Prose Synthesis
Tracey Thompson
AP Lang
Ms. Ransom
15 Dec, 2013
Synthesis Essay
In 2013 a study by the US Department of Education showed that only 32 percent of American fourth-graders are reading at or above the proficiency of their grade level. One out of every 3 students in America have scored "below basic" on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading test. the United States was once the leading country in every aspect, including education, but now it has fallen behind to 17th place in reading scores when compared internationally. What has caused this dramatic drop in proficiency among American students? In the essay "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read", writer Francine Prose exposes and examines the fallen standards and serious flaws in current US education. In her essay Prose calls out the methods in which children are being taught in American schools. She believes that America has fallen so far behind because teachers are forcing children to read classic literature in a way that leaves the student with no appreciation of the book nor the author, and instead students are "informed that literature is principally a vehicle for the soporific moral blather they suffer daily from their parents" (Paragraph 15, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read", Francine Prose). Students are, instead of closely reading and analyzing a text to understand the true meaning, forced to examine superficial topics within a novel and apply them in a way that has no benefit towards education or the grasping of the text, and leaves the student resenting not only the teacher and assignment, but the author and the novel itself. Teachers are no longer teaching the book, but teaching for some outlook that the author may or may not have had. A book is no longer read for the story it provides but is read for who the author is and what they represent. Prose mentions a motion passed in 1999 by the San Francisco Board of Education mandating that "works of literature read in class
AP Lang
Ms. Ransom
15 Dec, 2013
Synthesis Essay
In 2013 a study by the US Department of Education showed that only 32 percent of American fourth-graders are reading at or above the proficiency of their grade level. One out of every 3 students in America have scored "below basic" on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading test. the United States was once the leading country in every aspect, including education, but now it has fallen behind to 17th place in reading scores when compared internationally. What has caused this dramatic drop in proficiency among American students? In the essay "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read", writer Francine Prose exposes and examines the fallen standards and serious flaws in current US education. In her essay Prose calls out the methods in which children are being taught in American schools. She believes that America has fallen so far behind because teachers are forcing children to read classic literature in a way that leaves the student with no appreciation of the book nor the author, and instead students are "informed that literature is principally a vehicle for the soporific moral blather they suffer daily from their parents" (Paragraph 15, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read", Francine Prose). Students are, instead of closely reading and analyzing a text to understand the true meaning, forced to examine superficial topics within a novel and apply them in a way that has no benefit towards education or the grasping of the text, and leaves the student resenting not only the teacher and assignment, but the author and the novel itself. Teachers are no longer teaching the book, but teaching for some outlook that the author may or may not have had. A book is no longer read for the story it provides but is read for who the author is and what they represent. Prose mentions a motion passed in 1999 by the San Francisco Board of Education mandating that "works of literature read in class