Preparing Minds For Markets, By Jonathan Kozol

1141 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Socioeconomic status and academic achievement

Jonathan Kozol, a writer best known for discussing public education, observed several specific schools in order to see how teachers aid young children into the future work force. Kozol believes young children in schools are being deprived of things they should be grasping at their age. Although this may be true, exposing children to real-life work responsibilities is clever and necessary in order to prepare them for the future while their brains are still growing and able to grasp the information easily. “We must start thinking of students as workers,” a high school official states (334). In the article, “Preparing Minds for Markets”, children had been asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. When asked, it seemed as though they had …show more content…

The teachers use a currency in order to reward the children in a way of “cash” rewards. Nearly 100% of the students in the school are living in poverty at home, are African-American, and are without a preschool education. Older students have been required to fill out applications with references for classroom jobs, followed by attending an interview. Although many adults feel the children are just being trained as robots, principals have explained it is simply to teach students that they have an opportunity to succeed, regardless of their past. Children at these schools are constantly being “incentivized”, which is quite common in America, making this situation …show more content…

When someone is told they must have their mind made up, it hinders their creative mind to other ideas. For example, when I was shopping for my first car, I was told to consider my desires beforehand in order to make the process easier. When I decided I was definitely set on a black car, I would find something wrong with every other car I tested out. This is similar to attending college in the beginning. Going into college, it is suggested you choose a major. This is a difficult decision if a student is not sure of what career pathway they are interested in going down. Although “Undeclared” is an option, it is far more common for one to choose a major then just decide to change it later on. I feel as though it is important to keep options open, and young children should be able to keep their career options open

Show More
Related

  • Jonathan Kozol's Savage Inequalities By Jonathan Kozol

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Kozol is a schoolteacher who began his teaching career in 1964 in Boston. In 1988, he realized that he’d strayed from his passion for teaching children. This is when he began his two-year journey around the country, visiting schools and schoolchildren in cities where he was welcomed, or where he had acquaintances.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society Kozol

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mr. Kozol is conveying the essay to intelligent people, who have the power to make a difference in this matter. His message is intended to help schools, government, non- profit organizations and other affiliations see this and to find ways to improve education for those who are unable obtain it themselves. Mr. Kozol delivers this bluntly to keep the attention of his audience and to make sure he gets his point across, he give numerous

    Read More

  • Robinson's Ethos Pathos Logos

    209 Words  | 1 Pages

    Along with a strong appeal to logos, the speaker uses a sentimental tone to support the points that we stopped kids from doing creative things. From his personal experience, Robinson maintains, “When you were kids, things you liked, on the grounds that you would never get a job.” The essence of the speaker’s argument is that we only encourage our kids for doing something worthy. When we say that things they like to do have no scope, this emotionally affects kids. Ultimately, guardian just put the weight of their ambitions on the delicate shoulders of their kids. This builds the pressure on students to meets with the expectations of their guardian. Therefore, one should understand that every child has his own specialty, potential, and liking.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Against School By John Taylor Gatto

    1076 Words  | 3 Pages

    The U.S educational system’s purpose is to control the minds of its students that will be the future leaders of the country. Juveniles are being taught that in order to have a nice car, branded clothes and the house of their dreams, by getting into an expensive mortgage, they have to be an employee of a huge corporation. In addition, they have to undergo to a prestigious school, study hard, have excellent grades in order to become popular and respectable in the world. However, many people would not become those super leaders, but these majorities of people have a great role in the capitalistic society of the US. As Gatto says, “We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair” (38).

    Read More

  • Social Class And The Hidden Curriculum Of Work By Jean Anyon Summary

    1340 Words  | 3 Pages

    In many low income communities, there are teachers that are careless and provide their students with poor quality education. These teachers are there just to make sure that they keep receiving their monthly paychecks and act in this way because they believe that low income students do not have the drive, the passion, or the potential to be able to make something of themselves and one day be in a better place than they are now. Anyon reveals that in working class schools student’s “Work is often evaluated not according to whether it is right or wrong but according to whether the children followed the right steps.” (3). This is important because it demonstrates that low income students are being taught in a very basic way. These children are being negatively affected by this because if they are always being taught in this way then they will never be challenged academically, which can play a huge role in their futures. This argument can also be seen in other articles. In the New York Times

    Read More

  • The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society Rhetorical Analysis

