Essay 2 - assesment

Using the templates in They Say / I say, develop an essay that takes a nuanced position about some aspect of contemporary schooling. You should draw on either Freire or Gatto or both, as well as your own experiences and thinking to support your ideas.

After reading John Gatto’s article “Against School,” I was left very intrigued as well as amazed. Mr. Gatto is a very prestigious man and knows how to write, that much I can say, however I don’t want to give him the benefit of the doubt, personally I think he is wrong and I think his credibility is somewhat in question. From experience I know that my education was anything but conformity, or brainwashing, and definitely not robotic.

Gatto’s article initially begins on how he had been teaching for thirty years but when he lost his teaching license he realized he had been worked by the system. He was convinced that most students and teachers in America’s educational system were mindless products, simply bored. Taught by his grandfather, Gatto learned that boring people should be avoided and not trusted. I agree that school is boring, by means that not all subjects appeal and those likings are personal choices. I was greatly influenced by my elders as a child as well but my actions remained separate from their advice, taking things with a grain of salt I learned that it was better to formulate my own opinions and discover things on my own.

Gatto wonders if school is even necessary, he states, “ Do we really need school? I don’t mean education, just forced schooling: six classes a day, five days a week, nine months a year, for twelve years. Is this deadly routine really necessary?” Gatto complicates it even more when he writes, “ ...a considerable number of well-known Americans never went through the twelve-year wringer our kids go through...Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln?” Sure these men were unschooled and were prominent people but from our history these men are a dime a dozen, few people are such prodigies. Schools are backbones for children and their education, if that wasn’t the case then why would I be in a college scenario. I’ve been to 4 different schools growing up and not one of them hindered me or felt conformist. The range of my educational level was different too, one school was in a bad area with lower standards and then my high school was one of the best in the city if not the best. All of them gave me equal opportunities to think for myself and be unique.

Gatto’s interpretation of America’s schooling system, the nineteenth century Prussian way. The six steps or goals that is the actual purpose of our schools: Adjustive, integrating, diagnostic and directive, differentiating, the propaedeutic. All functions in the system that idealize that schools should destroy interesting material, intentionally make children alike, determine social roles, choose a select few (survival of the fittest), and finally the people who will be in charge of implementation. Where I grew up in Southern California it certainly did not feel the entrapment of the Prussian lifestyle. I always felt that teachers went out of their way to help out students. Many of them were very non traditional, asking for permission to use books out of the curriculum or their styles of teaching were different. Using creative games they had invented or maybe not assign homework because they thought it was up to the student to choose for themselves. Sure they gave us “goals” but who doesn’t want our next generation of children to be as successful or more than the previous. My science teacher wrote on every handout, “ Future Scientist Of America,” even if we hated science or had no intentions of being educators. I think he felt motivated to inspire kids in his on way.

As “educated” as Mr. Gatto is, I think he has some issues to work out. I mean he criticizes schooling so much and hates the system enough to go through numerous schools himself. He attends both public and private schools growing up and attends at least 7 Universities for his undergrad and graduate works. He also joined and served in the U.S Army talk about conformity. For a teacher with 30 years of profession I don’t understand his motive or why he changes. Is his grandfather that much of an influence or just something he can write about? Is he bitter? I don’t know him or know enough to say, however I do know that school is a fundamental part to a students success not only for myself but for the people I relate with. Where would I be without school? Not here at state that’s sure.

Diffculty paper 1 Shitty first drafts Anne Lamott

In the article titled “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, she addresses all the steps she has to go through to come up with her polished works. First Lamott starts off with a summary of what she’s a believer in, a brief description of her thoughts and personal life. Shortly she addresses to what I believe is her thesis and is finally ready to talk about her “Shitty” first drafts. At first she writes what she calls a “child’s draft” which is her first 5 pages of just brainstorming. Composed of just visions and gibberish she does this in thought that no one is going to see this first draft anyway so she gives herself the ability to write anything that comes to mind. Lamott gives many varied visuals of her process, “It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible.” After crossing out lines and phrases that she could live without, she would continue on to rewriting a second draft. Lamott’s process of writing and revising seems crazy but I’d have to agree with her and say that writing is an arduous task. She mentions thoughts of suicide and panic, “I’d obsess about getting creamed by a car before I could write a decent second draft.” It’s funny because when I write, I too, am over come by fear. The fear of deadlines, quality, and what the reader will think. I found this article an easy read and enjoyable, even though Lamott’s way of writing is informal. I think using profanity and even titling her article “Shitty First Drafts” kind of affects her credibility as a writer. I had always been taught not to use profanity in essays because it takes away from your essay and makes you seem like a bad writer. Otherwise a good article by Lamott, I understand that writing is a difficult process but she does have an informal way of writing and I probably wouldn't start my essays particularly her way.

difficulty paper-The"Banking" concept of education Paulo Freire

The “Banking” Concept of Education by Paulo Freire is a piece about teacher student relationships. The teacher serves as a “filler”, while the student serves as the “receptacle.” As Paulo says, “ The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is.” A very well written piece but to me proven very difficult to read and comprehend. I found myself completely distracted from it. Given, Freire brings out many good points, the language and style he chose was to much for me to grasp. Constantly wondering what some words meant left me hanging. I also found myself going back and rereading paragraphs because by the time I was done, I still didn't have the material down. I know reading hard like this is good for the sake of becoming a better writer and reader, but being able to understand it helps as well. I think that if Paulo changed somethings, and I don't mean to dumb down his writing but he could try broaden his writing for the different types of readers willing to read his concepts of education.

difficulty paper-"Against School" John Gatto

John Gatto’s “Against School,” is about how Gatto has spent his last 30 years teaching and realizing that most students and teachers in America’s educational system is bound by boredom. He compares schools to prisons and students to mindless drones who only work for the grades or who fail the system. Gatto explains that teachers become bored because they were once those students and they are also part of the problem. John Gatto questions why we even have schooling, “Is this deadly routine really necessary?” If Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Carnegie, and Rockefeller didn’t need an education to become successful, then what’s the point. Gatto’s brief history lesson on how our educational system is a model of 19th century Prussian system is quite interesting. Using the words from a harvard course, Inglis, it breaks down the purpose of our schooling into 6 points. Gatto is very serious and is convinced that our educational system, limits, destroys, conforms, and selects our children and does not allow them to grow as individuals, as they were taught in 19th century Prussia.
Gatto’s article is an excellent piece and comes across with many points and examples to prove to the reader that our “schooling” is boring. However, I would disagree with almost all of this article. I don’t understand how Gatto has changed or what he’s done to change his opinion of our educational system since he spent 30 years being an educator himself. Gatto gave good examples of how men like Ben Franklin succeeded, “unschooled...but not uneducated.” That’s great. I still believe that we need our schooling system for structure and as base for our futures. These men are a dime a dozen, not everyone is a prodigy waiting to be discovered, students need fundamentals to be most successful in their careers. As for school limiting, sure, there are certain forms of limitations a school can have that might hinder students. However I feel that our educational system is changing and is allowing for more individuality and choice in schools.