1.) What is a poisonous school? A poisonous school is a modern school that thrives in the development and use of technology while completely lacking social change. Jerry Goldfarb argues that the outdated teaching methods used in modern schools are destructive to students due to the fact it teaches them to be submissive, passive and afraid. Goldfarb describes this best with the statement "Our schools teach you by
pushing you around, by stealing your will and your sense of power, by making timid square
apathetic slaves out of you authority addicts. (page 1)" In this manifesto Goldfarb argues that it is not the curriculum that is most important, but the way we teach our students.
2.) I do not agree that modern schools are poisonous. Although I do agree that schools add a substantial amount of pressure to the average teenager, I believe that extra pressure is necessary when preparing yourself to face the real world as we do after high school graduation. I have always felt comfortable in school. I began school as a first grader after passing an assessment that allowed me to skip kindergarten. From my first day, I was hooked. I loved to read and learn new things. Reading excited me like another world only grown ups knew about, and I always wanted to know more. I excelled through elementary, and it carried on into sixth grade, until I found out what I believe to be the most poisonous part of schools; popularity. Suddenly, I was being exposed to another world I knew nothing about. This world told my peers and I not only did we have to be smart, we had to look good too, and have a boyfriend (or girlfriend) that looked good, and lots of friends to hang out with. As I began to focus on the social world that overwhelms all preteens, my grades began to slip. By the eighth grade I'd gone from a B+ average to a C- average, and my parents had had enough. I started high school career that Fall in an all girl Catholic school. My parents thought I would have less distractions there. My grades actually got worse. I was so preoccupied with my friends in the high school in my neighborhood that I wished I were at that I completely neglected my studies all together. My parents finally gave in and let me transfer back. It started off rocky until I joined the track team. Track forced me to grow up by teaching me the importance of structure and commitment. The first change I had to change were my study habits. I had to stay eligible. That was all the motivation to study I needed. I had a commitment to not only myself, but also to my teammates. I ran on relay teams my whole track career. In track practice I had to count my steps and pay attention to my moves, study them so to speak. I had to be on time to practice, I had to listen to my coach as well as my teammates. The structure I had in track helped me understand the structure I had in school. My grades started improving. I was accepted into college, and moved three hours away as a 17 year old to a University. This was an even bigger world with even bigger distractions, but I knew how to handle it. I knew how to organize my time in order to completely sufficiently complete my tasks. Everything we do in this life that is worth doing is going to make us feel the pressure. I think that is a good thing. That is where we learn what we are made of.
3.) When Goldfarb says "Under a coercive system it isn't really the subject that matters; what matters is pleasing the
authorities", is he saying that curriculum plays a minor role in the success of students, or that curriculum only matters if its done the way school authorities want it to be done? Goldfarb starts by saying that we rarely even remember things that we have learned while being in school. He goes on to say it is only the method in which we were taught that we remember. Is Goldfarb insinuating that all instructors have the same teaching methods or that all students get the same thing out of every method, and if the method is effective shouldn't that make students more incline to remember what they learned? I believe Goldfarb is calling out conservative school authorities for not taking into account the advances being made within the schools. It is not that there should be no rules, but sensible ones that promote growth as opposed to fear. He describes their rules as not effectively teaching our students material, but teaching them how to follow order. Goldfarb describes this by saying "The true and enduring content of education is its method. The method that currently prevails in
schools is standardized, impersonal and coercive. What it teaches best is itself. If, on the other
hand, the method were individual, human and free, it would teach that. It would not, however,
mesh smoothly into the machine we seem to have chosen as a model for our society."(page 3). While he makes a good point, structure is very necessary to students.
No comments:
Post a Comment