Uniformity in Education

Paper Summary:

The paper looks at the problem of conformity in schools in the US and argues that instead of helping people to become their best, schools crush what could be the best and most original in each citizen by providing them with a standardized textbook education. The paper looks at the case of Richard Rodriguez, a Mexican-American man who made a success of his school career, but paid the price of conformity by having to forsake his native community. The paper also discusses how Malcolm X served as an example that education can be self-driven and entirely detached from formal schooling. The paper contends that the American school system is ineffective at best and destructive at worst for all but the most self-motivated and individually resilient among students.

From the Paper:

"American education has been under attack in various respects over the past century. In addition to the fact that education in the United States is still highly associated with class and cultural segregation, the latest critique is that American education tends to create conformist consumers who enter the working world to exacerbate rather than mitigate the economic and environmental problems the world faces. Indeed, school education particularly tends to teach children a uniform set of subjects in a uniform way for a uniform amount of time per day, week and year. The entire system is based upon conformity. In this way, the education system itself works together with the material presented in order to subconsciously and consciously train children the virtues of conformity for success in their future careers."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cremin, Lawrence A. (1957). Horace Mann and the 19th century Education Reform movement. http://www-scf.usc.edu/~clarkjen/Horace%20Mann.htm
• Gatto, John Taylor. (2003). Against School. http://www.spinninglobe.net/againstschool.htm
• Malcolm X. Learning to Read. http://www-scf.usc.edu/~clarkjen/Malcolm%20X.doc
• Rodriguez, Richard. The Achievement of Desire. http://www-scf.usc.edu/~clarkjen/Richard%20Rodriguez.doc
• Rose, Mike. "I Just Wanna Be Average". http://www-scf.usc.edu/~clarkjen/Mike%20Rose.doc

More papers on Uniformity in Education:

• Argumentative Essay # 114175 : "Uniforms in Public Schools"
• Comparison Essay # 24378 : "The Education of Children"
• Term Paper # 111390 : "Gender and Education in the United States"

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