend to weigh things too heavily on formal education. We frown upon the fact that if a person doesnt choose to go and become educated in the traditional way, they wont be able to make something of themselves in their lives. Personally, I strongly disagree. As Jon Spayed, Learning in the Key of Life, put it, there are many ways to become an educated American, as there are Americans (Spayde 63).
According to the documentary “Most Likely To Succeed,” the American education system was created to train America’s youth for jobs in factories during the industrial revolution. However, technological advances will soon make those jobs obsolete. With machines being able to be programmed to do manual labor, the only jobs that will remain are those that require higher level thinking skills. The majority of current high school curriculum does not allow students to exercise their creative thinking skills and does not leave much room for free thought. The current curriculum was developed to teach what employers deemed essential knowledge, such as geometry, biology, and geography. These subjects should still be taught to children because a fundamental understanding of these subjects helps them understand the world around them. The U.S. government realized this and made public schools not only virtually free but mandatory to help children succeed. In contrast, today a college degree is more than ever vital for the country’s youth and the government has done little to help them obtain a higher education. The days of factory workers and laborers are over and it is time the nation prepares children for the road ahead. If not they are on the road towards certain failure and a life of poverty. With an already shrinking middle class one would think the government would be doing everything in its power to assist children in getting a higher education to find a
Many Americans do not question the credibility of the education system within the country because they believe it forms good citizens and creates a stepping-stone to success. John Taylor Gatto is an American teacher who has experience in the classroom for thirty years and has now devoted his life to critiquing American schools exploiting his own experiences. In his essay “Against School”, he argues that the 12-year system of school may not be necessary, due to its curriculum, and that it may be a tactic of manipulation from the government to promote obedience. I agree with his argument because there are many paths to individual success outside of public education, such as homeschooling or vocational school.
---, “Self-Reliance.” The American Experience. Ed. Kate Kinsella. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc., 2005. 391-392. Print.
The victory won for America’s independence marked the birth of a nation, and subsequently the birth of an educational system. When America was formed, we didn’t have a way to educate our citizens. This was a huge problem since without a properly educated population democracy falls apart, so America had to act fast. The way that America handled education can be divided into the following four topics which are, where they learned, what they learned, the decline of village schools, and the advent of educational opportunity for women. Today we directly benefit from the reformer’s movements.
Althen stated that U.S. Americans are educated from early childhood to be individual-oriented, rather than group-oriented. They see themselves as separate individuals, self-reliance, self-dependent, and responsibility for their own decision. The Individualistic behavior has given U.S. Americans the environmental individual freedom, whereby a leader or someone cannot
Social institutions are an important element in the structure of human societies. They provide a structure for behavior in a particular part of social life. The five major social institutions in large societies are family, education, religion, politics, and economics. While each institution does deal with a different aspect of life, they are interrelated and intersect often in the course of daily life. For example, for schools to be able to exist they rely on funding from the government. This is an intersection between politics and education. Social institutions affect individual lives through other aspects of society such as culture, socialization, social stratification, and deviance. This paper will focus on the social institution of education, and how it affects individual lives through socialization, deviance, and social stratification.