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Effects of standardized testing on students
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Public Schooling in the modern day is a very interesting topic of debate. It’s just as easy to find people willing to argue for it as it is to find people to argue against it. I’ve always been of the mindset that public education is merely the basics of a persons education. Important to some, yet completely unnecessary to others, and I find that it all depends on the type of person you are. In the article “Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, Gatto shares his opinion on the public schooling system and why it corrupts its students.
One of the more important topics Gatto discusses in his article is the concept of boredom and how it relates to public schooling. From his experience as a school teacher he’s learned that boredom not only affects students, but teachers as well. Students are bored because they feel as though they are being taught the same material over and over again, while teachers blame their boredom on lack of respect and interest from the students. Students in the modern schooling systems have very limited choice when it comes to the classes they are able to take, and everyone ends up being taught
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almost the same subjects and material throughout their entire time in school, causing a lack individual identity, which Gatto believes is used as a tactic to promote conformity. While Gatto clearly shows his disapproval for modern schooling, he makes it apparent that it is only schooling he is against, not education.
He draws an extremely fine line between the terms “schooling” and “education.” The whole prison-like system, six classes a day, five days a week process that makes up school is what he believes corrupts us. Gatto argues that public schooling is unnecessary for success. He says, “a considerable number of well-known Americans never went through the twelve-year wringer our kids currently go through, and they turned out all right.” Gatto argues that since many people such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Ben Franklin, all who went outside of the conventional ways of learning but still managed to become successful, there is clearly much more to success than what we are able to learn through public
education. I partially share Gatto’s view of the public schooling system we use today. While I do believe the knowledge taken away from these twelve long years could be redesigned to set students up better for the future, I don’t think that public school is as deceptive and cunning as Gatto describes. It’s hard for me to believe that we are manipulated into the people we become in the future. There are so many opportunities given to us throughout our time in school, and the knowledge picked up during this time is crucial to our future success. Despite this, I feel as though this “crucial knowledge” could be condensed and taught in a much shorter span of time. Part of the reason I am so excited for college is because I’m actually going to start learning what I want to learn, not what I’m forced to learn, which is where public schooling falls short. While some may see public education as pointless and unneeded, there are certain benefits to it that can aid students for the future. Gatto believes school is just a means of shaping the students who attend in order to fit into society, but it is really much more than that. He presents many solid arguments as to why public education fails to deliver, and many of them I agree with. At the same time, I believe that with simply changing the system around, it would be a much more effective tool in our society.
As American’s we place a high level of importance on attending school and receiving a certain level of education. Across the world, the recommendations for attending school vastly differ based on the culture of the society. In America, we require our children to attend school until they are almost of legal age, push high school graduates to attend college and we constantly emphasize structured learning. Many children in today’s world lack many skills that would allow them to “teach” themselves outside of school leading to an increased interest in televisions, computers, and phones. Technology has taken away society’s attention away from independent learning such as reading, writing, and outside experiences. John Taylor Gatto’s emotional voice in his writing “Against School” has allowed me reveal my psychological voice regarding the educational system.
Although Gatto does use a significant amount of facts throughout the essay, they do not come from any credible source nor are they cited from one. An example of a given fact but not cited is, “ George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln? Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever “graduated” from a secondary school.” (Gatto 273). Gatto is using a fact that is highly informative. However, since it is not cited from any type of credible source, the audience might not count it as a valid piece of information or take it into consideration. To give the essay even better credibility, Gatto should cite all factual information he
Many Americans do not question the credibility of the education system within the country because they believe it forms good citizens and creates a stepping-stone to success. John Taylor Gatto is an American teacher who has experience in the classroom for thirty years and has now devoted his life to critiquing American schools exploiting his own experiences. In his essay “Against School”, he argues that the 12-year system of school may not be necessary, due to its curriculum, and that it may be a tactic of manipulation from the government to promote obedience. I agree with his argument because there are many paths to individual success outside of public education, such as homeschooling or vocational school.
