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Conformity vs individuality in school
Conformity vs individuality in school
Conformity vs individuality in school
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Rhetorical Analysis: “Abolish High School by Rebecca Solnit The purpose of Rebecca Solnit’s “Abolish High School” is to criticize the present high school system along with the emotional and academic strain it puts on developing minds. Solnit’s intended audience is any educated person with the opportunity to voice their opinions on the current approach to schooling. In her article, Solnit utilizes abstract language as her main diction technique by taking the concept of high school and relating it to the intangible ideas of emotion. Solnit describes the learning system as “an experience that everyone shares, and one that can define who you are, for better or worse, for the rest of your life,” and by not attending she was liberated from the “generational segregation” that it entails Solnit transforms the concrete idea of the schooling system into a concept focused mainly on the well-being of the student and the non-academic growth they experience. She expresses her belief that it’s a place of learning to conform or taking punishment and “one that can flatten out your soul or estrange you from it.” This abstract concept allows readers to have a much more moving response, …show more content…
She questions what she “was supposed to have learned in the years of high school” that she avoided. From surrounding contexts, it is possible that Solnit wasn’t speaking about a school subject at all but about a much broader concept. After bringing up statistics of bullying and suicide rates Solnit questions, “Why should children confined to institutions in which these experiences are so common?” While it is common knowledge that children aren’t sent to school to be bullied or forced into depression, Solnit’s question can kindle a considerable amount of concern towards the students in classrooms
Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill in the book They Say/ I Say “Should everyone Go to College” have an informative tone throughout their passage. The authors apply their findings and reasoning to real situations and probability’s. Looking at how the author applied pathos, ethos, and logos, you’ll find that the authors did an exceptional job of applying pathos and logos to enhance their arguments to be more persuasive and accurate. They provided logos in their augments by providing statistical rates and data charts to back up their statements. They apply pathos buy examining real scenarios and showing that sometimes it’s a personal determination that will make you successful in college
Leon Botstein, the author of “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” serves as the president of Bard College, as well as a professor of arts and humanities. Botstein wrote this article after the tragic shootings at Columbine high school in 1999. This event triggered something inside Botstein causing him to think negatively about the American high school system. In the article “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” Botstein explains, in his own words, of the corrupt happenings of present day American high school (368-369). Although Botstein may have high credentials, he provides no evidence to support his negative claims and opinions about teenagers and American high schools.
He argues children cannot have the expectation placed on them to rise to their full potential when the building they learn in has structural problems and leaks. Barber describes some inner-city schools as “...leaky, broken down habitats…” (Barber, 2016, p.216). People need to change the buildings and make them better. Children recognize the disregard that they face and will lose the will to care if they see that no one else cares about their education. If the leaders in the community do not care for the education of the adolescents then they cannot expect anything different from the adolescents themselves. The essay suggests that all schools should reach the same levels as the rich high school in the suburbs. “If we were serious, we would upgrade physical facilities so that every school met the minimum standards of our better suburban institutions.” (Barber, 2016, p.216) Although Barber’s argument remains illogical, the ide that all schools should meet the standards of the wealthiest schools, the fact remains that something must change. Barber does not provide a solution to create the necessary change, but he leaves that up to the reader, causing them to have to take action and think about what must be done. Again the phrase “If we were serious” comes as a call, yet people must become serious or nothing will change for the
In “Let Teen-Agres Try Adulthood” published in The New York Times on May 17,1999, author Leon Botstein explains how the American high school has become antediluvian as a result of the social groupings among the student body structured on physical appearance and athletic ability, in which he believes the institution should be repealed. To support his position, first, Botstein discusses that student’s often mistake these standards as an outlook on life in which they misconceive that the outside world doesn’t arbitrate their success in life based on social status. Next, he proposes that today's adolescent are developing significantly earlier than in previous years when the institution was established; stating that teenagers are now closer to
Kandice Sumner argues about the funding for schools that do not have the same resources have as other schools in different areas, she argues this point by using emotional connections. She compares the school that she teaches at and other schools that have more resources, to let her audience feel pity for her students . Sumner uses Pathos in the following Quote, “ I now teach in the very same school system from which I sought refuge. I know firsthand the tools that were given to me as a student, and now as a teacher, I don't have access to those same tools to give my students. There have been countless nights when I've cried in frustration, anger, and sorrow because I can't teach my kids the way that I was taught because I don't have access
