Our Public Education Education is a huge part of the average American's life. Being the law, everyone must go to school from ages, of 5 to 17 or 18 years old depending on the person's birthday. This whole progress dates back to the late 19th century, making public school an invention well over 100 years old. Now if you take a moment to look at other inventions such as the telephone, the automobile, and the television, everyone in this world can agree on how from the original models to the version of today, unimaginable improvements were made. As the world and technology changes, so does the telephone, automobile and television. Now take a look back to the very first classrooms, you will see little to no change as our public education, over the 100 years that it has been alive, has not improved and has kept its odds original methods. Looking specifically at what public education has and has not changed gives our generation a real insight on how our public education system has not improved, but not closing an optimistic eye we can also see how our public school system can improve for future generations. Discipline in schools is a tremendous problem. Today we see shocking videos of a student physically fighting a teacher or vice versa a teacher fighting a student in the classroom with everyone just recording on their phones. Not so long ago there wasn’t this problem in schools. The reason for that is the way students perceive teachers today doesn’t compare to what it was like before. Before teachers had the option to “paddle” their students for misbehaving. By allowing …show more content…
Does this sound familiar? Of course is does Since the start of modern day education, schools and factory have been compared. That is because the modern day school we know started during the industrial age where everyone thought a factories like environment would be most beneficial towards our
Now that public schools were commonplace in America, they needed to be altered to increase knowledge of students leaving them. Through reforms and political events, schools became not only a place for learning math and English, but also a place to learn other skills that will help students obtain jobs once they graduate. School was becoming essential rather than optional.
America’s public school system started off very rough, but through the dedication of many hard-working Americans, it was starting to shape into a system that allowed all children, regardless of race, gender, religion, or nation of origin, to have an education.
For many centuries, education has been evolving and changing in a variety of ways. The methods of teaching, resources used, and the students allowed to learn in the schools have all improved and expanded over the years. However, there were many obstacles along the way to make the education system succeed.
Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, the American educational system has undergone much transition in response to our changing society. Though there have been many problems raised throughout the years in regard to what our school systems should be teaching our children, there have also been many developments.
Here in “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, has a large chunk of it that talks about the public school system in the U.S and its history and purpose. I agree with Gatto, partly. Teachers and educators severely need a new school system, and it does indeed need it. The big question is why we still haven’t done anything to try and change the school system into something different and better? After going through the public school system for about 15 years, should people feel as if they just went to school then switch to a remaining life of working like drones of another system? The system that we have today has taken over the sense of creativity and replaced it with one that believes in the opposite. Creativity and individualism, this is the reverse of the school system we have today according to Gatto. Compared to when the public school system first started, here in the present our society doesn’t have the same requirements and needs of what we used to need. What we do need in our society right now for our school system is individualism and creativity.
Furthermore it is now against the law for a teacher to hit their pupils, yet in most cases this doesn’t affect their ability to keep order in the class room. Prior to 1988, teachers were allowed to smack, cain and use various forms of physical punishment in the name of discipline. Since the change in the law teachers now use less aggressive forms of discipline, with no loss of respect or control. The use of time outs and detentions is a good way to deter children from disruptive and negative behaviour. This coupled with an explanation of why they are in trouble tells a child what they have done and time to think about it.
Franklin Bobbitt, one of the 19th century front-runners of scientific curriculum, stated that if the scientific procedures utilized in factories could increase productivity and efficiency, the same procedures could be used to improve curriculum (Flinders & Thornton, p. 8). Bobbitt believed that curriculum was an integral part of preparing students for their future roles in the new industrial society, and viewed curriculum from the perspective of social needs rather than just a set of studies. He also stated that traditional subjects were unnecessary and should be replaced by subjects that would maximize ability and social utility. To create specific curriculum objectives Bobbitt drew directly from life experience, observed the experts from different fields, and focused his attention on specialization and efficiency. His goal was to create a curriculum that was relevant to the individual’s status in the society. He viewed schools as factories in which the raw materials (children) are to be shaped and molded into products to meet the demands of society. Bobbitt believed that the individual needed to be educated according to his capabilities, and determined each student’s professional social strata by giving them different tests, including an IQ evaluation. In their embryonic stage, departme...
