Madeline Allen
Megan Keaton
English 112-12
February 6, 2013
Exploratory Proposal
What is it that makes a “good” school? Is is the
teachers, or the students? Is it the amount of money funded to the school? Or
the amount of time taken to learn the best way to pass a state test? Through
articles and readings based on schools today, in America, what can we find
that’s missing? And more importantly, what should change?
Because of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
the entire world thought funding for our schools would be finally fixed.
Students pass the standard tests and test scores start to raise, then the title
one school can finally get the funding it deserves (NCLB 2). Children should be
tested right? They should all be created equal. Even the ones who barely make
it to school because problems at home, outweigh the importance of school, in
their parents eyes? They should be tested the same as children who live in a
household where paying tuition, for their eight year old, every year is no
problem? The level of equality was clearly not shown in President Bush’s eyes,
when he passed this act.
Obviously testing must be in schools, but maybe
funding shouldn't be based off of the performance of test scores. Teachers are
beginning to teach students to just pass the test. Students can feel the
pressure from the teachers; after all, it’s now the teacher’s job on the line.
There isnt much I remember from middle school, but I do remember EOG day. I
also remember having two weeks left of school after the test where we just
watch movies and play games. All that mattered was that stupid test.
In a video from Ted.com called Why
Standardized Testing Fails, Bob Sternburg talks about how Standardized
Testing Started in the early 1900’s.” Tests like this are out of date
(Sternburg). We are using the same education techniques we used in a time where
blacks drank from different water fountains as whites, much less didn't go to
the same schools whites did. No computers were even remotely anywhere near
being invented, and college was only for those who didn’t want to go to war.
Times have changed, but this standardized testing is till around. Why?
“Test scores match socio-economic level”
(Sternburg). What another lovely problem. “In working class schools, work is
following the steps to a procedure” (Anyon 2). So children listen and do what
they are told, maybe by reading along in class and then answering questions
directly from the text. But, in “affluent professional schools, school work is
a creative activity carried out independently” (Anyon 6). Children in these
schools are learning the same content, but doing activities in different ways.
Most likely in working class schools children are bored of following procedures
and steps. However in affluent schools children are able to be creative: a much
less boring lesson. They are taught to be independent in their studies; they
can take these skills home and use them in their study techniques. I know
something as small as learning a certain way and carrying it out one or two
times may not be a big deal. But if every day you are learning this way it can
make a big impact on how you think as an adult. Everyday these students wake
up, listen to the teacher talk, follow the steps on a worksheet, finish the
lesson and never think about it again. They don’t think about it again, because
they hate learning. I know, because I was the exact same way.
I cannot relate to different types of creativity
in classes like Math, English, and History, however I took three levels of
photography and art. In these classes we were able to almost pick the lesson
activity or exercise we did. More often than not, the teacher would talk about
a famous artist in history, we would learn the techniques they used and put it
down onto a canvas, or paper, or even into clay. Given a few guidelines, art
teachers wound us up and let us run with our ideas. We were able to learn the
history of art and connect it to ways we learn today. Often times they would
play music, which was a huge treat. I used to think of my art classes as an
escape from “real school,” but I was still really learning. I remember the bell
would ring and I would be sad. In other classes, I’d look at the clock more
than the teachers face. How can we make children sad, when the bell rings in
history class?
Everyone likes thinking on their own, and doing
their own thing, why teach children to be the same, by answering all the same
questions that only have one right answer. Obviously its hard to teach
creativity in classes like social studies and math, but instead of cramming
dates and places into their heads, why don’t we start asking different
questions. Instead of asking “when did the civil war start?” we should ask “WHY
do you think the civil war started.” Or in math, insteaad of asking “what’s the
answer to number three?” we should ask “How did you get the answer to number
three?” Using their own words to explain, and having their own ideas, they will
actually begin to teach themselves and learn on a higher level.
Anthony Browne wrote an article called Creativity
in Schools, Every Story Needs a Picture. In it, he explains his time at a
school, “where children are two years further ahead in their reading compared
to those in other schools.” These children are coming to the stage where they
are encouraged to begin reading “chapter books” instead of picture books
(Browne 2). Browne then makes an incredibly excellent point. The illustrations
children see in books are some of the first pictures they see, and these
continually frowned upon picture books can really help a child. A child takes
in everything they learn at a young age (2). “If Children are encouraged to
think that pictures are for babies and that to become educated is to leave
images behind and concentrate purely on words, we risk creating a country of
visually illiterate adults,” says Browne(2).
In a video called Schools Kill Creativity,
Ken Robinson tells a heart touching story about how a Woman named Jillian Lynn,
who was thought to have a learning disorder. They said she was too fidgety in
schools. She was sent to a doctor and he asked her a ton of questions. He then
decided to talk to Jillian’s mother outside of the room, but first turned on
the radio on his desk. He then asked the mother to watch. Within minutes
Jillian was on her feet dancing. The doctor said, “Mrs. Lynn, your daughter
doesn't have a learning disorder, she is a dancer.” She then auditioned for the
royal ballet, became a multi-millionaire and produced the famous musical CATS.
“Somebody else might have put her on medication, and told her to calm down”
(Robinson). Is that what we’re doing to our children now? Telling the to calm
down, when they could quite possibly be the next Jillian Lynn?
I cannot picture a world where human beings
aren’t creative. More often than not, the most influential people in the world
are also the most creative. Students who are constantly taught to read and
answer questions,and just get by because the questions are word for word from a
textbook, are less likely to get a higher paying job. Students who think for
themselves are challenged and like being challenged, so they continue that way
of thinking. These students become the owners, managers and bosses of the
companies that the students who master a simple worksheet, work for.
I want to research if qualities can be taught in
schools and how learning techniques and lack of funding can affect who a child
becomes as an adult. Do private schools really put better graduates into the
world? Are people who attended schools that offer more creative classes such as
dancing, acting, art and music, better and well-rounded people? What is better?
Creativity in classes? Or standardized Testing so we’re all equal, and we can
all be measured in a way that getting into college might be easier? What if
students are bad test takers, yet understand the concepts?
Should we be taught to pass a test? Or should we
learn to be creative, to solve anything life throws at us?
Works Cited
Anyon,
Jean. “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work.” Journal of
Education.
Vol. 162, no. 1 (1980).
Vol. 162, no. 1 (1980).
Browne, Anthony. The Gaurdian. Web. 29 Jun2009
http://www.gaurdian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/30/creativity-schools-children-laureate
http://www.gaurdian.co.uk/education/2009/jun/30/creativity-schools-children-laureate
NoChildLeftBehind.gov. “No Child Left Behind Act
2001.”
Considering Literacy: Reading and Writing The
Educational Experience. Ed. Linda
Adler-Kasser. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 308-312. Print.
Adler-Kasser. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 308-312. Print.
Robinson, Ken. “Schools Kill Creativity.” Ted.com. California.
Feb 2006. Lecture.
Sternburg, Bob. “None of the Above-Why Standardized Testing
Fails.” Ted.com. Oklahoma.
3 Dec. 2012. Lecture.
I can't believe you have a legitimate proposal! The topic you chose will definitely have a lot of information on both sides, but maybe an easy pick? I thought about writing about standardized tests and NCLB, but I figured a lot of people might do the same. Not that there is anything wrong with it and your proposal is very descriptive, but I kinda wanted to stray a little from the herd... Not that we have much leeway because the overall topic of education seems a little dull. I don't have a proposal per se, more like ideas I've stormed up with.
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