Ap Psychology Pros And Cons

This year I am a junior at Bartlett High School. In order to achieve my diploma at graduation my senior year, I am required to take a course called Civics and Econ. It is not just me who is required to take this course - it is mandatory for all students at Bartlett High. Civics and Econ does not sound too bad, but from a student's perspective it does. My interest, especially for my future college major, lies in the health science classes. I initially asked my counselor to take AP Psychology instead of Civics and Econ; unfortunately, my request was denied. It irritated me that I was not able to take a class that I was interested in, but was forced to take a class I did not care about. I was not able to further my interest in the field of psychology

due to this school rule. Many public and private schools in America have a fixed set of rules to govern student behavior. Such rules are set into place to assist the school in achieving its goals, which are usually: (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. These goals seem to be very benevolent in nature, although, along the way conflicts arise regarding the issue of individuality and conformity. If I am not allowed to take classes that will fulfill my goals, then the school is failing in theirs by not aiding me in achieving mine. School conformity leads to a lack of individuality in the sense that schools prohibit students from taking desired classes, and replace them with ‘mandatory’ classes, thus forcing students to conform to a basic societal mean.
Beginning with source C, there a photo depicting a cover design for a book about preparing kindergarten students for standardized testing.

Already at such a young age, the school system is pushing kids into conformity. While in kindergarten, a child is five or six years old. It is absurd to even be thinking about taking a test, let alone a standardized one, at such a tender age. Schools are already attempting to make individuals conform into a basic standard while taking individuality away from young children. By making students take the same tests and do the same things, a child's individuality is being attacked. Conformity starts at a young age because what a person learns as a child shapes who they will be in the future- and that’s what schools want: for everyone to grow up in a bubble of conformity. Instead of coercing kindergarteners into completing standardized tests, schools should promote a curriculum based on discovering individuality and what a child's interests are, especially kindergarteners. Individual expression is what should be encouraged to children of this age, not conformity. By thinking the same way and doing the same things, kids are not allowed the opportunity to express themselves and their unique personalities. Youth is where a person begins the learning process and discovers the world. According to Erik Erikson’s theory of development, the primary focus of youth is discovering personal identity. It is understandable that schools want to teach

children how to take tests, cooperate with others, and learn in a group setting, but that can all be done without having to go to extremes in order to mold students into one personality. Children should be able to express their own thoughts and if a school is preventing a child from discovering who they are, the child will never develop independency and thus remain limited in life by being the same as everyone else.
In source A, John Taylor Gatto introduces his case against public schooling and makes the argument that “Public Education Cripples” kids.

He says: “[P]lenty of people throughout the world today find a way to educate themselves without resorting to a system of compulsory secondary schools that all too often resemble prisons.” He builds a strong point. It may seem a little extreme to compare the school system to a prison, but he is not wrong. Throughout public school education, students have very limited freedom in regards to choosing their own classes. About 90% of a student’s schedule is already decided for them before they are even allowed to fill out their schedule forms for the next school year. A student's intellectual and individual ability is already being diminished by being denied the right to take or not take certain classes. For example, some schools do not allow freshmen students to take AP classes. I think this is unfair to the student. If they have the intellectual ability to take an AP class, why should their potential be restricted by taking a regular level class? Students do not have any say in this, thus it is the school that is making these decisions FOR students. This is pointless and it only harms the student, who is tied down to classes they do not want to take. Supposedly, America is the land of the free but oftentimes our freedom is severely limited in schools. Source B shows a daily bell schedule for a high school, and Gatto’s comparison that

schools are like prisons applies here. The schedule shows that students have 46 minutes classes and only 4 minute passing periods. This strict routine is forces students to be confined to a robotic-like daily schedule and shows no sign of freedom or choice. By enforcing such a strict schedule, school can resemble a prison in the sense that if students do not abide to these rules, they will be punished with even more confinement- a lunch or out of school detention, which is basically solitary confinement. Schools try so hard to throw kids into a pit of conformity and to water people down into a basic standard. This limit on individuality is a huge problem in schools as students now cannot take the classes they want, which places disastrous limits on a student’s individuality, and intellectual ability.
Gatto also makes a great point about people being able to teach themselves without subjecting themselves to the public school system. Especially with the use of technology nowadays, it is not difficult to gain access to more knowledge. I know that I can easily teach myself how to make speeches in front of people online rather than take a class like that in school and waste an extra class space. At this point in time, everything is undoubtedly present on the internet. There are websites and apps available to everyone -with no cost- that can easily teach people the same things that can be learned in school. Duolingo for example, is an amazing language program that allows people to learn multiple languages on their own time. Duolingo offers: Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Polish, and many more that are currently being developed. If everything is easily attainable to people online, then why are kids being forced to sacrifice classes they want for something the school wants them to learn? Personally, I would much rather teach myself Spanish online than sacrifice a class that I want, when I can learn the same exact things online. Public schools often restrict students’ freedom by denying them the classes they like, limiting individual potential, and leaving students trapped with no options.