Analyze: Let Teenagers Try Adulthood

                After reading Let Teenagers Try Adulthood by Leon Botstein I started to really think about the way that things are in High Schools today compared to a few years ago. I do agree with a lot of what Leon says in this article. Too much emphasis is put on students to fit into a certain group. I also agree with how much emphasis is put on cliques in high school. Why does it matter if you were popular in high school? A lot of the time people that are “outsiders” become more successful than the most popular kids. High school is actually a very destructive place and that can lead to a lot of violence.

 I agree with what the author said about violence in schools. High school can be a very harmful experience for certain kids who are exiled by their peers. In the passage Botstein refers to the Columbine shooting and just recently there was a school shooting at Sandy Hook. These kids were obviously not a happy highschoolers. Kids like these are often outcasts and not well liked by their peers. Some of this anger could be the result of kids maturing sooner than when high school was created. Kids are becoming sexually active sooner than in years before and that causes more conflict within schools. In the past kids were maturing later in life, specifically out of high school. All of those emotions happening at once along with the stress and pressure of fitting in create a really destructive learning environment.

High School has become more about social issues instead of what it is intended for which is learning. That is what the author is saying throughout the essay. If we went back to focusing on what is important then students would be a lot more prepared and successful in life after school. He makes a point of saying that a lot of the time kids that weren’t very high on the social ladder tend to be successful in life after school. Then again High School does not prepare kids for real life and it should be abolished according to Botstein. All of this focus on social issues and lack of progress in education leads to unprepared students and isn’t the point of high school to prepare kids for real life? If it isn’t doing what it is supposed to why keep doing the things that aren’t working? These are some of the questions Botstein raises in his article.

One thing that I don’t agree with about this article is that the author says that under trained teachers is the main reason as to why students aren’t successful and why high school should be abolished. Everyone has had a teacher that isn’t the best at what they are doing but I don’t believe that that alone is the problem of high schools today. I think that it may have a part in it but I do not think that it is the main reason as to why high school isn’t successful anymore. I mean what can a teacher do to change the way that high school works? They just follow the rules of high schools; I think that the main problem is high schools themselves.

So, what can we do to change high schools to make them more up to date and successful? In the article he proposes that students graduate at 16 instead of 18 so they can get on with their lives. I agree with this to an extent. I think that some students are ready to take on the world at 16 but some need those two extra years to prepare themselves. I would change it to 16 like Botstein recommended but I would put some restrictions on who would have that option. I would make sure that high schools were not sending kids out in to the world too early and make sure that they had the knowledge to become successful. Changing the age to which kids graduate would eliminate some of that sexual tensions and frustrations. I think that administrators need to get more involved in the social aspect of high school because it is such a big part of what high school is today.

To conclude, I agree with a lot of the things that Botstein proposed in his essay with a few exceptions. High schools these days are defiantly not what they should be and there needs to be a change. The American High School has become a place of violence, discrimination and social inequality. When the focus of high school is not to become popular but to be successful outside of school.  

To Kill a Mockingbird Response

 

I thought that the way the Author criticized some of the classic books that we are required to read was very interesting. We read To Kill a Mockingbird last year in Language Arts, so I could relate to some of the things that the Author referred to. Long before last year I had heard about To Kill a Mockingbird and how it was a book that “I just had to read”.  

In my Language Arts class we had a whole unit about all of the racial discrimination and prejudices explained in the book. It felt like we were in a history class for most of the time. I agree with the author that schools need to focus less on things like that because students will get most of that information from their history classes.  I do think that it is a big part of the book and there should be some emphasis on it but we should be focusing on how the book was written. It is a lot easier to teach and discuss racial discrimination verses literary development; I think that is why some teachers decide to do just that. During the TKAM unit we wasted time discussing other racial things happening in the time period such as the Scottsburro Boys, we spent at least two class periods watching a movie about it.

Following the unit about To Kill a Mockingbird we had a unit about the Holocaust. This proves the Authors point; Language Arts classes are focusing on the wrong things. I get that the Holocaust was a big event that every student should know about but it would be more beneficial to be working on analyzing pieces of writing for literary points. Last year I was also in World History Class, So on some days we would spend two hours discussing the same topic in two different classes.

I disagree with the fact that the Author thinks that we should change some of the book lists in schools. They should be kept the same because I think that there is a reason that those books have been on lists like that for so many years. If students don’t read some of the classic books I think that they would be missing out. Books on these “must read lists” need to stay the same but the way that they are taught needs to be different.

Overall, I agree with a lot of the Authors points in her essay with the exception of a few things. Language Arts classes should be spending time learning things that will help them in the future and save history topics for history class. Book lists should stay the same but the way that they are being taught needs some serious reform.

Word Count: 462

If I Were Queen of the World

If I was Queen of the world and I could change anything about our education system that I wanted, I would start with changing standardized testing. How is one test that is taken on one day a correct representation of a student’s abilities? It's not. A student might not be a good test taker or they are having a bad day. These tests are a big deal; things like the ACT's decide whether a college will admit a student. I would have the students in and out of class work be represented. I would also spread out finals over the course of 3 days. There would be two tests a day to create more time for students to spend studying.

 
Grading would be changed to reflect the student’s effort in and out of class.  Instead of having only tests in the grade book there would be more points awarded for completed homework and in class activities. There would also be set grades, instead of having a 89.9% in a class the student would be either moved up to an A or down to a B. This would be a signal to the student so that they would know whether they need to be putting in more effort or rewarding them for doing well.

 
The next thing that I would do as Queen would be to implement some of the things happening in schools in China. In China they call on the students that are struggling with a concept to do it in front of the class instead of calling on the kids that know the answers. Of course the kid raising their hand and blurting out answers understands the concepts but what about the kid sitting next to him struggling? There would be severe consequences for blurting out answers because everyone needs the chance to try to answer questions. There needs to be more focus on getting everyone to get to the same level of proficiency.

 
If I were Queen there would be more High School elements implemented in Middle Schools there is too big of a gap between the two. There would be more emphasis on studying and test taking to prepare for High School. Time management is a skill that should be developed before High School.  Making sure that students are more prepared for High School will make them more successful. I think that Middle School is too easy right now. It needs to challenge kids more so that they have the knowledge to be successful in High School.

 
Early education would be changed to focusing on skills such as foreign languages. It is better to start learning a language as young as possible. This will help kids develop the skills needed to learn another language so that when they get older they can choose to learn a third language.

 
I believe that these changes would improve our education system and make sure that American students can compete with foreign countries. Making sure that every student has the same opportunities and resources would be a priority.