Education - It's Time to Break the Rules
When he follows the guidelines of the assignment his writing is wonderful. Unfortunately, he rarely follows those guidelines which I concisely explain to the class. His writing is complete nonsense with no factual support, no structure and no resemblance to any of his classmateís work!
I know, I know. I tell him time and time again that there are certain rules that everyone must follow. Its just a part of life. I donít know how he expects to get by in society that way. No one is above the rules. Its just the way the world works. We must break him of this habit before its too late!î
Yes! you are absolutely correct! There is no place in our educational system for free thinkers like him! What kind of world would it be if everyone let their imagination run wild! Dear god, it would be total chaos! We can not let one student like that one get by or its the beginning of the end of our way of life.î
He must be severely flogged and then subjected to a series of shock treatments to break him of his spirit and then make it clear to him that if any further outbreaks of spontaneous expression occur, he shall be punished accordingly.î
This was a conversation between two of my high school teachers that I overheard. Actually , I imagined it, and, although it may sound somewhat extreme, I think it expresses some of goals of our present educational system. We are all force fed knowledge like it was brussel sprouts and some of us swallow it, although it tastes bad, while others spit it out. It seems like we spend a quarter of our lives in school in preparation to become law-abiding members of a society that is far from perfect. Why is it that so many kids hate to go to school? Has every generation since the beginning of time hated to learn? Is it human nature or could there be something wrong with the present state of education?
Now I do not speak for everyone in my generation, but kids, in general, would rather be out having fun than in a classroom listening to a teacher. Even a good class with an exciting teacher does not beat swimming or a sunset or frolicking in the meadow or eating a banana split.
Because the education system does not relate classwork or homework to the lives of students, they do not see how writing essays or solving math problems can help them in everyday life. “By the time Roadville children reach high school they write off school as having nothing to do with what they want in life, and they fear that school success will threaten their social relations with people whose company they value. This is a familiar refrain for working class children” (Attitude 119). As students begin to realize how low their potential is within school, they chose to cut school out of their life and start working. These students do not understand how they can benefit from what they are learning. “One woman talks of the importance of a ‘fitting education’ for her three children so they can ‘do better’, but looks on equanimity as her sixteen-year-old son quits school, goes to work in a garage, and plans to marry his fifteen-year-old girlfriend ‘soon’” (Attitude 118). Students are settling for less than what they can actually achieve to have, just because they see no purpose of being in school, and believe they can do better without the help of the education system. Even parents are not actually supporting and encouraging their child to stay in school. “Although Roadville parents talk about the value of school, they often act as if they don’t believe it”
School is a frightening place. It is broken down into multiple social ranks, and many children find themselves at the bottom. With children trying to work their way to the top of the food chain, the actual learning portion is either set aside or forgotten altogether. In Grant Penrod’s essay, Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, he explains how modern children are growing to dislike intellectual children. The varying social ranks teach children to ignore low grades and try to be popular in school. Anti-Intellectualism is a trend which is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world. People who only strive to be popular tend to tease intellectuals, but this is not half of the story. If the only goal children have in school
In the article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto urges Americans to see the school system as it really is: testing facilities for young minds, with teachers who are pounding into student 's brains what society wants. Gatto first explains that he taught for 30 years at the best and worst schools in Manhattan. He claims to have firsthand experience of the boredom that students and teachers struggle with. Gatto believes that schooling is not necessary, and there are many successful people that were self-educated. He then explains the history and importance of mandatory schooling.
Education is horrible, because people can't have interests. They just listen, not learn. 1.b. To be able to use the. I do not think I'd like to live in this society because it does not allow free thinking, or anything else that makes humans the way they are. There was nothing to differentiate people, nothing to like or dislike about each other.
