Re "Hooked on a Myth," Oct.20,2015: Victoria Braithwaite claims that fish feel pain. I absolutely agree with Braithwaite. Some people might think of fish as dumb animals,because they don't show much emotion when a hook is in their mouth or a spear is thru their heads. But this doesn't mean that fish cannot feel pain. I have gone fishing very many times and know the empty looking face that most fish make after you reel them in, and the flapping gasping for water look while lying on the deck.…
To further analyze American history, and eliminate the truths from the myths, Loewen takes us through a journey of revealing the mindless optimism, blind patriotism, lies and misinformation that cloud most history books. He analyzes the information contained in 12 high school history books and s analyzes this information, providing what he believes is the truth, and separating it from the lies. Loewen provides an honest evaluation of the history of the United States, giving life and value into a history that had become very boring and monotonous. Introduction…
There is no question that the American education system is flawed and is not the most effective to teach students a broad range of academic subjects. Students are graded on the ability to reproduce knowledge onto a piece of paper after days, weeks, or months of studying a topic. The lack of this ability results in failure to earn a passing grade in the subject matter. If the student can reproduce the desired knowledge at a highly proficient rate, they receive a rating that distinguishes them from other students. In “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” an article written by Jerry Farber, a professor of English at the University of California at San Diego, the grading system is put at fault for the flawed educational system.…
Therefore, today 's students are learning less, getting less out of their education, and are less prepared for the profession that they get into. William Cole a literature instructor at Harvard University stated, "Most teachers seem to have forgotten the motivational power of a low grade" (Cole B3). Grades can do a lot more than just motivate students, but this is true. The option of failure is a motivator, and it encourages students to work hard. When students work hard for their success in school not only do they learn more about their profession but they learn a valuable life lesson that to succeed they…
Personal Myth Assignment: Shelby Mason Once upon a time there was a cowgirl princess named Fiona. Fiona had dreams to win the NFR and become a professional barrel racer. In spite of achieving her goals, daily Fiona would go out to the barn where her shetland pony, Pinky, stayed. She would practice running barrels on Pinky, but her times just weren't seeming to be fast enough.…
Dismissing a Harmful Myth The “all Asians are smart stereotype” is not something new and was actually addressed over twenty years ago in an essay by Ronald Takaki. The essay opens with rhetorical questions to get the audience thinking to set the problem and transitions directly into the issue by stating the stereotype of Asians as the model minority. The rest of the essay displays statistics and experiences of Asian Americans to help argue that Asian Americans do not have it as easy as the majority of “politicians and pundits” seem to believe. The author brings to attention that this stereotype only increases their inequality and creates a sense of animosity toward them from African Americans.…
The concept of acquiring knowledge of a subject is usually reflected on a test; however, it goes beyond. What is most important is what we learn and what stays in our mind. “Wrong Answer,” a 2014 New Yorker article, tells the story of a middle school math teacher named Damany Lewis who decided to cheat to help his students do well on a state standardized test. The most important concern for Lewis was to see the school progress and his students improve; however, his decision didn’t work well. He met with a few other teachers to correct answers from the students’ exams.…
Woven into the fabric of the United States, are certain cultural myths. These myths paint a specific portrait of America. The myth of the chosen nation portrays America as a “City upon a Hill”. Like the land of Canaan in the Bible, the U.S. is the promise land and Americans, much like the Hebrews, are a chosen people. The myth of nature’s nation says that America “was based on a natural order” or the American way of life is the way its suppose to be.…
In the article “Teach Knowledge, Not “Mental Skills,” author E.D. Hirsch bases his argument on an experience he went through when he was a teacher in public school. He worked with two different principals in the same school. Comparing these two principal, the first principal did not care about what students acquired from their lessons, and the students’ academic performance was really bad. The second principal was more worried about the knowledge and his students’ academic performance. Hirsch argues that school should teach more knowledge instead of mental skills, and American should learning the teaching method of Europe and Asia which have a similar method of core-knowledge; problem-solving skill is important but depend on pertinent knowledge.…
The Pruitt-Igoe complex began as a benign plot to provide low-income families with affordable housing, but several decades later, it ended up as a ruined relic of the past. The Pruitt-Igoe Myth tells the story of the transformation of the American city, specifically that of St Louis, Missouri, in the developing era after the second world war, through the lens of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing development team and the residents of St. Louis who called the complex home. After WW2, many residents (specifically American whites) began to move to suburbia, phenomena known today as "white flight", which led to a huge demographic shift in the American east coast. Areas that were historical where became majority black in less than a generation. The…
As time progresses, one cannot help but to notice the significant impact myths have had on our everyday lives. The Myth of Money and Success and the Myths of Gender have had an immense influence on the thoughts and actions of Americans. Both of these myths are in the news and affect Americans by shaping and evolving their society. People go through the notions of myths because they have been conditioned and programmed to follow what society has endorsed. These myths provide misconceptions and do not reflect the true image of reality.…
In these three Hindu tales, I noticed that they were less about the creation of the world and more about the gods and where they came from. For example, in “How Ganesh got his Elephant’s Head” and “Hanuman, the Greatest” the stories were mainly about the activities the gods did and how they became the way they are now. In “Hanuman, the Greatest”, the monkey god, Hanuman meets the two sons of King Desaratha and finds out that one of the sons (Prince Rama) cannot find his wife, Sita. Hanuman asks the monkeys to search the entire forest and finally finds out that Ravana, the king of demons kidnapped Sita.…
Growing up, we have been defined through numbers: our weight, ACT scores, and our GPAs. We are taught how not to fail, in which that alone sets us up for failure. They fail to mention that it is the lowest test grade that rests before the higher test grades to come. It is these grades that can be enough to push us to the brink of a limitless progression. I once did so poorly on my Advanced Chemistry test that my peers soon began to view me as the poor grades I had been receiving, making me feel as if I had a giant “F” plastered across my forehead, deeming me unable to reach such high achievements.…
I find the idea that, what everyone experiences as reality builds off of what they have already experienced, amazing. How people perceive things and what they understand things to be, stems from what they have already learned in life. It would be an extremely rare occurrence, and is most likely impossible, for two people to experience the exact same things in life, in the same order. Even if two people did successfully fulfill this proposition, the people would not be born as the same person. This means that they could have different appearances, cultures, genetic limitations or advantages, family issues, and mental capacities; so the way life treats them would be different.…
Are Myths, Folktales, and Fairy Tales relevant (or not) in our Society? Myths, folktales, and fairy tales are definitely relevant in today's society. There are many things that have been based on these myths, folktales, and fairy tales. People, most of the time, just don’t notice it, but these myths, folktales, and fairytales have been around for so long, that they are kind of a tradition now.…