The Golden Age Of Teaching Yourself Anything By Carlin Flora

The reading I chose to critically analyze was written by Diane Ravitch and is named, “Essentials of a Good Education.” In the article, education activist Diane Ravitch, expresses her opinion about how the public education and schools in the United States are failing society. She indicates that schools are wasting their money and time on preparing students to pass state test instead of teaching them valuable life skills needed to succeed. She provides interesting support for this argument and explains why schools need to stop teaching the importance of test scores and focus on a full liberal arts curriculum, where students have a better chance to obtain an education they can take into the real world. Ms. Ravitch’s argument that the

In most affluent schools, parents have the expectation that their kids are being offered a full liberal arts curriculum that will allow them to further their creativity and curiosity. However, many schools have been only focusing on the subjects that are being tested on standardized tests set by the state, because they receive more school funding if they achieve higher test scores. In her article titled “The Essentials of a Good Education”, Diane Ravitch, utilizing direct examples of schools, and policies that limit student’s knowledge of the arts in order to have more time preparing for tests, points out that this shift in focus is causing students to suffer academically and is killing their curiosity and creativity.

Thomas L. Friedman the author of “My Favorite Teacher” discusses in that essay his teacher Hattie M. Steinberg, her influence on him, and how relevant her teachings would have been in this internet day and age. Friedman uses the repetition of his favorite teacher’s name and classroom number to connect and unify these ideas. For example, Friedman believes that many people have forgotten the fundamentals due to the internet so he uses the repetition of his teacher’s name and classroom to connect both ideas. He states this in the ninth paragraph “Among the fundamentals Hattie introduced me to was The New York Times. Every morning it was delivered to room 313….” In the following paragraph Friedman does the same thing using the repetition of his

In the year 2001, the United States government passed and established a law called the No Child Left Behind Act. This law created a set of standards for public schools to follow to prepare their students for college. For that to occur, schools must have their students to meet the minimum testing score in Math and Reading. If students do not reach the minimum requirement, that school would not receive federal funding. Diane Ravitch was an original supporter of this law but later changed her mind after realizing that schools became more focused in basic skills like Math and Reading and started to ignore other subjects that were deemed irrelevant since these subjects would not help a school recieve federal funding. In her essay, The Essentials of a Good Education, Diane Ravitch uses effective reasoning and pathos to persuade her audience that there is more to education than just the quality of test scores and that incorporating other subjects can be crucial to a student’s participation in society.

“Essentials of a Good Education” is an article by Diane Ravitch regarding the No Child Left Behind legislation and its effect on public schools in America. According to her, since that legislation was put into place, schools have cut funding to subjects that don’t get tested. This has taken some of the most ambitious students in the schools in poorer communities and put them at the same level as the students that don’t care about school and don’t try. That keeps the ambitious and advanced students from reaching their full potential in school. Although Ravitch makes good points about her opinion, she doesn’t consider any opposing opinion and she cites little to no sources for her information.

“College for the Masses” by David Leonhardt is a great article that displays the many benefits among lower-income students attending a four year college. “Why Poor Students Struggle” by Vicki Madden displays many examples from hers and her colleagues experiences while providing statistics of the lower-income joining a four year college. The two articles both display the benefits of attending a four year college and that the education pays off. David’s article talked about the different education levels based on their test score before attending the university and the amount of income, while Vicki’s focused more on the income and the effects on grades of students while attending the college on low income. David also goes more in detail about the disadvantages of community college than Vicki’s description of community college. “College for the Masses”, in my opinion, had more intensive descriptions and examples on the benefits of starting in a four year university, rather than community college.

While becoming a valedictorian can be an honor to those who receive the title, others are debating whether or not valedictorians should continue to exist, or if it should switch from being exclusive to one person in a high school senior class to multiple high-achieving students with similar scores, GPAs, and effort shown throughout their high school tenure. In “Best in Class” by Margaret Talbot, the author emphasizes the idea that having only one valedictorian motivates students due to the prestige associated with the title, as shown through her use of logos and ethos throughout her essay.

