Author's Reasons

            Jerry Large’s reasons were based mostly off of his experiences. He believes that “grit” is the most important thing because if a student has grit, they can work hard to accomplish anything. Hard work pays off, and Large sees hard work as being the number one priority.

            Barry Boyce calls for mindfulness as the most important concept for students. He argues that mindfulness not only will help someone in school, but in life as well. His ideology stresses from the believe that if one is stress free, they will be able to do well in all other aspects of life, such as school.

            Keith Gilyard believes that arts are necessary for education. Expression can lead to great ideas, and those ideas can make great thinkers. We will never know what a student is capable of if they are not able to follow their passion. Albert Einstein was quoted saying “We’re all geniuses. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Therefore, students must be able to study their interests.

            Deb Arson believes that lack of censorship is critical to schooling, and I agree with her. If knowledge is blocked, true intelligence can never be reached.

            hooks believes in critical thinking. If we are able to think critically, we are able to solve any of our problems.

High School

            High school to me is as democracy was to Plato: the best worst idea we have. It is a corrupt and often unworthy system, but so far, it is the best that we have. We are not fortunate enough to live in a society in which we can specialize everyone to improve on what they are good at. It is simply impossible. High school is our attempt as a society to deem the intelligent, from the unnecessary. It is our attempt to set a standard for kids to meet, and punish their future if they do not. We assume that by standardized test we may find the few individuals who’s minds can be useful, but we often wind up moving past intelligent people due to unfortunate grade marks. I was glad to leave high school. AP and other advanced classes can help, but everyone is still held at the same subjective standards and it’s difficult for them (students) to thrive knowing that there are expected to fail. I understand the goal behind high school: to have a relatively educated general populous, but the system does have many flaws. It is better than no education system, and there are for more important issues, but working to improve things should always be considered.

Gatto and Friere

            John Gatto and Paolo Friere agree that our school system is corrupt. Gatto calls it “crippling” and Friere refers to it as “treating people like objects.” They both feel as if our school system treats everyone as if they were the same [objects] and that neither the teachers nor the students are able to contribute real value in this system. They disagree on the reasoning behind ours schools being corrupt however. Gatto sees it as crippling students chances of really being educated, as to where Freire sees it as educating them, but in a mindless, robotic way. Gatto claims that the goals of public education are, “to make good people, to make good citizens, and to make each person his or her personal best.” Friere staes that the function of the school is run as “the teacher teaches and the students are taught; the teacher knows everything and the student knows nothing; the teacher thinks and the students are thought about; the teacher talks and the students listen – meekly; the teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined; the teacher chooses and enforces his choice, and the students comply; the teacher acts and the students have the illusion of acting through the teacher…” They agree that the school has decided and what should be taught and hoe it should be taught and that both of these things are corrupt, and unjust.

Gatto's Claims on High School

            Gatto’s claims on high school compared to my high school experience in the sense that when I was in high school, even enrolled in AP and other advanced math and language classes, I still often felt as if I were in a day care or a factory as opposed to a school. Teachers were often GIVEN a curriculum, not free to make their own, and because of this, they would simply teach their given lecture, give their given assignments and exams, and that would be it. Many teachers were focused only on us learning information, not on us increasing our intelligence. I believe this was not entirely their fault, for they were instructed how to teach, but I do not believe that Joe Gatto was far off in his claim that the public k-12 education program cripples our kids. I’m not sure if private education systems are much better, but we don’t encourage our kids to think outside the decided “good” information, and who knows how the intelligence of our populous would increase if we did? Dictating what students must learn is like assigning them a job based off nothing. There will be the few students who are able to rise above this, but we’re losing potentially great minds along the way. Gatto’s claim was not in-accurate, but what to do about it, I do not know. 

Mr. Escalante and Mr. Keeting

            Mr. Keeting and Mr. Escalante were much more similar, than different. They both cared a great amount about their students and used whatever methods necessary to get them to learn. They were somewhat different in their teaching methods, but with the same goal in mind. Mr. Keeting used situations to make his students think critically and be brave, as to where Mr. Escalante used real world situations to relate to his students. Both teachers inspired their students, but were in very different situations. Mr. Keeting dealt with rich kids from good families, as to wear Mr. Escalante was working with studnts in a poor down, most with shaky upbringings. Both teachers aimed to inspire growth and progress within their students. They promoted individuality and excellence. Both wanted to see their students succeed, and more than that, wanted their students to see beyond what the world, and society, and their families saw for them. These teachers both saw a need for change in part of the educational system and their respective schools, and even though they were rejected, they stuck to what they believed in, and prevailed. And it worked out mostly. Despite some set backs, they achieved what they desired in their students, and changed many young lives.

Mr. Escalante and Mr. MacFarland

            Mr. Escalante was similar to Mr. MacFarland in the sense that they were simply more than teachers to their students. They bonded with them, they befriended them, they mentored them, and in life as well as in school. Both teachers had relationships with their students outside of class and it proved very effective. The two teachers were similar in even their background to teaching. Both could have had a “better” job, but chose to work in smaller school that need good teachers. Why? Because they wanted to help. They didn’t just want to be teachers; they wanted to TEACH. They were both very interested in their students doing well after high school and both took steps into helping with the furthering of education of their students. Mr. Escalante with getting one of his student’s father to allow her to stop working in the restaurant and go to college, and Mr. MacFarland with doing all he could to get Mike Rose into Loyola. And look where he is now! Both teachers came in with their curriculum in mind and were not going to have it any other way. They didn’t care that the students weren’t into their curriculum, they kept it going and eventually their students started to like it. Both teachers took the extra step, and it paid off. 

Mr. Escalante

            Mr. Escalante was a great teacher. He willing took a beyond difficult teaching job because he wanted to help kids and wanted to teach. He consistently went out of his way to help a kid in their learning. On his first day of class, there were a lot of tough looking students, but Mr. Escalante was not intimidated. He knew that if he treated them as equals, he would earn their respect and hopefully get to them, as he did with one. Mr. Escalante came in to class happy every day, and that can always have a big impact on students. It reduces their stress, and smiles can be contagious. He knew that a lot of these students had tough lives, so he was very good about turning real life situations into lessons, and it tended to work. He TRULY believed in his students. He knew that they could learn and he held faith in them even when the other teachers doubted them. Occasionally, Mr. Escalante would good-heartedly embarrass his students into getting them to do their work, like when one girl didn’t want to take a test and he made her sit in a tiny chair in front of the class while they laughed at her. Mr. Escalante learned about his students and based his curriculum off of them. He was a fantastic teacher.