Critique Of Sirota's Essay

Many people know that the U.S. does not rank very high in education. You hear about how they are always trying to improve education, but they still fall short of where they strive to be. In Anu Partanen’s “Finland’s School Success, What Americans Keep Ignoring” she addresses this issue. She points out what Americans are doing wrong, what Finland is doing right, and how the U.S. can improve the education system in many ways.

In his article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto satirically poses several questions concerning the purpose, structure, function, and need of the current educational system in the United States. Utilizing anecdotes from his thirty years of teaching experience and extensive research on the historical origins of many modern school customs to justify his tantalizing arguments, Gatto rhetorically inquires about the true motives and rationale behind an outdated institution system which continually steals more than a dozen years of precious life from millions of Americans in the pursuit of furthering a prejudicial class-separation bound together by conformity.

Throughout Kozol’s piece, he makes the reader think about the situation America’s school system is in through his claims, style and supporting evidence.

I think it was inevitable that the U.S. would be joining the war on the side of the Allies. One reason was the Zimmermann Telegram, when German Foreign Minister Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to the ambassador of Mexico, and the goal was to get Mexico to become an ally of Germany and promise land from the united states if they joined forces but British cryptographers deciphered the telegram and afterwards Mexico declined their offer resulting in America becoming closer to joining the war. America later then joined the war afterwards, but before that was the sinking of the sinking of the Lusitania,

Many countries around the world are striving to reach the top of the academic heap surrounded by a fast-paced, swiftly evolving technological upheaval and economic culture. And why wouldn’t they want to be at the top of that pile? Recognition as having some of the brightest in the world and the ability to pave the way for the future is certainly a goal for any country that wants to better the community or forward an agenda. This issue is addressed in the essay Why School? by Mike Rose. Rose examines the idea that the current learning environment maintained by American schools is fueled by political agendas and a bias to teach to be the best. This is opposed to the idea of teaching to learn, and experience, and grow as a populace. Rose

Education in America is not as valued nationally as the current culture wants the societies of the world to think. There are occupations that are valued above educators, but our civilization wants to imply that our educational system is well advanced and tries to emphasize that we are a country of well-educated people. Unlike in Leonid Fridman’s “America Needs Its Nerds,” and Benjamin R. Barber’s “America Skips School”. Everywhere in this country we hear the government say how our schools are the future of this country, but if we listen carefully we will hear little in our civilization over education financially and how poverty mixes in with this issue.

Policy makers focus on high test scores to help to fund the schools, not focusing on teaching how the succeeding generation should expand their knowledge and continue to reach for a higher education. Schools focus on reading and mathematics, but the “...educated consumers of schooling want their students to have a full, balanced, and rich curriculum.” These affluent parents want their children to have a more diverse education, including the arts and extracurricular activities. Although this is in more affluent schools, poorer schools are forced into only focusing on the core classes that are required by state for standardized testing since they do not have the resources to do otherwise. In the article, “Still Separate, Still Unequal,” Kozol reads a letter from a student in a poor school, wishing Kozol could “make her school into a ‘good’ school-- ‘like the other kings have’”

The greatest country in the world still has problems evenly distributing education to its youth. The articles I have read for this unit have a common theme regarding our education system. The authors illustrate to the reader about the struggles in America concerning how we obtain and education. Oppression, politics, racism, and socioeconomic status are a few examples of what is wrong with our country and its means of delivering a fair education to all Americans.

The education system in America has a long history of struggle and change, as we have grown as a nation we have experienced an ever-increasing rise in diversity. This diversity has caused rigidities between groups and all stratus of society and has been a major impact in debates concerning the educational opportunities in America.

There was a time when America’s education system was top-notch according to the culture and society. With time, a myriad of things has changed, but unfortunately what has not evolved is the American education system. The country is still following a system which was not designed for the current global economic climate. Equality, as positive as it sounds is not as sufficient when it comes to education. The system treats students equally yet expect a similar culmination and outcome. Every child has his individuality and distinct abilities; one cannot judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree. Conversely, a few of the prominent reasons why the education system is failing are overcrowded schools, the rise of technology, and following the same old school hours.

The American education system has, since its inception, been subject to ridicule and disdain on the parts of many. Despite the fact that many scholars believe that the system has flaws, there has been no consensus as to what needs to be changed. Sam Chaltain, the previous National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy and now an active participant in educational reform debates, argues that the system should shift its focus on standardization away from students and instead to teachers and schools. Nikhil Goyal, author of Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice, holds that we should do away with standardization altogether, giving children the opportunity to accomplish what they want with their education and allow them to flourish in a less stifling environment. Peter Gow, the author of a multitude of books about potential changes in school policy, focuses on fourth grade specifically, suggesting that a year in elementary school focused solely on cultivating reading skills would greatly benefit students in the future. Although this is a radical stance, Gow’s point remains valid; teaching

The scenario of Massachusetts was one of my favorite readings this week. The main reason is that people from the business, education, politics, parents, teachers and members of the community were involved in the creation of an educational reform in the state of Massachusetts. The system’s lack of clear goals, lack of accountability, uneven performance of school, failures rates in some areas and for some children, are some of the most salient features that impress the business leaders in the late 1980s (Blankstein & Noguera, 2015). The program of these business leaders, called “Every Child a Winner!” “reshaped the Commonwealth’s public education system with a combination of standards and accountability measures, systems improvements ranging from new executive authority for superintendents to the establishment of charter schools, and a finance system overhaul resulting in a more progressive distribution of school finance.” (Blankstein & Noguera, 2015, p. 188). Through this program, the educational system of Massachusetts were transformed to be the first in the whole nation by having a diverse, nonpartisan leadership, explicit equity arguments, high expectation, investment in infrastructure, inclusive approach to policy and implementation, and long-term commitment by various partners. (Blankstein & Noguera, 2015). However, this system has some errors, like having the emphasis on testing then good classroom teaching, and some of

The United States used to be ranked higher amongst other countries when came to education. People came from all over the world to study here. Unfortunately, for the past years it have been ranked in the twenties amongst other countries based on standardized testing. Now its time to revamp our education system, but the question is where we should we look. Based on student performance, the only countries that have proven that most components of their system works is Finland and Korea; Finland being ranked one and Korea ranked two. In order for the U.S. education system to move in a positive direction we must make significant changes in the structure of our system. First we need to raise the qualifications for becoming a teacher because in some states you don’t even have to attend and educational school; all you have to do is pass a test. Secondly, we need to expand the time of school so that teachers have more time to teach the kids and the students can have more interaction with the teachers. Although this is where we need to look, we don’t need to adopt their entire system.

The United States of America used to be known as one of the greatest countries to be apart of. From the jobs to the economy to education people loved to be apart of the American culture. The problem many Americans are facing today is poor education. Since America is viewed as a high profile country many people have prominent expectations on what they are receiving, specifically the education. The fact is that there are major problems with all levels of the education system today. Starting with early education, teachers are quick to say children needs to be medicated or put into special education. Proceeding to the general or high school education where kids are graduating but not prepared for what’s after. Lastly how higher education or college can hardly be afforded in today’s society. As a result of the failing education system, many parents blame the child or society when in actuality the failing system is corrupted by some teachers, lack of preparation, and lack of affordability in higher education.

The American Education System is not meeting the needs of current students. If anything, the system is not building a sturdy foundation for the future working class. Schools have existed for many years and every period they have worked differently. However, every school’s main purpose was to educate students to be efficacious later in life. Modern day schools are corrupting students with added pressure, standardized tests, making less accommodations for special education students, not following laws, and take away individualism from the students’. The students of modern times are the people of our future and the future does not look too bright with the current American Education System.