Education and Empowerment

I agree with Taylor's argument to a degree. Boredom does not produce good results- many brilliant students never realize their potential because teachers and school systems try to force them into some predefined mold. I am lucky enough to have always attended a school that has encouraged me to be actively involved with what I learn, and to make schooling inetresting. Though I can certainly not say that I have never been "bored" of school, I can say that the years of education that I have recieved- taken, if you will- will be well paid off. Many people that do poorly in school are bored. Not at a challenging school nessecarily- but at a regular school system with regular, "cell-like" classrooms and teachers. I know someone in particular who attended Carmel schools before eventually moving to Sycamore and then University. He told me once that he got very poor grades at Carmel, which obviously surprised me because he is extremely intelligent and a straight A student here. Upon being asked why, he simply said that he was so bored that he didn't do any of the work. Though I have not experienced this firsthand, I have heard many cases of this phenomenon- someone with a very high intelligence absolutely not applying themselves until they are given a reason to show that the work is worth their application. Some school systems have created programs for children like these- such as the Extended Learning Program at Pike- but other school systems try to lump all children together into one homogenous mass. When I shadowed at the Key School, which is in IPS dstrict and underfunded, Spanish 1 2 and 3 were all lumped together in one class. I have heard teachers complain about teaching "slower" and "faster" kids within the same class; I can't even imagine what it could be like to teach three different levels within a classroom!
This article makes me think a little bit about the movie "Freedom Writers", where kids- not well educated yet bright- were put in a high school freshman class with a new teacher who didn't seem to understand that they "did not posess the abilities" that other kids did. She slowly rekindled their love to learn by connecting with them. When I went to IPS school 54, many of the older teachers had just submitted to yelling at the kids until they did what they were told, while some of the younger teacheres became more involved in the kids' lives. It seems as theough some people that have been teaching for a long time lose the love for teaching, and lose touch with the interests of the kids. Just because a kid doesn't get good grades doesn't mean they are unintelligent. I can think of several very distinct examples of this.


So his position on wiping out schools. I don't agree with this, because a poor education can be better than no education at all- though, that is debateable- and though he used examples, it was still a time period full of ignorance, hatred, racism, and other various problems. Certainly schools should be imporoved- they should not be all homogenous, as children are not and have different needs that must be catered to- different types of programs should be enacted. Teachers should have to ability to connect with students, not just preach things at them. It's difficult to achieve in a school where the students don't pay to go and therefore the teachers are paid less. Often times the more talented teachers teach at private schools- which is fine- but in many ountries, public schools are no "worse" than private schools. the quality of the education recieved is very similar. People shouldn't have to pay to recieve a quality education- every school should be able to tailor to the needs of improving every individual. This is obviously easy to say and hard to do, but it is the only way to keep kids in school and keep them from being bored.