Why School

Annissa Byrd

8/31/11

Why School?

Mike Rose does a great job at giving the reader his creditability and showing the problems with our public education program. Ever since we were young we were told that school was fun and we can learn, think and form our own opinions. The first chapter shows how those ideas have been taken away from our education system because everything has to be standardized. This idea of equality of learning throughout the vast country is hard to compute. How can we teach a student living in Compton the same thing as a student in Beverly Hills the same way? They will not be able to relate and or process the topics. This idea of standardization will crush an education system because the students will not learn how to think but only how to do.

Mike Rose talks of the idea of opportunity and that in our system there is not an equal opportunity because the schools that do better on the standardized test and have high success rates get more money. Other schools do not perform at a higher level because they do not have the recourse to teach the students in an atmosphere where the stress from home can disappear. Most of the low funded schools are low funded because the areas they live have a lower economic level. This means the student have other stress like how to pay the bills, eating or if their loved ones will be ok. These stresses can cause the focus to change from school to home and survival.

The book talks of the need to produce and create a productive nation but when the students are being taught to do tasks and not to think or create there can be a since of stagnation in the business world because they are are just doers and not creators. The education system should be teaching the students to create and to think of different way to perform. The ideas of creativity are great for personality but not for business. Businesses need people to just perform the task that are at hand and if workers opinion is needed they will ask for it but not until then.

Mike Rose has set up a very interesting start to the book about the way school and economy are interacting. It leads to a different way to think about the future of public school system.