Reflection 50 Myths& Lies To begin, the book 50 Myths& Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools covered a variety of topics such as why teachers are quickly blamed publicly along with their unions, how to make our schools better, equality of schools, money, and how schools make students college and career ready. With each of these topics were smaller sub-topics such as the importance of money, bullying, teachers’ abilities, and the various choices of schooling. With each topic/sub-topic the authors guided us through each subject uncovering myths and lies that surround them. In addition, each uncovering of the myths were extremely one sided. After reading each chapter it makes you think that what you have always thought may not be correct. …show more content…
As a teacher in training I have been taught the importance of viewing all students equally and have gained the personal belief that all students have value and are capable of succeeding. If I were to gain a job in a building I would want their values and beliefs to be similar to my own. I would not want to be in a building that excluded students based on their economic backgrounds, abilities, and behaviors. As a future teacher I want all of my students to succeed and would be welcoming of any and all students that enter my room. Each year students would enter my room with a clear slate. This book has shown me to let go of biases I may hold, because they will only hold me back as a teacher. In doing so the only people that would suffer is my students. The third theme presented was corruption. Allocation of money will affect me as a future teacher. If my school does not allocate their funds to be able to update their materials and student resources, stay up to date with technology, or provide necessary tools for my students to learn my test scores may show negative effects as a result. In addition, if I was hired in a district that implemented portfolio management I could potentially lose my job based on testing scores from my building as a whole, because they could shut it
But still, it did not ruin any part of the story for me. Another part of the novel that I did not like were the chapters
Steven Singer attempts to contradict the narrative presented by many right wing politicians that claim the American school system is failing in his article, “U.S. Public Schools Are Not Failing. They’re Among The Best In The World” (Huffington Post February 13 2017). In this piece Singer works to argue the claims that have been made against the US public school system; he defends the system by listing the various positives in the system, and exercises pathos by shining light on how America guarantees the right of education to all students regardless of social class or race; Singer uses this point throughout the article by justifying the fact that our test scores are not up to par with other countries by reiterating the fact that because we
In America, people talk amongst themselves about wealthy and successful people and during the discussion many think of people who have been educated in a traditional schooling system. John Gatto argues in his article “Against School” that this traditional schooling is indeed not necessary to end up educated and successful. Through the use of rhetorical strategies, such as his personal experiences, expert testimony, and anecdotes, Gatto backs up and argues in points. Gatto begins his article by talking about his personal experiences as a teacher and how the education system let him down. Gatto states “The obligations to amuse and instruct myself was entirely my own, and people who didn’t know that were childish people.”
In this chapter it talks about the rights for teachers, inside and outside of a classroom. It also talks about teachers responsibility for reporting child abuse and using copyright materials. In chapter 13, it talked about Governance and Financing of Elementary and Secondary Schools. In this chapter it talks about roles and the responsibilities that the school board,
James Baldwin wrote “A Talk to Teachers” in the early 1960s for the purpose of publicizing the “current”, “very dangerous…menace” that plagues our country - our educational system. As Baldwin develops his argument, he utilizes various historical prejudices that have been criminally ignored in the classroom and the effects that these lies have had on our society as a whole. To him, hiding our country’s scars threatens our nation as the majority of that generation grows up ignorant and complacent - a generation that “will simply obey the rules of society”. History has shown that if people fail to fight for the truth and fail to fight for change, then our “society [will] perish.” Through various examples, Baldwin illustrates that the only way
Another example would be Public School 6 in Manhattan in which 80% of the staff was replaced and became one of the best in the city. The last example given is the student who gets a really good teacher for one year. That student will perform better and get better pay than those students with mediocre teachers. This hammers in the importance of a teacher and the effect it has on a student’s performance. Anecdotes are used throughout the article to strengthen Marc’s
A decline in literacy, an inability to recruit qualified college graduates for teaching positions, unequal access to educational resources, stagnant compensation for teachers, and many more issues all play a part in the decline of public education (Edsall 1). However, one of the biggest and worsening problems within the education system is the sharp decline of qualified people to fill teaching positions. Researchers have found that there are at least 36,000 vacant teaching positions and at least 163,000 teaching positions that are being filled by underqualified teachers (Edsall 2). Schools are continuing to adopt harder academic standards, and the teachers are left scrambling to try and make their own curriculum with little to no helpful resources on hand (Will 1). One of the biggest reasons why there are fewer and fewer teachers in the education field is the lack of adequate pay for their important jobs and responsibilities (Toch 2).
Many people think that most American schools are satisfactory. That is far from what is actually happening. The harsh reality is that schools that are unsatisfactory do exist. In Jonathan Kozol’s “Fremont High School”, he points out the flaws of a high school located somewhere in Los Angeles. This helps shine light on differences in the quality of education in various areas of the country.
Children need to feel as if they can relate to people in school, they need to see someone who looks like them. In a school with forty percent or more minorities I do not care how educated a person is the students and the parents need to feel they are understood and have someone with whom they can relate. Several years ago, my class was having a discussion, a student did not want to share out with the class but she did write her comment on paper.
Schools servicing low income students are being shortchanged districts disproportionately distribute funds. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Education, “The analysis of new data on 2008-09 school level expenditures show that many high-poverty schools receive less than their fair share of state and local funding, leaving students in high-poverty schools with fewer resources than schools attended by their wealthier peers.” Providing more resources and a better education for students in wealthier areas not only increases the achievement gap, but it increases the social status gap in America. While the nation acknowledges that inequality is an issue, proper action is not being taken. Until this issue is seriously addressed and action is taken, and poorer schools are provided the necessary tools to succeed, the public school system in America will not have the opportunity to produced skilled
The article, “Cheating report confirms teacher 's suspicions,” examines the Atlanta Public School system’s Georgia state Criterion Reference Competency Test scandal. CNN author, Paul Frysh, discusses former East Lake Elementary school teacher, Julie Rogers-Martin, account of events involving her fellow colleague’s involvement in the artificial inflation of their students’ standardized test scores in attempts to fulfill the requirements necessary for continued federal funding, job security, as well as bonuses. The economic idea that figures prominently in the article is Incentive, particularly the positive aspect of financial rewards and the negative aspect of fraud and depriving the most vulnerable groups of children their right to an education. In an ethical sense, I believe that the economic foundation of Opportunity Cost applies as well
Graff consistently targets teachers in this story, mainly because he knows that educators are capable of changing the never-ending pattern in the school system but educators are not attempting to use the many opportunities available (Graff, 2010). The author, target teachers not in a negative aspect but in a positive aspect to invite change. Graff is approaching the situation in an
Novelist, John Taylor Gatto, in his speech essay, “Why Schools Don’t Education”, conveys schools aren’t as educational as they should be. John’s purpose is to narrate the idea that teachers and school district aren’t putting enough effort to educate children and to also motivate more teachers to help bust up children’s education. He adopts a passionate tone in order to appeal in his that education should be taken serious. In order, to convey his appeal of the subject he uses rhetorical analysis to help drill in the audience.
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops” states Henry Brooks Adams, a historian, educator, and author. In today’s society, teachers are undervalued and underappreciated for the huge part that they play in a child, teenager, and adult’s life. Teachers should be paid more because they contribute more to the future of the world than any other career, help students psychologically and financially, and most students in a survey chose that teachers need to be paid more than their annual salary. Teachers contribute more to the future of the world than any other career. They teach students social and intellectual skills needed to be an effective member of society.
Teachers need to establish fairness and equality early on in classrooms in order for students to be comfortable and