Leon Botstein Let Teenagers Try Adulthood Analysis

Alfie Kohn’s Article “How Not to get into College” analyses many key factors of how the current school system does not work and how we as members of society need to work together extensively to remodel the system to ensure the success of future students by valuing education over grades. By looking at how students only join clubs and and worship numerical grades only to impress colleges; students facing pressure from parents, teachers, and society to get good grades and succeed in life; and how students live through many mental health implications due to a multitude of factors surrounding their educational life, we can determine that systemic factors of this society have turned students of this generation into grade grubbers.

The President of Bard College, Leon Botstein, wrote the opinion piece Let Teenagers Try Adulthood (1999), argues that American high schools should be abolished. Botstein uses school cliques and brain development to develop the argument. The author's purpose was to argue that high school are dangerous to kids mental health and the school system should be modified in order to keep children safe from wrong ideas that are often present in high schools. The audience of the opinion article are school officials and people who have the power to change the educational system.

While the most important purpose and goal of high school has ultimately remained the same, its factors have changed over the years. In the Articles, “Missing in Interaction,” written by Myra and David Sadker and “Savage Inequalities,” written by Jonathan Kozol, the authors introduce and include examples of the way education itself has changed other the years, as well as the goal that was set for it. Our system of education’s main purpose has been to educate children and help them with their future, but certain issues in regards to our system have not been given the attention that should be required.

In “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” Leon Botstein argues that the “American high school is obsolete and should be abolished.”(Botstein 254) He explains that this obsolescence is because high school does not represent the way real life works, that real life is not based on popularity and athletic abilities. Botstein suggests that our society isolates students in high school because adults “do not like adolescents.” Botstein wants more options for teenagers and suggests that they graduate at 16 and have the ability to choose what they want to do from there; such as joining the workforce, attending specialized schools for professional training, or going to college. Botstein also states that high school teachers are employed because they are popular, whereas college professors are employed because they are experts in their fields. I agree with Botstein’s statement that the American high school system should be changed, but I do not agree with his belief about the “poor quality of recruitment and training for high school teachers.”(Botstein 254)

In “The Case Against High School Sports,” Amanda Ripley tries to argue her point that sports should not be a part of high school. She claims that sports take away from education, and that they are too expensive (Ripley 1-2). Throughout her article, she often switches her topic. She shifts her focus from all high schools to one specific high school, and then to one specific college. Ripley presents an abundance of points, but lacks evidence to support them. Although Ripley makes relevant claims, she tries to support them with logical fallacies and irrelevant evidence.

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.

In Leon Botstein’s "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood", Botstein argues that the "superficial definitions" of high school students are a reason to let teenagers begin their lives in the working world rather than to perpetuate their education. Botstein is correct in proclaiming that high schools are breeding grounds for "cliques" and "artificial intensity”, and his address of the “flawed institution” of high school is cogent and fitting.

The trivialization of high school in the present educational organization for teens has been posited in the public; however, it is one vital issue that is being debated.

In ‘Abolish high school’ by Rebecca solnit, she writes “High school is often considered a definitive American experience, in two senses: an experience that nearly everyone shares, and one that can define who you are, for better or worse, for the rest of your life.” which means high school isn’t wonderful for many people, it has a lot of challenges for teens, maybe some of them ‘kill’ by pressure and challenges, it would affect their rest of life. The high school is not a wonderful place for everyone. People should skip it and escaped it that you would don’t be suffered by it. However I disagree with her, because I believe high school is a indispensable place for students. It is a place for students, they can find a great relationship and an unexceptionable place to learn. On the other hand, I believe the high school is the key to definitive teens who they are in an great way. For example, Teachers would shape everyone’s identity, make you strong to face challenges, and open child’s heart. For example, in my childhood, when I lived with my parents, I was happy to learn, because my parents always encourage me to learn. Also, they want me learn from mistake, because It is a way to learn. They want me to be someone. However my parents left me at 12 age, they have to work more hard to support this home. I can’t focus on learning, I was playing video games every day, because I think I was ‘release’ from my parents. I have no ideas about my future. There is no one like my parents to guide me , I feel alone and confuses. Until I was be a part of high school.The high school make me stronger and hopeful. Teachers guide me walk on the right way again, they talk to me about future and how wonderful thing would happen in high school. I

In the essay "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood", Leon Botstein expresses that the "superficial definitions" of high school students present a reason that they should be allowed to begin their lives in the working world rather than to prolong their education. Botstein is correct in proclaiming that high schools are breeding grounds for "cliques" and "artificial intensity”, and his address of the “flawed institution” of high school is cogent and fitting.

Although high school experiences are of value and contribute social skills to the lifestyles of teenagers, Leon Botstein’s critique of the American high school sufficiently addressed the concerns with the high school educational system. Botstein articulates his opinion at the beginning of paragraph three with the clear statement that “the rules of high school turn out not to be the rules of life” which teenagers are expeditiously learning. Students are not being properly prepared for the trials they will encounter in their adult lives after they graduate from high school and into this true barbarous world. This generation of graduates will be innovating society and reaching new heights. Schools should be shaping creative and problem solving individuals that can be easily integrated into society. The president of Bard College and the author of Jefferson’s Children: Education and the Promise of American Culture, Leon Botstein, outlines the issues that are affecting high school education in his 1999 writing of Let Teenagers Try Adulthood.

In the passage Let Teenagers Try Adulthood, Leon Botstein points out one crucial point: the purpose of schooling has changed vastly from what it was designed to be. What used to be a system that was created to allow students to learn the fundamentals of generic courses, education had been transformed into a system where students are against one another in order to be successful. In a society where one is successful by what grades they have on their transcript, students are forced to compete for excelling grades in core classes, taking away the opportunity to learn how to function in a democracy. Because school has become merely a list of assignments and exams, students are no longer educated on how to perpetuate a democracy and better the government,

Students who read this novel will receive the impression that dropping out of high school, underage drinking, smoking, and even prostitution is ordinary. As premature adults, high schoolers feel this impulsing urge to conform to the standards of their peers, allowing them to be easily influenced into falsely discerning right from wrong. The social environment an individual is surrounded by has much to do with “who [they] are and how [they] act” (Bond, Michael). Approximately 50% of teens by the age of 15 have been pressured into consuming at least one alcohol beverage, while over 70% have been influenced by their peers to take up the life altering habit of smoking (Peer Pressure Statistics). Teenagers feel weak and belittled if they do not comply to the inadmissible standards of their peers.

Overall, the 20th century was a time of change and evolution for the high school institution. During the 20th century, the American high school institution experienced a great deal of reconfiguration. Most of the changes in secondary education evolved out of shifts or movements in society. The first major force to bring about change in the 20th century was opposition to the traditional college preparatory track and purpose of the high school. Several individuals argued that high school should be a school that “respond[ed] to the interests and needs of adolescents” (Gutek, 1995, p. 492). These individuals suggested that curriculum should include courses and subjects that prepared each student to be a “citizen, earner, parent, and consumer” (Gutek, 1995, p. 492). As a result of this opposition, the National Education Association’s

     We spend four years of our lives attending high school. Going through high school is supposed to prepare us for college and “the real world.” Throughout these four years we begin to better understand our choices for college majors, but we don’t get presented with the financial and time struggle that we will face. College costs money, along with everyday living. When attending college we become more independent and are faced with the problem of coming up with money and finding a balance between time for work and school. Though it may seem like working through high school is a bad idea, it could better prepare students for “the real world.”