School for Workers

I have been a student at The College of Western Idaho for four semesters. I began as a technical student and have recently transferred to an academic major. I came to the realization that I may be being prepped to be a qualified candidate for local employers by earning an associate’s degree. It seems the college experience has become more focused on grades and awards that look will good on a resume rather than truly understanding and learning in ways that would broaden a student’s thinking process. As a result, students are groomed to gain just enough knowledge to get the job done in the workplace instead of using creative thinking to benefit themselves. Michael Berube, in his essay “Analyze, Don’t Summarize” from the anthology The Writer’s Presence, gives an example of how some of his students have trouble thinking for themselves, and it shows in their writing. He explains, “When I tell them that an observation is not a thesis, and that their thesis isn’t sufficiently specific or useful if they can’t imagine anyone plausibly disagreeing with it, they ask me why they can’t simply explain what happens in the novel.” (Berube 303). I feel this is an accurate depiction of how students have become increasingly reliant on instructors to tell them exactly what they want the student to write. It is eerily similar to a boss showing an employee how he or she wants the job completed. Realistically, local businesses look to The College of Western Idaho to produce a significant amount of “educated” employee candidates to choose from. In return, CWI receives the support of local businesses it needs to succeed. There is a sense of accomplishment and pride for the college that, in some ways, outshines what the mission of an education should be. ...

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...arisons of math scores tend to be mixed for children in the first grade here and abroad. But by the time children have reached the fifth grade, the scores have diverged dramatically. Even when culturally fair tests are used, American students still fail to perform up to the level of their Asian counterparts. As Stevenson reported: "Even the best American schools were not competitive with their counterparts in Asia on mathematics achievement . . . The highest-scoring American school falls below the lowest-scoring Asian schools."'

Works Cited

Gatto, John Taylor. "Against School." The Writer's Presence. Ed. Robert Atwan and Donald McQuade. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. 688+. Print.

Berube, Michael. “Analyze, Don’t Summarize” The Writer’s Presence. Ed. Robert Atwan and Donald McQuade. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. 303. Print.