When something like the Wave comes along, so promising and full of energy and optimism, people are bound to be caught up in it. The students at Gordon High got "swept up" in the ideals and promises of the Wave. No matter how poorly it may have turned out, though, the Wave did start as a good idea. It attempted to make all students equal, to eliminate competition and create a feeling of unity, and, most importantly, to teach the students in Mr. Ross class about Nazi Germany.
The Wave eliminated cliques and accepted outcasts. It made students like Robert Billings accepted by their peers. No student was left out, and all of the original Wave members even sat together at lunch. Robert spoke up without being made fun of, and even Brad, a boy who used to torment him relentlessly, accepts him as an equal. No student is considered better or not as good as another student within the Wave. Perfect equality is established, although at the cost of individuality.
As the Wave progressed, Mr. Ross noticed the students as a whole were doing better on tests and quizzes. It seemed there was no longer any competition for grades. Rivalry between two students and best friends, Laurie Saunders and Amy Smith, disappeared. Amy had always competed with Laurie for grades, friends, and boys. She loved the Wave because, as a member of it, she didn?t have to constantly compete anymore. Mr. Ross also encouraged the students not to work toward being the best, but to focus on the common goal of the class ? working together as one to achieve what they seek. By doing this, they utilized the section of the Wave motto ?Strength through Community?.
Of course, the most important reason it was a good idea is that it taught the students exactly what it intended to ? about being swept up into a large group, about losing the ability to think for oneself, and about unquestioningly following a leader. Many students had thought that nothing like the Holocaust could ever happen again. Only when Mr. Ross snapped them out of their ?Wave? mentality did they realize it almost did. It taught the students to think for themselves and be responsible for their own actions. The excuse of ?just following orders?
Ranging from individuality to self acceptance in difficult times. The Wave shows students why it’s important to learn about history, because history can repeat itself, and it has. It also teaches students to question your authority when you know something they’re doing is wrong. The Nazi’s followed Hitler blindly, doing what they were told when they were told, much like Mr. Ross’s students. Fascism is an important topic to learn about as well, because in the United States we have so many freedoms and rights that other countries don’t have. The Wave also offers topics to discuss like what loyalty truly is in all different aspects; self-loyalty, group loyalty, or the dark sense of loyalty Ben Ross leads with. Laurie Saunders also shows people how to stand up for yourself even when no one stands with you, which is something all teens struggle
She shows the perspective of many different people to show a seemingly neutral overview of the situation surrounding the status of valedictorian. Her frequent use of interviews and dialogue allows for her to show her opinion or position on the matter while still maintaining her status of neutrality; the claims simply appear to be the positions of others. The structure of her essay and positioning of her interviews also are deliberate and subtly support Talbot’s message. She grouped the interviews so that negative statements about valedictorians were positioned near the beginning and arranged the interviews with good outlooks on valedictorians near the end, separated by a chunk of historical context for the school system. The context used as a divider influences the reader to think the following interviews are stronger and more well reasoned because the audience has information to relate what the speakers are saying to. This establishes the intent behind the essay as the layout encourages the perception of the positive interviews as well written.
Her purpose was to state the thought that a valedictorian’s spot should be earned, not just something that’s easily given out to people who are merely smart. She develops her logos by stating specific problems and facts within the Sarasota High School and how her personal experience was when she was in high school which allows the reader to build a better insight on what is being said. Talbot recalls George Kennedy, principal at North Port High near Sarasota stating “would be easier to just start out without valedictorians, so we wouldn’t be taking something away later on.” This means that the kids who dream their whole life to be the best, to be number one, who work harder than any other individual; sometimes end up not even being titled class valedictorian at all. So in essence instead of having a title to work for that might not even be achieved, the kids should work that hard for their future and what it holds. Also, Talbot uses examples of student G.P.A’s to show how competitive schools are becoming and how hard students are working in order to become valedictorian. “Between 1990-2000, the overall mean G.P.A. of high school students increased from 2.68 to 2.94, which is attributable in part to grade inflation and in part to the fact that students are working harder.” Through her text, Talbot develops
Like climbing a mountain, the desire for advancement through education requires vigorous, determined, and disciplined students. Students that can overcome mixed feelings of guilt, anxiety, and desire that can cripple the students’ success in college. Students must propel themselves higher up the mountain from a position that is lower in elevation than their more entitled counterparts. A substantial amount of determination and climbing ultimately leads to either success or defeat in the world of education. Students must challenge their own identities and relieve themselves of their past to succeed. The pertinacious character of working-class students provides a desire to escape to a place of acceptance and understanding. Through education students are challenged to discover themselves and what they are truly capable of, or fall off the mountain
The Wave, by Todd Strasser, illustrates how easily one can plummet into autocratic behaviors. In the book, Strasser depicts an experiment conducted by a history teacher. The experiment was conducted in order to enlighten the students on the Holocaust (Strasser 26). During the Holocaust, the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, was lured in by the power that an autocratic society provides. He and his group, the Nazi Party, captured and executed millions of Jews in order to benefit Germany with ethnic cleansing.
The students could hardly sit still during penultimate period the day before the long Columbus Day Weekend. The school was gearing up for the annual pep rally held during the last period of the school day before the Columbus Day Weekend. Lots of Calvary Hill teachers would stick it to the students before long weekends and vacations by giving tests and quizzes, others would give up the instructional time and let the kids watch a movie. Peter didn’t test or let the kids waste time with movies, he structured the time with games of Jeopardy and other fun activities that kept the kids engaged and thinking about the content material, while still having fun. When the final bell rang, the students could hardly believe that the period had flown by. They gathered up their materials and headed for the door.
