The Great Aim Of Education Is Not Knowledge But Action

The American educational system is based on the traditional, nine-month school calendar, which has been in place for over a century. Originally, the United States was an agrarian society. The majority of Americans lived on farms. People made most of the items that they needed, and with little trade necessary, there was no need for schooling (McLain, 1973). However, as people branched out into neighboring areas, they needed to learn new skills, such as basic arithmetic to price items, measure land, and more (McLain, 1973). As a result, it became the responsibility of those who were less needed on the farm or in the factory to acquire knowledge for the family (McLain, 1973).

In Kisautaq Lenona Okakok’s essay “Serving the Purpose of Education” she discusses the education dilemma in her borough of North Slope, Alaska, where many of the occupants are indigenous people of the Inupiat. Western education was thrust upon the Inupiat people of Alaska, changing the traditional way they taught their children. Okakok explains why and how The Board of Education for North Slope, Alaska took entire control of their education system after having Western education try to influence their way of teaching. The way the Inupiat teach is different from that of Western education, not only do they teach a different language (Inupiaq), they also need to teach a different curriculum that is better suited for the people of the North Slope compared to that of Western education. Okakok’s essay analyzes the way Western culture and teachings influenced her own culture, and how the Inupiat have taken control of their own education again while using considerable examples to defend her claims.

“But that sort of summer has given way to something more difficult, even darker, that makes you wonder whether year-round school is not a notion whose time has come.” Most students are very eager towards the end the school year to be free from the “prison” that holds them from August until May. Students want to be relieved from all of the built up stress from throughout the year and they want to be able to do what they want without having to worry if their homework is done or if they are prepared for the test the following day. However, many children and their families rely on school for one very overlooked reason that is addressed in Anna Quindlen’s essay, “School’s Out for Summer.” In it, Quindlen discusses a problem that many don’t even realize exists: a lack of ability to feed children at home. Many Americans rely on the school to feed their children because the parents can not. This is a problem that many people do not realize exists, and it is a problem that can be fixed.

The summer is like a black hole for the knowledge students learned the previous school year. The National Associations for Year-Round Education, Executive director, David Hornak, argues that the learning students lose over the summer when compounded over their school career can be equal to a year or a year and a half of learning loss by the time the student is entering high

Along with the comeback of school we need to “Pity our poor teachers who spend every September reprogramming children to do their homework, spending hours on remedial lessons and waiting until overtired children readjust to regular bedtimes” says McFeatters. She made me realize that schooling lacks over the summer and forgets to stick for the arrival of school. As stated, teenage workers’ jobs have become taken by those whom are unsuccessful adults trying to make a living. Being a teenager, I plan on trying to get a job, but my education is also in my hands of retaining throughout a summer of jobs and even summer school to keep up with my schooling to get into more colleges with an overloaded class agenda. Year-round school would keep up with my education, and there would be more breaks to find jobs here and there to keep up with extra curricular, or even my car.

Some supportive evidence is that we have been fine doing a summer break in the middle. we do need to continue school for a year round then students would be ten times more educated than an average kid . More education can be gained; However, it can be at risk at home and gaining anxiety. My thesis compares to paragraph three because I am saying how I disagree with how free time is taken away from someones life. My thesis is different because even tho education can be increased , but a human brain cannot handle that much information all at

In America, the system of education has one of the greatest influences on the people of the country. From the common workers of the U.S.A, to the teachers, the entrepreneurs, and even to the parents of the students, everybody is impacted by our current education system. Most importantly, the children playing the role of the students are impacted the most from this. At the end of the day, these children are the ones receiving this experience. After all, it is the education that a person receives that shapes their future. It is the morals they grow up with, and most importantly, their educational experience at school. Sadly, this “educational experience” does not affect the students of the generation in a positive way. There are many flaws with

Students need time away from their teachers and other students to relieve the stress of going to school everyday for so many weeks. Students need time of freedom, instead of their teachers instructing them through everything they do in the day. Students need time to make their own decisions instead of their teachers making them for

Since the early days of the American one-room schoolhouse in the 1800’s and early 1900’s, students stayed out of school during the critical farming months, but contrary to popular belief, the months which students missed school were not the summer months. In an agrarian community, crucial months on a farm are in the spring and fall, during planting and harvest. In fact, students spent more time in school during the summer months (PBS NewsHour, Sept 7, 2014). according to historian Kenneth Gold (2014) the school calendar as we know it has more to do with nineteenth century school reform which worked to provide a nationwide standardized calendar than the needs of farming families. The choice of a long summer break was driven more by the sweltering heat in urban environments before the days of air conditioning when the wealthy could leave the city for cooler county air. The results of this school calendar reform look much the same today as they did then. Students are in

