Title The education system is set up in a way that allows all citizens an equal opportunity to better themselves; at least this is the way it was intended. There are many flaws in the public education system that do not seem to be given the necessary attention. Although this education is free of cost to the students, they still deserve a good quality learning experience. “In I just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose, a man who experienced a lesser quality education growing up tells about his struggles in school. Many students in the public education system are being cheated out of the experience they crave the same way students in the past had been. Student education is being affected by many factors that should not play any role in the quality …show more content…
of experience. The Declaration of Independence states that, “All men are created equal,” yet this statement did not prove to be true until long after the civil war. Racial segregation was a huge part of life after the civil war, especially in the South. This segregation even followed children into the classroom. Laws were enacted by numerous state legislatures stating that blacks and whites could not attend the same schools (among many other restrictions). These Jim Crow laws were a hindrance. Students who attended the black schools had to use lesser quality materials than students at the white schools. The schools lacked indoor plumbing, heating, and libraries, and they were given supplies that were discarded by the white schools. A teacher at a black school in 1924, Alicebelle V. Allen, described the school by saying, “The floor was so drafty that I had to stand on paper or a bag to keep warm. Water was obtained at a neighbor’s well, and we had to use the churches outdoor toilets… There was no playground equipment – nothing but rocks. My salary was $529 per year,” (montgomeryhistory.org). Another teacher, Elizabeth K. Cumbo, mentioned, “[our textbooks] were handed down to us from the white schools. In many cases, pages were missing from these books, and pupils had to share with each other,” (montgomeryhistory.org). Because of a lack of funding, the term was usually shortened, and the course of study differed as well. Fed up with the way blacks were being treated, many people began pressing for the abolition of Jim Crow laws. In 1909, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded, and from 1935 to 1938, Charles Hamilton Houston, the legal head of the NAACP, along with Thurgood Marshall planned to attack Jim Crow laws in education, where they were weakest. One of the most memorable resulting court cases is Brown v. Board of Education. On May 14, 1954, Chief Justice Warren stated that, “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal…” (uscourts.gov). This decision made way for greater advancement of black students in the public education system. Although students no longer have to face segregation because of their race, segregation is still very much alive.
Students with less knowledge are given less opportunity. Placement tests and evaluations prove it, and more advanced students are given greater amounts of support and encouragement. These students are usually the ones who are told they can do anything they set their minds to, rather than “maybe that isn’t the best choice for you”. Students who are led to believe they are not as good as their more intelligent peers tend to fall into a rut. The learning path they are sent down is less challenging and less rewarding. Rose describes this path by saying, “… You’re defined by your school as ‘slow’; you’re placed in a curriculum that isn’t designed to liberate you but to occupy you, or, if you’re lucky, train you, though your training is for work the society does not esteem,” (Rose 350). The future of these students is affected by the way they perform early on, and many do not try to do better because they do not think they can. All many of them want to do is pass the tests and be on their way, never even considering college as an option for the future. To Rose, “The reality of higher education wasn’t in my scheme of things,” (356), and for many students in public education, the same goes for …show more content…
them. Standardized tests are a regular part of school that students aim to pass.
That is basically all they want from it though – to pass. Many students do not care if they barely scrape by; they passed. This mindset has caused a decline in effort amongst students. They only care to learn what they need to in order to pass this test, and any other knowledge is unnecessary. The No Child Left Behind Act is working to expand education through annual testing and other factors such as school report cards. This has led to some teachers solely teaching the test, and “teaching to the test is eliminating the opportunity for teachers to teach students higher-order thinking skills” (Who Is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind? 134). Teaching only the test material does not only reduce student knowledge though. According to Theoni Soublis Smyth, “Teaching to the test reduces teacher creativity, innovative instruction…and student motivation… Teachers’ jobs are at stake, student promotion is in jeopardy, and graduation opportunity is riding on the scores of these tests…” (Who Is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind? 134). A student’s future essentially relies on these tests. It does not really matter what else they have to offer. If they fail, none of the additional knowledge matters anymore, and it
should.
Although education has definitely come a very long way over time, it is still very imperfect. Many of the issues that have been addressed have either failed to go away or caused a new problem to emerge, and student education has suffered because of these issues. In I Just Wanna Be Average, Mike Rose says, “It (education) enabled me to do things in the world… It provided a critical perspective on society, and it allowed me to act as though I were living beyond the limiting boundaries…” (358). Knowledge allowed him to truly live. Students need the opportunity to feel the way Rose does. They need limitless motivation and encouragement to work for what they want. Students need room to show the potential they see in themselves, and public education does not allow for this.
Works Cited
Smyth, Theoni Soublis. "Who Is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind?." Clearing House 81.3 (2008): 133-137. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
"History of Brown v. Board of Education." USCOURTSGOV RSS. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
...ild, when he would hide and daydream, up until his first years of college, when he would avoid areas that were difficult, the author recognized that there was important link between challenging the student on a meaningful level and the degree to which the student eventually produced. “I felt stupid telling them I was… well – stupid.” (Rose 43) Here, Rose shows an example of how poor preparation and low standards in the classroom can make a student feel inadequate. Indeed, one can see how many things seemingly unrelated do affect a student’s ability to learn.
