The Neuroscience Of Joyful Education

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.

Cheating has always been an issue among students. Almost everyone cheats in some fashion in classes. Whether it’s by blatantly copying another student’s answers, or working together on an assignment meant to be done on your own, cheating will remain a staple occurrence in academic life. In Rebekah Nathan’s article, “The Art of College Management: Cheating,” Nathan (2005) delves into students’ various reasons for cheating and even includes cheating as an “aspect[] of student culture,” (p. 27) from the point of view of a student. Nathan defends cheating as a whole by including it as an inevitable part of student culture. Additionally, she claims that everyone cheats, further diving into the idea that cheating is not inherently wrong. As a result of consistently defending cheating, Nathan neglects to provide worthy solutions to the issue as well as ignoring the consequences of cheating.

Being admitted into college is a difficult process, one that requires students to be diligent in their studies, engage in a number of extracurricular activities, and overcome the everyday pressures and challenges that high-schoolers face across the country. Admittedly, not everyone in the United States is born with the same opportunities as socioeconomic factors as well as historic injustices have contributed to a society in which some people are far more likely to achieve upward mobility – of which, obtaining a college degree is a necessary part – than others. While there is need to rectify this reality,

Chace, W. M. (2012). A Question of Honor: Cheating on campus undermines the reputation of our universities and the value of their degrees. Now is the time for students themselves to stop it. (Cover story). American Scholar, 81(2), 20-32.

Dr. Debra Koss ( child psychiatrist) believes that in our society today teens and parents face more stress and pressures than ever before. When a student acts up the first thought should not be punishment but what is going wrong in this young one’s life and how can it be helped. In Fund du Lac High School three hundred fifty-eight freshman out of six hundred thirty-two participated in mental health screening and sixty-four percent of the students tested were diagnosed with a mental illness. Many factors are contributing to this bad school environment ranging from overworked students, students ridiculing other students and faculty that genuinely do not care about the students. A teacher, who does not take interest in the students and does not do their best to make sure their students succeed, risks destroying their students confidence. 8,300 students drop out on a average day. These students say they drop because they don't feel safe, they can't keep up, they couldn't attend everyday or they did not have the confidence they would finish the class. Students everyday are either dropping out or hurting themselves because of the events that happen inside these school buildings. Forty percent of parents say children experience the most stress from academics. Chronic stress causes a sense of panic which causes more stress. “Despite whatever is going on -if you are a bit depressed, stressed, or overwhelmed you want to put up this positive

The true value of education is lost as grades and numbers become top priority. In a spoken word, Suli Breaks shares that students have becomes zombies in schools that run everything in a routine. They lose sleep to hand in assignments and meet the dead-line yet by that time the students are also half dead. The grade is all that the student starts to care about because that is what the school is directing their efforts towards. With all of their focus on the grade no one remembers to remember what they learned and apply it in life. Thus, it is in one semester and out the next. In one study teachers witnessed “unprecedented levels of school-related anxiety, stress, and mental health amongst pupils, particularly at exam time”. People may think that only college students do all nighters but it actually is not surprising to find high school and sometimes even middle schools staying up late nights trying to finish up assignments. All of this leads to sleep deprivation which affects the student’s health and in turn propels their stress as time virtually elapses out of existence. Likewise, the school system runs in such a way that mistakes become feared in an unhealthy manner. It is fine to have the fear of failure but one must learn to accept it because once it is accepted, children are not afraid to take a chance at trying something new. Ken Robinson makes the point that “we

Over the years, cheating does not carry the same stigma it used to represent. Because of competition and expectations, students are doing whatever it takes to achieve an A average. There are students who are fighting for scholarships or for the position to be on the top. Also, parents and teachers are the root cause of this matter because they have advocated the idea that high GPAs will lead to more successful futures. As a result, grades have become the main focus for most students,

Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa want students, professors, and administrations to hold themselves to a high standard to achieve greatness, not just expect it despite the amount of effort they put in. The arguments they make in chapters one through three are valid points and is what has made this book have so much impact on its readers. The current attitudes and lack of effort at our colleges and universities, the effects that a student’s background has on their level of achievement, and emotions on their academic success all have a direct correlation to the decline in our education system, hence the reason they are expounded on. Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa chose topics that need the most change to create the most change for the desired outcome. Which is, a high quality education system and environment, purpose driven faculty, and academically successful students.

Every year, hundreds of thousand of high school students go to a place of higher learning, be it a community college or a high standing world-renowned University. To get accepted to these places of higher learning, students must write essays about topics, have high grades in high school, have participated in extra curricular activities at school and other things as well. These students expect to get something from these great institutions, and that is why they try so hard to get into the very best universities.

Lahey argues that “the product of our testing-oriented and performance-obsessed culture” is to blame for the majority of cheating in school systems. This is a valid statement due to several varying factors in that occur in people’s everyday lives. For instance, in some cases, teachers drape a nonessential amount of stress over the students. This occurs when dealing with assignments, tests, and even their futures, over emphasizing the need to succeed. While it is important to call attention to and install a want to be prosperous, being overly dramatic does more harm than good. Lahey

75% of college students cheat at one time or another in their college careers due to laziness, competitive pressures, or simply fear. In “Cheating Lessons: Part 3”, by James M. Lang, he explains that certain learning environments unknowingly give students opportunities to cheat. Lang also provides tactics to help classrooms reduce the numbers of cheating, while aiding students to achieve their academic goals with the right “tools.”

In today’s education system, grades and getting accepted into that top University and College is what matters to the majority of students. Kohn’s “How not to get into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation” suggests that grades are what controls every student’s life and that nothing else matters. Pressure rises exponentially to get above that cut off mark and squeezing every point to get a higher GPA is definitely reality.

Children and adolescents in the United States face different psychological challenges, such as anxiety disorders, depression, attention deficit disorder, as well as many other psychiatric diagnoses (Bloom, Dey, & Freeman, 2006). The prevalence rate of children diagnosed with a mental disorder is alarming. According to Merikangas et al. (2010), 22.2% of American children and adolescents get diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder that is severe enough to impair their ability to attend school and learn (Bucci, Marques, Oh, & Harris, 2016). Kids that are plagued by various psychological illnesses may experience a difficult time concentrating and staying focused in school. Additionally, the over-accumulation of toxic stress, either due to the pressures of schools or environmental (i.e., difficult exams, poverty, household dysfunction, etc.), can have negative and detrimental effects during childhood, as well as adulthood (Bucci et al., 2016).

Many researchers have indicated that cheating is a serious problem on campuses (Bowers, 1964; Engler et al., 2008; Gallant, 2008; Leming, 1978; McCabe, Trevino, & Butterfield, 2001). Studies completed by Bowers (1964) and McCabe and Trevino (1996) revealed nearly identical results regarding student-cheating behavior despite the 30 year time span; both studies identified that

Students are, first and foremost, people; young people at that. And while their academic success and growth is at the forefront of education’s focus, their possession of