Hw 50: Reading Responses

Andy Snyder: "we need others to help us become ourselves." 


Gatto's The 6 Lessons School Teacher:
     The first passage I read was one of the Gatto articles about the 6 lessons. I wasn't sure at first if he was being sarcastic or if he actually enforced such ridiculous standards at school. And yet, his article spoke a lot of (blunt) truth about the institution of school and how it is constructed to keep proper order and obedience in order for the students to complete an adequate education. Even though we (as students) are constantly reminded how lucky we are to have opportunities to go to school and make something of ourselves, we never really get a say in whether we agree with the techniques teachers use to teach us. It seems somewhat unfair that its its mandatory to attend school when in fact school many not be for everyone. It appears that Gatto was trying to expose in a humorous manner how school is labeled to serve one purpose and in retrospect completes a totally different one.


    In his very first lesson, Gatto explains how he's not just hired to teach a subject, rather to somehow hypnotise kids into following the rules that come with going to school. "My job is to make the kids like it -- being locked in together...You come to know your place." Its as if he's saying that he wants to convince them that they WANT to be there, as if somehow it was their free will to sit in a classroom all day because they're working towards a bigger more enriched goal of being a great student. Doing well in school usually equals out to being a good citizen, good future spouse and parent. Its hard to go against these standards because we're so easily influenced by it. And yet, by enforcing these rules it takes away a persons free will to choose what they want, to be independent and a "free thinker" (like that Keaton was trying to teach in the Dead Poets society). From an early age, if a child disagrees with a teacher, they are labeled disobedient and troubled. But is that really an accurate assumption anymore? Not all children can agree with one teacher.

    This was a bit hard to endure: "I never lie outright, but I've come to see that truth and [school]teaching are incompatible."

       I've come to realize that teachers must uphold this superior image to their students at all time because if they are taken off the pedestal that their students have them on, then they won't have as much influence to get away with whatever they teach. Not many students at an early age have the audacity to question a teacher, or just plain go against what they say. This makes it easier to teach a lesson, but it also creates a generation of people who are a slave to authority figures, who might not be able to think for themselves as much. If the aim is always to please others, then how will that student ever achieve personal happiness? Like Gatto said, schools "whose hidden curriculum prevents effective personality development."
        When he discusses about the absurdities of school, he really pinpoints how each class that differs in topic and curriculum happens to be given the same intervals of time, as if expected to be taught identically even though they serve completely unique purposes to the student. How can you compress all sorts of classes into the same time periods? Why do students so easily accept it? Is it because the consequences for go against the person who holds the outcome of your (academic) fate lies in their hands, and so you must tip tow around their demands?


 This was quite an informative piece and it makes me see school in a completely different light. Although I really do adore all of my teachers this year, its funny for they all differ in teaching techniques and how I preform differently in each subject. Although my favorite classes are English and History, I feel more pressure to do better in Science and Math because the consequences of falling behind are greater thanks to the authority of those teachers. Even so, I get more out of the classes that don't demand homework completion by the next day, and have much more insightful conversations with my peers because I'm given the freedom to do so. It seems that when I was given to freedom to choose if I want to do well, I felt more empowered when I actually did.

   The paragraphs to follow the 6 Lesson descriptions were the most telling because Gatto really identified the dangers of schools run like this, and how the only way to avoid such corruption is home schooling, or small de-institutionalized schools, which I think you could describe SOF as one of them. But unfortunately, low income families can't afford to home school their kids and a lot of them will resort to institutions that categorize and label their students by their backgrounds, leaving them with fewer opportunities to excel beyond the lifestyle their parents had. Its all pretty discouraging and sad.

     I blame this culture. I strongly believe that due to the toxic values out culture produces, kids are going to end up leading the same meaningless lives they see characters on TV leading. School's subconscious lessons teach kids to not become good listeners who take direction well and don't question the things their told. In the workplace, they will be expected to encompass these same qualities, never really accomplishing anything for themselves. Because students are so drained from a long day of they're minds being pushed and pulled by different dictators, they go home and partake in pop culture garbage by watching trashy t.v. shows, listening to degrading music and buying conformist outfits in order to be perfect little raunchy culture cloans. Its as if we aren't given many other alternatives since hardly anyone tells students to think for themselves. We just do what we're told because there isn't any other way to survive in this society.


