Holly A. Saez
Dr. Sonia Begert
English 101
March 16, 2013
American
society idealizes itself as an individualistic society; our founding fathers
even wrote the Bill of Rights in order to protect our personal freedoms.
Unfortunately these holistic ideals have been perverted into a society that
focuses so heavily on individualism it has led to a materialistic and apathetic
sense of self. Recognizing one’s self as separate from society and community
festers a feeling of alienation and isolation, that when you have an issue you
must bring it upon yourself to handle your problems and not to rely on others
around you. Community is lost in the wake of new ideals of individualism and at
its core is the misguided approach to our education reform. We are tailoring
our education to the needs of the individual, producing ignorance and an
inflated sense of self being. Waiting for
Superman claims that in the early to mid-1900’s our education standards
were emulated by other countries, but today we are viewed as ignorant and
overconfident. If I could alter the course of our K-12 education system
it would be to eliminate the concept of individualism within our schools
instead focus on community, discipline, and making teachers, students and
community members accountable for the education of our children and youth.
Focusing
on the individual is creating disconnect from society. Adam Smith argues that “The
welfare of society is best served when every individual seeks his or her own advantage,”
continuing that “The system possesses an inherently self-adjusting quality that
will assure the maximum satisfaction of individual desires.” I disagree completely,
focusing on personal needs creates disconnect with community. The more we look
into ourselves the more we distance ourselves from our community and the issues
that should be addressed as a community. Current educational reform has been
focusing on individual rights, and freedoms. Many people view limiting our
student’s individual rights is also limiting their freedom. In fact the movie Waiting for Superman focuses in on
charter schools and how they develop students’ potentials as individuals, yet
even Guggenheim admits that most charter schools do not perform above the
standards of other public schools around them, only a select few achieve above
and beyond. He also states some startling statistics, “every twenty-six seconds
a kid drops out of school. These drop outs are eight times more likely to go to
prison, fifty percent less likely to vote, more likely to need social welfare
assistance, not eligible for ninety percent of jobs, are being paid forty cents
of a dollar earned by a college graduate, and continuing the cycle of poverty.”
Is the issue one of simply poor education, or is there a lack of community
involvement? It only makes sense to push
our children to help each other to succeed, creating an environment that
nurtures community outreach.
Part
of reforming our education would involve creating a more disciplined
atmosphere. Students would be required to wear uniforms, and teachers would
have their rights to discipline their students. Wearing uniforms would help to
refocus students from worrying about what they and their peers are wearing to
their actual study. It is argued that uniforms remove student’s sense of
individuality and freedoms. This is not true because in reality the styles
students wear only feed into their need to conform to specific groups.
Corporations have fed into these fads and conformities, profiting and exploiting
youths need to fit in. Statistic Brain Research Institute shows that studies in
1995 Longbeach, CA reported findings after implementing school uniforms an
overall crime rate drop of ninety-one percent, and eighty-one percent of
teachers felt that school uniforms improved the school environment; ninety-five
percent of the teachers saw an improvement in student behavior.
Discipline
is a word most commonly associated with physical repercussion, but when I speak
of discipline it is in regards to self-discipline. Students need to be taught
self-discipline, not only at school but within the household. In the movie Stand and Deliver Mr. Escalante maintains a well disciplined
classroom, one built on respect. He maintains this through not only holding firm
to classroom rules, but also being a role model for his students. Paulo Friere discusses
the “banking concept” of education he says “The teacher confuses the authority of
knowledge with his own professional authority, which he sets in opposition to the
freedom of the students.”(2) I am sure some teachers do misuse their authority,
or misinterpret its meaning, but in the K-12 atmosphere children cannot be expected
to hold themselves accountable the same as an adult could. Teachers should and do
possess an authority over their students, not only on an intellectual level but
as their profession. As a parent I expect my child to be guided, directed and disciplined
properly by her educators. This is essential to her learning to become a competent
adult. Society as a whole has become so
self-conscious and worried about the politically correct way to treat an
individual, especially in regards to children and youth. Censorship within the classroom
has removed teacher’s abilities to maintain a respectful classroom. If the
teacher says something that could be even remotely construed into being
inconsiderate or belittling the students have been given the power to
negatively affect that adult’s career. Although it is true that students should
be able to address any serious issues within the classroom, manipulating the
system as a weapon or a means to transfer the position of power from the
teacher to the student is counterproductive to a healthy learning environment.
Students should practice self-discipline within the classroom, and teachers
should be returned their powers to enforce discipline and respect.
In Waiting for Superman a lot of blame is
placed on the teachers and the education system, not the student or community.
The blame cannot be placed on one specific group, but must be placed on
parents, community, teachers and students equally. Teacher’s sense of
individual rights and unions has created a beast. This beast is in the form of
teachers with tenure, specifically the ones who have become complacent in their
teachings. Some teachers are so complacent they have forgotten the true intent
of their profession, teaching children to become capable members of society.
You can see this in the movie Chalk,
when one of the history teachers actually pulls a couple of his students aside
to ask them to be less smart. He is so enveloped in his campaign to become the teacher
of the year he lost touch of what was really important, his students. He
manipulated his students to do his bidding and belittled those who shone to
brightly. Even with such atrocities within the teaching realm there is blame to
pass on. As Mike Rose puts it “To stop looking for the structural or technological
magic bullet,” continuing, “Our attention is absorbed by a new quick fix.” It
takes a community to build good teachers (what it means to be a good teacher)
and it takes a community to raise a kid. Teacher’s efforts can be crippled by a
parent’s misguided intent, while a parent’s influence can be rendered obsolete
in the face of an apathetic community.
Ultimately
our education system will prosper only from unity, not focus so much on the
individual. Nurturing a sense of community within our school system, and
eliminating the potential for self-segregation will not only improve student
academics, but also provide a sense of being. Individualism is a concept that
is not deeply understood by children and youth, they need to be provided
discipline, structure and support within our schools. Washington Post
reported that in 2004 a quarter of Americans felt that they did not have anyone
to confide in, in contrast to 1985 when half Americans felt they had someone to
confide in. This sobering statistic shows a suffering community, only through
setting aside our differences and focusing on each other as team members can we
change the mindset of our children setting the course for a successful
educational system and society as a whole.
Works
Cited
Chalk: Real Teaching Leaves a Mark.
Dir. Morgan Spurlock. Perf. Mike Akel. Troy Schremmer, Janelle Schremmer,
Shannon Haragan. Someday Soon Productions. 2006. DVD.
Friere,
Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed- New
York: Herder and Herder, 1970. Print
Rose,
Mike. “Resolutions Someone Should make for 2011.” http://mikerosebooks.blogspot.com/2011/01/resolutions-someone-should-make-for.html.
Web. 7 Jan. 2011
Nederman,
Cary. “Individualism.” New Dictionary of the History of Ideas. 2005. Encyclopedia.com.
Web. 16 Mar. 2013
“School Uniform Statistics.” http://www.statisticbrain.com/school-uniform-statistics. Statistic Brain Research Institute.
Web. 22 Jul. 2012.
Shankar
Vedantam. “Social Isolation Growing in the U.S., Says Studies.” TheWashington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com.
Web. 23 Jun. 2006
Stand and Deliver.
Dir. Ramon Menendez Perf. Edward James Olmos, Estelle Harris, Mark Phelan.
Warner Bros 1988. DVD
Waiting for Superman. Dir.
Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Geoffrey Canada, Michelle Rhee. Paramount Vantage,
2010. DVD
No comments:
Post a Comment