Top students across the nation compete for the title of valedictorian each year, although very few actually receive it. Much to the detriment of the students, the competition can become sophomoric and pointless yet remaining intense and cut throat. In her article, “Best In Class”, Margaret Talbot conveys the message that the competition of valedictorian has unfavorable consequences through her use of diction and testimonies.

Characteristics of online learners are similar to everyone in some aspect of life. I have learned that everyone makes their own path, their own goals, and achievements. Reading this article on the topic of characteristics of online learners showed me how I can be a better online student, ask for more out of my time as an online learner, and want more as an online learner. I want to strive to learn more, give more, and ask more questions in my online learning and in my everyday life. I will make my online learning

This paper on Salvation is defining both objectively and subjectively from the two required reading text. The first text is written by Alistair McGrath’s “Theology: The Basics and the second is written by Dr. Yung Chul Han’s “Transforming Power: Dimension of the Gospel. I will describe how the both texts are in association as well as seeking observations, and other conclusions to gain a better understanding of salvation from both perspectives. According to (Mc.Grath, p.78), the word salvation is referred to as something that has already happened in the past, to something that will happen in the future. Spiritual transformation requires of us what is called dependent responsibility. All the moral commands and exhortations of scripture assume our responsibility. Salvation is deliverance from danger or suffering. The word salvation carries the idea of victory, health, or preservation (www.biblia.com). Salvation can be viewed as a spiritual transformation which the dependency of the Holy Spirit assist in the change of a believers past, self to a vessel of God in the present lives which exemplifies life, deliverance, peace, and a victory won through personal conviction. The victory is one that only Jesus Christ has authority save us which gives believers complete approval to have possession to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Right brain? Left brain? Both sides are very different and have their own characteristics that help determine what a persons potential strengths and weaknesses will be. “The human brain is split into two halves, each with its own unique abilities. This phenomenon, discovered three decades ago by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Roger Sperry and his associates at the California Institute of Technology, is known as brain lateralization” (Raudsepp, 1992, p. 85). Certain characteristics of a person can go so much deeper then just hobbies that a person enjoys. Brain function can play a major role in how a person perceives their surroundings, such as if someone like to draw or do math. On the other side of that if a person is very analytical and good at subjects in school such as math it could be linked to which side of their brain is dominant.

As we discussed in class, motivation plays an intrinsic role in creating successful self-directed learning. Those who practice this form of learning, in various ways, are driven by personal or external incentives, such as the desire to learn something, or simply for curiosity 's sake, self-esteem and self-efficiency. Because of this self-directed learners are known to take initiative, view issues as challenges to overcome, become confident, have a desire to evolve, and appreciate and seek out learning opportunities (Taylor, 1995).

The chapter “The Age of Total War” in Eric Hobsbawm’s novel “The Age of Extremes” is broken into four sections in order to explore the time period of 1914-1945. This essay will explore the subjects and processes that are present in this chapter of Hobsbawm’s (1994) novel in a limited scope. The processes that will be discussed are how the zero sum game led to the total war of World War one; the desire for revanchism led to the existence of World War Two, the cost of World War Two led to the economic crisis and how the disaster these events caused resulted in the desensitization of human beings. Throughout this chapter, Hobsbawm (1994) frequently expresses a fear for human kind in both a literal and metaphoric sense arguing that people of

We are able to begin to develop abilities in self-directed-studying during our first-year in the college, to be an effective student. We will be spending a considerable time getting information and learning the continuous creation of new information, new skills due to the fast pace of change in culture and technology, and an access to info. Much with this learning will happen at our own initiative. We as a person will have the main responsibility for implementing, planning, and even appraising our learning effort. This what we should understand as self-directed learning.

Andrew Simoncelli once said, “Students who take online classes must be motivated, independent learners.” This is relevant because independence and motivation is what it takes to succeed in an online course. Online learning will not only expand what students learn, but will also bring a number of positive changes in the way students are taught. Courses online have changed everyone’s look at learning all over the world. It allows more opportunities for observers to learn online rather than learning in class. Another affirmative of taking an online course is flexibility and convenience. Students who would like to experience some of these ideas should look into an online class!