Education was provided to the children from higher classes to become more intelligent to be able to lead and be ahead of those that were in lower class systems. However the government created the public education system to allow children to have the same opportunities as any other kid in the country rich or poor. Yet, did the government really provide this experience for children to become more intelligent than those whom were rich, or is there more to the real meaning of public education? In “Against School”, written by John T. Gatto, looks into the “real” intentions of what the purpose of education is. Gatto looks beyond the meaning of children acquiring only knowledge from education, but comes to a point where he believes that educations
In today’s society, we would describe high school as a four-year passageway into adulthood [college]. Ever since our current education system was implemented, high school would begin at the 9th grade level, and end at the 12th grade level. With the average age for 9th graders to be at 14 transitioning to 15 and for 12th graders to average in at 17 transitioning to 18; this have been the norm, for the American society for ages. In Leon Botstein’s “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” he writes an opinionated piece on how the current American education system is obsolete; plaguing the current youth by preventing their way into adulthood and isolating them from their experiences of it. From my experiences as a Junior in high school, I do have to disagree with Botstein’s statement that the current American high school is obsolete. Age and maturity would not, and should not be the main cause of the American high school system to go obsolete. Adulthood is not based by age, it is by the students’ own mentality; for some students, being a “late bloomer” would not be in their favor if the proposed solution by Botstein would have taken place. Using the Littleton [Columbine High School] shootings as a way to support his argument, is inconsequential. In no means I’m saying the current American high school system is the definition of perfection. The system is flawed, unsound, and imperfect, but for other reasons
High school is one of those milestones in an individual’s life that will be remembered for a long time to come. Whether one’s experiences are positive and allow him to find his purpose in life or whether they are so terrible that his view of education is tainted forever, what happens in high school affects how one’s future will turn out. Leon Botstein, author of “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” states that the traditional high school system should be abolished because it is not benefitting teenagers. He states that cliques of popularity and athleticism and teachers who care more about money than education stand in the way of proper learning for teenagers. Botstein further argues that school stifles students creativity and that they really do not want to be in school. His argument that the traditional high school setting should be abolished is somewhat justified on the fact that cliques make schooling experiences difficult; however, his statement that children’s creativity is stifled, they are bored in high school, and that they are ready to be adults at a young age is invalid.
Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
Laurence Steinberg’s “What's Holding Back American Teenager” an article introduced on the eleventh of February two thousand fourteen to inform the reader that our education system is failing. Steinberg received his B.A. in Psychology from Vassar College and his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University. The education system is causing students to not value education and the positive aspects it brings along with it. Steinberg believes the point in time where students start to perform poorly in school, is high school, because he believes we are not challenging the students to want to thrive education. In Steinberg’s article he aims to convince the reader through Logos that America’s education system is failing for high school students and the solution to the problem is to challenge our students.
In “Against School” by John Gatto, he argues that the modern schooling system of America is slowly but surely corrupting the minds of the country’s children. While many of the ideas he states are correct and accurate, many individual arguments he uses tend to stray away from the original topic. As the article goes on, the author uses sensitive words relating to the topic to attempt to reach us emotionally through the writing.
I never imagined myself finishing high school through an online course. I always imagined walking across the stage of the school auditorium. Daydreams of wearing the traditional cap, gown, and tassel, and being handed my diploma by my high school supervising principal, Mr. Bryant, was how I had planned to say "goodbye" to South Jones High School. Yet, the harder I clung to those visions and hopes, the more impossible they became. The name calling, glares, whispers, and rumors were more than I could bear. Just when I was about to give up on graduating, my mother had a wonderful idea- homeschool.
The American educational system is constantly ridiculed for its universal expectations of students, despite their predetermined dispositions. As the world is progressing, America’s educational system is becoming increasingly obsolete. High schools across the country have two serious flaws: placing unreasonable value in test scores and the failure to teach life skills. Leaving these problems untreated may be detrimental to the school system, however, a simple innovation could fix them.
High school. I never realized it would bring so many changes. As I walked on to campus my freshman year, my mindset was the same as it was in eighth grade; the young are invincible. And although I was excited to come to high school I had many fears. Would the classes be too hard, would I make new friends, what could I become involved in, and most of all -- what if I get lost? All of these fears eventually subsided and I, along with all of you, found the right classes and the right teachers. We all made new friends. We all got involved in something. During my freshman year, innocence surrounded me and although eventually my shell would crack, not until this year have I broken through. This year I decided that it is time to soar on my own. Graduation is the beginning of a new flight for all of us, the class of 1997.
When I first entered high school, I never had any indication that all my expectations would be shortly dissipated. When I thought of high school it had been the whole 90’s point of view where there were the cool kids and the cliques and the bullying and the jocks and so on. To my surprise however, people were more than their supposed position in the system, they were human, they were all free and all- like me, experiencing a brand new start to their lives.