English Paper 2
Daniel Pena
Eddington
English 1310.39
Fall 2010
English Draft 2
Success can be measured in different ways. What one person may deem as succeeding, another may believe the contrary. Having the knowledge and skills to be successful is something that, depending on their respective opinions on what that entails, everyone strives for. In Kistautaq Leona Okakok’s statement about education, she expresses a belief that along with academics, people need to learn certain skills outside the classroom such as how to “travel, camp, and harvest wildlife”. There is not always a need to learn these particular things, so variance in environment should be paralleled by variance in education. In modern day society, the real life application of the ideas taught in schools does not positively reflect the time spent retaining the information. There is undoubtedly a wide array of subjects that would have a much more practical use for students if they were to replace the current curriculum. The teaching strategies used today are ineffective in many ways, and students are able to excel in this system without ever really having to learn. Education should be geared less in the form of standardize testing and more in the direction of career investigation, common knowledge, and on developing opportunities for hands on experience with occupations. This will allow young adults to enter the working world with the necessary understanding of the trade and immediately become a productive part of society.
The current education system is one that teaches students to retain and regurgitate information for set quizzes and exams. Standardized testing is flawed in the respect that real learning does not have to take place in order to make a satisfactory grade. Students have the ability to memorize specific information in a certain format for a test, and then forget it completely without ever having a real understanding of the concept. I was an A student in history, and I can honestly say I would
Eddington
English 1310.39
Fall 2010
English Draft 2
Success can be measured in different ways. What one person may deem as succeeding, another may believe the contrary. Having the knowledge and skills to be successful is something that, depending on their respective opinions on what that entails, everyone strives for. In Kistautaq Leona Okakok’s statement about education, she expresses a belief that along with academics, people need to learn certain skills outside the classroom such as how to “travel, camp, and harvest wildlife”. There is not always a need to learn these particular things, so variance in environment should be paralleled by variance in education. In modern day society, the real life application of the ideas taught in schools does not positively reflect the time spent retaining the information. There is undoubtedly a wide array of subjects that would have a much more practical use for students if they were to replace the current curriculum. The teaching strategies used today are ineffective in many ways, and students are able to excel in this system without ever really having to learn. Education should be geared less in the form of standardize testing and more in the direction of career investigation, common knowledge, and on developing opportunities for hands on experience with occupations. This will allow young adults to enter the working world with the necessary understanding of the trade and immediately become a productive part of society.
The current education system is one that teaches students to retain and regurgitate information for set quizzes and exams. Standardized testing is flawed in the respect that real learning does not have to take place in order to make a satisfactory grade. Students have the ability to memorize specific information in a certain format for a test, and then forget it completely without ever having a real understanding of the concept. I was an A student in history, and I can honestly say I would