Education is said to be one of the most important factors of modern society because children are considered to be the future. Supposedly, with superior teachings, society will continue to evolve to greater standards. John Dewey, the father of experiential education, alludes to this acceleration of instruction in societies in his statement, where he considers the relationship between American high schools and a flourishing Democracy. American high schools are preparing their students for a Democratic life by not focusing only on the fundamentals and providing higher level classes to allow teaching to be directed away from the masses. As a result, not only is education and preparedness for the real world improving, but society as a whole is improving too.
Fundamentals provide the basis for all of society; without these functions, more advanced techniques and procedures could not be practiced in everything that is done today. This same rule applies to education because the fundamentals provide the ability to explore in more detail subjects of interest. Although the fundamentals provide the basis for education, they cannot be the only focus. Dewey states, “ The notion that the ‘essentials’ of elementary education are the three R’s mechanically treated, is based upon ignorance of the essential needed for realization of democratic ideals…” (164). Dewey implies the fundamentals of education “the three R’s” are needed, but there is also a need for education in different areas and in different methods to learn about the democratic ideals of society. Similarly, Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of America’s most influential thinkers and writers, in his essay “Education” believes “Genius and Drill” are the basis for advancing in education. Acknowle...
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...feses. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 158-60. Print.
Dewey, John. "Decmocracy and Education." 1916. The Language of Composition. Ed. Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 164. Print.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Education." The Language of Composition. Ed. Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 102-09. Print. Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities. New York: Harper Perennial, 1992. Print.
Mori, Kyoko. "School." 1999. The Language of Composition. By Renee H. Shea, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 130-41. Print. Neuman, Scott. "Violence in Schools: How Big a Problem Is It?" National Public Radio. npr, n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. .
The United States has proven to be a world leader with their powerful military, democratic government, and stringent foreign policies. There is one category however, the United States struggles to be number one in, education. As shocking as this may sound, the public school system in America is not superior to other developing countries. I have witnessed this scandalous phenomena firsthand, engrossed in the public school system from kindergarten to freshman year of high school. The student body and the school administration is morphing into a nonproductive system with a zombie-like attitude. American students lack academic drive and curiosity compared to European and Asian countries because the standard for academic success is constantly lowered. Americans must reform the school system and change their perspective on how important an education is to the rest of the world.
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 212-224. Print.
Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Longman, 2011. 692-704.
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.
Gerald Graff is a professor of English and Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago and is highly involved in debates about the current direction of college education. In his essay “Disliking Books,” Graff focuses on using his personal story in order to make a statement about the importance of introducing the arguments over pieces of literature in school. On the other hand, in his essay “Many Voices, Many Rooms,” he uses studies, outside references, and some personal experience in order to express his views about education. In “Other Voices, Other Rooms,” he outlines the need for teachers to connect their topics with other subjects and the outside world so that students not only retain information, but also understand the subject
Gitlin, Todd. “TheLiberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut.” The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, and Rhetoric. Ed. Shea, Renee H., Lawrence Scanlonn, and Robin Dissin Aufses. Boston: Bedford, 2008. 155-157. Print.
Ornstein, A.C. & Levine, D.U. Foundations of Education. 12th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Education”, he uses various diction to create tones to establish that the education is flawed and it revisions need to be made to fix it.
What is the purpose of education? A question that has been asked for centuries and defined in many ways; each theorist will argue their views on education is unsurpassed, yet it remains a question, that the future of our children depends upon. My personal philosophy of education is to create an environment that allows every child the freedom and ability to discover, create and pursue their interests; ultimately becoming the best they can, for an evolving and unpredictable future. Within this framework, the purpose being to encourage learning through children’s interests, by personalising education for the individual and interlacing subjects to engage and entice learning. While discussing my personal philosophy of education, I will explain the aim of education, consider the role of the teacher and the learner and present effective teaching methods and practices for within the classroom. This essay will demonstrate that Dewey, Friedman, Neill, Noddings, Robinson, and Zhao, support my personal philosophy and prove in contrast with the theories of Skinner and Rousseau.
Today, the way the educational system works in the U.S. concerns a large number of people in this country. "Only 25% of adults have a great deal of confidence in the people running education, according to the General Social Survey, down from 49% in 1974" (Russel 4). A lot of discussions have been held to find the best ways to improve teaching methods. At the same time, people recognize that a very valuable solution to increase the level of education in the United States is to look at some problems that cause difficulties and hamper the enhancement of the quality of education. The first step is to define these problems. As in every country, the U.S. wants to develop its national standards in education and wants them to be high. This has always been a government function. Being democratic, the government is trying to fit the qualities of democracy into the way to set these standards. Of course, this is not an easy task since this country has a very diverse population. To please everybody has always been an almost impossible task. Despite this impossibility, national standards have already been set. "If a visitor from another nation was dropped into an American public school classroom without knowing the state or the region, he or she would be likely to see the same lesson taught in the same way to children of the same age" (Ravitch 9). Everything seems right except the fact that the abilities of children are different. Not everybody is able to study at a college; not everybody wants to continue being educated. It is obvious that every country wants to produce as many educated people as possible. But, at the same time, every country needs workers because, regardless of the fast development of technology, there is still a great necessity for human labor. To satisfy all the necessities of the country, the government should provide different kinds of education. This does not mean that we need to eliminate all of the standards; they could be set in each field of education. Although standards are set, there is still a very big difference in teaching methods in different schools. Perhaps, the most serious problem starts in high schools: some schools provide a higher level of education than others. Students from most city schools graduate with the confidence in their knowledge; their level of educati...
In today's times, apart from having information flying at us from almost everywhere we turn, we also get to sit in a chair for nearly seven hours while someone tries to feed us even more information. Although it is true that our society needs some type of educational system, there is a real problem with the fact that although we are constantly changing and evolving into a brand new world, education has stayed still. In a way, we attempt to teach our children by putting them ...
By the nineteenth century, public education, although not a perfect system, was well engraved in most Americans. These public schools taught the basics of knowledge through the three R?s: Reading, Writing and 'R'thmetic. This was the basic curriculum of a public school because public schools were in place to educate the people to better function in our society, not to teach them only what they wanted to learn or to teach how to ?better? society. These first public schools were founded on very Essentialist principles that I support whole-heartedly and that I feel should still be the main curriculum of our public schools today. Although electives are important because they help students select what they would like to do in the future, most classes in a public school system should be made up of a rigorous core curriculum so that students can gain the basic reading, writing, and math skills that they need to fu...
The aim of education is to prepare students as contributing members in a productive society. The essential core values of knowledge, skills, critical thinking capability, and citizenship help students grow into adults who contribute positively to the community. I believe that education’s focus on teaching content matter leads to the development of well-rounded knowledge and skills in reading, writing, speaking, computing, thinking, science, and the social world in which we live. Specific content knowledge in these disciplines contributes to equity in education. Such knowledge becomes an internal asset for an individual and is priceless. Studen...
Dewey, John, and Reginald D. Archambault. John Dewey on education; selected writings.. New York: Modern Library, 1964. Print.
Shea, Renee, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Scanlon. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2013. 525-529,546-551. Print.