The traditional American school year was constructed around a nine-month schedule requiring 180 days in the classroom. But times are changing and many people are suggesting that the school system in America does away with this “outdated” system and move into this new idea of the “year round education”. There are theories that knowledge is lost when kids go on summer break and others think that financially summer breaks are in fact needed. What needs to be explored further is what affect does year round school have economically, whether year round schooling aid’s or hinders children’s educational knowledge, and how would this new schooling affect children socially.

Students spend much of their time in scheduled or required activities such as school, before and after school programs, hours spent doing homework, etc. that their calendars may already allow little time for other interests or just unwinding (Worsnop 443). The long, traditional summer breaks away from daily schedules and demanding workloads may be these students’ only time to really pursue other interests and opportunities (Worsnop 438), especially activities that may take more time and dedication. A common and often efficient way to explore these interests is through the wide variety of summer camps offered during the traditional break (“Leave Those Kids” 5). These activities could help students learn new skills that are more specific to their field of interest or can be applied to any aspect of life (Worsnop 443). Offering educational and interesting opportunities such as these camps can help students realize that “not all learning happens in the classroom” and inspire them to seek out other ways to explore their interests (“Leave Those Kids” 5). However, these enrichment and educational possibilities are not always available to everyone, potentially putting certain students at a disadvantage. To counter act the financial disparity possibly causing this obstacle, actions should be taken to aid these students specifically oppose to changing an entire school’s schedule (“Leave Those Kids” 5). Moreover, for the number of schools unable to offer additional courses during breaks, students would not be able to take required classes outside of the school day in order to replace them with enrichment courses which can provide a source of self-expression and relieve stress (Mazzochi 121) as well as a way to expose or fill students with passion for something new. Many advocates of year-round systems highlight the fact that both systems, traditional and year-round, provide the same

In the United States, most schools still use a ten-month calendar that was developed when our country’s students needed school off to help with harvesting (Palmer). Trimble Local Schools Superintendent Kim Jones says, “year-round schooling is the notion of getting away from the old agrarian calendar...which was formed up around the planting season. Students were out of school from April until harvest to work in the fields,” (qtd. in Hapka). Under the agrarian system, most United States students are in school for nine to ten months, and get a two- to three- month summer vacation. However, the United States is no longer an agricultural-based society, and students have no need to take a three-month-long, unnecessary, not to mention

Have you ever just wished your school day as shorter? In some schools children have longer school days. In Finland the school day is fifteen percent shorter than the school day in the United States, but their test scores are much higher. People have different points of view on length of the school day in America. Some people think that school days should be longer to improve academics for students.“The US lags behind other countries in core subjects. In 2015, American students came in 24th in reading, 25th in science, and 41st in math out of 72 countries—not the worst, but far from the best,” (pg. 30) Because the U.S.A is behind, many experts believe that students should go to school for an additional 90 minutes a day.U.S.A. Some experts

    With these long school days children don’t have much time to go out and be a kid.  By the time children get home and finish all their homework, there really isn’t much time for sports or spending time with friends and family. Long hours of school put too much pressure on students.  According to the state, students are supposed to have three and a half hours of homework a night. Students are assigned about 17 hours of homework a week. There is a total of 168 hours in a week and 64 of those hours are taken from us by school and homework.  Out of the 24 hours in a day school, homework, and sleep take 18 hours, which leaves students with just 6 hours to do things.  Combine that with sports and after school activities, the average practice for most sports are 2 to 3 hours, which leaves the student with only 3 hours for themselves. If you add dinner into the equation which can take up to an hour ,then students only have two hours a day. Some students also have chores which can take up to an hour or even sometimes more.  What can a student do with only 1 hour of time a day for their personal goals.

I cannot write this essay without reference to study of my own experienced and my daughter’s- placed in the harsh environment of the government schooling system and its observations of the stark belief systems of “the child to fit the system” and not “the system to fit the child” with reference to the what education should be about. This means different things to different people. To some this means a teacher teaching and passive learning taking place, the outcome is expected at the end of each year that each child has to achieve the same outcome and is graded accordingly.