While Canada has attained a high standard of education, the quality of has been on the decline. "There are concerns that a period of erosion has begun [for the Canadian educational system] at a time when international competition has intensified." (McKenzie 1994) If the reality of the Canadian educational system was poor 11 years ago, it comes as no surprise that according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2013 there has been a regular decrease in the world ranking of Canadian post-secondary schools. (Chiose) University of Toronto, McGilll University and UBC have all steadily been dropping in world rankings. There is not only a lack of funding for post-secondary schools (or at least funding with the wrong intentions) …show more content…
(Osborne 2) Educating Citizens: A Democratic Socialist Agenda for Canadian Education goes on to list that primary school teachers grad their students based on dependability, independent and quiet work and listening, tidiness of work as well as sociability and time management. Creativity measures, evidently lacking from the standardized evaluation, is not easy to identify or measure, leading it to be sacrificed for other qualities that facilitate ranking. Osborne mentions that “a similar emphasis upon passive obedience can be found in schools’ disciplinary practices, which, almost without exception emphasize doing what is told and not rocking the boat.” Furthermore, teaching methods follow a similar doctrine, inhibiting students from thinking for themselves. Rarely do they exercise their own judgment, focusing solely on following (or resisting in some cases) a teacher’s instructions. Historically, "schools were intended not so much to educate as to train." (Osborne 7) As such, it is understandable that our current system is, as it is. Schools were intended to provide a student with the ability to perform a task, not broaden their horizons on topics often seen as inefficient, purely theoretical or inapplicable to their daily lives. It is these attitudes towards instructing malleable minds that result in Canada's poor performance in research and development as well as in the completion of apprenticeships. These faults are "linked primarily to underdeveloped industry/education/ government partnerships." ("What Is the Future of Learning in Canada?"
(Listen first, then questions) Yes, it is true that most of Canada does have excellent schools, colleges that highly excel in a certain subject, gifted schools, and learning institutions, but our educational standards are not set as high as other countries. For example, in some countries,
There is a “fear of being unorthodox…rooted in the American teacher’s soul” (Burgess 237). Burgess stresses the prohibition of an American teacher’s competence to instruct students using any type of experimental approach other than the standardized design. In consequence, America is unable to breed eccentric geniuses and has no capacity to create a burning desire to learn within their students. The reason this dilemma has been continuing for so long is because America has been blinded by their previous accomplishments, such as the landing on the moon. On behalf of their successful progressive past, the American people are in denial of how poor the education system is now and have a state of mind that the nation is still advancing just as it was decades ago when it is in fact, the exact
Being educated stimulates, enlighten and encourages to think critically as well as foster originality. Education can be abstain by acquiring knowledge and reflecting on the ideas that is presented through books of conversation with intellectuals. As far as the American education system goes it seem that it is far from educating children and adults, since the education system has other agendas in mind. In John Taylor Grotto’s essay, “Against School”, he talks about how there is a difference between schooling and education. Whereas, someone who is schooled has the book smarts, and someone who is educated has critical thinking skills. He then goes further and mentions that the education system agenda is to produce excellent employees for the socio-economic system. The education system does not produce intellectually sound students, but what it does creates a student that is a mimic of knowledge and incapable of think critically.
It’s no surprise that there are faults within our schools in today’s society. As both authors’ point out if our educational system is
In John Gatto’s essay “Against Schools” he states from experience as a school teacher that are current educational system is at fault (148). He claims that classrooms are often filled with boredom manufactured by repetitive class work and unenthusiastic teachings. Students are not actively engaged and challenged by their work and more often than not they have either already covered the concepts taught in class or they just do not understand what is being taught to them. The children contained in classrooms have come to believe that their teachers are not all that knowledgeable about the subjects that they are teaching and this advances their apathy towards education. The teachers also feel disadvantaged while fulfilling their roles as teachers because the students often bring rude and careless attitudes to class. Teachers often wish to change the curriculums that are set for students in order to create a more effective lesson plan, but they are restricted by strict regulations and consequences that bind them to their compulsory teachings (148-149). An active illustration of John Gatto’s perspective on our educational system can be found in Mike Rose’s essay “I Just Wanna Be Average” (157). Throughout this piece of literature the author Mike Rose describes the kind of education he received while undergoing teachings in the vocational track. During Mike’s vocational experiences he was taught by teachers that were inexperienced and poorly trained in the subjects they taught. As a result, their lesson plan and the assignments they prepared for class were not designed to proficiently teach students anything practical. For example, the curriculum of Mike Rose’s English class for the entire semester consisted of the repeated reading of ...
