Analysis Of 'The Secret To Fixing Bad Schools'

In the article “Dumbing Down Our Schools,” Ruth Mitchell states the argument of most classroom work found in the large town and city high schools are below the academic grade level, except the Advanced Placement and Honors classes. She brings up that high school students are doing the same activities that an elementary student would do. Mitchell has brought up convincing points that supports her argument, such as statics. Her persuasive reasonings does seem logical because it relates to people that have witness the urban high school education, along with her confident analyzation approaches.

Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he is fed for a lifetime. In today’s society, education is very similar to this statement. Schools are commanded to teach aspects of life that only benefit the student for an end-of-the-year test. Students are not taught what is to come in the life after school. Because of the poor quality in education today, the emphasis on standardized test has become overwhelming.

In There’s A Reason They Choose Schools, Timothy Wheeler argues that mass murders aim for locations with “gun-free zone” school campuses. He also states that the shooters are usually students who hold “school-related grudges.” He also believes that the shooters take in consideration that schools do not have a high security system. Wheeler believes that there should be responders stationed at every school. These responders may be trained security guards, teachers, or students. Wheeler is definitely accurate when he argues that schools should have armed first responders because the student’s safety is what’s important. He is also correct that mass shooters aim for schools because they are an easier target than most.

The purpose of education is to prepare students for their futures with both knowledge as well as fundamental life skills. I believe students are highly capable beings who have a desire to be productively challenged. To empower students to meet and exceed high expectations set forth by the state, school, or teacher, it is imperative that educators “teach for enduring understanding through partnerships and by drawing on brain-based education, students ' multiple intelligences, and culturally appropriate curriculum innovations” (Laster and Johnson). Beyond guaranteeing students can read, write, and perform basic math functions, we should be producing graduates who are responsible individuals positively contributing to society, reliable workers, and devoted family members. Whether students receive a scholarship to attend college or go to work immediately following graduation, we must train them to conduct themselves with integrity, have an admirable work ethic, and solve challenging problems they may face throughout their lives.

Looking at the actual amount of conformity present in schools, as opposed to the ideal amount, it seems that schools have moved past a healthy level to a point where students don’t often have to genuinely think for themselves. On a basic level, students don’t have to plan or use their judgment to ensure that they arrive to class on time. They become dependent on bells to tell them when they need to be in class and when they are late (Source B). On a more complex level, students rarely have to use their problem solving skills to come to their own conclusions. Learning in the classroom is typically centered around the memorization of facts and methods as opposed to critical thinking. Students are requested to learn the details and regurgitate them on test day, despite the fact that very little of it will be remembered later on. On the rare occasions when students are confronted by a critical thinking question, they often struggle as they have little practice in this area. If schools were to put more emphasis on individuality, where students could think freely and responsibly and contribute their own ideas, students would better themselves and society

According to the discussion, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!” by Dr. Geoffrey Canada, who has spent decades as head of the Harlem Children’s Zone. Canada says "The education system look so similar to the way it did 50 years ago, millions of students were failing then, as they are now, and it’s because we’re clinging to a business model that clearly doesn’t work" (Canada, 2013). Instead of coming up with a new plan that could help students advance academically, the system chooses not to contribute because they are afraid of innovation. Ted encourages "the system to look at the data, think about the customers and make systematic shifts in order to help greater numbers of kids excel"(Canada, 2013).

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

The article, “Who benefits from failing urban school districts?” written by Martin Haberman, the authors influential piece expresses the concern for the current direction of public education. When the concept of who is benefiting from failing urban school districts is mentioned; one would believe that no one can possibly benefit from schools failing. The children aren’t benefiting, their parents aren’t benefiting, the community isn’t benefiting. The public institution is becoming a big business instead of an institution that helps children in their development. It is obvious that there are challenges in the schooling system. In this manuscript, I will discuss the issues with the bureaucracy in education. There will also be mentioning of how standardized testing and the lack of resources in urban schools are affecting children’s education in the urban community. Lastly, there will be a discussion about how parents and teachers have an effect on children’s education.

We hold these truths to be overt, that all students should receive an equal amount of education, that all students deserve to learn, that every student . To secure the right to learn equally, teachers should

Their eyes met from across the room, and any student paying close enough attention could see the loathing in the teacher’s eyes as the principal walks into the room for the bi-semester teacher evaluation. In the blink of an eye the teacher returns her focus back on the students, but the obvious exchange between the two individuals makes those of us in the classroom that understand the source of the icy gaze extremely uncomfortable. My teacher hates the principal with a passion. Ever since the principal assumed control of the school three years prior to this particular evaluation, she terrorized my band director. Through micromanaging, criticizing relentlessly, organizing meetings incessantly, and sabotaging schedules, my principal fostered a hate from not only my band director, but also from the majority of teachers in my high school. The attitude and leadership techniques utilized by my former principal directly contradicts current theories of the scholarly community on how to effectively lead a school.

The Essentials of a Good Life by Diane Ravitch was an essay that really got me rethinking what we call the school system today. It felt extremely relatable since I have spent over 13 years in school and I recognize almost all the points she made about the problems with school today. Many of her main points have to do with how schools are too focused on standardized testing and how they don’t teach creativity in school. This is a big problem in today’s society because school seems to be doing a lot less of what it was first meant to do which is prepare their students for the future. After reading her essay I believe we shouldn’t be focused on standardized testing and we should be spending more time teaching students how to be leaders, independent, and creative because these are qualities that promote success in today’s society.

Due to the (1) significance of education for each child on the planet, the (2) existing barriers to education around the world and the fact that (3) education is a lifelong learning process for everyone, this essay argues that it is essential to make sure that everyone in the world gets an education.

“The child soon learns not to ask questions - the teacher is not there to satisfy his curiosity” (Holt 73). This is what John Holt thinks the American education system is all about. He thinks that school is a place where individuality and creativity come to die. He wrote an essay that explains his belief further that is titled, “School is bad for Children.” Holt uses several rhetorical devices and logical fallacies such as generalizations - stereotypes, making assumptions, and “either or fallacy” that weakens his argument.

Yet, from a perspective different than most. Perhaps we would have more success in our efforts to better ourselves as a society if we involved the subjects of the issue to greater extents from the beginning. It has already been acknowledged in other countries that children as young as six years old are capable of far greater things than we give them credit for here in the United States. Which leads me to propose, if we were to allocate more responsibility onto children at younger ages, might we have more successful adults? I suggest that we teach our children how to teach each other, in this process they might better learn to teach themselves. An idea which had been discussed to some extent in class. Through bringing students who excel in certain subjects, even at young ages, to aid lower grades or even their classmates we would be developing not only a sense of connection and respect between peers but respect for an ability to

The two pieces I will be covering in this essay are “ I Just Sued the School System” and “Somewhere in America”. The first one consists of a man named Prince Ea who created this short movie/slam poem where he is in court and suing the school system for being unfair, cruel and old school. Prince backs up his ideas completely with examples in history. The other piece I am comparing is three girls, Belissa Escobedo, Rhiannon McGavin and Zariya Allen, who share their unspoken high school eperiences.