In the article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto urges Americans to see the school system as it really is: testing facilities for young minds, with teachers who are pounding into student 's brains what society wants. Gatto first explains that he taught for 30 years at the best and worst schools in Manhattan. He claims to have firsthand experience of the boredom that students and teachers struggle with. Gatto believes that schooling is not necessary, and there are many successful people that were self-educated. He then explains the history and importance of mandatory schooling. To conclude his article, Gatto gives his foresight for the future of schooling. Although Gatto has a well thought out argument for his opinion on schooling, he focuses
To begin, there are several concepts about compulsory education that aggravates John Gatto and he explains his concerns in his essay “Against School.” Gatto’s first concern is everything is about school is boring. “Boredom is the common condition of schoolteachers (Gatto 608).” If the teachers are bored, they will create a dull and boring environment for the students. “Boredom and childishness were the natural state of affairs in the classroom (Gatto 608).” Lack of creativity and freedom is another concern of Gatto. “An educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects (Gatto 611).” Also, Gatto thinks school is unnecessary. “George Washington, Benjamin
Gatto claims that a person can succeed in life without being attached to an educational system. Centuries ago, mothers used to role as a teacher for their children. In effect, the mother used to care and build the future of her children by teaching them how to be successful in society. Therefore, there was none meaning in sending their children to school. For instance, the American icons, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did not attend to an educational establishment and succeeded in life. As Gatto narrates, “Someone taught them, to be sure, but they were not products of a school system, and not one of them was ever "graduated" from a secondary school.” (34). However, those decades are long gone, and society has moved on. Children need education to become good citizens of a society, but without being submerged into a corrupted educational system. To the contrary, the educational system should be reformed to be energetic and amusing making students hungry for knowledge and teachers motivated to give not only educational topics but live values as
She realized that choice and accountability were not the answer, but that curriculum and instruction were more viable solutions to America’s educational dilemma. Ravitch suggests that to abandon public schools is to abandon the institution that supports our concepts of democracy and citizenship and to the promise of American life (Ravitch, 2011, p. 12-14). The idea of school choice is rooted in Milton Friedman’s essay concerning the government’s role in education. Friedman asserted that society should support and contribute to the maximum freedom of the individual or the family. He maintained that the government should provide vouchers to help support parents financially on their children’s education, which parents could use at the school of their choosing; so long as the school met set standards. Therefore, this creation of choice would stimulate competition, which Friedman believed would increase the development and improvement of nonpublic schools, as well as, create a variety of school options (Ravitch, 2011, p. 115). As a result of the choice movement, the public received three versions of school choice: voucher schools, private schools, and charter schools. Each of these schools receives public funding, but do not operate as traditional public schools, and are not managed by a government agency (Ravitch, 2011, p. 121). Charter schools became the most popular choice of this new
Gatto uses the example of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln not attending twelve years of schooling and turning out just fine. In fact, he goes on to point out that most famous Americans in history, such as Edison, Carnegie and Rockefeller, to name a few rose to be admirals (p. 302), without attending high school. The main point Gatto seems to be explaining is that so many historians went without the twelve years of schooling and came out well educated. Although Gatto points out the historical stand point, Alfie Kohn uses past research to get his point across. As Kohn explains, studies after studies have shown that students starting from elementary school – up until graduate school are less interested in learning the material as a result of being graded. (p. 287) Also, the strive to get into college or graduate school depends on grades and GPA which puts more of a focus on having the highest grades and GPA, causing students to stress over making an A rather than a B or C, fearing that they may be turned down from a
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
Most high school students can 't wait for their school year to be over because they feel exhausted by the seven long periods of classes and not to mention boredom. John Taylor Gatto, a former New York State Teacher of the Year wrote an article called "Against School." Gatto criticizes the school system for their inability to meet the students’ expectations and for putting limits on their ability to learn. The children feel neglected, and the teachers feel helpless because they have to work with students who are not interested in the materials they are given. Gatto mentions how US high schools have become affected by adapting to the Prussian education system. According to Gatto, the purpose of high school is to manipulate the student 's mind
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
Many people think that going to school is the only way to get an education, to gain knowledge, to have a better understanding of society. Malcolm X didn 't necessarily believe that and nor did John Taylor Gatto, who wrote an article "Why Schools Don’t Educate." Gatto believed that schools kept children from being independent. If schools kept children from being independent than children weren 't being mentally alive, it was holding a child back from actual education. When they are in school the children focus on the time rather than the actual assignment, making them possibly fail because they lost the real importance of education. Gatto stated "The homeschooling movement has quietly grown to a size where one and a half million young people are being educated entirely by their own parents. Last month the education press reported the amazing news that children schooled at home seem to be five or even ten years ahead of their formally trained peers in their ability to think." (1) This shows that students that are given time to actually study and stay focus on one subject without being timed are more likely to succeed than a child that attends school. Given students the feeling of being mentally alive, to be able to embrace the
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.
Educators attempt to change that system to make it better, but their change was not that great as an example for the world. Also, did that change qualify education systems to compete with other systems or not? Some examples and reasons have made me agree with some of the points from Gatto’s and Edmunson’s and disagree with them. John Taylor Gatto, in his essay “Against School: How Public Education Cripples our Kids, and why,” argues that the contemporary purpose of education in public schools is to produce “harmless electorate,” “a servile labor force,” and “mindless consumers” (28). According to Gatto, he is blaming public schools for claiming that the purpose of education is to shape students to certain expectations and habits without their interests.