Source Entry for Schools Kill Curiosity—Brianna M

Part 1: MLA Citation

Berliner, Wendy. ““Schools Are Killing Curiosity”: Why We Need to Stop Telling Children to Shut up and Learn.” The Guardian, The Guardian, 28 Jan. 2020, www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/28/schools-killing-curiosity-learn.

Part 2:Summary

Wendy Berliner’s article, “Schools Are Killing Curiosity,” discusses how schools nowadays frequently discourage children from being inquisitive, despite the fact that curiosity is crucial for learning and development. She cites instances where teachers have told pupils to follow their lesson plans and not ask questions, which has prevented them from learning new material. The article shows that children, particularly those with fewer resources, perform better in school when they are encouraged to be curious. However, rather of allowing children to explore and ask questions, many schools place a greater emphasis on discipline and fact memorization. According to Berliner, fostering curiosity is more crucial since it enables children to think critically and get a meaningful understanding of the world. Finally, She argues that as curiosity is crucial for learning throughout life and for performing well in school, schools should emphasize it more.

Part 3: Rhetorical Analysis

A feature piece is the genre. Because she wrote the book “How to Succeed as School,” Wendy Berliner is a credible author. What every parent should know”. The Guardian, the publication that released this information, is a trustworthy source because of their reputation for investigative journalism. Wendy Berliner wants her audience to understand that most schools don’t let kids fulfill their potential and satisfy their curiosity. The target audience consists of parents who are currently searching for trustworthy schools for their kids. Given that the article was written in 2020—just four years ago—this is a current concern. Berliner is credible because she authored a book “Great Minds and How to Grow them”. Both the author and the source of this article are very reliable and rational, referencing numerous other research sources to back up Berliner’s claims.

Notable Qutoes

“Curious children call out and point, but the teacher draws their attention back – that is not how the lesson target says they are going to learn about the weather.”(Berliner 1)

“When her team logged classroom questions, she found the youngest children in an American suburban elementary school asked between two and five questions in a two-hour period. Even worse, as they got older the children gave up asking altogether. There were two-hour stretches in fifth grade (year 6) where 10 and 11-year-olds failed to ask their teacher a single question.”(Berliner 9)

“Last September the nursery took the radical step of permanently removing most of its toys for two-year-olds and replacing them with a range of cardboard boxes, tin cans, pots and pans, old phones, kettles, computers and plumbing supplies – anything with creative possibilities.” (Berliner 14)

1 thought on “Source Entry for Schools Kill Curiosity—Brianna M”

  1. IN Summary — don’t forget to give at least one piece of research — Berliner cites quite a few research studies as evidence.

    Where did you get this?Since Wendy Berliner, the author of this piece, is a mom herself, we can presume that she wrote it.

    You cannot presume anything!

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