Essay#2- draft 2

America! The land of opportunity, or is it? Someone who took the time to look at our educational system might not think so. The educational system was set up in this country to educate citizens, so they would be able to participate within society, but over the years that idea has seemed to fade. In “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer?” Benjamin R. Barber points out the importance of education and why our public educational system was developed. He states “Whether you look at Thomas Jefferson in Virginia or John Adams in Massachusetts, there was widespread agreement that the new republic, for all of the cunning of its inventive and experimental new Constitution, could not succeed unless the citizenry was well educated.” Now when you look at our educational system you wonder what that education is really for; do we really get to participate, and if so, how? Many people see education as a way for the government/media to control citizens than let them actually make changes in this country. John Taylor Gatto says in Against School: How public education cripples our kids, and why, that our educational system actually keeps people from growing up, and creates a bunch of obedient children. Gatto says that “I had more than enough reason to think of our schools with their long-term, cell-block-style, forced confinement of both students and teachers as virtual factories of childness.” I know I don’t look back on my experience in the public schools and get happy thoughts. Instead I look at Gatto’s description and think about my own experience of educational prison! I was never taught to grow up, think for myself, on the other hand I was taught to be dependent on a system that wants me to be that exact way; obedient! During this process of making us subservient citizens we are also keep unequal by our educational system. The way funding to the schools in this country does not provide the opportunity for all schools to be entirely equal because schools are funded mostly by the community they are located in and that may vary significantly from community to community. Financial background has everything to do with the person you will become because it determines the resources that will be available to you. This is why the educational system set up by our government has failed us as Americans in so many ways, for it has created a bunch of obedient servants who are separate not equal.
Over the course of history education has gone through many changes, although it started with a specific goal in mind, which was to prepare children for their futures. Education was something that mainly took place in the home in the days of the settlers, and the education that one would receive would be determined by many factors. It was not the traditional type of education we know of today, rather it was practical. A person learned what they needed to survive. If you were female, you learned to cook and tend to the house. If you were male then you would usually learn the trade of your father, or become an apprentice. As things progressed in our history and we were developing our system of government it was thought that education was a major factor, and when I take a look at our Constitution I know why. The wording alone is enough to confuse the real meaning for me. It was thought by our founding fathers that an educated citizenry would help keep this country in the hands of the people and keep Britain out. They also saw it as a basic right that everyone would be able to obtain, hence public education, funded by a government of the people for the people. But something happened along the way. Over the history of this country education evolved, but not necessarily in a good way.
In the early 1900’s education became more controlling through different theories, or systems of education. Gatto gives examples of events in history that show that our educational system moved toward a system similar to what was already being used in Prussia, which was purposely set up to control citizens in that country. As shocking as this may be it makes sense, and I believe it to be true. Gatto states “But what shocks is that we should so eagerly have adopted one of the very worst aspects of Prussian culture: an educational system deliberately designed to produce mediocre intellects, to hamstring the inner life, to deny students appreciable leadership skills, and to ensure docile and incomplete citizens 11 in order to render the populace “manageable.”” Many “experts,” as well as myself, would agree that our government is trying to keep us manageable. Just think back to first grade and how often you got in trouble for not raising your hand before speaking, or getting up from your desk, even if the teacher was not acknowledging you in the first place. Another reason children get in trouble in school is by stating opinions that vary from the teachers. I can remember being told I was off topic because my views didn’t match that of the teacher, or I was just asking for an expansion of their views. In The Function of the Schools Noam Chomsky says that the model for education today is set up like an educational assembly line. That we don’t encourage our children to think for themselves, but tell them learn this and if you don’t then you’re a behavior problem. So now that we are obedient servants that know nothing, and are kept manageable by our government can it get any worse? The answer is yes it can.
Education is also something that keeps the citizens in this country unequal, and has been for some time because of the way the funds are distributed. Schools in this country are supposed to be funded by property taxes, as well as the tax revenues from local businesses. Anyone can take a look around from city to city and see how that can make a difference in the amount of money schools are getting in each. In basic terms if the city looks good then the schools probably are too, but if it looks bad then most likely the quality of the schools are suffering as well. The government is then supposed to step in with more money to make things equal. In Savage Inequalities Jonathan Kozol tells us about the foundation program which was set up, in the 1920’s, to make education equal for children of different social classes. This program gives money to schools in poor neighborhoods to make up for the lack of tax revenues for their own communities. The big problem is that the schools in wealthy communities also get money from the government which is not needed. Kozol also talks about some of the conditions of the schools in poorer communities, not enough books for the overcrowded classrooms, bathrooms which are so bad I would rather not mention, and the level of education itself. Over the years I have seen this scenario time and time again. I grew up in a city where there were more people than money, so my school and education suffered, but I knew other people living in wealthier communities who attended schools that were clean and didn’t have class sizes of 35 plus. Even if we are being taught to be obedient servants we should be able to be equal ones. Historian Joel Weinberg once said that the state could have done a better job if they didn’t even try at all. If the state treasurer would have randomly thrown checks from an airplane then things would have been more equal than they are right now.
In 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and it states:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”
These words were written to give citizens in this country a different life then the oppression that they had come from, but they no longer apply for the people today. I don’t feel like my country has given me my basic right of “Liberty” or help me on my own “pursuit of Happiness,” actually it is the opposite. My government offered a free education to me, but it was not entirely free. It was forced, and came with many laws and rules. It did not help me to participate in society, but rather taught me not to want to. The only thing our educational system offers now is a way for the government to compare the progress of children in this country to others. It is important for us to look good even if we really are not. Even in a country like Cuba where people live under a horrible dictator or at least that is what we are told, there is a 98% literacy rate. Can we say the same about our literacy rate? Definitely not! In China children learn multiple languages at a young age. We cannot say the same about our own children. In fact some children here don’t even know how to use their native language, English. It is time for a new assessment of how children are educated within our schools. We need to do away with standardized testing, or at least the way it is used. We should be using that information to place children in classes with other children who are at a similar level, rather than placing them in classes determining where they should be because of age. Teachers should not be given a chance to become slackers through the use of ten year. We need to force our government to fund schools equally, so every child has similar opportunities; rich or poor. We need to force parents to be more involved in their children’s education, and why it should be valued. Also we need to provide an education to children that is worth valuing, and prepares them for a bright future. Children are our future, they are the people that will be providing for people like me in my old are, and I know I would rather have that be someone who has received a valuable education then not.