Forget a Village, We need Parents!

Lindsey-Kathryn Jarratt
English 1020
Professor Andy Smith
28 April 2009

Forget a village, we need parents!
Who was our 21st president? What is 38,474,028,374 in scientific notation? The best synonym for ubiquitous is which of the following? A) Liquefied B) delicious C) everywhere D) sweet smelling. What is the atomic mass of AU? What is AU? It is undeniable that high school is mundane and largely ineffective. Leon Botstein, in his radical essay Let Teenagers Try Adulthood, has the following cut throat feelings to express about high school: “High school is obsolete and should be abolished.” The giants it faces and the world that rests on its shoulders makes for an impossible objective. There are obvious social complications; tortured souls that congregate within the walls of our school buildings—note Columbine. But most importantly, our students are graduating without sufficient fact bases or life skills. However, Abolishing high school will be as helpful to our current predicament as blaming the source of education itself, which is to say, casting fault on educators and/or administration solely, would be as useful as putting a band-aid on a cancer patient.
Historically, school was an option—a privilege. Young people attended as work and family obligations permitted. Regular presence offered the ability to understand the world around them, to give them information otherwise inaccessible, at an age most appropriate for learning. As a privilege, students regarded it with respect and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, today’s students are fervor deficient when it comes to high school, which should call for method adaptation, but instead makes secondary education “obsolete.” The “stuff and chuck” tactics of most public schools is not successfully educating our children. They successfully remember material to successfully regurgitate it for tests and homework, but fail to absorb it for practical use, which is essentially the goal. “Disciplines are subordinated to the study of classroom management.”Botsein complains. The factual studying should be the student’s responsibility and the classroom a place for creative and critical thinking and therefore, effective education. “Obviously, a low premium is placed on reflection and repose. The student rushes from class to class to collect knowledge. Savoring it, it is implied, is not to be done,” Theodore Sizer characterizes how students are herded through their day. The Students will not put forth the effort if the information is spoon-fed and perceivably irrelevant. They will not grow or strive in an environment that supports apathy and indolence. The curriculum, providers, and methods of delivery must provide a milieu that interacts with and inspires students.
“School” was created to supply pupils with information otherwise unavailable. Today, High school is considered a rite of passage; a vital part of each child’s maturative, spiritual, and social progress. Schools are unsuccessful because their purpose has become unreasonable. Parents have “stepped out” and shed responsibility to participate in their children’s lives and nurture their development. It has fallen to the government to raise America’s Children. When did it become the schools’, and ultimately the government’s responsibility to keep kids out of trouble? Where in legislation does it say schools will provide a place for children to grow up, or self-actualize? Today’s parenting force is severely lacking and thus, schools are expected and failing to pick up the slack.
Furthermore, it is the parents, who are emotionally, spiritually, and physically unhealthy, that produce lazy, insubordinate, and psychologically damaged children. It is the parents who do not meet the needs of their offspring’s lower level Maslow requirements which enter them into the school systems with a predisposition to failure. And it is the parents who cripple the educators by not acknowledging successes and/or failures of the students, and cheating the system financially by cheating on their taxes. With one finger pointing at the school, three are pointing at the parents. The hidden culprit is the parent that skips the PTO meeting, the bake sale and the parent/teacher conference.
America has no one to blame but herself for the fall of secondary education. You can’t expect the village to breast feed the child, and the village will never fill the father’s shoes. Students need their parents to step up, and the school system needs to step out of the way of the train wreck that is about to come crashing down on everyone’s heads.

white privilege

I thought the author's stance and perspective on white privilege was very interesting. I knew it existed, but i could never put my finger on exactly how. She shows 50 literal "ways," most of them completely seperate from each other, that white privilege plays out. undeniably i found myself unconsciously guilty of many. I disagree that this privilege is racism itself though. There are basic cultural differences between different races. (race defined as the social grouping of individuals based on similar behavior patterns and notable physical characteristics) Some races' behavioral patterns are more similar then others, therefore, more respect and understanding exists between those races then others. Because of its origins, the majority of America's leaders (in both government and corporate settings) have been "white", therefore, the "white" race has had more opportunity in countless fields, giving them the power to carry on throughout history "on top." This is still in effect, to a degree, today. The white privilege McIntosh speaks of is the "white" race, who maintains most of the power, having more respect and understanding for those who behave and look like what they find acceptable. nothing more, nothing less. I dont know what will bridge the gap between polar races, but until this takes place, change. we cannot.

