Baldwin's Advice To Teachers

Conventional wisdom has it that teachers need to enforce the characteristics of open-mindedness and originality onto students. The standard way of thinking about the topic of Baldwin’s advice is that he wants teachers need to educate only the truth to their students for them to fabricate their own mindsets on concepts. Many people assume that modern teachers do not need to read and live by his ideas. It is often said that teachers need to read Baldwin’s text to refresh their memory on how to be a great teacher. My own view is that Baldwin’s advice to teachers is not relevant today because of new methods of testing and supportive and open-minded teachers.
New methods of testing have heavily increased in recent years prove that the advice from Baldwin is not needed. A brand new and difficult federal exam is the Common Core. The Common Core was created to prepare students for possible issues that they might face in their life and careers. The Common Core does this by having critical thinking questions, free response questions, and no multiple choice options. In addition, the Common Core advances students by
training them to have their own viewpoint on topics based on their own knowledge on the ideas that are being questioned. As a result, students are being instructed to prove their own original perspectives.
During my school years, I have encountered countless teachers that have enforced me to establish outlooks on concepts that they have taught me.
In my AP English Language and Composition class, we are given texts to decide if we agree or disagree with the ideas that the writer is declaring. Additionally, I have been taught by my teacher to think critically on issues and to eventually come up with my own position on the issue. In my AP United States History class, we are taught the very detailed version of American history. Also, we analyze the different viewpoints that witnessed significant circumstances and events that occurred in America. Furthermore, with the information we are given we take stands on prompts that he presents to the class. Overall, teachers already encourage us to examine the material that they teach us so we can form a stand on the
subject.
Baldwin’s proposal could still be relevant for particular educators. First of all, the Texas State Board of Education has banned Cesar Chavez in their history textbooks. They are making the youth ignorant about an important piece of history during a controversial time period. Therefore, they are preventing the youth from examining Cesar Chavez and from forming an opinion about him. Likewise, there are numerous cases where renowned books have been banned from the bookshelves in schools. Consequently, the educators are repressing expressive methods to form the outlooks of their students.
Common sense seems to indicate that originality and open-mindedness are needed requirements for being a successful student and only teachers can encourage these aspects. The basic perspective on seeing Baldwin’s guidance is that he desires the youth to come up with viewpoints on topics with the help from honest teachings from educators. Frequently, people state that educators do not have the need to read “A Talk to Teachers”. People mostly declare that educators should read “A Talk to Teachers” as a guide on requiring powerful teaching techniques. My outlook is that the suggestions in “A Talk to Teachers” is trivial nowadays because of advanced testing practices and teachers that are impartial and cooperative.