Paper #3

In every school systems there are flaws that range from disinterested teachers to lack of funding. For every one of those problems there are a thousand opinions and a thousand options to fix it. Lewis Black touches upon this in his Comedy Central appearance, “On Education in America”. He comments, “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand our schools are broken. Which is good because none of us are.” This despairing attitude is sadly far too common. The schools, teachers and students that we have observed in the films and read about in the readings have provided excellent examples of teachers and students struggling for a good education. The most common issues seem to deal with lack of flexibility with the subjects taught. Our education is often hindered by overly strict syllabi, the priority of math and the sciences over the humanities such as art or music and the constant denial of student rights; the following changes need to be allowed or student performance will continue to decline.

I have taken a wide variety of classes in an attempt to graduate. They have ranged from math, which I despise, to history and creative writing which are far more engaging. The teachers greatly shape the course of the class however their decisions however are extremely restricted by their superiors. From the movies we watch to the book we are forced to read, our overseers, the all-powerful school board, review each and every decision. This system damages the education of each and every American student by controlling they're exposure to the different cultures that are prevalent in the world. Deb Aronson touches upon this in her article, “Arizona Bans”. She states, “These actions show students that a lack of evidence, an ideological agenda, and political motivation supersede student’s academic growth, identity, hope, and belief in a whole world”.  Her passionate response to the cancelation of her program for Mexican-American youth is on the same level as mine. Paolo Freire in “The Banking Method of Education” expressed the same sentiment. “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry…” While the individual schools vary in the limits set on educational freedom, the vast majority has not updated the subject matter for the 21^st century. In many of the classes I have taken the novels we had covered are the same traditional choices that were picked in the past. There is no change, no modern books that touch upon the current issues troubling the world of today’s teens that we as young adults can relate to. These authors explain, in different ways, how the school system’s restrictions on what they consider “risky” subject matter irreparably harm education in this country.

These harmful effects on education are also affected by the classes student take. I have spent 9 ½ years in the American educational system and the frantic balancing act required to graduate is extremely challenging. So far I have been able to stay on track as regards to the graduation requirements set by my high school but it has been a struggle. Without the help of a knowledgeable and understanding counselor, similar to the one to whom I am now assigned it is almost impossible. The graduation requirements set by each high school have many of the same demands, a set number of classes devoted to mathematics, English, sciences and the humanities. However in recent years the balance has shifted. It is now, in many classrooms, heavily weighted against the creative classes such as Art, Creative Writing, Film Study etc. In “Children, Arts, and Du Bois” Keith Gilyard shares the bittersweet memory of an after school program where the students were, in his words a, “vibrant group of urban public elementary school students”. When he later on discovers that the program was canceled he expressed his feeling so, “A point of immersion in the humanities would be eliminated, thus possibly constricting perspective.” The benefits of a creative outlet in the daily lives of students cannot be denied. It is best explained by bell hooks who claims that, “Across the boundaries of, race, class, gender, and circumstances, children come into the world of wonder and language consumed with a desire for knowledge”. She continues to point out the flaws in the system in the same work, “Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom” previously quoted. I believe that this imbalanced system needs to be returned to an even scale. The importance of math, science and other related classes is not to be denied but America is not a place where one issue is more deserving then another. Keith Gilyard states quite plainly, “I take no position against science, technology, engineering, and mathematics efforts". The change he has asked for is the same as mine, to stop placing the arts so far below the priority.

Each and every school district tries to project an aura of authority over their students. It is their job to turn out successful high school graduates who continue onto to four-year colleges and fill a gap in the cogs of the American economy. This perhaps best summarized by Woodrow Wilson, our 28^th president as quoted in John Gatto’s “Against School…” He tells us that, “We want one class of persons to have a liberal education, and we want another class of persons…in every society, to…fit themselves to perform specific difficult manual tasks." This statement is one that has remained the sole definition of our educational system since they were first spoken in 1909. The facts are simple; schools encourage their students freedom’s only as long as they do not interfere with there set goal of training American students into “adaptable manageable beings” as Paolo Freire states it. When a student speaks out against the administration their dissent is not tolerated for long. A student who wants to bring their same sex date to prom, fighting to save a beloved club or to keep banned books on the shelves, the situation in which student find themselves squaring off the administration are endless. One trait follows each and every case however; either side will not easily win the battle. Both are equally committed. Mark Twain, the well-known author of “Tom Sawyer” puts his feeling into words well worth memorizing, “"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education”. It’s right there in black and white, what we are taught in school is not what we need to know in order to survive to retirement. In order to give each student those necessary skills the student needs to be able to receive from their educators the right to demand an education worth the fight.

The authors quoted in this paper come from diverse background, some are teachers, others comedians. Each and every one has an opinion, each one has an individual path we could follow to perfect the system so many have called broken. Reading through them has granted a glimpse of the turmoil surrounding education that is illuminating. It illustrates the changes demanded by many to our schools, few of which are ever put into place. The average American student has the right to three basic traits of their schooling, syllabi that are less restricted to outdated morals, an equal importance place on the humanities as well as math, science and technology and the right of the student to demand a worthy education. If these three changes are implemented even in the slightest form the average American student will succeed in careers that flatter their life goals more closely then before.

Works Cited:

·      Aronson, Deb. "Arizona Bans Mexican American Studies Program." National Council of Teachers of English, n.d. Web.

·      Freire, Paolo. "The Banking Concept of Education." Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Chapter 2, n.d. Web. 1970.

·      Gatto, John T. "Against School: How School Cripples Our Kids." N.p., Sept. 2003. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

·      Gilyard, Keith. "Children, Arts, and Du Bois." National Council of Teachers of English, n.d. Web. Sept. 2012

·      Hooks, Bell. Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. New York: Routledge, 2010. 7-21. Print.

·      -Twain, Mark. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."