Iron Maiden

I had mixed emotions about this essay. I believe it is dead on in its analysis and essesment, but i stuggle because i know, as angry as it makes me to be shoved into the iron maiden, i support the existance of her by not speaking up and demanding a change in our cultural way of thinking. I think it is human nature to be compelled towards and gaze at lovely things. And the human body is not exception. A fit healthy person's anatomny is lovely, and people, women and men alike, will wonder at it. The fault it not found in looking at the magazines, it is in letting the writers and photographers and producers place fraudulent men and women in them, and placing the bar at hypocrisy. Letting them lie to us and sell us discontentment by purchasing the magazine in such volgar condition. What right does another man or woman have to tell me i am not lovely? what right does anyone have to definewhat is lovely and what it is not. No one is born with that right, but those who cant look in the mirror and see beauty in it's rawest form purchase those "self-destruct" books and give them that power. I feel it is a perpetual and devistating cycle of the public's wants and needs, against and for marketers and futile products. round and round we go. what will it take?

The runaway's and others.

I saw the runaways live in the backdoor playhouse. The were very entertaining. The opening band was far from impressive, in fact, it was carried by the violinist; her solos made it almost worth it. The solo female artist was colorful. Her persormance was spoty, but it was creative and it included the crowd. Every time she messed up, she spoke to the crowd, like pausing to share secrets. Her voice was beautiful and so was she, so her repeated faux pa's were acceptable. The runaways took a very long time to come on stage, for a band without a strong fan base, this could have been a costly mistake. luckily for them, due to a lack of on campus happenings, i believe most of their audience devoted their evening to their main event performance. If there had been other functions pulling on the crowds attention span, i dont think the seats would have been full by the time they decided to grace us with their presence. But they were fun and unabrasive.

essay's response.

I was absolutely appalled at the picture of Kanye West posing as Jesus Christ. The fact that West thinks he is anywhere in proximity of comparison is appalling. Quite frankly it’s a joke. For a beautifully hand crafted, meticulously painted pot to feel comparable to its maker is the equivalent of that monstrosity of an assessment. The picture was insulting and blasphemous to say the least, and his reflection morbid and conceded. Nothing about Kanye West says saint, he is selfish, arrogant, flashy. Historically none of the traits can be found in saints. He gives far less then he could and represents far from Christ-like standards. I agreed and was impressed by Blingin Saintood. The writer did his or her research and confidently conveyed their point. I liked that the paper was not only based on the picture and the writer’s opinion, but also included writing from other affected sources. The vocabulary was good and syntax was sufficient. There might have been a few too many passive verbs, but a good paper none the less. I was however disappointed with the title. It was weak and tacky, not reflecting the body at all. Beckham Beckons was a far better title. I did exactly that, I felt drawn in. It is interesting that she choose a character whose very name draws enough interest to read the article. The paper was good, but I don’t think the author did enough research. There were several statements regarding beckham’s sainthood that are rather debatable. There were enticing verbs and adjectives that brought the reader farther into the analysis and made them feel almost like they were watching beckham rather then reading about him, or even looking at the photograph of his face. The thinking process throughout the paper was impressive. The author took his or her readers by the hand and walked them through beckhams advertisement.

Power Points are Evil

I read Powerpoints are evil, and I agreed and disagreed with the thesis which was, obviously, that power point was a miserable way to convey information. I believe that power points enable people who are creative and motivated to get the "non-fun facts" out of the way while verbally distributing the information they want their audience to be intrigued by. However, for those who are not motivated or unwilling to put in the time and effort it takes to making something their audience needs to know into something their audience wants to know, mircosoft's power point program is a creativity scape-goat!

duro dia

hey, I'm Lindsey Kathryn. Im a creative, outgoing, kind, honest, and opinionated. I love the lord and follow him where he takes through life, which is the best part of my life. (sometimes its the hardest, but its always the best.) I have no clue how any of this works, i thought i was computer savvy till i got to school and quickly learned im not nearly as smart as i thought i was. I enjoy meeting people, and consequentially lead a very busy life.