As much as adolescents complain about education, we would be crippled without it. The immense freedom we have in America to learn whatever we want is something we should not take for granted. People in other countries fight to learn and to educate themselves as best as they can. People in America just 50 years ago had to fight to learn. Could you imagine living in a world where you couldn’t learn? People all over the world fight for that, because it’s scary to live in a world where you can’t do the simple task of reading or writing. What if you couldn’t read the label on a bottle of bleach? Could you imagine the damage that could cause you, simply because you couldn’t read? We have so much knowledge at our fingertips; museums, libraries, public
Somewhere in America a parent is asking their child what they learned at school today, the child will most likely say that they didn’t learn much. It is sad to say that with today’s education system, this is true. The K-12 school system has oppressed students far more than it has liberated them, and this must change if America wants to produce members of society that actually have something to contribute. Students graduate high school having learned how to play the “game” of school leaving them grossly unprepared for college. Students should leave high school with a base of knowledge and strategies they can employ to succeed in college if that is where they wish to go, but instead they come to college knowing how to line up quietly and copy
To begin, my observation was at Webster Elementary School, a school placed in the city surrounded by houses and other schools. The specific classroom I am observing is full of Kindergarten students who seem to very advanced than I had imagined. The classroom walls are brick and white, but the classroom teacher Mrs. O'Brien does an amazing job keeping the space use for both an upbeat and educational vibe, especially for environmental print. Everywhere you look there are educational posters, numbers, and mental state vocabulary words, as well as, students completed work. To add, students sit in medium sized tables with 4-6 other students when they aren’t having whole group instruction on either
Boredom was everywhere in my world, and if you asked the kids, as often as I did, why they felt so bored, they always gave me the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around. They said teachers didn’t seem to know much about their subjects and clearly weren’t interested in learning more. And the kids were right: their teachers were every bit as bored as they were
Once this becomes the norm for teachers they tend to become uninteresting, and students are the ones reaping the consequences. Rose acknowledged this cycle of learning apathy, writing, “But mostly the teachers had no idea of how to engage the imaginations of us kids who were scuttling along at the bottom of the pond”(1989, p.2).
In my experience, the majority of my teachers were dedicated and caring people to their work. I previously thought that maybe I had gotten lucky with my instructors in which classes I participated in, or maybe I am a more open minded person than those who criticized our educators. Now I see that teachers are scapegoats for other complications outside of their control. Even if some are no longer of a higher caliber, a reason for the decline could be disheartening caused by their limited resources and general disrespect year after year. The government may not be willing to reverse past changes, but now the system whose purpose is to prepare the children of today to become the adults of tomorrow is being annexed by business behemoths striving for ever greater profits to fill their
Getting people, especially kids interested in school is the one and only thing that no one has quite figured out yet. If you teach on a project based learning curriculum you take the risk of having kids fall into a lazy slump. If you teach primarily with textbooks and lectures, you run the risk of kids skipping and falling asleep. Is there truly a way of keeping kids entertained while teaching them the necessities? A study done in Lincoln, Nebraska by Laura Parn states “As teachers, we are getting so busy and burdened with the federal, state, and district requirements that we forget to think about the emotional needs of our students. It is not common that we have time to stop and think about what our students want or desire, but according to Damico and Roth (1994), it is necessary for the success and engagement of our pupils”. This proves that the challenges in the educational system need to be seen and acted upon by higher ups before public schools can even think about making a difference. That really does make things exceedingly difficult because we all know how long it takes federal higher ups to make decisions. Laura also says that teachers tend to forget about the emotional needs of students. Which is very unfortunate because when a teacher helps you with a math problem, or eve...
In “School is Bad for Children”, John Holt discusses the faults and failures of the education system. According to Holt traditional schooling stifles children’s curiosity and learning, causing them to be ill-equipped as adults. He believes children are smarter before they enter school, having already mastered what he says is the most important thing, language. Holt goes on to describe how children no longer learn for themselves in school. Their learning has become a passive process. Children then come to realize teachers are not there to satisfy their curiosity, and in turn, grow ashamed and accept what they think teachers wants them to believe. School also becomes a place where uncertainty and incorrect answers are forbidden. The students learn how to cheat and pretend to work when the teacher is looking. As a result, they only use a small portion of their brain, and soon they grow bored. Holt suggests this boredom shuts off their brain and is the reason why many students turn to drugs. Drugs he says is the only way many young people can find awareness in the world they once had when they were little. Children John Holt says, are very fascinated
Unlike many students who are excited about the weekend on Friday, and burnt out by Wednesday, these students appear to be the opposite. Most likely these students have home lives, which are filled with neglect, violence, and fear, and school provides a sense of sanctuary for them. I think that these students appreciate the structure and teacher involvement in school, since it is most likely the place where they receive the most guidance and are treated like the children they are. Overall, I think that being at school allows for the students to be children where their lives outside of school require them to be mature beyond their years. The structure of school provides security for these students, a security which they do not most likely get outside of
Not every class can be exciting, and we should know that. Now imagine every class is of this level, with no “break”, or elective, classes incorporated into your day. Although this may not apply to all private schools, there are many that focus on specific topics. So even though they are taught more on that subject, there is not much variety in their day.... ... middle of paper ...
Growing up they said that education is the key to life. Without an education you won’t make it very far in life, at least that is what adults preaches. According to Capra "America must acknowledge that education is a public necessity and not a luxury for