Public education in itself is predisposed to be diverse in some shape, whether it be economic, academic, racial or social status, anything public is considered colorful in attribute. The American school system is diverse in itself, for example the educational culture in the East coast is far more revered and acknowledged to the public rather than the midwest. These differences cannot be glossed over, they need to be acknowledged with the respect. I believe the purpose of education is to address the world’s inequalities and differences, and as a society grow and learn from them. I will draw on the Rubin, the Anyon, and the Lee articles to support my argument.
Recent events shed some light to the amount of expectation there is of schools and teachers and raises some interesting questions too. The Nan Chiau fiasco for example shows the expectation of the public of school discipline and in particular corporal punishment. It is difficult to bridge the gap between those who agree to what the principal did and those who did not. They did however agree to the basic tenet of discipline but not the style. This highlights to us the changes in societal views' on methods of discipline. Do these changes in expectation restrict us in achieving our goal in developing the whole child? How do we work with these changed expectations?
Corporal punishment could bring back control the classrooms once had in previous years. John Madala said, “We’ve got to equip the teachers with the tools they need to maintain structure and control in their classrooms” (Stepzinski). In this century most teachers need more control but violence isn’t the answer. Some teachers just need to be more assertive and take charge of their classroom. John Madala has also mentioned, “Corporal punishment would be another tool in the box to control unruly students” (Stepzinski). Children who act out don’t need anymore exposure to negative violence in their life. Hitting someone will not correct their mistakes or teach them right from wrong. In conclusion no matter how much more control a teacher needs or wants violence should never be the answer.
As the crime rate in our country grows, teaching our children right from wrong is one of the most important tasks facing educators. At some point or another, this task will require some sort of disciplinary action. In years past, schools used corporal punishment to discipline children. Connie Paige reports that, “According to U.S. Department of Education statistics, more than 600,000students were struck by teachers in public schools in 1990.” Studies show that in today’s society, corporal punishment does more harm than good here in the United States.
This essay will show my argument of why elementary school students should not receive corporal punishment with a paddle during learning time. Violence isn’t the answer as was said in “Did Corporal Punishment Save a Struggling school? “By Eric Adelson the best form of discipline, He says ‘’ is praise. (Adelson 6)Corporal punishment could turn into abuse and different punishment strategies to use on a child to get them to act the correct way. Most children in elementary schools come from homes that are already contained abusive beatings, so why should you have to come to a place where you learn and receive the same thing. Some parents feel that corporal punishment is the best way to go and there were actual parent who went into Nixon’s office and gave him the permission to do whip there kids but. Because they felt that was the only way to keep them in line, when in actuality it could hurt and harm them in the near future.
When children misbehave the first thing is to talk to them, when an adult misbehaves there could be more consequences than that of a child. Many years ago, the world was a different place and rules were enforced harsher than they are today. A punishment given 20 years ago is completely different than one a child would receive today. The punishment is no longer a spanking but a timeout and a talking to. Discipline in schools has changed as well detention and suspension are becoming a thing of the past and in its place are new methods of discipline. Yet, harsher discipline should be a requirement in school today to make a better society later.
Some students, when exposed to physical discipline, become angry and try to harm their teachers, or even other students. Also, children who experience or see physical punishment acquire behaviors that are very disruptive. My father, Joseph Bosco, thinks that corporal punishment doesn’t always deter students, it may deter some or help some resolve their issues but in other cases, it doesn’t. This shows that corporal punishment doesn’t always stop bad behavior. Many students stop going to or participating in school activities and they withdraw from academics. According to “Corporal Punishment in Schools and Its Effect on Academic Success,” an article that was written by the Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, “One recent study found that in states where corporal punishment is frequently used, schools have performed worse academically than those in states that prohibit corporal punishment.” Victims of physical discipline often have reduced school achievement, have antisocial behavior, and they drop out of school, according to the Society for Adolescent Medicine (“Corporal Punishment in School and Its Effect on Academic Success”). To recap, many students’ behaviors don’t improve, in fact, the students become more disruptive or angrier. Also, many students don’t perform well academically. Not every troublemaker gets the same amount of
A time approaches in every person’s life when they must come to learn new things. Speaking on behalf of all those who have attended school at some point in their life, I must say that most do not like it for its educational significance. Today’s youth undervalue the worth of America’s public school system to the point of shame. Hard-working, underpaid teachers and professors prepare to educate these ingrates as their living, and it’s exasperating for the students to not even care. I must be fair though and call attention to the fact that not everyone shares this loathe for education and schooling.