America Skips School Summary

The discussion of education in America is one of the most important topics that our nation faces today. America’s economic future and ability to compete with the rest of the world depends on having a highly educated populace and well trained workforce. Our education system has had its problems but I feel that over time with the right elected officials, we can turn around and rank in the top ten to compete globally.
Growing up and going to high school in Alaska, I never really thought much about education or the kind of education I was receiving. It was only when I started going to college that I really thought about it. I wondered why colleges made students take a core curriculum similar to the one you
Barber’s “America skips school”, “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”, written by Jean Anyon and “Literacy and the Politics of Education” by C. H. Knoblauch I learned a lot from them. In Barber’s “America Skips School” he describes how America’s schooling system has truly failed our children. Not because we don’t have the teachers who care, but because our politicians and government are not willing to put forth the effort in making any improvements. Barber explains how we should raise our teacher’s salaries and eventually they should be closer to a stock broker’s salary to show that as a society we value education. Another issue I learned, specifically from Ms. Anyon’s essay, is the need to make sure we don’t determine a child’s education based on their social class. Finding a way to educate our children equally will give them a chance to improve their livelihood or financial situation. I read that children raised in an upper class society have a higher percentage of becoming more successful or wealthy because of the education they receive for being from that social class. In my opinion it only keeps the rich getting richer and the poor getting