    1365 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kozol argues that the lack of education not only inhibits the lives of illiterates, but greatly affects the lives of their children as well. He states, “Illiterates cannot read the letter the children bring home from their teachers. [...] they cannot help with homework. They cannot write letters to the teacher. They are afraid to visit in the classroom. They do not want to humiliate their children or themselves” (188). Ensuring that the next generation is literate and prepared with the knowledge to function out in the world is crucial to stopping the spread of illiteracy. As the references state, illiteracy complicates matters of education for the children of illiterates, making it more difficult for them to overcome the shortcomings of their parents. Illiterates themselves also face their own struggle with education. Kozol states that “Illiterate mothers, as we shall see, already have been cheated of the power to protect their progeny against the likelihood of demolition in deficient public schools and, as a result, against the verbal servitude within which they themselves exist” (189). His statement reinforces the difficulty that illiterates face when it comes to educating their own children, and how they are completely helpless to provide any meaningful help when it comes to ensuring a proper education for both themselves and their

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of John Taylor Gatto's Against School

    1079 Words  | 3 Pages

    Juveniles are being taught that in order to have a nice car, branded cloths and the house of their dreams, by getting into an expensive mortgage, they have to be an employee of a huge corporation. In addition, they have to undergo to a prestigious school, study hard, have excellent grades in order to become popular and respectable in the world. However, many people would not become those super leaders, but these majority of people have a great role in the capitalism society of the US. As Gatto says, “We buy televisions, and then we buy the things we see on the television. We buy computers, and then we buy the things we see on the computer. We buy $150 sneakers whether we need them or not, and when they fall apart too soon we buy another pair” (38). Such results are in part of a wrong education that teenagers have received trough many decades. In addition, Gatto highlights that modern educational system has been working in a six basic functions methods that makes the system strong and unbreakable: The adjustable function, indulge students to respect authorities. The integrating function, which builds the personality of the students as similar to each other as possible. The diagnostic and directive function, which allows a school to set permanent scholar grades in order to determinate his or her future role in society. The differentiating function, which gives to the student a good education and after his or her role is diagnosed, they prevent any educational progress. The selective function, function that the system has used to prevent academic growth for the non-selected students. The propaedeutic function, which works in the selection of specific groups of intellectual adults to keep perpetuating the system all over again making it a continuous sequence. (Gatto 34). Gatto’s facts revealed the survival of the educational system for decades,

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Against School By John Taylor Gatto

    1284 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • High School Influence

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    College is an important decision to parents, but teenagers are more focused on social lives, rather than their careers. It is a difficult task to understand what their major should be, but more so where they are going to go to study that major. High school influence is the main factor which students base their college choice on, but the activities students choose in school effect where they go more than their out of school activities.

    Read More

  • The Education System

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 by explain that the purpose of education is to shape students to certain expectations and habits without their interests. He argues that students “want to be doing something real” (Gatto 23). Also, He explains that they produce a manageable working class and “mindless consumers” (27-28). His point is that students want to learn something new that help them in their life better than actual books from school which don’t apply their interests and their experience (23). So he recommends home-schooling as option to schools (24). Gatto claims that contemporary schools “adopted one of the very worst aspect...

    Read More

  • Early Childhood Education Essay

    1069 Words  | 3 Pages

    Each year education becomes more and more important in the United States. With the demand of a formal education people each day choose a career path in order to get a good employment. (Formal education is classroom-based, provided by trained teachers.) Many Americans believe that education is the only path to getting a rewarding job in which they would be able to live a comfortable life. But other believe that being employed is not as important as having an education because that makes them different from other people and makes them wiser in life. There are many careers that are very important in America, but one of the most important career is “Early Childhood Education” because it is where the foundation of a child is set to help them become

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Undeciding A College Major

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    career path. An undecided student is someone who has not yet chosen a field of study.

    Read More

  • A Career as a Certified Public Accountant

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Growing up is scary. Especially when the future is unpredictable, finding the right job can reduce this. It is tough as a kid to think about how to spend the time in the future and what to be doing as a career. There are a lot of decisions to be made. For example, in order to pick the accurate college it is worthy to know what interests me as an individual. There are questions that can be answered that will be able to suggest a better idea of what jobs apply. Well, in the future I would like to have a career as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

    Read More

  • The Importance of Humanities

    570 Words  | 2 Pages

    It’s nonsensical to believe that every sixteen-year old should know what he or she wants to do with his or her life, and even more so to discourage someone from pursuing his or her interests. In a capitalist society, it makes sense that average salaries a few years out from college graduation would strongly influence the interests of many young people. It’s not uncommon to come across newspaper articles or editorials bemoaning the United States’ lack of engineers or glut of unemployed English majors. It’s even more common to...

    Read More

  • Influence Of Parenting Style On Teen Behavior

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    These decisions may also include the career they plan to take in the near future. As stated by Bettina Lankard (as cited in Vargas – Benitez, 2013), teens living happily with and seeing their family thriving due to a good career path are more likely to imitate the same path taken by their parents. However, it is not the same for those teens in the opposite situation – a teen who is lonely and sees that their family is financially struggling. These teens have a high chance to choose a completely different path from their parent’s career because of their desire to change their

    Read More

More about Preparing Minds For Markets, By Jonathan Kozol

Open Document