Formal Paper #3 Final Draft

Question Everything

          There are many places for improvement in the K-12 curriculum.   The most important change would be in the area of critical thinking.  If we were to teach our students to be critical in their thinking in respect to the subjects they are already learning, they would have the ability to utilize this skill outside of the classroom as well.  This important skill is necessary well beyond the K-12 years.  To increase critical thinking for students, more discussion in the classroom should be instituted.

Why do we not question everything?  It is common for children to constantly ask the questions “Why?” and “Why not?” and not have their questions taken seriously.  Most of the time, their questions are dismissed and they never truly get real answers.  It stifles their curiosity and makes them reluctant to think beyond the forced fed facts.  Children should feel as if they have the freedom to be themselves.

As former teacher John Taylor Gatto states in his article, Against School, “School trains children to obey reflexively.”  Gatto elaborates, “We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight -…by introducing kids to truly competent adults, and by giving each student what autonomy he or she needs in order to take a risk every now and then.” and he also states that “School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers…teach your own to think critically and independently.”

It may be argued that the current education process has worked for many generations.  School is a place to teach information and that by adding any extra time for thoughtfulness to the subjects taught in the classroom would take away from the needed time to teach factual information.  On the contrary, giving the extra time for students to ponder and think about the information will give deeper meaning to the material and push towards the desire for them to seek further knowledge on their own time.  The interactive process will flow beyond the classroom.  They will then come to future classes more prepared to ingest new information as the concepts become more complicated.

In the article “A Real Education” from the Shambala Sun, Barry Boyce writes, “’Kindness, caring, empathy, being able to de-center from your own point of view and listen deeply to others—these are values that should be cultivated in our classrooms,’ says Mark Greenberg, director of the Prevention Research Center for the Promotion of Human Development at Penn State University. These are the social and emotional skills that a person who experienced ‘optimal nurturing conditions’ would develop during childhood and adolescence and bring with them into adulthood.”

The educational system waits until students are at the university level before it takes the topic of critical thinking more seriously.  Most students are unprepared to get the most out of their college education if they are only just learning this skill as they take these higher education courses.  Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to have already started the process in the K-12 curriculum?

Children can be taught to be responsible by thinking for themselves and about the consequences that come with the actions they choose.  If we all would take our actions and reactions more seriously, it would open up a different perspective to the world around us.  It would be a better world if society gained more people who could effectively manage themselves. 

          In bell hooks’ book, Teaching Critical Thinking, “The most exciting aspect of critical thinking in the classroom is that it calls for initiative from everyone, actively inviting all students to think passionately and to share ideas in a passionate, open matter.  When everyone in the classroom, teacher and students, recognizes that they are responsible for creating a learning community together, learning is at its most meaningful and useful.  In such a community of learning there is no failure.  Everyone is participating and sharing whatever resource is needed at a given moment in time to ensure that we leave the classroom knowing that critical thinking empowers us.” (11)  hooks writes much about the process of intellectual thinking.  As children, we are born with the curiosity to understand how life works.  Somewhere between our childhood and by the time we enter the college classroom, students have come to dread thinking. 

We are in need of more than just reading, writing, and arithmetic.  We need an atmosphere where critical thinking, problem solving and diversity are embraced and encouraged.  We need to encourage youth to be independent and strong.  We need to teach skills so our children are not able to be easily manipulated.  Instead we are teaching children to conform and accept what they are told instead of learning for themselves.  Remembering and repeating is only one of the lower levels of thinking.  We need children to evaluate and analyze material themselves.  Through their personal experience, adults can help children be better able to figure things out for themselves with some guidance.  They need to connect to the lessons that they are taught and choose what is pertinent to them and learn from it what they can.  In the educational process, we need to encourage intellectual independence.  Expansion of the mind could be exercised by referring to the thoughts and ideas of others in formulating the individual’s personal judgment. There needs to be a place for new ideas.  It is an interactive process.

The courses students are “forced” to take can have a large impact on where they are heading in life.  As students, it is important to take specific classes of interest that play towards the student’s strengths.  A child is far more inclined to excel when taking courses that are interesting to them.  It makes learning more meaningful and useful. It creates a path towards a brighter future in a field that is of interest to the individual.

Columnist for The Seattle Times, Jerry Large wrote an article, stating that grit is an important lesson to teach children. “Perseverance and passion for long-term goals” are the underlying reasons why and how a person can accomplish goals.  Jerry Large's article "Gift of grit, curiosity help Kids succeed" talks about a book from another author, "Tough also has a new book about what it takes for a child to make it: "How children succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character".  Large writes, "As the title says, if you want success, build character and the rest will follow."  It is an important lesson.  “A big part of building character is overcoming failure.  Too much adversity is bad, but so is too little, which doesn't allow a child to build grit." 

It may be said that guidance should come from within the home.  Proper guidance, whether it comes from home or a trusted adult at school, is an important thing that is needed for every child.  Life would be easier if we could all help each other.  Everyone has had life experiences that they have learned from and the advice they can share could save others from making the same major mistakes.  The more information you have, the more choices you can choose from for making better decisions.

In The Answer Sheet: Mike Roses’s Resolutions on Education, he wants “To have more young people get an engaging and challenging education.”  This is the basis for trying to make the world of education a better place. It is not just about the education children are receiving by itself, but the ability to teach our young people how to make the most of the education they are receiving in the classroom.  To have the ability to ask why and have their questions answered by discussion of their peers is important.  The opportunity of sharing many different views and opinions can help a person make informed decisions for themselves.

There are many places for improvement in the K-12 curriculum; the most important change would be in the area of critical thinking.  If we were critical in our thinking, our world would be a much different place. We should question everything and not just try to fit into the world around us.  If we were to institute more discussion in the classroom, it would increase the opportunity for critical thinking.

Works Cited

Boyce, Barry. "A Real Education."  Shambala Sun.  The Mindful Society.   (75)  Web. 

           May 2012 

 Gatto, John.  "Against School: How Public Education Cripples Our Kids, and Why." 

           Harper's Magazine.  Web.  September 2003.

hooks, bell.  "Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom."  New York.  Routledge.  16

            September 2009.  Print.

Large, Jerry.  "Gift of Grit, Curiosity Help Kids Succeed."  Seattle Times.  Seattle Times. 

           Web.  23 September 2012.

 Rose, Mike.  “Resolutions someone should make for 2011”  The Washington Post.  The

            Washington Post.  Web.  5 January 2011.

Tough, Paul. "How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of

           Character."  Houghton Mifflin Harcort Publishing Company.  2012.  Print.