Creating a Fun and Safe Educational Environment in America

Creating a Fun and Safe Educational Environment in America

Education is a very broad term in that behaviors, experiences, and environment help form our way of educating ourselves. Not one single element can determine what we learn, but many variables are indeed the basis of our learning. The rate of learning is also unpredictable. But ultimately with the altering of certain aspects of motivation and conditioning on can alter the effectiveness of learning. Although a problem from perception, motivation, or previous experiences may inhibit the learning process, many psychologists agree on a normal learning among species (Kalat 190). A few questions explored in this essay are what will make learning more profitable for children? What makes children want to learn?

Education in the school system is seen as one way to develop methods of understanding and basic skills. Schooling is an attempt to learn from others experiences, thus becoming a social learning environment. Students learn from others by what the others do and how others react to the action. In the essay “How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading” by John Holt, personal experiences in methods of learning are explored. In a grade one class the teacher asked the children to write, However the students were afraid to write because they did not know many words. So the professor told the students

to ask him to spell any words they needed help with. This quotation is from the next day of class:

The words were still on the board when we began school the next day. Before I began to erase them, I said to the children, “Listen, everyone. I have to erase these words, but before I do, just out of curiosity, I’d like to see if you remember some of them.” The result ...

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...t is recognizing a problem exists. Some idea's point to not enough money, others point to laziness of teachers, or it could be the methods of teaching. It is hard to pin point, maybe all of the above. One thing is for sure; more emphasis has to be engaged on this topic because it is not only the children’s future, but ours as well. Changing children’s views on learning begins with changing the views of how and what we want them to learn. Making the classroom a fun safe place to learn is one possible procedure.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Kalat, James W. Introduction to Psychology. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1999.

Peterson, Linda H, et al, Eds. The Norton Reader. 9th ed. New York: 1996.

Barber, Benjamin R. “ America Skips School. ” Peterson et al. 470.

Holt, John. “ How Teachers Make Children Hate Reading. ” Peterson et al. 455.