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
Teachers themselves are often left to make the best of what little they have to work with. A narrow curriculum with little for scholars to decide themselves leaves them feeling like completing cookie-cutter worksheets is boring and pointless. Over time, students begin to hold educators with contempt and become disgusted by school and the tedious, rote labor that comes with it. With no enthusiasm, defeated students scores plummet and the faculty in turn can develop a bad attitude about students. The worst part is this combination produces a negative loop that often only spirals further downward.
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
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.