The Consequences of No Education

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In the year 2020, Kevin Hanley works as a janitor. By 2050, his son is a beggar on the street. How did this happen to all the Kevin Hanley’s in just one generation? That story was just fictional, titled “The Fable of the Lazy Teenager” by Ben Stein. It was about the decline of America through the derogation of the American education system. If the education system fails, than we will become no better than our ancestors in that we will have no education and therefore be back to the starting block positions of beast of burden. Education and our consciences are what separate us from the animals. However, according to James Loewen’s “The Land of Opportunity,” even the educational system is slipping, saying that when he asked questions like, “why are people poor?” he got woefully inadequate responses. In both “The Land of Opportunity” and “Lies My History Teacher Told Me,” also by Loewen, the root cause of most of the problems in schools and their lack of effective education are the textbooks.
The textbooks cause most of the root problem: these problems include dryness and wrong perspective. Both pieces agree on this. Since textbooks are the required curriculum for the professors, and the textbooks are dry and dull, than it is difficult for the professors to spruce up the history again. “Lies My History Teacher Told Me” said that history is one of the most disliked courses in American high schools, topping even math! Another problem that textbooks run into is that they base themselves off of each other. If one finds something new, then they all update. If another finds a new perspective, then the others include that perspective in their paper.
Along with this, most of the history textbooks have another problem. This problem is not rec...

... middle of paper ...

...lly, there will be a quote from “The Fable of the Lazy Teenager” said by Kevin Hanley in 2050 after talking to the Japanese anthropologist about America in the past. “To be able to make a living by one’s mind instead of by stealing,” he says. “That would be a miracle.”

Works Cited

Loewen, James W. The Land of Opportunity. From Inquiry to Academic Writing. By
Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky. Ed. Stephen A. Scipone. 2nd ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 201-05. Print.
Loewen, James W. Lies My Teacher Told Me. 1996. From Inquiry to Academic Writing. By
Stuart Greene and April Lidinsky. Ed. Stephen A. Scipone. 2nd ed. Boston:
Bedford/St. Martin's, 2012. 383-403. Print.
Stein, Ben. "The Fable of the Lazy Teenager." The Somerville Educational
Association Newsletter. Somerville Educational Association, 2008. Web. 20
Nov. 2013.

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