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Everyone has heard kids claim that school is bad for them, which is partially true. It is bad when school becomes a place where children become ashamed for their curiosity and hide questions because they are afraid of not catching onto the subject fast enough. As John Holt says in ‘School is Bad for Children,’ “in a great many other ways [they] learn that [they are] worthless, untrustworthy, fit only to take other people’s orders, a blank sheet for other people to write on.” Though school can be bad, it is not bad for truly learning or finding friends, discovering what one is interested in, or even finding out what career path they want to take in life. John Holt’s “School is Bad for Children” is a little too extreme for the real reasons why school is bad. …show more content…
Personally, school has helped me find friends, excel in sports, have the normal teenage “hardships,” and has put teacher role models in my life. Believe me, I say I want to drop out many times a week because of the irrational amount of stress from classes, but I also know that it is a part of life most go through. John Holt describes school as a miserable place where there’s absolutely no happiness, or in other words, Hell. He says that students learns “that to be wrong, uncertain, confused, is a crime.” But in reality, eventually everyone has to learn that in the real world they are going to be wrong countless of times, uncertainty can lead you to making a great mistake, and being confused can cost you a
The Ocean Hill Brownsville school controversy was a case study of race relations during the 1960’s. This predominantly black area wished to have jurisdiction over their schools’ operations and curricula. In 1967, the superintendent of schools granted Ocean Hill Brownsville “community control” of their district. The Board of Education’s action was part of a new decentralization policy that wanted to disperse New York City’s political powers locally. Once in place, the Unit Administrator, Rhody McCoy, fired several teachers inciting one of the most profound racial standoffs in the city’s history. The evolution of the national civil rights movement parallels the changing attitudes of blacks involved in Ocean Hill Brownsville. In addition, evidence of differing theories concerning assimilation to the American ethnicity is portrayed through the actions of the participants.
Kyoko Mori says in her essay “School” that, “school and “the real world” both have their absurd moments, but school is where people go when they’re not satisfied with their “real world” lives and want a change.” By this Mori easily means that people go to school to get an education, to get a job so they can have a great future. These laws aren’t put in place for kids to only go waste there day so they won’t be off in the streets, they are put here so you will have a generation of young people who will have thinking and social skills, kids that will learn and want to be something in life. Now, of course, you will have kids that don’t want to be there, but by these laws you are pushing them to be something better, some young people might think that they simply can’t be any better, think they are unintelligent, but by these laws you are pushing them to be what they think they cannot be. Education laws are here to make kids prepare for their future, without this you will have kids not attending school, and doing stuff they probably should not be
As American’s we place a high level of importance on attending school and receiving a certain level of education. Across the world, the recommendations for attending school vastly differ based on the culture of the society. In America, we require our children to attend school until they are almost of legal age, push high school graduates to attend college and we constantly emphasize structured learning. Many children in today’s world lack many skills that would allow them to “teach” themselves outside of school leading to an increased interest in televisions, computers, and phones. Technology has taken away society’s attention away from independent learning such as reading, writing, and outside experiences. John Taylor Gatto’s emotional voice in his writing “Against School” has allowed me reveal my psychological voice regarding the educational system.
In John Gatto’s essay “Against Schools” he states from experience as a school teacher that are current educational system is at fault (148). He claims that classrooms are often filled with boredom manufactured by repetitive class work and unenthusiastic teachings. Students are not actively engaged and challenged by their work and more often than not they have either already covered the concepts taught in class or they just do not understand what is being taught to them. The children contained in classrooms have come to believe that their teachers are not all that knowledgeable about the subjects that they are teaching and this advances their apathy towards education. The teachers also feel disadvantaged while fulfilling their roles as teachers because the students often bring rude and careless attitudes to class. Teachers often wish to change the curriculums that are set for students in order to create a more effective lesson plan, but they are restricted by strict regulations and consequences that bind them to their compulsory teachings (148-149). An active illustration of John Gatto’s perspective on our educational system can be found in Mike Rose’s essay “I Just Wanna Be Average” (157). Throughout this piece of literature the author Mike Rose describes the kind of education he received while undergoing teachings in the vocational track. During Mike’s vocational experiences he was taught by teachers that were inexperienced and poorly trained in the subjects they taught. As a result, their lesson plan and the assignments they prepared for class were not designed to proficiently teach students anything practical. For example, the curriculum of Mike Rose’s English class for the entire semester consisted of the repeated reading of ...
