An Educator From The Past That Ruled With A Strict Educational Policy Of Teaching

Teachers shape the minds of students to realize what their purpose is in life. Lately, because of certain educational reforms, it has been hard for teachers to say what they need to say. “In 40-plus states, the math and English guidelines determine the knowledge students have to master by the end of each grade, what they’ll be tested on this year, and in many cases, how teachers and principals will be rated at their jobs once those test scores are released” (Strauss). Most educational reforms are adopting standardized testing and should be reconsidered. Statistics even show that since we have taken part in reforms like No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core State Standards math and reading are declining. These standards tell teachers what to teach and what the students should know by the end of the school year. The reforms also evaluate teacher performance by how well the students learn the information. Some people believe educational reforms should not be telling teachers how to teach their students, and others believe that the reforms are absolutely fine the way they are. However the truth is educational reforms are yet to be perfected.

The poem “Students” by Tom Wayman, shows four different learning styles: The Vaccination Theory of Education, The Dipstick Theory of Education, The Easy Listener Theory of Learning, and The Kung Fu Theory of Education. Wayman is a teacher that has noticed that every person devolves into one of these different learning styles. The four different theory of education are used every day even if we do not know.

While reading Journal 1 of The Alternative and reflecting on the assignment giving, memories of teachers flooded through my mind. I am unabashed to admit that I believed some teachers to be poor at their job, and have more than once thought that perhaps this wasn’t the correct career path for them. One such teacher was my 7th and 8th grade science teacher, who believed public shaming to be the preferable way of teaching adolescents. When a student would answer a question wrong in class he couldn’t help but laugh as well as bring it up throughout the lesson, refusing to let the student move past their mistake. He chose to

The author compares today’s school system to that of the past, which concerned itself with teaching students,

In an oppressive society, a group of individuals are expected to adapt and be controlled by a more powerful group without question. Similar to a “banking concept” of education, at times it seems the student is not expected to think for themselves. They listen to what the teacher “deposits” into their mind, and they adapt. I strongly agree that this limits comprehension and creativity and forces you to adapt to thinking like a robot. He makes a strong case with his analogy, “Four times four is sixteen……The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving what four times four really means.” It’s easy to get discouraged in school when it feels like information is being thrown at you without much encouragement to fully grasp it. It’s nearly impossible to truly understand a concept when you’re forced to memorize it immediately for a test. In conclusion, teachers with this mindset should understand that to be a true educator is to encourage the student to take the time to comprehend the material

For over thirteen years, I have witnessed an enormous amount of change in education. When I started teaching in New York City back in 2003, I remember being told, “whatever you do, don’t wind up of the cover of New York Post”. The room erupted in laughter and my stomach erupted in panic. Shortly after that announcement our principal handed out an enormous book of our district policies. -As I flipped through book of policies and regulations I thought to myself how could there possibly be this many rules about teaching.

At 11 years old, I sat outside Mr. Tilman Singleton’s porch waiting for my piano lesson. From outside the front door, I could hear the frustrated comments and the occasional bangs of his hands pounding on the piano. Slowly, I stood up off the bench and opened the door. “You never improve! This is trash and you know it. Your lesson is over. Next Victim.” I assumed the victim was me. At first glance, my piano teacher Mr. Singelton was a tall, startling skinny, man with thinning hair and a large pair of glasses. I still remember what he wore my first lesson: turquoise dress pants perfectly creased, and a pink plaid button down shirt. Every outfit looked straight out of an 80s magazine. He was the definition of eccentric. Today, I will be commemorating my former piano teacher Tilman Singleton; the man whose character, perseverance, and friendship will forever inspire my musical dreams.

