Students are not able to explore topics that interest them due to schools only concentrating on subjects that are deemed as more important. When students do not meet a certain benchmark, they are placed in classes that are not meant to challenge them. As Mike Rose describes it in his article “I Just Wanna Be Average,” “[Students] are placed in a curriculum that isn’t designed to liberate [them].” As a student in both advanced placement and regular classes, I can atest to this statement. Lower-level classes have teachers who do not have high standards for their students; consequently, the students do not care to learn or explore the topic more in depth. Students do not get much freedom, if any, to choose what subjects to take. They are forced to take classes that do not interest them only because of graduation requirements. A child forced to take these classes will only focus on getting good grades and not actually learning anything. Many schools focus strictly on preparing students for standardized tests; therefore, “Nothing [counts] other than mathematics and reading” (Ravitch). Schools focus on these topics in order to receive more funding. The …show more content…
Without the freedom to choose different classes, every child has the same curriculum. When Gatto states the purpose of schooling in his article “Against School,” he uses the terms “the conformity function.” Gatto believes that schools intend to “make students as alike as possible.” As a result, students cannot become curious about different subjects, career paths or even goals for the future. By focusing strictly on one track, schools set their students up for limited interest, which results in limited success. A more diverse curriculum would allow for students to become more original in their thinking; they would then be able to explore many future paths to eventually become passionate about a certain
Unfortunately, this shift in focus has caused the overall high school experience to stray away from its intended purpose. If students are not prepared for their career, what purpose does a high school education have? If High Schools inserted more elective course opportunities into their standard set of curriculum, it would further prepare students for the career of their choice, allow them to truly master a subject, build their confidence, and refine their talents so that they may grow and succeed in their future occupations. Schools currently have a required curriculum, that limits a student's personal choice, by forcing him or her to take classes that are not suited to their aspirations. Typically, the standard material for most schools consists of mainly the "core" classes, like English, math, and science.
“I hate school” is something many students think when waking up in the morning, doing homework, or sitting in class. Some people think that students and their negative mindset are the cause for the failing educational system. Others think the system itself fails to properly educate each student based on their needs. In this essay I will discuss how both students and the educational system are failing each other by teaching pointless classes, teaching student how to test, and student lack of motivation In elementary school, most kids enjoy learning and going to school because of the topics and the style of teaching, but as the advance and become high school and college student they lose this interest in learning altogether.
I have overheard teachers discuss the curriculum they teach, and how they tailor it to match student needs. While this is not a bad thing, they tailor the course work to be a lot easier. Many times, classes seem to have less work when students are struggling with the course work. Teachers become even more lax and assign less homework and big assignments so they do not have hundreds of failing students. This can make school quite boring for some students. Even advanced and honors classes can be too easy for some students. A lot of my friends are taking college classes all day, because they are more challenging than the courses offered at the high school. While this is good because we now have the option of Dual Credit, students before this offer were stuck with nothing to challenge their