School allows many opportunities to grow as a person, and show your personality. Within class I am always an active participant, I always add my input in discussion, and work to answers questions. I have always maintained good grades I was placed in advanced courses beginning in fourth grade and within all 3 years of highschool I have earned a weighted
There are many factors that would lead someone to believe that high school is a waste of time. High school has too many distractions for kids to try to concentrate on learning. Since the Columbine tragedy police officers have moved into most high schools and created a distraction for most students. During the day students have study halls that are a huge waste of time, while this time could be utilized to have more instruction or tutoring for kids. Every student is different and has a different learning style. Yet schools don’t separate kids by their learning style to help maximize their curriculum intake. Students are also forced to take classes that they have no interest in and will not be used in their future. All these reasons show how school has too much wasted time and is not doing what it school is intended to do.
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.
“Schools cram you too full too fast. I don’t mean they challenge you. I mean they throw to much busywork in your face. Being in school is like being incredibly hungry and sitting at Burger King eating too much, too fast to be satisfied, and then pucking it up. Good learning, like good eating, is not only mental and physical, but also spiritual. Generally you can satisfy the craving only in calm. If you don’t have sufficient time or peace to digest knowledge, it only gives you a headache. (Llewellyn 49)
Let’s flash back in time to before our college days. Back to then we had lunch trays filled with rubbery chicken nuggets, stale pizza, and bags of chocolate milk. A backpack stacked with Lisa Frank note books, flexi rulers, and color changing pencils. The times where we thought we wouldn’t make it out alive, but we did. Through all the trials and tribulations school helped build who I am today and shaped my future. From basic functions all the way to life-long lessons that helped shape my character.
It is a place where they can feel protected and upheld. Sometimes the bad school performance makes the children feel that they do not belong to that world. It makes her feel that it is not able to keep up with the other colleagues. We all know how children without even knowing it can be cruel with schoolmates. Thus, a bad school performance already is reason for starting bullying against those who do not have good grades. The other children give them pejorative nicknames and isolate them from the rest of the students. This makes the school is torture for this type of student. They end up not putting up the pressure and drop out of school. Another critical point to highlight is the transition to the elementary school to middle school when the school changes the system of having only one teacher to have several teachers and rotations classrooms and colleagues. Sometimes the children do not adapt to this change and drop out of school. The type of school that the child and adolescent attending and the type of teacher they also have are crucial factors for student follows or not in school. As previously mentioned the school environment should be welcoming to the student. If the school is extremely rigid and not provide freedom for the student can feel the will to expose your ideas or even discuss (with discipline and respect) someone’s ideas in class, this school will not be a place where the student liked to spend half his day. Another important point is to have well prepared teacher. The school must have trained and motivated teachers to work. They need to be people that encourage students to develop critical thinking and to make even the most boring of subjects an attractive theme to develop in the classroom. In addition, teachers need to have the sensitivity to realize when a student is going through a period of difficulties and help you overcome
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
Schools exist to produce well educated youth that society will benefit from. From personal experience, ill-informed adults make for an unstable, rotten community. Schools hold a big responsibility. They should create a safe haven for students that creates a love for learning, and then also nurtures that same admiration for learning. Schools that students don’t feel safe in usually house students that aren’t interested in subjects that are being taught. They should maintain a well-educated faculty who is all passionate about what they do. If there is a lazy faculty, it will influence the students to become lazy. Schools need to produce the change that this world needs- well rounded, creative, knowledgeable individuals. An effective school in today’s society would have a strong basis on the common core, but make it so that the information is fun to learn. From experience, once the information fun to learn, the rest goes by
childish, but it does make a lot of sense. Schools can help develop us into better people n a lot of
One of the biggest problems with education is that it is poisoned in the way people view school. Some common phrases among students are that ?school is boring; school is work.? Theses attitudes have a direct effect on the effort that students put into their studies. One will obviously work harder when they aren?t bored with the task. There is a difference between hearing and listening and if students approach school as something that they see as boring and stressful than that student will only be hearing what the professor is saying. They may show up to class but this does not mean that they are necessarily there to learn. If school were fun than students would enjoy learning and thus, would learn more since it would be an enjoyable activity. School is just like a sport or a book in that if the book is well written and enjoyable than there is more incentive to read it, just as someone will put more effort into a sport that is fun than a sport they don?t enjoy. If school were fun, than students would strive to learn more.
At the beginning of one’s journey of gaining more knowledge, most children don’t mind school, for it is a change of environment for them. The majority of elementary school adolescents even enjoy school to some degree. As time wears on, we usually, and sadly, begin to see a change of heart. Children become fatigued from school and therefore don’t take pleasure in going anymore. Maybe their teachers didn’t teach them in the way that they learn most efficiently, or maybe students just become bored with the whole “school scene” itself. Whatever the case, it is apparent that by the time they reach high school, their interest for learning alone has died out.