Quotes from "The Shame of the Nation" by Jonathan Kozol Chapter 5, "American Education" by Joel Spring Chapter 5, and "Educational Foundations" by Alan S. Canestrari and Bruce A. Marlowe Chapters 5 and 6

Kozol Page 110

“As damaging as the obsessive emphasis on testing often proves to be for kids in general, I believe that the effects are still more harmful in those schools in which the resources available to help the children learn the skills that will be measured by these tests are fewest, the scores they get are predictably the lowest, and the strategies resorted to by principals in order to escape the odium attaching to a disappointing set of numbers tend to be the most severe.”

In general, testing is one thing that’s slowing ruining the school system.  Teachers are now teaching to the test instead of allowing their creativity to take over and make school be what it should be.  It’s hard to be creative when a teacher knows his/her students have to learn to answer so and so questions by a certain date.  Students sit silently in chairs, hours at a time, and taking test after test.  I remember simply taking the DRP tests in fifth grade and to be quite honest, I did try in the beginning but the test was just so long I started filling in random bubbles on the sheet so I could just finish.  Why does a test need to be so excruciatingly long?  I can’t even take tests that long to this day without getting bored and practically giving up on it, what makes anyone think a 10 year old can do it!?  This is definitely way worse of a situation in urban areas as well because they are getting far less of an education in a suburban area, but are still required to take the same tests.  This is why schools all over the US are being labeled “failing schools” and teachers are being laid off left and right, and schools are closing down.  It’s getting quite ridiculous to be blunt and clearly, nothing it being done to stop it.  What can be done to stop it though?  Should we just up and drop the tests or change the tests or change what the tests actually entitle?  What about the students that aren’t good test takers and can’t just sit for hours trying their best like myself?  They simply fail and let their school down because no one can think of a better way to test these children?  A school should be getting a proper education with the proper resources before forcing them to take such a test. 

Kozol Page 120

“Pediatricians and psychiatrists may be disturbed to hear of schools where recess is truncated or abolished in the desperation to carve out a bit more time for drilling children for exams; but from the point of view of businesslike efficiency—“time management” and “maximizing productivity”—it may seem to make no sense to squander time on something that has no apparent benefit beyond the fact that it may be enjoyable and healthy.”

Picture an urban area with failing schools because the test scores are just terrible.  Kids are playing on the playground for 30 minutes a day?  That’s insane!  Why?  Because they can just completely skip that play time and work more of course!  The more they work, the better the test scores; in fact, let’s just take away summer to.  Sounds completely insane right?  That’s because it is and unfortunately this is what’s happening to schools around us every day.  Do people not remember having recess when they were a child and what would happen that ONE time a teacher took it away, if they ever did, because their class was being too rowdy?  Honestly, today students are probably failing tests and being rowdy in class because of the lack of recess they are getting.  Children need to run outside and get some fresh air to be healthy, to just breathe, to just forget about academics for half an hour.  When I was in elementary school we had a morning recess, middle of the day recess, and an afternoon recess.  I don’t quite remember the time frames of any of them, but hey, we had them at least!  Schools are just so focused on passing these tests and not becoming a failing school that they are forgetting the well being of the actual individuals that even make their school a school: the children. 

 Canestrari and Marlow Page 37

“Forcing speakers to monitor their language typically produces silence.”

The experiment that was done with the teachers and “iz” language was a great example of this quote.  Teachers just stopped talking or started talking in their own, normal language again.  Of course, not teach Standard English in the day and age of the US today will most likely hinder a child’s future.   But, this goes for all languages that aren’t Standard English.  It just seems more of an issue in this case because it’s so very close to Standard English compared to something like Spanish.  If a teacher were to sit down with a Spanish-speaking student and ask them to read a book given to them in English and the child reads in fluently in Spanish, that’s quite amazing in my book.  I couldn’t look at a Spanish book and read it fluently in Standard English.  If a child who speaks Ebonics can read a Standard English book in their own words and completely comprehend what is going on, we have a winner.  Why should we stop and correct said child constantly throughout the reading to correct them?  That’s probably the most annoying thing a person can do to another person.  I absolutely hate it when someone corrects what I say or how I’m explaining something, I would just keep my mouth shut if that happened to me all the time.  That’s not good though, especially in school because teachers thrive of students talking in class.  What kind of classroom would a teacher have if no one ever spoke up in class asking questions, giving comments, and sharing stories?  Unfortunately, it’s our society today and if we, as teachers, want our students to get the best from their future, something needs to either be done with language or society.  Clearly, language is the one that’s going to have to change because our society doesn’t know how to. 

Canestrari and Marlow Page 45

“Discrimination is usually based on prejudice, that is, the attitudes and beliefs of individuals about entire groups of people.  These attitudes and beliefs are generally, but not always, negative.”

These attitudes and beliefs, whether negative or positive, are stereotypes and our society is overflowing with them.  People are discriminating against a race or a culture or an individual when they say something, a generalization, of some sort to someone else or to themselves.  People don’t view this as discrimination though, so it continues; whether the stereotype is positive or negative though, it’s still wrong.  For example: white people are snobs and rich and have things handed to them.  This was something said about Caucasians in our class the other day while talking about stereotypes.  I’m Caucasian and I don’t see those stereotypes as a Caucasian applying to me personally.  It goes the same if someone were to say something along the lines of, if you’re Hispanic than you must be an amazing dancer.  Yes, it sounds nice, but what is that person really saying?  There are stereotypes everywhere and I feel as though they are never going to go away.  Why is there a need to harass someone because of what they like or because of their culture or how their hair is?  Is it fun and I’m just missing something?  Or do these people have honestly doesn’t better to do with their lives?

Spring Page 118

“Working with social psychologists from Japan and China, Nisbett concluded that Japanese and Chinese students have a holistic worldwide view while U.S. students tend to see the world as made up of discrete categories of objects that could be defined by a set of rules.”

I’ve heard time and time again from various people in various places that U.S. students see very differently than the students around the rest of the world.  The U.S. is stuck in its on little world and we all act like this is all that matters and this is all there is.  That being said, that’s what we teach our children and our children’s children and this is why we are what we are today.  Students in Japan and China for example, have so much knowledge and so much empathy about the world because that is what they are taught.  Is this what we want for our children to only know where they are?  Yes, we have history classes and geography classes, but what do students really take from these classes?  Are we even teaching them right?   

Spring Page 129

“Reflecting on her teaching experiences, she writes, “White students…often struggle with strong feelings of guilt when they become aware of the pervasiveness of racism…These feelings are uncomfortable and can lead white students to resist learning about race and racism.”  Part of the problem, she argues, is that seeing oneself as the oppressor creates a negative self-image, which results in a withdrawal from a discussion of the problem.”

Throughout school experiences in history classes students learn about white people enslaving people of color for their own needs.  They also hear about the plenty of white people that were allies to the people of color throughout that time period as well and this is something that can help white students feel more comfortable about talking about racism.  Students may feel frightened that people of their own race is the problem so they may not want to speak of it and they shut down.  Is this something we should be talking about in schools, even in elementary schools?  When students are very young, they are more apt to speak with how they really feel rather than withdrawing.  If racism and discrimination and prejudice, if this is all discussed in elementary schools through high schools everywhere, would this help at all?  Would this be what is needed to knock out stereotypes and perceptions of others or will this be something that worsens it?  It seems like just a delicate topic to everyone, even the government who rarely speaks of it if at all, but is it really that delicate or is everyone just making it something difficult to speak about?