Conformity In Public Schools

Improved Essays
There is much to say about the involvement of public schooling in a child 's development. Whether the educational system teaches to conform too much, limiting individualism; or teaching individualism too much that students do not know how to conform. It is paradoxical to want students to be better individuals and better members of society without damaging them. There is, perhaps, too much conformity being asserted and implemented. In consequence, there should be a balance in supporting individualism and conformity. Schools should support conformity partially rather than completely because of the damaging effects of being suppressed to conform wholly and fully. Schools should be there to support individuality and only to conform to a certain …show more content…
He asks if we really need to be forced to go to school, following a "deadly routine" - something homeschooled kids are well off without, and have turned out all right without. Furthermore, "we have been taught (that is, schooled) in this country to think of 'success ' as synonymous with, or at least depended upon, 'schooling ' but historically that isn 't true in either an intellectual or a financial sense." Our presidents hold a testament to this claim; presidents such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln did not need schooling to be successful. George Washington led the fight in the French Revolution and was an excellent leader. Gatto asserts the fact that schools forcefully teach students that you only need school and an education to be successful in life, when, in fact, there are other ways one can be successful. Furthermore, the definition of success is ambiguous, and contingent on the person. Being so rooted in the student 's mind, many students believe that they always have to do good in school to be successful in life, leaving no room for individualism and not permitting students to define what it means to be successful to them. As for me, I thought that doing good in school would make me feel successful, and it does, however, being strenuously piled with work I redefined success as being happy in what I …show more content…
Facts alone are wanted in life.", reminding me of standardized testing. Standardized testing, implies to students, that it is a measure of their intelligence - I realized this to be untrue when I actually took an SAT Preparatory Class and the teacher told us "these people at the College Board are evil, they want you to learn about these problems that you won 't use in life." Leading me to dislike standardized tests. When I look at Source C, a book cover design on preparing kindergarten students for standardized tests, I feel sick to the stomach, looking at this monstrosity. It teaches kids how to conform and learn these problems, doing them a disservice, by not preparing them for the real world,and leading them to believe that they will need this in life. Yes, it will teach them sophisticated test taking skills, but it is downright atrocious to shape and mold kids into little vessels full of facts who will seemingly not know themselves or the world. In the cover, it shows a clock, and I cannot help but think of it as a symbol for wasting time, after all, it may be a waste of time. Moreover, looking at this books makes me cringe and infuriates me - having to teach these kids difficult problems and facts that even I don’t see myself using in life. Making me connect with Sissy or Cecilia Jupe in “Hard Times” who did not want to

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