Formal Paper #3 Rough Draft

Question Everything

          I believe that there are many places for improvement in the K-12 curriculum, but I think most important change would be in the area of critical thinking.  I believe that if we were critical in our thinking, our world would be a much different place. Why do we not question everything? Is it to “fit in?” As John Taylor Gatto states in his article, Against School, “School trains children to be employees and consumers; …School trains children to obey reflexively.”

The current mood of our educational system can be summed up in a picture I found on the internet. 

 

 In addition to the picture was the following quote, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” - Albert Einstein.  I found the statement to be thought provoking.  We have read numerous texts about the subject of education.  Many listed similar ideas.  I found the list to encompass many of the ideas from the different sources that we have read in this unit.  I preferred the simplicity of message I found online the most. 

 

In answer to these questions, Gatto elaborates. “…if we wanted to we could easily and inexpensively jettison the old, stupid structures and help kids take an education rather than merely receive a schooling. We could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness - curiosity, adventure, resilience, the capacity for surprising insight - simply by being more flexible about time, texts, and tests, 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 “Now for the good news. Once you understand the logic behind modern schooling, its tricks and traps are fairly easy to avoid. School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers…teach your own to think critically and independently. …Your children should have a more meaningful life, and they can.”

From Barry Boyce, A Real Education, “’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.”

I would like think that children can be taught to be responsible by thinking for themselves and the consequences that come with the actions they choose.  As much as we would like to blame society for making up the rules, there are natural consequences that come with every decision we make. If we all would take our actions and reactions more seriously, it would open up a different perspective to the world around us.  The future is based on the choices we make today.  I believe that it would be a better world if society would gain people who could effectively manage themselves.

Responsible people make choices that can better not just themselves, but the people around them through example.  Planning helps guide the path in which you want to go in order to reach your destination.  It helps make life more manageable and allows you to make clear decisions because you know where you are going.

          In bell hooks, 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.”

We are in need of not 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 manipulated.  Instead we are teaching them 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.  Help them be able to figure things out for themselves with some guidance.  They need to connect to the material and choose what is pertinent to them to learn from it.  We need to encourage intellectual independence.  Exercise the mind by referring to the thoughts and ideas of someone else for his/her formulated judgment. There needs to be a place for new ideas.

In reading Jerry Large’s article, I agree 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.  I ranked Jerry Large's article "Gift of grit, curiosity help Kids succeed" as the most important.  He mentions 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."  I believe that 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."  I find this to be  a profound statement. 

Life would be easier if we could help guide each other.  Everyone has had life experiences that they have learned from and the advice they can share could save others form major missteps.  Advice would make it easier to make decisions because you can make decisions according to facts.  Good people could uplift and influence others in a positive way.  Successful people have influence on like minded people.  The more information you have, the more choices you can choose from for making better decisions.

From Mike Rose, The Answer Sheet: Mike Roses’s Resolutions on Education, “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.  The ability to ask why and have their questions answered by discussion of their peers.  To give the opportunity to have many views shared and have each person make their own informed decisions for themselves.

I believe that there are many places for improvement in the K-12 curriculum, but I think most important change would be in the area of critical thinking.  I believe that 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.