Analysis Of Chris Hedges Why The United States Is Destroying It's Education System

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Destroying Teachers while Helping Big Business In the article “Why the United States Is Destroying It’s Education System,” the American journalist Chris Hedges goes into a broad view of what he thinks is taking place in the American school system across the country. He uses persuasive wording and facts to coax the audience to agree with his opinion on big business. Hedges presents a strong argument against big business through the use of clever wording that represents the stressful and extremely frustrating situation that students today know so well. However, Hedges fails to understand the importance of big business to future generations and he undervalues the importance of standardized test to make sure students are excelling. Hedges …show more content…

He essentially is saying that Corporate America is taking the students and teachers out of the education system, just like they take the people out of business. In other words, big business is convoluting the system so that the nuances of the teaching and learning process are practically eliminated. Creating students who understand and can apply the material should be the goal of the education system, not creating mindless drones to fulfill the roles corporations wish to force people into. Hedges makes a strong point to say that our nation today does not reflect what our forefathers set out to establish. They wanted informed citizens who could get a strong job that provides both financial and emotional stability and happiness. However, Hedges points out that Corporate America will push a person aside if they don’t accommodate the corporations requests by saying “Those who don’t are pushed aside” …show more content…

He states, “A nation that destroys its systems of education…It prizes, test scores above critical thinking and literacy” (Hedges). Hedges indicates many times creativity is taken out of schools, in addition to not being used enough in educational development. However, what Hedges does not seem to comprehend is that testing students does not always have to be a bad affair. If the tests more accurately portray what is being taught in the schools, then the standardized testing would have a better effect on students because they’re being tested over material that actually pertains to them. As a result, the standardized testing is less of an agonizing hour and actually time well spent. If students and teachers were more willing to teach and learn the nuances of certain materials, then, as a community, this country would be stronger and have a better understanding of what is needed to succeed financially and emotionally in

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