“Despite tremendous advancements in technology, human rights, and social awareness, the system engineered in the 1760’s by King Frederick the Great still succeeds in dampening the creative spirit of its students, fostering mediocrity, and ensuring a subservient population. Deeply ingrained into our collective psyche, the legacy of the centrally controlled, highly scripted classroom continues. Trapped in an educational model explicitly engineered to breed submission and apathy, it is not surprising that student results remain dismal.” (Meshchaninov, 8)

Another extraordinary person described by Joanne Lipman in “And the Orchestra Played On” is a music teacher, Mr. K. or Jerry Kupchynsky. Lipman never directly says that Mr. K. was a great teacher, but her essay shows it very clearly. At first Mr. K. gives the impression of a tough, rude man, but it changes gradually throughout the story. Strict and demanding, Mr. K. loved discipline and cooperation. He wasn’t mean, but his life was mean to him. He endured fascist camps, the death of his wife from a long suffering disease, immigration, and the murder of his daughter. In my opinion, he was very lonely and had the right to hate life. However, he was the type that believes “what does not kill us makes us stronger”. He did not give up, found his strength and love in music, and taught

There is one thing that is universally sought after in this world, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, location, and upbringing. There is one thing that every single human being hungrily craves. There is one thing that can make the potential difference between a life of abject poverty or comfortable prosperity: knowledge. The human mind’s thirst for knowledge can never be fully quenched, and it is always left wanting more; although, this isn’t necessarily a detrimental thing. Many different and unique styles of education have emerged as an attempt to satisfy the universal desire of knowledge, but it is often debated which style of education is the most effective. There is a very wide range of teaching styles on the spectrum of education,

The No Child Left Behind act emerged as a result of a massive increase in the costs of schools, while failing to show an improvement in their students performances. (Paterson 32) Since these standardized test have been in effect teachers have been judged off them. The problem is that

Author and speaker of the compelling article Why Tough Teachers Get Good Results, Joanne Lipman informs the public on different teaching styles and which ones have the best results. Dabbling in the careers of journaling, editing, and writing, obviously attending Yale University has given Ms. Lipman many opportunities to succeed in life in different areas. Although, having such a sheltered life as a white and privileged woman will obviously give her a different perspective of this topic. Joanne is automatically given the upperhand and is taught from an early age a different way to think about different subjects. Ms. Lipman was fortunate enough to go to a high-ranking high school in New Jersey which could have molded her thoughts about teachers and their teaching strategies. When reading parts of the article we can find examples of her knowledge on the subject, “We’re in the midst of a national wave of self recrimination over the U.S. education system” (Lipman 4) the reader acquires the sense that she is exceptionally well informed on the topic of the education system. With this comprehension of the issue, I can assume that Ms. Lipman has primarily worked in the education field. The background of an author is an immensely important quality when it comes to their works of literature. Not only does it show their point of view, but also their bias which proves to be influential to the readers. Creative and factual, Joanne spreads her point throughout the article thoroughly,

Jean Anyon, author of the article “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, spent one year observing a fifth-grade class in a socially middle class elementary school. In this year, she was able to determine that the teachers taught the students by textbook based lessons and would ask questions that would verify if a student had done his or her reading assignments before coming to class. The students would then receive grades based on the amount of right answers they had given. Through her observations she saw that teachers did not bring up concepts that could be considered controversial in fear that parents would become angry. Anyon noted that the students learned by being given directions that often required some decision making,

Instead of coming together to create a truly democratic society that supports the whole we are caught up in serving first our own interests followed by the interests of the system that has allowed us to succeed. How is it possible that the people making the decisions can look at the state of our education system and blame the teachers for failing when they are also the ones providing the strict standards that serve to perpetuate the current hegemonic society we live in? I do think that there are good parts of having certain standards for education – all students should know how to read and write, everyone should have a basic understanding of mathematical concepts and history – but I think by micromanaging classrooms across the country, teachers are prevented from doing their job of teaching students and instead being tasked with “filling up the knowledge bank” with information deemed important by individuals and groups who have little to no connection to actual classrooms. The main point of this chapter was to shine a light on the negatives of the traditional education system and explain the educational philosophy aimed at combating the perpetuation of such

Joanne Lipman, a middle-aged woman from New Jersey, is the author of the article Why tough teachers get good results. Working for the Wall Street Journal, Joanne finds a career in publishing, writing, and editing. While in high school, Joanne learned to play violin from a stern teacher, Jerry Kupchynsky, who valued traditional learning. Joanne states that Kupchynsky “made us rehearse until our fingers almost bled.” (Lipman, Why tough teachers get good results) Although Mr. Kupchynsky’s ways seem draconian, Joanne remarks that Jerry’s style of teaching helped her become a successful woman. Born in the baby-boomer generation, Joanne grew up with traditional learning. Teachers valued memorization and drilling, and praising students was only