Benjamin R. Barber's Argument In 'America Skips School'
Haley Martin
Lowe
EH 101 -123
30 April 2015
How Benjamin R. Barber’s Argument in “America Skips School” Prevails Over William A. Henry’s “In Defense of Elitism” Americans expect to be able to have equal opportunities to be able to attend whichever university or college that they decide to choose. In William Henry’s essay, “In Defense of Elitism”, he believes that not everyone is entitled to have the same opportunity to get to go to college. He believes that not everyone who has the opportunity to go to college is capable of achieving there. In Henry’s opinion, college should only be allowed and available for an exclusive handful of people. Henry believes that there are people in college today that are there for the completely wrong reasons …show more content…
Barber talked about liberty and freedom in his essay for this very reason. He stresses the importance of the youth knowing the government and its actions so that they will become interested in the topic later in life. He wants us to ignore Henry’s elite plan because if America allows that plan to go into action, then there would be no democracy, no freedom, and no free critical thinking. He remind us of how Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both warned the citizens of the United States about the problems that would follow if the population was uneducated. Benjamin R. Barber’s essay, “America Skips School” is superior to that of William A. Henry’s essay, “In Defense of Elitism”, because Barber reminds his readers that without a well-educated society then America would cease to exist the way as we know it. He warns us that if we disregard education and put it on the back burner then we will be unable to think for ourselves and the government will take control of what we do not know. Barber believes that by allowing the population to have the opportunity to higher education, then American democracy will be much stronger in the future than it is in the present day. The American citizens need to realize how good they have it and take advantage of all opportunities that they are proposed because one day all of that could be taken away in the blink of an
Lowe
EH 101 -123
30 April 2015
How Benjamin R. Barber’s Argument in “America Skips School” Prevails Over William A. Henry’s “In Defense of Elitism” Americans expect to be able to have equal opportunities to be able to attend whichever university or college that they decide to choose. In William Henry’s essay, “In Defense of Elitism”, he believes that not everyone is entitled to have the same opportunity to get to go to college. He believes that not everyone who has the opportunity to go to college is capable of achieving there. In Henry’s opinion, college should only be allowed and available for an exclusive handful of people. Henry believes that there are people in college today that are there for the completely wrong reasons …show more content…
Barber talked about liberty and freedom in his essay for this very reason. He stresses the importance of the youth knowing the government and its actions so that they will become interested in the topic later in life. He wants us to ignore Henry’s elite plan because if America allows that plan to go into action, then there would be no democracy, no freedom, and no free critical thinking. He remind us of how Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both warned the citizens of the United States about the problems that would follow if the population was uneducated. Benjamin R. Barber’s essay, “America Skips School” is superior to that of William A. Henry’s essay, “In Defense of Elitism”, because Barber reminds his readers that without a well-educated society then America would cease to exist the way as we know it. He warns us that if we disregard education and put it on the back burner then we will be unable to think for ourselves and the government will take control of what we do not know. Barber believes that by allowing the population to have the opportunity to higher education, then American democracy will be much stronger in the future than it is in the present day. The American citizens need to realize how good they have it and take advantage of all opportunities that they are proposed because one day all of that could be taken away in the blink of an