Mia Carter
A Lab Rat in your classroom
Ever feel like a lab rat? When it comes to anything you do in life does your life feel like an experiment and you always have to test everything out. Or the things you do or been in are testing you. I know when I was in school grades k-12 I felt like a lab rat. When you were in school did you ever feel like a lab rat? When I was in middle school the principal and some other people would come into the classroom for the whole period and watch everything that happens. That made me feel like a lab rat. That my teacher was the scientist and I was the rat being used for the experiment. That was the idea schools are like science labs they study students and use students as experiments to see how the young minds will act by being drilled with information, habits, and attitudes. That they believe we will be used in society when we get older. Always feeling that you have to show off and make yourself and the teacher look good.
When I went to school it always felt like we had to put on a show. To make sure that you and your teacher looked good. I feel that schools do this on purpose for us to learn to work in a situation that would happen in the future while working. However when this happens kids feel like they’re doing something wrong. Seeing the person write on their clipboard and not say a word to you. But when they do talking to you they ask you questions like “do you understand the topic? Is the teacher helping you? Can you explain the topic to me?” And at that point, you wonder what should I really tell them. The true on whether I understand or not and is it going to get me or my teacher in trouble. Kids in this situation don’t know what to do. They feel under pressure to say the right answer. Is this suppose to be teaching or Preparing them to be scared when asked a question or on telling the truth.
Kids shouldn’t be lab rats. They’re there to learn not to be used as a experiment to see how well the teachers are, the types of teaching strategies they use or the main fact is did you learn something new and can prove it by taking a test. This is not teaching kids young minds information, habits and attitudes that they believe kids will be using in society when we get older. They’re teaching kids that everything in life is a test. Whether you like it or not you will always be tested. Making you out to look like those lab rats. Always having something new being tested on you whether you like it or not. That you have no say in what happens but that’s not true. Have a say in anything you do and that’s school. You have a say in how you want to learn, on how your teacher teaches you the topic on things that would help you understand it.
This is the truth when it comes to John Taylor Gatto’s article “Against School,” where he rates public schools intentions and there effectiveness of their education. As a teacher in the New York City school system were he grows to believe that the school system makes children oppose to education and preparing them to be responsible adults. Gatto mentions in the article, “ First, though  we must wake up to what our schools really are: laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands.”(5) Based on this statement, the public school system is the place were kid go to be brainwashed by the educational system. Drilling habits and attitudes that we would need in society. Schools are like science labs they study students and use students as experiments to see how the young minds will act by being drilled with information, habits and attitudes they think that will be used in society.  Â
School is the place to learn not to feel scared that you are wrong for something. Students aren’t lab rats they’re kids. Just wanting to have fun while at school. Not wanting to feel scared that they will be watched or be affected if they answer with the wrong question. This is the time for kids to speak up and say how they feel and what they want from their education system. That they don’t want to feel wrong when answering a question with their true opinion feeling that it will affect someone badly. School is a place to speak your mind and to talk with other people about it. Not a place to feel trapped, iceolated or being able to tell the truth.
Works Cited:
Against School – John Taylor Gatto, www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm.
Mentor article
The Purpose of Education- According to Students. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/10/the-purpose-of-education-according-to-students/541602/
