Education in America

1284 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: no child left behind act in america

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.

When my family first moved to Las Vegas in 2003, location was the biggest factor in choosing what part of town our new home would be in. My mother was no fool and knew that the area a school was located in played a huge role in the type of education to be received. In her essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” Jean Anyon compares and contrasts how schools in different social-class communities produce different kinds of students. Even though I attended middle school in a nice area of Las Vegas, the environment definitely mirrored a working-class school by Anyon’s definition. Anyon describes work in such school as

…usually mechanical, involving rote behavior and very little decision making or choice. The teachers rarely explain why the...

... middle of paper ...

...ation for the career of their choice. As Gatto so eloquently points out in his article, “We have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of ‘success’ as synonymous with, or at least dependent on ‘schooling’…” (Gatto 150). If he is correct, and success is reliant on our schooling, only the few elite students even have a chance at becoming successful. And that is truly unfair because every student in our country’s education system deserves the chance to be able to become something great.

Works Cited

Anyon, Jean. "From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work." In Rereading America. 8th ed.

Edited by Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010.

Gatto, John Taylor. "Against School." In Rereading America. 8th ed. Edited by Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010

Show More
Related

  • Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, by Annette Lareau

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    Besides race, the scholar also reveals how childhoods are unequal based on social class. Drawing from the American society, there are several social classes. For each class, there are unique pathways of lives followed and these usually influence both the educational and work outcomes. To ...

    Read More

  • Paulo Friere's The Banking Concept Of Education

    1603 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1979 Jean Anyon wrote “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” suggesting that schools from

    Read More

  • Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work By Jean Anyon Summary

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    Some people may believe that education all over the United States is equal. These people also believe that all students no matter their location, socioeconomic status, and race have the same access and quality of education, but ultimately they are wrong. Throughout history, there has been a huge educational disparity between the wealthy and marginalized communities. The academic essay “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon, an American critical thinker and researcher in education, conveys that depending on the different economic backgrounds students have, they will be taught in a specific way. He reveals that the lower economic background a child has then the lower quality their education will be and the higher their economic background is the higher quality their education is. Anyon’s theory of a social ladder is extremely useful because it sheds light on the

    Read More

  • It's Educational System In I Can T Read By Russell Baker

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    America has not changed it’s educational system in over two hundred years. For this reason, our students and population are falling further and further behind. Our society has done nothing but move forward, so why hasn’t our learning? Everybody has a story, opinion, or response to education. We need to invest in refining our tools to succeed, to create a better sense of self, and a stronger, more well-rounded nation. The American educational system is hurting students by passing them without merit and relying on standardized tests; however, many are now running back to these hollowed halls to ensure better futures.

    Read More

  • Three Reasons College Still Matters By Andrew Delbanco

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    In recent years, many have debated whether or not a college education is a necessary requirement to succeed in the field of a persons’ choice and become an outstanding person in society. On one hand, some say college is very important because one must contribute to society. The essay Three Reasons College Still Matters by Andrew Delbanco shows three main reasons that students should receive their bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, many question the point of wasting millions of dollars on four years or maybe more to fight for highly competitive jobs that one might not get. Louis Menand wrote an article based on education titled Re-Imagining Liberal Education. This article challenges the main thought many americans have after receiving a secondary education. Louis Menand better illustrates the reasons why a student should rethink receiving a post secondary education better than Andrew Delbanco’s three reasons to continue a person’s education.

    Read More

  • Education in America: Separate and Unequal

    1064 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work By C. H. Knoblauch

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first scholarly essay I am going to discuss is Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work by Jean Anyon. Anyon believed that students of different economical statuses and the schools in their communities taught differently. She used schools in four different types of communities. The four types of communities are working class, middle-class, affluent professional and executive elite. She studied the students, teachers, principals, and staff as well as

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Women Without Class By Julie Bettie

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel “Women Without class” by Julie Bettie, is a society in which the cultural you come from and the identity that was chosen for you defines who you are. How does cultural and identity illustrate who we are or will become? Julie Bettie demonstrates how class is based on color, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. The author describes this by researching her work on high school girls at a Central Valley high school. In Bettie’s novel she reveals different cliques that are associated within the group which are Las Chicas, Skaters, Hicks, Preps, and lastly Cholas and Cholos. The author also explains how race and ethnicity correspondence on how academically well these students do. I will be arguing how Julie Bettie connects her theories of inequality and culture capital to Pierre Bourdieu, Kimberle Crenshaw, Karl Marx and Engels but also how her research explains inequality among students based on cultural capital and identity.

    Read More

  • Shadowy Lines that Still Divide by Janny Scott

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    Scott, Janny. “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide.” Class Matters. New York, New York: Times Books, 2005. 1-26. Print.

    Read More

  • Against Schools

    2166 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.

    Read More

  • School for Workers

    1846 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Personal Responsibility in Education

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    School in America is a stuffed animal. Shot dead on arrival but preserved by elitist taxidermy, we cling to the fallacy that it is alive and well. If anyone who cared witnessed the totality of my high school (or middle or elementary, for that matter) career, they wouldn’t have let me graduate. Not only did I learn next to nothing, I barely did anything. Teachers were apparently satisfied with dull essays lacking insight, obviously BSed or copied homework, and intelligence-insulting lies I fed them to keep my 84% in their class. That was the game I played for all of middle and high school – see how long it takes them to notice that I’m a house of cards. Around the time I turned 17, however, I realized that no one was about to tell me to stop playing – that I could, in fact, play the same game the rest of my life without anyone noticing. Before I knew it I had college acceptance letters and a high school diploma, and an extensive contemplation set in. It culminated in the astonishing realization that my life, and consequently my education, is my own responsibility, and that I must stop waiting for anyone to help me advance either one. John Taylor Gatto, Michael Moore, and Jean Anyon all suggest exactly what my friends and I gradually became aware of in high school – that the public school system is rife with inequalities and deficiencies, only guaranteeing reproduction to replacement for the unskilled labor force, rather than encouraging innovation to change the world. Anyon and Gatto reveal the hidden pretext of the American public school, and Moore and Malcolm X explore the elitist avarice preventing things from improving.

    Read More

  • Understudies In College Essay

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    Education is the absolute most essential factor in the development of our nation. In particular, advanced education clears a future and gives chance to understudies that go to college and gives them a shot at a vocation. 50 years prior, college was entirely for the tip top, high class Americans. Presently, it appears that each regular family has no less than one relative go to college. In any case, with the expanding drop out rate today, understudies appear to be less inspired by learning at college and their needs change from their unique objective of graduating. The significance of education today is a developing variable on the grounds that the fate of this nation relies upon the understudies in college today.

    Read More

  • Poverty and Personal Choice

    1389 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jean Anyon. “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”. “Rereading America”. Bedfords/St.Martin. Boston, New York, 2010. 169-186

    Read More

  • To What Extent Does Social Class Affect the Success and Experience of Young People in Education?

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    Whitty, G. (2001) Education, social class and social Exclusion. Journal of Education Policy, 16(4) pp 287-295.

    Read More

More about Education in America

Open Document