Critical Analysis Of Billy Collins's 'Schoolsville'

In his article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto criticizes America’s system of schooling children, arguing that the whole system is bad and unfixable. In the majority of the essay Gatto relies on personal anecdotes, historical examples that do not correspond with modern day society, and bold unsubstantiated claims. Due to this, instead of convincing parents to take their children out of school and rethink our societies schooling structure, he just leaves the reader confused over what the problems he’s criticizing truly are.

Mr. Rose presents many descriptive vignettes of teaching professionals in his life who have influenced him both positively and negatively and whom he has retained for emulation or distinction. These characters in his life include teachers from grammar school throughout his college experience. All have in one way or another left a considerable imprint on his recollection of school and learning.

On page 76 the entirety of the stanza is a happy tone of nostalgia. The whole stanza is the child remembering his life as a wonderful time filled with imagination and freedom. He is reminding the reader of how amazing his life was compared to his life now. Collins utilizes this tone to really ingrain in the reader that the kids younger life really was fantastic, and it sets of the reader to for a more dismal feeling when the next stanza comes around. This stanza is so exciting and it gets the reader to remember the extravagant stories they used to imagine with utter joy. This happiness is directly contrasted by the rest of the poem. Collins does a great job of distracting the reader and makes them almost forget about the sadness they read in the previous stanza so they get hit really hard with the sadness again. this is exactly how the child feels about growing up. In the final stanza the child says, “This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself, as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.” (76). The child recognizes that he must grow up and let go of what he used to hold dear at younger ages. The boys feeling are expressed as laborious and distressed, the boy clearly does not want to grow up, yet he is extremely saddened by the fact that he has to. The reader shares the kids feeling of sadness because like

The tone of the poem changes as the poem progresses. The poem begins with energetic language like “full of heroic tales” and “by a mere swing to his shoulder”. The composer also uses hyperboles like “My father began as a god” and “lifted me to heaven”. The use of this positive language indicates to the responder that the composer is longing for those days – he is nostalgic. It also highlights the perspective of a typical child. The language used in the middle of the poem is highly critical of his father: “A foolish small old man”. This highlights the perspective of a typical teenager and signifies that they have generally conflicting views. The language used in the last section of the poem is more loving and emotional than the rest: “...revealing virtues such as honesty, generosity, integrity”. This draws attention to a mature adult’s perspective.

In the first journal of The Alternative, Galen Leonhardy journals his daily experiences as a teacher for an alternative school is Kozol Creek, Idaho. He describes the students in his classes and discusses his teaching methods to aid these students academically and socially, in order for them to transfer back into public life. The goals that he sets for himself regarding assisting the students are encountered by obstacles such as uncooperative colleagues and a local community that is ripe with preconceived stereotypes, poverty, and systematic neglect. The stark contrast between Leonhardy’s teaching methods and those of his unaccommodating coworkers reminds me of the disparity between some of the teachers that I had in middle school, some utilizing effective methods to encourage students and others employing unproductive methods of disparaging students.

Mandatory, enforced schooling is common all over the world, and is generally seen as a public good, and a privilege of first world countries. However, author and teacher John Gatto argues that mandatory schooling destroys your ability to be free thinkers and therefore should not exist, in his piece “Against School”. Despite his effective use of ethos, Gatto’s argument fails to be convincing due to logical fallacies, and a lack of evidence or first hand experience.

Let’s do away with the school system. In “Against school, John Taylor Gatto says, “They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said that they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around” (Gatto 608). Gatto uses his article “Against School” to talk about how the school system is not necessary. He uses certain rhetorical strategies and personal experiences to do so. In “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto uses his personal experience in his thirty years of working in the school system and some rhetorical strategies to convince people who have children in the public-school system that kids do not need to be put in the system to have an education.

McCullough uses verbal irony as he says to the students they are not special, when in reality he does believe them to be. He also uses parody when describing how these students have been treated by adult until this point. He also incorporates hyperbole in his speech when saying ‘hundreds gasp with delight at your every tweet.”

The essay ‘Against the school’ by John Taylor Gatto draws our attention on to all the cons of attending twelve years of high-school. Gatto has experience in teaching profession for twenty-six years in schools of Manhattan, he shares from his experience that he majored in boredom and could see that everywhere around him. He also points out the initial reason why schools came into existence and what the purpose it fulfils now. He also educates us on the fact that all the great discoverers never attended school and were self-educated.The main idea Gatto addresses in his article are that public schooling is doing the youth an injustice.He implies that the purpose of schooling, now is to turn children into good employes and someone who follows orders.

This schooling occurs close to three quarters of the course of the year, for twelve years and maybe even more. He calls this routine “deadly,” and the schools in which this is occurring are “forced confinement” and “virtual factories of childishness.” Children are told when they are going to do something, they receive a schedule made for them and must go to them at the assigned time, usually at the sound of the bell. The schools themselves “all too often resemble prisons.” This abrupt truth makes people realize that getting an education would be difficult to do, considering the teachers closely resemble the boring and controlled environment, the students must learn in. These factories where children are “shaped and fashioned” into a product of society’s “specifications.” This negative tone and views really allows the reader to see that school environments are not beneficial to everyone and can be quite negative.

     The last stanza of the poem completes the hidden meaning held within the poem.  Gluck finishes the poem with this stanza that informs us that ?the mothers shall scour the orchards for a way out? .  This confirms the suggestion that attending school is an escape for

I am aware that there are better and worse high schools out there than Fremont High School. And yet, reading Kozol's account of the terrible conditions that are endured by these students made me feel more aware of the severity of improper or inadequate education that poorly funded schools provide. All of these problems, alongside my awareness of my fortunate years of education, make me wonder, just as Mireya did, as to why, "...[students] who need it so much more get so much less?" (Kozol 648). Interestingly, I have little to comment on Kozol's actual writing style, even though he wrote this account of his. I was just so attached to the characters within that school that I wanted to be able to reach out somehow; Kozol definitely achieved something very touching here.

The teachers profiled in “Unforgettable Miss Bessie”, “My Favorite Teacher”, and “And the Orchestra Played On” are remembered and admired by the narrators. Miss Bessie, Miss Hattie, and Mr. K. possessed significant qualities that made them remarkable educators. They inspired and encouraged students. They only wanted the best for their students and prepared them for their futures, enabling them to overcome difficulties in school. Besides the content of their subject matter these educators their taught students to believe that their lives and future all depends from themselves: whether they would choose the clean asphalt road or dirty, bumpy one.

Personally, “The Sanctuary of School” offers the strongest conflict. Namely, the conflict of Man v. Society, because troubled children like Lynda Barry contend with those who think before and after school programs are unimportant.

From controversial events to ordinary life stories, Billy Collins writes about various topics in different perspectives just like a chameleon, changing its colors to fit with its surrounding. Collins talks in a gentle, yet humorous way; he illustrates a profound understanding through a clear observation. His writing style blends humor and solemnity in one entity. Throughout his poetry, Collins demonstrates, in a witty and satirical voice, his insightfulness towards the objects, using numerous poetic devices, especially allusions and metaphors to effectively convey his messages, most of which revolves around the theme of death.