Denise Clark Pope's 'The Predicament Of Doing School'

In her article “The Predicament of ‘Doing School’”, author Denise Clark Pope gives an insight into what students are actually learning in school. She did a study in which she evaluated the behavior of students a prep school called Faircrest High. She states, “Often their behavior contradicts the very traits and values many parents, students, and community members expect schools to instill. By rewarding certain kinds of success above others, Faircrest High may actually impede that which it hopes to achieve. Instead of fostering in its students traits such as honesty, integrity, cooperation, and respect, the school may be promoting deception, hostility, and anxiety.” What Pope is trying to communicate, is that students are so focused on succeeding …show more content…
Eve stated, “This school turns students into robots...just going page to page. Doing the work, doing the routine.” Many students described how their classes lacked engagement or passion. The topics discussed in history stayed within that classroom; teachers failed to connect subjects to other classes, making school boring. Pope also described students as chameleons saying that they often changed their behavior from class to class. Some teachers prefer class to be silent and appreciate when students work on their own, while other teachers like to see students making comments and having discussions about the material. Likewise, when students discovered which teachers prefered which type of students they changed to fit into that teachers perfect student. Pope states, “The students may use the disguises to hide their weakness or to show off their strengths, but in either case, the teacher is privy to only a partial view, often resulting in a lack of useful knowledge about the students, or worse, misconstructions about the youth.” An example of this claim is Teresa, one of the students Pope studied, she excelled in her business classes, and when she was nominated for Outstanding Business Award, her Spanish teacher was perplexed. He said that she often failed tests and didn’t turn in assignments. Without knowing all the sides to each student it can …show more content…
Also Pope fails to provide any statistical data of her claims. Although does give many examples from the things she learned in her study of Faircrest High, it would have given more credibility to her claim if she had statistical evidence.
Pope has opened many eyes with her article, “The Predicament of ‘Doing’”. In the article she describes a study she did. In the study she analyzed the behavior of students and why they are being “forced” to have those behaviors at Faircrest High. What she found was shocking. The school system is ready for a major revision that will allow teachers the ability to help students enrich and grow their