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“The function of high school, then, is not so much to communicate knowledge as to oblige children finally to accept the grading system as a measure of their inner excellence,” Jules Henry, a regarded American anthropologist once said. He believed that the American school system was flawed, that the basing intelligence of its students of the marks he or she received in class. The grading system of our school’s today is one of many problems that plague our education system. The issues of today can be shown in different forms in the 1800s, a time where the education of American citizens was forming. Though our education system has changed drastically from the 1800s, problems still litter our youth 's education that is comparable to the 1800s, from issues with teachers, students, and coursework.
Who was your least favorite teacher? Was it the subject that made you hate them, or the personality or the fact that they always seemed to assign boring classwork? In the early 1800s, many frontier schools were run with a single male teacher, who became a teacher simply by passing school themselves, and proving to be literate. After many men decided to move on to higher paying jobs, women began to dominate the profession, and teachers soon became trained in the 1820s. Though most towns living in a more country landscape found themselves with only one teacher per school, forcing older students to often help to teach the younger students. Though today there is higher levels of education for teachers and more than one teacher per school, teachers still struggle with issues of lack of funds or often support from children 's parents. If a teacher wants to an activity outside of the school-mandated education, they must pay for this out of their own...
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...sue of class work teaching is still a prevalent issue. Many today feel as if the coursework is only to be taught to help a student pass an exam or standardized test, not to learn. The focus no longer seems to be to give children the education to help them forever but to memorize what equations will appear on the SATs. Without the lack of goals that are respected by all, students often become discouraged and less motivated on the path to higher education.
The issues of 1800s education have shifted and changed over time, helping to lead to the modern day education system and the many issues littering it. Issues are still based on the teachers, students, and coursework. Even with its similarities, education has grown into something wildly different from its origin, creating more issues but blooming into a system that allows for more chances for the children of the US.
The American school system is no stranger to criticism, but everybody seems to have a distinct idea of what should be done to improve it. It was not too long ago that we had no public schooling system at all. A man would change that forever, immortalizing himself as the “father” of American education. It was surprising to me that I had never heard of this man, especially considering I had finished my journey through free and compulsory education two years ago. The man who went on to change American education, was Horace Mann, the first Secretary of the Board of Education in Massachusetts. Horace Mann tirelessly campaigned for the public to be educated, heralding it as a “great equalizer.” So why is the gap between social classes rising exponentially? There are fundamental issues holding us back from fulfilling Horace Mann’s dream of an education system which empowers citizens by leveling the playing field for everyone, including pedantic policies, a limited curriculum, and standardized testing.
A child’s first day of school is often viewed as a rite of passage; the first step on the road to a happy and successful life. This is true for most children from affluent families who live in the best school districts or can afford expensive private schools. But what if a child’s first day of school is nothing more than the first step on the road to poverty and possibly even illiteracy? The documentary Waiting for “Superman” addresses many issues in a failing school system and the innocent children that system leaves behind. Although the documentary spends little time suggesting parents’ roles in their children’s education, it clearly shows that we must make changes to help children from low-income families and improve the teacher’s unions.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Arizona was not a state, merely a territory, with a fledgling government and an even more rudimentary school system. Great distances separated people and often the eight children required to start a school and hire a teacher could not be gathered in an area. When they could, however, the teacher was often in for a surprise. Holding school in old saloons, carrying water to the schoolhouse every day, having to use turned over barrels for desks, and being the sole caretaker of the schoolhouse were just a few of the hardships faced by teachers. For women teachers, there were still more: being paid less than male teachers, even though they were the majority, being unable to keep her job if she married, and not being able to attain higher positions such as superintendent or principal. Despite these conditions, women actively and ably pursued careers in teaching, and often went beyond the call of duty for their students and their community. By facing many obstacles and overcoming them, the early women teachers of Arizona greatly improved the status of Arizona schools and that of women everywhere.
In today’s society, we would describe high school as a four-year passageway into adulthood [college]. Ever since our current education system was implemented, high school would begin at the 9th grade level, and end at the 12th grade level. With the average age for 9th graders to be at 14 transitioning to 15 and for 12th graders to average in at 17 transitioning to 18; this have been the norm, for the American society for ages. In Leon Botstein’s “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” he writes an opinionated piece on how the current American education system is obsolete; plaguing the current youth by preventing their way into adulthood and isolating them from their experiences of it. From my experiences as a Junior in high school, I do have to disagree with Botstein’s statement that the current American high school is obsolete. Age and maturity would not, and should not be the main cause of the American high school system to go obsolete. Adulthood is not based by age, it is by the students’ own mentality; for some students, being a “late bloomer” would not be in their favor if the proposed solution by Botstein would have taken place. Using the Littleton [Columbine High School] shootings as a way to support his argument, is inconsequential. In no means I’m saying the current American high school system is the definition of perfection. The system is flawed, unsound, and imperfect, but for other reasons
Nowadays, students are being spoon fed information in the classroom instead of actually “learning”. Teachers, who should be inspiring students to be individuals and going out to seek and learn are instead basically giving students the information just to make it easier upon themselves. Although it may be easy now, in the future when the same students that have been fed information have to go out and actually learn and find information, they won’t be able to. Students are too reliant on teachers giving them information so they won’t have to do work. Students in this generation are being complacent in a “short-cut” society and take the easy way out in everything they possibly can.
To respond to the statement made by Kozol regarding the nature of public school in America, one must consider the question of what exactly education is for in this country; what is it's purpose. I believe that education is used to produce what Kozol refers to as "good citizens:" "defeated, unprovocative" people that will fill the necessary jobs, pay the necessary taxes, and perform all the other duties put forth by the government such as voting and jury duty. This is why the situation in America's public schools has not changed since the time Kozol wrote The Night Is Dark..., and why things will probably not change without a revolution within the public school system.
Education experts have spent many years planning and revising learning material and assessment tools to meet the ever-changing social and economical teaching and learning demands in the United States. Rapid growth in technology means that change is constant in the field of education. Educators learn very quickly that change is one aspect of their position that is inevitable, and that effective transformation by stakeholders at every level is necessary in keeping with these demands. Whether one approaches the crisis in American schooling from the perspective of experience in schools, or from analysis of the market forces in the private sector and the factors necessary for institutional innovation, or from the movement to empower poor and minority communities, it is clear that what we call “public education” must change (Grego, 2011).
The definition of Sociology is that it is the study of human societies through the synthesis of theoretical analysis and controlled research, focusing on the social patterns and forces that influence humans.
The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.
“If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a packet. There’s kids in here that don’t learn like that. They need to learn face to face. I’m telling you what you need to do. You can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell ‘em.” Texas student, Jeff Bliss, decided to take a stand against the lack of teaching going on in his class (Broderick).
Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
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.
The education system has been a controversial issue among educators. Requirements of school do not let student choose what they want to study for their future. It’s a big issue to force student study specific curriculums, which don’t help them improve, and what they like to create something. Educators choose a general system for education to all students which based on general knowledge. Intelligent or genius students have to be in that system of education, which doesn’t let them improve their creativity. Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their changing was not that great to be an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education system to compete other systems or not? In some examples and reasons have been made me agree with some of points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree them.
Modern-day high school students live in a society driven by quantitative values. Grading systems, test scores, and awards determine the success of our youth in today’s public education system. Millions of American scholars devote their lives to their studies, motivated