The “Why” Of Education System

I believe that some schools promote learning while others don’t, depending on the district. In some areas where poverty, low-income, and violence is present, schools do not promote learning as much as a stable city/town would. For example, as stated in this article by Anderson, “Brighton Park is a predominantly Latino community on the southwest side of Chicago. It’s a neighborhood threatened by poverty, gang violence, ICE raids, and isolation—in a city where income, race, and zip code can determine access to jobs, schools, healthy food, and essential services. Indeed, previous analyses have found that system-justifying beliefs are associated with lower self-esteem in black adults and lower grade-point averages for Latino college students—though the same beliefs predicted better grades and less distress for “high status” youth. ” This tells us that those kids who have issues at home are not focused on just schoolwork so they aren’t thinking about going into higher education and perform poorly in school verses children who are living in “high status”. School should focus on promoting learning mainly on those children who are from those bad neighborhoods.

A personal experience of mine where I felt inspired to be creative was when in the eighth grade. My school had just fixed an after-school program for upper level students that are going to high school to learn how to properly get interviewed and give interviews. There were flyers everywhere I looked, so it was a sign that I had to go. When I got there, there was only a few students and one teacher. If only I had known, that one teacher I met that day, is going to make such a big impact in my future. He pulled me out of my comfort zone and taught me lessons no other teacher or adult has ever taught me. He asked me where do I see myself in the future, and the steps I should take to achieve them. He believed in me in so many ways and would sometimes take me out of my boring classes just to chit chat and meditate with him. This teacher goes by the name of Mr. Gilbert. He was actually just a substitute not an actual teacher yet, but everyone looked up to him. This is the time where I felt inspired and as creative as I can be, other than that, my other teachers did not encourage creativeness upon me. A time where I felt stifled was during high school when everyone had to take the SATS. I personally do not like standardized testing and the first time I took this test, my self-esteem dropped and felt like I couldn’t do any better. This affected me mentally in so many different ways because even though I have tried my best the first time and didn’t get a high score, I felt helpless and incapable of passing.

I believe that based on my experience, Mike Rose who wrote an articled called “Blue-Collar Brilliance”, would comment that my teacher, Mr. Gilbert was as experienced as the other formal teachers even though he is just a substitute. He knew how to communicate with the students and make them express their true creativitiness even though he was not a certified teacher yet. Rose stated, “If we believe everyday work to be mindless, then that will affect the work we create in the future. When we devalue the full range of everyday cognition, we offer limited educational opportunities and fail to make fresh and meaningful instructional connections among disparate kinds of skill and knowledge. ” Often teachers just like to get through a lesson and go home. But the experience with this teacher, he showed how much he truly cared about his students and expressing themselves fully.

Something in the educational system that currently bothers me is the grading system. I don’t believe the grading system should be entirely abolished but shouldn’t work the way it is working right now. I think that grades should be graded as either pass or fail because that way, if the students did not do well, can take the class again to improve. Not if you get an average grade or less to just place you in higher or lower class because students will often feel judged by others and can lower their self-esteem. School should be about just learning and engaging in class, not focused on just the next test or that big A. If so, they wouldn’t be learning anything at all but just working hard for that next test or exam, then forgetting everything the learned the next day.