Final Essay #2

Perfect schooling

            Many people agree that our educational system is inadequate, and isn’t doing what it’s supposed to, and that it should be fixed. For example, Jean Anyon writes a report, “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of work” in which she deliberately points out the faults in our schools. She does some research and concludes that our educational experiences are based on the income our parents make, and where they can afford to live has an effect on the way the children are being taught. John Gatto is a teacher that wants to show people what he really teaches his students, he does this in his essay, “The 7 Lesson School Teacher.” He removes the cloak on what the schools are teaching kids; which is to conform to the roles their parents have, and to not try to strive for the opportunities that are available to them. Another person who gives his opinion on what schools should be doing is Gerald Graff. Graff says that for students to learn they should be allowed to apply their lessons to their interests. These people, as well as many others have different views on what schools should teach, but most agree that our educational system needs a lot of improvement. I agree that our educational system is faulty, and I think that there are many things that should be resolved, but the ones that I think have the most urgency are the inequalities based on the parents’ income, the things that the children are being taught, and the topics having no relevance to the students lives.

            Our society would be better if we had more people with better jobs. I think the only way to achieve that is to have our educators teach the children, to strive forward, instead of teaching them to stay in the same position as their parents. Anyon showed the different ways that different teachers teach in different places. The children with the higher income parents would be taught to think for themselves to be leaders, while the ones with the low-income parents were taught to conform, and to listen to the person in charge. The higher income students are being taught to take the role of leaders, while the others are being taught to listen to those in power, so this deliberately causes the lower income students to work the low-paying, hard labor jobs, and to continue being a part of the middle or lower class. This way of teaching keeps the gap between the rich and the poor, it assures that there are only a few that have money while the rest are struggling. If we get rid of this inequality and teach every child the same way regardless of financial issues our society would be better. We would have more people earning more money who would then put it back into the economy, because they will have money to spend and  not only would our lives flourish but our economy as well.

If the system would encourage all teachers to teach students equally regardless of the income level they’re in, our nation would be much better. There are some teachers that already go against how the system says they should teach.  For example, my third grade teacher was very tough, and she made the whole class work a lot. I remember one thing she made us do was recite a poem in front of the whole class and our parents that was difficult, but it was a good experience. Anyon states that the teachers in low-income schools wouldn’t let the students decide things on their own they’d be like robots doing exactly as the teacher told them to do step-by-step. My 3^rd grade teacher let us either choose a poem of our own or make one up. She let us take charge on our assignment, we got to choose whether we wanted to make one up or recite one. By forcing students into doing something the way the teacher says doesn’t allow them to think for themselves, they basically regurgitate what the teacher tells them, which in a way makes them lose themselves in the system. I find myself a bit lost right now, all my life I’ve been told what to write what to say, and how to say it, that now it is hard to come up with my own ideas, while I presume the higher income students have no problem coming up with ideas of their own, because they’ve been taught to be critical thinkers most of their life. I do believe that the lower income students are at a disadvantage, and that income shouldn’t be a factor on how the students are being taught, but unfortunately it is.

            Children are being taught in a way that leads them to little or no success. They are being taught to stay in the same jobs their parents are in, they are not all given an opportunity to reach for more. The problem with this is that only some succeed, and those few that do are the ones with the majority of the money. They have the luxurious cars and beautiful 2 story houses in the most expensive places to live in, while the rest of us suffer to make ends meet. In his essay, John Gatto says that he teaches students 7-lessons and those 7 lessons ensure that the students get the knowledge to work for people instead of being their own bosses. They are being taught to stay in one place, and that place has no room for innovation, they are stuck in low-paying, hard labor jobs. Gatto says his fifth lesson is intellectual dependency, “Good people wait for a teacher to tell them what to do. It is the most important lesson that we must wait for other people, better trained than ourselves, to make the meanings of our lives.” This example proves my earlier point that they can’t be the owners of their lives or of businesses, because they are not well trained, they have to wait and be told what to do instead of taking charge and making their own decisions. It shouldn’t be this way, we should govern our lives as we decide and to do what is right for us. We shouldn’t be taught to listen to others. What job opportunities do we get with this lesson? We only get the hard labor and low wage jobs. We can’t strive to be lawyers or doctors, if all we’re being taught to do is to listen to the decisions made by others for our own lives.

            I think that if students are allowed to use their interests to learn it will be easier for them to grasp the lessons. Schools are utilizing all these books that have no relevance to the students, which makes it hard for them to understand the overall message of the books. Graff mentions on his essay how when he was younger he had no interest on what the teachers were teaching, and that he knew a lot about sports he could go into deep critical thinking conversations in regards to sports, but since he lacked interest in the topics that were being taught he didn’t have the same enthusiasm towards the teachings. His overall argument is that if teachers use students’ interests in the classroom it will be easier for the students to understand the concepts, once they master the ability to think critically in their interests, Graff says that they’ll be able to think critically in more “intellectual” topics, such as the readings of Plato, Shakespeare and many others. I agree with Graff’s proposition I think it is a reasonable point. If the students know how to think critically in their comfort zones, it might be easier to think critically, in more challenging topics. I find it easier myself to talk about things that I like, or that are relevant to me, than stuff that were mentioned in school. Most of the book I read in high school didn’t make much sense, because I couldn’t relate to the readings. There was no argument that I found interesting, but now that I read some different type of articles that I could relate to, for example the articles done by the people I mentioned I could understand what they meant because I could think of examples that happened to me in school.

Our educational system is faulty, and changes need to start happening now. I believe that everyone will benefit with an improved system. We shouldn’t let our students’ future be based on their social class. I also believe that our economy would also be better if schools were better and their focus would be to get them to a higher education instead of keeping them in the same place they are. Our education should relate to us in some way, otherwise it doesn’t really seem like it’s ours… We need to learn about ourselves in the process and if there are stuff that have no interest to us, nor are relevant, those lessons won’t stick with us, it will only be learned so that we can pass the test.