As a student, I also spent long hours in school learning different subjects sometimes feeling like class was long even if only 20 mins had passed, taking forever to end and other times when time went by fast that I lose track. What I noticed in my 4 years of high school, was that not only some classmates would take naps with the teacher unbothered while in other classes everyone was so attentive to what the teacher was saying but that I also grew as an individual. School is defined as an institution where children are educated. As students we are taught to listen carefully, think critically, be able to connect points together and the ability to think on our own but there are various ways for a person to be educated such as learning from personal experiences and lessons thought to us by our elders.
School plays an important role in developing skills because their goal is for students to learn and it’s up to us as students do our part also .The issue that revolves in the school system is whether or not each student is provided with enough resources and good school environment or if the student is even aware and taking advantage of those resources. To John Taylor Gatto we may just mindless consumers produced by the school system, implying that school is in fact useless and pointless but why is that some students show more interest than others?, not only will the desire of being successful always be stronger than poor teachings that may exist but it may just be because students don’t know how to ask for help and fight against the system . As students it’s our duty to do our job and be responsible in school which means doing our homework, following directions but most importantly being able to learn and take something from each class and apply it to other classes and especially outside of school.
School benefits us in some of the following ways: learning a new subject, allow us to interact with other people, have access to teachers and friends who support you so you can be the best you can be, the environment we are in allow us to build friendships with our classmates, the ability to learn how to work with others which is also crucial in life and most importantly prepare unto succeed and strive in a profession we worked hard for our entire life, not only for satisfaction but for stability. In “ Learning (Your First Job) by Robert Leamnson“knowledege is what has the potential for improving the individual and society ”(9), the information,strategies and lessons we learned in school can be used to our advantage and outside of school. Based on my experience being part of the school system I disagree that it manipulated us into becoming consumers and addicts but rather provided us with opportunities to become successful and be able to fulfill our desire.
A school environment provide students with access to teachers and classmates when we are in need of help, when we aren’t completely sure about something. In my opinion, a teacher should go beyond just teaching their knowledge to their students but rather be role models, a mentor and nature them. If a teacher offers you help but you don’t show that you care, they’ll eventually give up and it’s up to you to show effort. When I have trouble and need a deeper explanation I would most likely refer to a textbook but it’s important to realize we have teachers there to help us, teachers aren’t only meant to give us information that we have to learn for the class but are there to be utilized and allow their knowledge to enforce and grow ours. We have the ability to work in groups, pairs, do projects together even doing projects alone will enhance your ability to know new information while we can discuss about how we can help each other, not only improving ourselves but others also. Gatto suggests that the school “has done a spectacular job of turning our children into children”, the idea of turning us into children isn’t relevant because as we go into the next grade the lessons get harder rather than education being dumbed down to make it easier for us to understand. Schools basically challenge students allowing them to exceed their limitations and what they thought they weren’t capable of doing .