John Gatto: Teacher of the Year Acceptance Speech

     This next article from Gatto confirmed the last point I made about his 6 Lessons article; that our culture is flawed in many respects. Something is wrong, due to the fact that there are so many teenage suicides (like the 3 at Cornell last month) and why 50% of marriages are prone to fail. Something must be off with the decisions people make, with their relationships and with their lack of faith in humanity and life. What can be done to make Americans more optimistic about learning, loving and life? Does it really all start with the schools?

Most memorable quotes from this text-
"Using school as a sorting mechanism we appear to be on the way to creating a caste system, complete with untouchables who wander through subway trains begging and sleep on the streets."
At my old school we had gifted and non gifted classes. I was in the gifted from 4th grade on. Even though Binta an exceptional student, she was in the non gifted all of her years at our elementary school. And Charles was too. A majority of the students in the non gifted  were caucasian and oriental, with some exceptions

 "The truth is that schools don’t really teach anything except how to obey orders." Gatto repeatedly makes this point throughout all of the articles I've read. From the very beginning, the very first day we enter elementary school we are expected to follow the instructions of the teacher who are put in charge of us. This doesn't seem too uncommon since we had been taking orders from our parents all the days leading up to schooling. But when is the age when we are too old to keep taking orders, when we are fully developed enough to think for ourselves? It seems like the government decides that age is 18, where you don't need the consent of a legal guardian, when you are officially considered an adult. But must our rights really be scarcely seen before then? Are we doomed for any individuality until our 18th birthdays?

"The homeschooling movement has quietly grown to a size where one and a half million young people are being educated entirely by their own parents, last month the education press reported the amazing news that children schooled at home seem to be five or even 10 years ahead of their formally trained peers in their ability to think."

"Schools are intended to produce through the application of formulae, formulaic human beings whose behaviour can be predicted and controlled."

"It is absurd and anti-life to be part of a system that compels you to sit in confinement with people of exactly the same age and social class. "

"-lives devoted to buying things, accumulation as a philosophy, all of them are additions of dependent personalities and that is what our brand of schooling must inevitably produce."




Interview with Tim Manley:
   Mr. Manly, my English teacher, came in to discuss his experience with schools and his transition from being the student to becoming a teacher. He didn't seems to have the traditional story that most other teachers have. He didn't always want to work in education, rather he just kind of fell into it. But overall he says its a very rewarding job that he feel fortunate to have especially since he engages in such insightful conversations with such smart people.
     I thought he was being a bit too modest when he refereed to his position here as a great one, but then when he discussed the comparison of SOF to another school he taught at, I realized how much the students here differ from those at other schools. Our learning environment is quite complex, which may be why most students from SOF go on to liberal arts colleges.
     Mr. Manley told us a story about teaching at some science school were he was hired at as a grammar teacher, that entailed solely teaching grammar strategies. He described it as being sheer agony to go to work everyday and just talk about grammar. He also informed us that his superiors instructed him to never get personal with his students. To not give any leeway into his outside of school life, and never ask them about theirs. This being pretty abnormal since Manley usually has a story to tell from his childhood in our English class, and on very special occasions has a viewing of a video he made when he was in high school.
    It seem unfortunate that students at that school aren't allowed to think of their teachers as cool people, rather just as informative robots whose role is just as the person who has the power to give them a good grade or not. They are missing out on so much, and yet Manly said they were so "well behaved." It seemed like because they were so concerned with doing well, they never actually had the option of being themselves.

      The one advantage Manley admitted to having by teaching at the other school was having all his students hand in their assignments, which is not as common at SOF. This got me wondering about whether the freedom to still learn without doing homework is better then achieving that good grade which may help an individual get into a better college, which could amount to a better future.
Which is better, current happiness or working towards future happiness? Living in the moment verse working for the future?

In conclusion, Manley said he values the opportunities he has to really get to know his students on a deep and person level. He says it makes waking up every morning to teach four classes a lot easier because he himself enjoys what he's doing, and feels his students enjoys themselves too.