Project Classroom Makeover Cathy Davison Analysis

Nowadays everyone pursues wisdom. Wisdom brings individuals success, achievement and reputation. There are many different ways to define wisdom. In the essay “Project Classroom Makeover”, Cathy Davison talks about how students’ wisdom is defined by impressive test scores in the current education system. She thinks the true smartness inside students relies on creative thinking so that schools have to focus on helping their future-oriented students cultivate this special characteristic. Similarly, in the essay “Biographies of Hegemony”, Karen Ho talked about the collaboration between the Wall Street and the elite universities. From her opinion, smartness represents the admissions students received from the Wall Street. However, in the essay “Wisdom”, …show more content…
A series of standardized assessments are the most powerful educational hegemony inside schools and influence the meaning of smartness. Students who do poorly in every aspect of life will still be considered as smart as long as they can get good test scores in school. In contrast, students who are talented in the skills that are not included in the standardization will be seen as failure or unintelligent. As Davidson says, “as we narrow the spectrum of skills that we test in schools, more and more kids who have skills outside that spectrum will be labeled as failure”(61). School is supposed to be the place where instructors help students dig out their potential talents so that they can become successful in the future. However, instructors set a variety of standardized assessments in school that limits the growth of students. Students who cannot get high test scores, but do well in fields out of the standardization will be considered as unintelligent. It not only makes them lose interests on studying but also discourages them to continue focusing on their talented skills. They will gradually lose confidence and become unmotivated in doing everything. The standardized assessment is not the only hegemony that blinds instructors at school on what is smart, the collaboration between the Wall Street and elite universities is another one that blinds college students on how …show more content…
Once individuals are present in unfamiliar places or situations, they will try to get to understand the situation and gradually adjust to it. After different experiences, they will think and learn in different ways that help them realize smartness. As Davidson says, “learning to think in multiple ways, with multiple partners, with a dexterity that cannot be computerized or outsourced, is no longer a luxury but a necessity”(61). The comparison of “luxury” and “necessity” illustrates the shift in humans’ minds regarding the conception of creative thinking. In the modern society, creative thinking becomes a more of a necessity for individuals because there are many unexpected events happening everyday. Creative thinking enables them to explore different fields so that they can gain experiences and find out the potential possibilities. The force of creative thinking should be applied to the general public and most importantly, in the education system. Students should be put in an education system where they are free of exploring new skills and knowledge rather than the one with a designed outline. Through the hand of creative thinking, students can focus on their potential talents and create their own products. Since they can dig out their potential talents and transfer it to the reality completely, they will gain the sense of