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
Education supports everyone getting opportunities in life and being able to choose better for themselves. As Horace Mann wrote, education is the “great equalizer for all.“ However, the United States Public School system will likely never be able to equally educate its masses of students. Public school educating all fairly is a myth.There is no one entity to blame for this failure. The failure lies with each student who has been conditioned to sit passively in an un-engaging classroom. Its failure lies in some students disrespectfully distracting their classmates and frustrating their once inspired teacher or administrator. The failure lies with administration being distracted with causes of the moment and burns out from knowing that all
Pressure is being exerted on students to pass, and teachers to enable their students to pass the standardized tests being presented to them. This takes much classroom time that could be spent instructing students on what might be more valuable information, and instead study for the test by what some consider rote memorization (Silva). Experiments have been done seeing how much different teaching approaches were before and after the implementation of standardized testing (Desimone). These experiments demonstrated how vastly the difference between teaching to the test and teaching what the instructor believes is the most valuable knowledge and the best way to present this knowledge. If there is a disconnect between what America’s teachers believe is best to know, and what is on the examinations, then one of the two is flawed, and it is not likely to be what the teachers are teaching.
Schools, Teaching, and Learning; Not Good for Everyone Never let going to school and taking classes get in the way of learning. There is more than enough blame to go around regarding the education and preparation for the recent generations of students entering adulthood. Some people, like Michael Moore blame politics on the poor state of education, others like Davis Guggenheim, blame the powerful teachers union putting their own needs before the students. I place the blame squarely at the feet of the parents, students and over all society for the current state of education.
It is safe to say that the current education system in the United States does not help create a good workforce, it does not help students meet their goals and it does not do a good job in creating good citizens. The current education system is not able to do this because not everyone is about to get a higher education, it is not practical, and a college education and grades are not good factors/indicators in determining a person’s success. Yes, the education system is better here than in other areas, but there are a few things that need to be worked on.
...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.
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
The United States has many conflicts, one of them is funding on Public Education. In fact Public schools are to make every effort to try and help the students with all they can. Some schools have better things to offer to their schools. It depends on the population where the school is located. Do you agree that the public schools should get the funding depending on the population of where they are located? So many things are unfair and we the people do not really have much we can say publicly or even speak up to this situation. Every student should have the same opportunities as someone that goes to a school where tons of money are invested into. Let us focus on tomorrow’s future instead because once we know it the time will come to see these successful students take part of our country and keep us going forward for the better. Despite the fact that funding on public education will not help students succeed academically with the money provided to the schools, every school deserves to get as much money because students will receive more proper education and will be more successful students in the future.
The article titled “Order in the Classroom” goes in depth into the education system; its flaws, strengths, and what needs mending. Author Neil Postman, an educator of New York University includes his perspective on the education system. One remark by contributor William O’Connor, explains that the education in our schools is not inferior, the schools have been getting inferior students (Postman, 309). The students are not inferior in our education system. If we were to look in depth at some of the issues we hold, maybe that mindset would change. What makes us inferior is the fact that we do not teach our children things they need to know before beginning school, we have a horribly structured school day, we believe that socioeconomic status will change a student’s learning and ability and we believe in punishing students who cause disturbances. These are all very low and hurtful perspectives to hold when discussing education.
High school and college dropout rates are at an all time high. Secondary school students are told throughout high school that if they don’t go to college then they will never be successful. Going to college doesn’t always make a difference because many career choices such as teachers and lawyers are highly contested and result in either no job or low salary. Low pay deters teacher’s motivation and they tend to work part time jobs to supplement their income. Public schools standards are comparable to a kangaroo court’s procedure; private schools are known for better teachers, environment, and test grades. The major problems in the public school system include the lack of funding, lack of resources, and lack of standards.
Having expectations for others is a normal thing, however, when these expectations reach an unrealistic level, it becomes harmful to the person on the receiving end. In the story "I Just Wanna be Average," unrealistic high or low level of expectations are shown to have negative effects on students. These expectations when low can drive the students to have low self-esteem and suck away their motivation to succeed. If anything the students acts out on how they're expected to. When they are bullied on how stupid they are, these students start behaving that way because that’s the only thing they’re told that they’re good for. This is shown on page 318 when Rose says "you'll have to shut down...and have to cultivate stupidity." It’s the same result when these expectations are set high, they harm the students because sometimes high expectations causes a lot of stress as they can be hard to reach. These students end up wanting to be like "the average student" or "the
Baker always wondered what the real point of higher education is. He said, “The point is to equip the child into college. The smart kids have no trouble with college while the dumb one struggle. While the point of college goes back to when they start their education. The main point of education is to please people giving the test. This is so you can be able to pass so you can make it to the next level of higher education. This all leads to a “life of rich and a full bank account” (Baker 225). During these years at college the professors are to prepare the student who is no longer a child now for even higher education such as graduate school. This makes the student have fully fulfilled with what they have done with their life and the great accomplishment they have achieved. Higher education is to be cherished. This allows the student to prepare there self “to play his role in the great simmering melodrama of American life (Baker
Is it okay to be average? What does being average even mean? The Webster’s dictionary defines average as undistinguished and ordinary. Throughout my life I have always considered myself to be average, and I found out that it was not always the worst quality but it also was not the best quality to have.
“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family” (Strong n.p.). Anywhere a person goes, there are people demanding that people have a certain level of education. This makes wanting to get into a certain profession hard to do. By going to schooling you can get yourself and education, but by no means necessary do you get an education by going to school. But the question lies in how you go about achieving both them, and increase in learning. There are times when you can get some school, but the education does not fully come. This could be from the lack of teachers, or the encouragement that you get. It also lies in how much enthusiasm that you put