Exploratory essay Niraj

7/30/2019 Exploratory essay Niraj

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Niraj Patel

English 1103

Megan Keaton

Exploratory Essay

Education

Its embedded in our society to go to school and receive free public education or, if they

choose, private education. Schools main goal today is to provide education to students so that

they can better themselves and adapt to the changing society. As society moves on and we

learn new things, we are constantly aspiring to reach new goals. However, the education

system in place does not help new students become avid about learning. In this paper I will

discuss three scholars who have found faults in the current education system because of the

lack of motivation it gives students.

In the book How Working Class Chicas Get Working Class Lives Julie Bettie describes the

opposite of a motivated class. The book describes lower class Latina girls in vocational classes

who do not really care about their education. They valued their looks over education and

barely did any school related work. Consequently, their primary focus was on graduating from

high school, regardless of grades. If it was not necessary to pass a particular class to graduate,

then little effort was invested (Bettie). Bettie is describing the students in this class have no

motivation for learning and just want to graduate. The girls do the bare minimum in school just

to get by and receive a diploma. Bettie implies that a lack of a motivational environment is a

direct cause of why these girls only care to graduate.


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In 1980, Jean Anyon wrote a research article identifying how types of teaching methods

differ in every economic class. She studied working class schools, middle class schools, affluent

professional schools, and executive elite schools. What she found is that the types of teaching

methods in those various economic classes were associate in producing workers of the same

social class, like a working class school was likely to produce a working class adult.

Bettie and Anyon mention working class schools and describe how the class is run.

education. Bettie mentions that the students just do the work to graduate rather than do the

work to learn and achieve new things, while the teacher does not really control the class.

Anyon describes working class teaching methods as just following procedures, no creativity

involved and little discussions in class. She also points out that there is no constructive

communication between teacher and student. Anyon suggests that these working class schools

value vocational skills and little general education. They both suggest that working class

schools have less of an opportunity in education because the classes are not made to do so.

Anyon would argue that the way the kids are taught makes them think a certain way. In

the working class schools, for example, the students are told what to do and how to do it rather

than taught how it connects with other assignments or why the work was being assigned

(Anyon). They had little freedom in the assignments and were controlled by the teacher

without respect. Instead, the teachers said, "Shut up," "Shut your mouth," "Open your books,"

"Throw your gum away-if you want to rot your teeth, do it on your own time." Teachers made

every effort to control the movement of the children, and often shouted, "'Why are you out of

your seat??!!" The students were not taught to analyze and problem solve but rather just copy

the teacher. Contrarily, Anyon discusses the executive elite classes that showed an entirely


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new way of teaching. In the executive elite school, work is developing one's analytical

intellectual powers. Children are continually asked to reason through a problem, to produce

intellectual products that are both logically sound and of top academic quality (Anyon). The

kids in these schools were taught to think critically as early as elementary school. They come

up with their own conclusions after listening to class discussions. They are not just told what to

do but with the teachers help guide through problems and use decision making, something the

working class students just couldnt achieve.

A big point she tries to make is that without a proper method of teaching, students

could lose innate potential because if they arent taught to use their minds in a certain way

then they lose out on the opportunity to become innovative and keep up with societys

adaptive nature. Differing curricular, pedag ogical, and pupil evaluation practices emphasize

different cognitive and behavioral skills in each social setting and thus contribute to the

development in the children of certain potential relationships to physical and symbolic

capital, to authority, and to the process of work (Anyon).

Sir Ken Robinson, a British educationalist, did a TED (Technology, Entertainment, and

Design) conference where he talked about how schools kill creativity. He implies that the way a

student is taught is how they can adapt to society. Referring to the working class schools that

Jean Anyon mentioned, we see that the students did not have much freedom in what they did

and little creativity was shown, while the upper schools let the kids show off some originality.

Robinson would agree that working class schools do not promote creativity because they are

criticized for being wrong and never explained why something is. If youre not prepared to be

wrong, you will never come up with anything original. (Sir Ken Robinson). In Anyons article


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the working class students are told do it this way or its wrong while the executive elite

teacher would ask How would you do that? letting the student in charge of their own mind

and knowledge (Anyon). Referring to Working Class Chicas, Bettie wrote about the working

class schools had students who werent motivated by education at all and so they showed no

support for school. They assumed that it was too late to change their plans to make room for

college which would support what Anyon said about working class schools seem to produce

working class workers as if it is a cycle. Robinson proclaimed that the lack of interaction in the

classroom can hinder creativity. Anyon observed that the top affluent professional and

executive elite schools had great classroom interaction, learned from concepts, and, most

importantly, used creativity. Robinson and Anyon would both suggest that to further improve

students there must be better methods of teaching where kids are motivated to learn and can

use creativity.

All three scholars discussed in this essay show that there are faults in the education

system we have in place. These are people who have witnessed how education affects people.

I think they all have a good understanding that some schools are not improving upon the lives

of the students and that school should be a place to help students reach their potential.

Education needs to adapt to our ever-changing society to meet the needs of students so that

they can become a respected member of society and then society can move forward. Every

student deserves an equal opportunity.


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Works cited

Anyon, Jean. "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work." Journal of Education 162.1 (1980):

Print.

Bettie, Julie. "Women Without Class: Girl's Race and Identity." Los Angeles University of California

Press . Ch. 3. (2003): 57-94. Print.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity. Ted Talks. 2006. youtube.com . Web. 24 Feb.

2013. .

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Exploratory essay Niraj