As we went through each chapter of our book it would remind me of situations I already observed or would see that week. The more I learned about the educational theories I was able to see certain situations in a new light and it highlighted the differences I saw in the ages groups and different classes. The use of different motivation methods that were utilized by the teachers was great; most of them I didn’t realize were motivators until later and the one motivator I thought I understood was a reinforcer. I did see how the teacher’s preconceived ideas about students because of the type of community they are affected the students most of the time not positively. Some students were quickly disciplined and others were allowed to get away with similar offences with no comment all because of the relationship the teachers had with the families involved or the town gossip about them. I could see that this was negatively reinforcing the bad behaviors in both students. This made me aware of checking my own preconceived ideas and trying to judge the children based on what I have learned about how students learn. Overall I do believe the goals of the STEM camp were met and this has taught me to use multiple approaches to keep students engaged and
This vacuum of trust was fixed when both Erin and Jamie put their trust in their students. When the students realized that both teachers trusted their abilities and their attributes, the disciplinary problems started to wane. In ...
The film A Class Divided was designed to show students why it is important not to judge people by how they look but rather who they are inside. This is a very important lesson to learn people spend too much time looking at people not for who they are but for what ETHNITICY they are. One VARIABLE that I liked about the film is that it should the children how it felt to be on both sides of the spectrum. The HYPOTHESIS of the workshop was that if you out a child and let them experience what it is like to be in the group that is not wanted because of how they look and then make the other group the better people group that the child will have a better understanding of not to judge a person because of how they look but instead who they are as people. I liked the workshop because it made everyone that participated in it even the adults that took it later on realize that you can REHABILITAE ones way of thinking. The exercise showed how a child that never had any RASIZM towards them in the exercise they turned against their friends because of the color of their eyes. The children for those two days got the chance to experience both sides of DISCRMINATION. The children once day felt SEGRIGATED and inferior to the children that were placed in the group with more privilege. Then the next day the children that were placed in the privileged group were in the SEGRIGATED group. The theory is if you can teach a child how to DISCRIMINATE against a person that you can just as easily teach them how not to. Sometimes a person needs to feel what another person feels to understand how they treat people.
In modern society, the rules for school are simple and straightforward. To do well in school means to do well later in all aspects of life and guaranteed success will come. Sadly however, this is not the case for Ken Harvey or Mike Rose. Author Mike Rose goes to Our Lady of Mercy, a small school located deep in Southern Los Angeles where he meets other troubled students. Being accidentally placed in the vocational track for the school, Rose scuttles the deep pond with other troubled youths. Dealt with incompetent, lazy and often uninvolved teachers, the mix of different students ‘s attention and imagination run wild. Rose then describes his classmates, most of them trying to gasp for air in the dead school environment. On a normal day in religion
“School can be a tremendously disorienting place… You’ll also be thrown in with all kind of kids from all kind of backgrounds, and that can be unsettling… You’ll see a handful of students far excel you in courses that sound exotic and that are only in the curriculum of the elite: French, physics, trigonometry. And all this is happening while you’re trying to shape an identity; your body is changing, and your emotions are running wild.” (Rose 28)
By using the topic of public school systems disregarding creativity he can persuade the viewers to want to take action. In the middle of his speech, he points out how every education system in the entire world is based on a ranking of subjects. When Robinson talked about the rankings of classes he had two main topics that he made sure to talk about. One being, the ranking is based on the most useful subjects are at the top of the list. He brought up how children have driven away from certain activities that they enjoyed because were raised to believe that those businesses will not create a successful job in the future. For example, if a child were gifted at playing the guitar and liked it, he or she would be guided away from the activity because there is no promise to have a successful career as a musician. This point was followed up by talking about how the entire rankings are based on one's academic ability. The school knowledge has come to take over our view of what intelligence is because universities are designed with just one image in mind. He makes this clear when he says Because of this child who are gifted and talented are being turned away by multiple colleges because the only thing they excelled at in school, did not matter. This leads to the audience to believe in all of the aggravating points Sir Ken
Being Marefat's first graduating class to complete all four years, one can say we've acquired a higher level of school wisdom than any previous class. We've formed traditions, we've set records, and we've made a lot of friends along the way. I remember our freshman year when we could use the excuse of being a new school for every shortcoming we encountered. I remember our sophomore year, the last time I cleaned my bedroom, when Marefat had its first senior class, and the school seemed to shrink for some reason. Last year we were the juniors, and we conquered the SAT tests: And made it through those busy days where you hadn't quite found room in your schedule to pencil in a bathroom break, dinner or sleep. Well, this year we were the kings and queens, there was Star Wars, Starbucks, and a certain football team lost its winning streak to the mighty Knights. Looking back we can see our accomplishments and the marks we made. Now, we must take all that we have learned in our years at Marefat and apply it to our future. Just as we have set traditions here, we must enter the world ready to tackle new problems and work out new solutions. We are the ones who can break all of those records that have been set, and have our names etched in history. It's our turn -- the world is ours and we just have to decide what we want to do with it.
Bullying is the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something. As the Wave spread rapidly through the school, those who refused to participate or join as a member were bullied into doing so. Such was the case according to the article submitted to Laurie “Join the Wave— or else” where a boy was warned “he’d (I’d) lose all his (my) friends if he (I) didn’t join” by a senior boy. This is clearly an intimidation tactic to make the boy join, and hence you could class it as bullying. Another case of bullying happened when David tried to intimidate Laurie to discontinue producing the magazine that condemns the Wave movement by showing the bad parts to it. He “held her arm” and when she “struggled harder to get out of his grasp”, he “threw her down on the grass.” Immediately after, he realized he had hurt his friend, ...