Since the establishment of public educational institutions, there have been those, the heroes of our society, who have learned to avoid it or escape it entirely. Throughout the years, passing generations of these idolized fugitives have polished various methods of evasion almost to perfection, beginning of course, with those who idolized the heroes of Americas war and post-war era. Hogan’s Heroes and war films such as the Great Escape that glorified mischief in prison like conditions spawned the true creativity and the art of such activities. True wit and self confidence as exemplified in these courageous few could never be taught.
In like manner, I have compiled a few fool proof tactics of my own. First among these, if one is to avoid mandatory attendance, even temporarily, seek out one’s personal best hide-and-seek hiding location, which is incredibly convenient granted that this location is typically found within one’s own home. More specifically, from personal experience, I am inclined to suggest the fire place, if unoccupied, as it can house one to two people comfortably and furthermore, it is generally safe from searching eyes especially if there is also a fire present. Similarly, ovens, microwaves, and refrigerators are equally viable options in the event that the fire place is already occupied or unaccessible.
Conversely, if a more permanent place of hiding is desired or otherwise necessary, such a route of escape is readily available. For example, one could suddenly move to Ghana as a refugee and do so without regret if only for one reason: at the same time that one is able to read this essay, that individual is thereby more educated that the whole of Ghana and therefore necessitates no further schooling.
A third option is to hide in yet another obscure, though undesirable and distasteful location: prison. Simply commit a crime, felony, or misdemeanor, worthy of an extended period of incarceration and “presto!” the state’s department of corrections practically finds your hiding place for you. This third option is particularly effective assuming that the initial act of crime does not interfere with one’s personal morals.
Of course, with none of the above mentioned processes being at all effective or directly applicable, a more reasonable solution is warranted, an option more likely to mitigate one’s present situation rather than increase it. Certainly, this analysis has purpose outside of the weak attempts at humor found above; surely, a more practical angle of approach is close at hand and through the eyes of those who daily witness what circumstances public high school has presented, what follows has been discovered that this is the only realistic assertion.
1. Summarize the main point of this episode on The Story of American Public Education
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
Jacoby can be easily perceived as an upset and alarmed individual who blames the rise of criminal activity in the United States on the failure of the criminal justice system. He cares about people and believes that the safety of individuals is decreasing because criminals are not punished effectively by imprisonment and that some even receive a “sign of manhood” from going to prison (197). Additionally, he is upset that the ineffective system is so expensive. His concern for his audience’s safety and his carefully argued grounds, which he uses to support his claim, create a persona of an intelligent person of
Juveniles are being taught that in order to have a nice car, branded cloths and the house of their dreams, by getting into an expensive mortgage, they have to be an employee of a huge corporation. In addition, they have to undergo to a prestigious school, study hard, have excellent grades in order to become popular and respectable in the world. However, many people would not become those super leaders, but these majority of people have a great role in the capitalism society of the US. As Gatto says, “We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair” (38). Such results are in part of a wrong education that teenagers have received trough many decades. In addition, Gatto highlights that modern educational system has been working in a six basic functions methods that makes the system strong and unbreakable: The adjustable function, indulge students to respect authorities. The integrating function, which builds the personality of the students as similar to each other as possible. The diagnostic and directive function, which allows a school to set permanent scholar grades in order to determinate his or her future role in society. The differentiating function, which gives to the student a good education and after his or her role is diagnosed, they prevent any educational progress. The selective function, function that the system has used to prevent academic growth for the non-selected students. The propaedeutic function, which works in the selection of specific groups of intellectual adults to keep perpetuating the system all over again making it a continuous sequence. (Gatto 34). Gatto’s facts revealed the survival of the educational system for decades,
Within the walls of our educational system lie many adverse problems. Is there a solution to such problems? If so, what is the solution? As we take a look at two different essays by two different authors’ John Gatto and Alfie Kohn, both highlight what’s wrong within our educational system in today’s society. As John Gatto explores the concept if schools are really as necessary as they’re made out to be; Alfie Kohn analyzes the non-importance of letter grades within our schools. Although both essays are fairly different, they still pose some similarities in relation to the educational system in today’s society.
We live in a society where we are surrounded by people telling us that school/education and being educated is the only way to succeed. However, the school system is not up to the standards we want it to uphold. There are three issues we discuss the most which are the government, the student, and the teacher. In John Taylor Gatto 's essay “Against School”, we see the inside perspective of the educational system from the view of a teacher. In “I Just Wanna Be Average”, an essay written by Mike Rose, we hear a student 's experience of being in a vocational class in the lower level class in the educational system when he was supposed to be in the higher class.
