Stereotypes Should Not Be Taught In Schools Essay
Complying with stereotypes, I, a teenage girl, went shoe shopping the other day. One of my favorite stores had advertised enormous price-cuts, and so I decided to take a peek. As I browsed through the flip-flops and multicolored rain boots, a lady in a business suit nearby held up a pair of heels. “These are thirty percent off of sixty dollar. How much is that?” she asked, a stumped look on her face. Her friend quickly pulled out a sleek, shiny smartphone and tapped some numbers into it. “That means they are forty-two dollars!” she replied, and understanding donned on her friend’s face. Similar situations are common in today’s plugged-in era. Yet what is the point of education if not to encourage problem-solving and the thought necessary
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to do such a simple mental calculation?
Schools have built the right foundation for an adequate education system.
To some degree, students are capable of reading and writing. They learn a simple understanding of science, math, and English, but in a system more focused that “no child [is] left behind”, students are not challenged beyond this mediocre comprehension.
High school graduates should be able to read a book and analyze the rhetoric. They should be capable of looking at the ocean, and remembering what ecosystem inhabits it. These accomplished students, the finished products, should be capable of viewing their world and recalling the lessons they learned about it. The ultimate goal of school is that students to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real life.
Yet, as the clueless shoe-shopper shows, that connection is failing to happen. Why can’t students take valuable lessons out of the school room? Perhaps this is because the wrong lessons are being taught in the first place.
Teachers are trying to tell students what to think. They hand out worksheets and multiple-choice quizzes, hoping that the students have finally managed to answer just they would. Yet if teachers encouraged students to reason for themselves and find the answer without being told it, these children would develop into much more effective society
members.
Class discussions, purposeful questions, and time to think are necessary classroom components. Reading literature that inspires students to question their lives and discover a new perspective on life promotes thought. Taking a test, however, and then never going over the incorrect answers does not.
Teach students to think, and they will question the way society is and try to improve it. Neglect to challenge students to reason, and they will head into life, looking for someone to think and make their decisions for them. Which would you rather have run our government, hospitals, schools, and, ultimately, lives?
to do such a simple mental calculation?
Schools have built the right foundation for an adequate education system.
To some degree, students are capable of reading and writing. They learn a simple understanding of science, math, and English, but in a system more focused that “no child [is] left behind”, students are not challenged beyond this mediocre comprehension.
High school graduates should be able to read a book and analyze the rhetoric. They should be capable of looking at the ocean, and remembering what ecosystem inhabits it. These accomplished students, the finished products, should be capable of viewing their world and recalling the lessons they learned about it. The ultimate goal of school is that students to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real life.
Yet, as the clueless shoe-shopper shows, that connection is failing to happen. Why can’t students take valuable lessons out of the school room? Perhaps this is because the wrong lessons are being taught in the first place.
Teachers are trying to tell students what to think. They hand out worksheets and multiple-choice quizzes, hoping that the students have finally managed to answer just they would. Yet if teachers encouraged students to reason for themselves and find the answer without being told it, these children would develop into much more effective society
members.
Class discussions, purposeful questions, and time to think are necessary classroom components. Reading literature that inspires students to question their lives and discover a new perspective on life promotes thought. Taking a test, however, and then never going over the incorrect answers does not.
Teach students to think, and they will question the way society is and try to improve it. Neglect to challenge students to reason, and they will head into life, looking for someone to think and make their decisions for them. Which would you rather have run our government, hospitals, schools, and, ultimately, lives?