In the United states of America Children spend a total of 12 years attending primary and secondary school. Around the age of six children will start primary school which is also known as elementary school. Once elementary school is completed the children will start secondary school which consist of junior high school starting at the age of eleven and high school starting at the age of fourteen. After graduating from high school and obtaining a high school diploma, students may attend higher education consisting of going to a college or a university. Growing up as children going to school was a way of life.
Our parents would wake us up in the morning and get us ready for school. School is an institution where students go to get an education, they use their knowledge and experience from school to benefit in later society. Do the schools in our education system educate? There are some pros when it comes to our school systems. One pro would be the diversity attending public school there is a lot of people from different cultures. Another Pro would be it allows the students to be more social and open to new people. Another pro would be there are some great teachers that want to help the students gain success.
Although some people feel our educational system has its pros when it come to educating students there are a lot of cons. I feel that our educational system in todays society doesn’t educate students appropriately but instead restrains them. Rather then letting students explore their options there stuck in this one curriculum that doesn’t supply their true needs to gaining success. According to John Taylor Gatto schools have tuned into “torture chambers”, I agree with that statement. Our educational system does not truly see the potential of our students and instead places them in a class teaching them discipline.
In this case Josue Fernandez is a victim of our educational system. Josue spent his year of public school in New York City. He went to Public school 128 for elementary school, Middle School 328 for Junior high school. I would like to focus on his years attending secondary school. Josue attended Norman Thomas High School and during those years of attending he said, “It felt like jail”. The atmosphere of public schools in his generation has changed over the years due to fighting and violence schools like Josue’s high school have metal detectors. I can understand why Josue would feel that way.
I would find it very difficult to go a school that acts like a juvenile detention center. I also feel that going to a disciplined school will make students not want to willingly learn. Although Josue felt the school tried to to help the students graduate on time the school still didn’t try their best to help the students reach their full potential, graduation was all they cared about. In “Why Schools Don’t Educate” by John Taylor Gatto he states, “No one believes anymore that scientists are trained in science classes, or politicians in civics classes, or poets in English classes.
The truth is that schools don’t really teach anything except how to obey orders. ” I also agree with this statement. The school system does have a good curriculum but its not flexible its what they want to teach you. The school system has always taught children starting at the age of six that there are rules and these rules never change when going to the next grade. There taught when young to raise your hand, ask to use the bathroom, where the right attire or uniform, and to learn respect your teachers. When attending public school Josue stated that he always had to wear uniform, and was punished for not wearing it.
I would want to attend a school that would rather enlighten their students and ask them questions like what do you want to be when you grow up? Or what do you want to study? not where is your uniform? Our educational system contains and restricts the students from exploring their options. John Taylor Gatto also states, “It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to listen to a stranger reading poetry when you want to learn to construct buildings, or to sit with a stranger discussing the construction of buildings when you want to read poetry.
In this case Josue felt that his high school curriculum only focused on certain aspects of life and not all. In his high school each class lasted forty-five minutes and he stated, “most of the time I would see students bored or sleep because they lost of had no interest in the class. I feel that in todays generation a student will pay attention in class when they really enjoy what their learning for example Josue in middle school loved his art class but when he attended high school there were not any art classes to take but mostly business classes.
That proves that the school can choose the curriculum they just happen to choose what’s they think is best. Josue stated that “most of the classes we take we are evaluated and tested on. ” there are students taking classes that they don’t need later on. Although Our Educational system does teach the basics to life there is more that the average student can learn. The curriculum back then was way better then the curriculum we have today. I agree with John Taylor Gatto in “Why school don’t educate” there is more than learning English, math, history, and science.
The schools have the opportunity to change the curriculum to help the student make their own choices in what they want to be later on in life. Due to todays society public schools change curriculums based on funding they pick what classes they feel will benefit the student not truly knowing what the students really want. Based on Josue Fernandez the educational system never really helps him reach his full potential but held him back. He stated that only when he started college is when he started to make decisions on what he wants to learn.