Its principal means of attempting to objectify its morals are realistic planning — including deadlines, schedules, and objectives— documentation, laws, and regulations, irrespective of its ethical content. Our education system is flawed and outdated, failing to meet the international criterion of our world every day. A traditionally-educated student is not given enough time to learn the limited amount of subjects taught and do not develop a desire to learn. In light of the current situation regarding the education system, there is still hope for students today. An alternative to traditional education, unschooling allows students to use their natural learning abilities, discover and explore more subjects not typically taught in schools, and ignite a genuine, authentic interest to learn. The advantages of unschooling far outweigh its disadvantages, making it the better option for education. Education leaders continue to discuss reforming the present public education system. Instead, they must deliberate about how to replace it. I urge you to take a stand. Start off by writing a letter to your local lawmakers expressing your wish to help students’ education. Share your ideas with a friend. It is not important where you begin, so long as you
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.
Currently, many public high schools allow students to select their own classes and in turn, some students enroll in classes far below their intellectual ability. Major problems are down the road should students decide to go on to post-secondary schools. Students should be assessed when entering the 9th grade. Standardized tests should be given to help determine what course of study would be best for a particular student to pursue during their four year high school career.
Coley, R. J., & Barton, P. E. (2006). Lock Up and Locked Out: An Educational Perspective on the U.S. Prison Population. Princeton New Jersey: Policy Evaluation and Research Center. Retrieved April 28, 2012, from http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/PIC-LOCKEDUP.pdf
Dodd, Vikram. "Why Prison Education?." . Prison Studies Project, Teaching Research Outreach, 16 Jan. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. .
How to improve the K-12 education system in the United States of America has been a very discursive issue over the past few decades which have caused many debates and discussions. While researching on this topic I discovered a couple of effective ways to improve this system from various publishers and authors explaining the solutions on how we can improve the educational system as we can clearly see that other countries K-12 systems have improved drastically over the past years such as the Canada, France, Austria and Ireland and that America is below average when it comes to education. The publishers mainly focus on discussing and evaluating the important methods to create a better system in the United States by relating it to the factors and achievements of the current system. My main focus in this essay is to outline the factors on how to improve education by relating it to five different educational sources that I have found within different publishers and websites. By this method we can easily spot how each publisher has a diverse idea on refining this current generation’s schooling. (http://educationnext.org/whystudentsinsomecountriesdobetter/)
Everyday students attend school, but not every single student attends the same type of school nor do they receive the same type of education. This thought may be very concerning to some, but for others, this is all too much a reality. For example, some may ask how is it possible that students in public schools that are located within the same state somehow receive a different education; the answer is simple. The concept of quality is a factor that can hinder or facilitate anything, especially ones education. The difference between a public school education in a particular town compared to another is its demographic. Some students are fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to attend school systems that perform well, while others do not have the privilege to do the same. Something as simple as a couple of miles can be the difference, the difference that makes some feel entitled to certain things such as higher education while others can only hope to appreciate a secondary or trade school education. Therefore, education is not a right rather a privilege, and the level of quality is contingent upon the environment wherein the learning takes place. The immense importance of environment is self-evident in examples
Making the decision to leave your country for the better is a very difficult decision. This decision means leaving your family and friends, going somewhere that you have nothing, and possibly endangering your life. Mohsin Hamid describes the difficulties of migration through the novel Exit West. In this novel Hamid follows a young couple migrating out of their home town for safety and a better life. These reasons also apply to real life migration for why people are migrating. Hamid represents the traveling part of migration through these magical doors that leads to another country, depicts learning how to find your way in a new place, and presents the difficulties of countries not wanting migrants.
Social institutions are an important element in the structure of human societies. They provide a structure for behavior in a particular part of social life. The five major social institutions in large societies are family, education, religion, politics, and economics. While each institution does deal with a different aspect of life, they are interrelated and intersect often in the course of daily life. For example, for schools to be able to exist they rely on funding from the government. This is an intersection between politics and education. Social institutions affect individual lives through other aspects of society such as culture, socialization, social stratification, and deviance. This paper will focus on the social institution of education, and how it affects individual lives through socialization, deviance, and social stratification.