We live in a society where we are surrounded by people telling us that school/education and being educated is the only way to succeed. However, the school system is not up to the standards we want it to uphold. There are three issues we discuss the most which are the government, the student, and the teacher. In John Taylor Gatto 's essay “Against School”, we see the inside perspective of the educational system from the view of a teacher. In “I Just Wanna Be Average”, an essay written by Mike Rose, we hear a student 's experience of being in a vocational class in the lower level class in the educational system when he was supposed to be in the higher class. Both Gatto and Rose give their opinions on how the educational system is falling apart. Today the government is only trying to get students to pass, making it hard for teachers to teach what they want. Students are affected everyday by the school system. They sit there - bored - and do not think that the teachers care, making the
In his essay “Against School,” John Taylor Gatto illustrates his view point that the American population would be better off by managing their own education. He compares the school system to the concept of boredom; that students as well as teachers are victims of the long ago adopted Prussian educational system: “We suppress our genius only because we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simply and glorious. Let them manage themselves.” In other words, Gatto believes that the main reason for the existence of schooling consists in that it trains our children to be obedient citizens who can’t think on their own. His point is that as a society we cut off the intelligence and creativity
Have you ever wondered if our education system has flaws? Well in the article “Against School” written by John Taylor Gatto, Gatto once a teacher explains how public education weakens the youth. He starts off the paper by saying how he taught for 30 years, went through a termination, and personally witnessed almost all of the schooling flaws. In Gatto’s article he lists very noticeable names, such as George W. Bush, George Washington, James Bryant Conant, and H.L Mencken to name a few. Having taught children for so long Gatto believes he has the expert rule in this subject. He proposes that to bring out the best qualities in a child you have to let them make decision and let them take their own risks. Gatto’s mission in this article is to make you consider, if school is actually important.
Opponents of free post secondary education tend to believe that the establishment of free post secondary education will never happen because it will be too expensive for the federal and state governments to maintain in long-term. As a result, free post secondary education can lead to a great impact on Canadian economy, students’ success in life and environmental issues.
Kaufman, Daniel. "Notes from Hell: The Public Schools Need Discipline and Respect for Learning. That's All." National Review 30 Sept. 1996: 46. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Mar. 2014.
1. Why did Rowan think the women looked strange? Because they weren’t women, they were witches. 2.
Torres, C. (1996). State and Education Revisited Why Educational Researchers Should Think Politically About Education. Review of Research in Education: 1995-1996 (pp. 255-331). .: AERA.
The education system has been a controversial issue among educators. Requirements of school do not let student choose what they want to study for their future. It’s a big issue to force student study specific curriculums, which don’t help them improve, and what they like to create something. Educators choose a general system for education to all students which based on general knowledge. Intelligent or genius students have to be in that system of education, which doesn’t let them improve their creativity. Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their changing was not that great to be an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education system to compete other systems or not? In some examples and reasons have been made me agree with some of points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree them.
In the book, “The Element” by Ken Robinson, he discusses how different education systems all over the world are but focuses on the education system in the United States. The reason being is that he believes that there are faults that need to be fixed because it doesn’t focus on the students individually and discovering their “element” but, on academics, business and state testing. Robinson claims that education itself is supposed to be a process in which it develops all resources. Robinsons says that, “In fact, the real challenges for education will only be met by empowering passionate and creative teachers and by firing up the imaginations and motivations of the students.” (247).
Rather than preparing students to be thoughtful, self-directed and ethical beings capable of arriving at social truths through critical dilemmas, schools prepare students to be ‘rubber stamps’ with dictatorial work and political structures, train students for work by providing the student with a limited set of skills and information to do a particular job, and discourage the chase of individuality and creativity. (Dewey, 1916).