My+first+draft

Kayley Noonan March 13, 2009 Full Draft 1 // A look into the public schools: Do students have the right to criticize the public school system? //  With signs clenched in their hands and passion stirring within them, they marched to the town hall. They did not arrive as a disorganized group of students, or as disheveled individuals, but as one, a unit of teammates, friends: a family. The town had impeded on their territory and they were ready to speak out. In 2003, the Massachusetts government made a decision to cut budgets across the state, affecting every school district statewide. The town Plymouth, MA was faced with an ultimatum upon receiving news of these budget cuts. Were they to cut extracurricular activities and limit school to just academic classes, or were they to raise taxes? In the crux of the contemplation, opinions from local folk began leaking into the public media. Controversy arose as it became apparent that many residents had no intentions of supporting the student organizations. This was a topic the residents were becoming increasingly vocal about and interested in. Facing the threat of losing their beloved music program, the members of the band joined to speak out against the possibility of budget cuts. Shortly after, the sports teams and members of other extracurricular activities followed the members of the band to the town hall. After much debate and deliberation, the students of the Plymouth public school system were able to sway the vote of town officials to increase taxes in place of cutting their budgets. But what exactly were the rights of these students who courageously marched down to the town hall to assert their opinion? As students of the public school system, are these students even entitled to criticize a system of which they are not paying for? And what rights do the town officials have in deciding the fate of these activities? Students have the right to criticize the public school system because it is a construct that has been provided to them by the state, which is vital to their future success. The state is liable to provide the best education possible with their resources through the public school system. By threatening to take away the extracurricular activities in Plymouth, the student’s right to a complete education was violated and they, in turn, had every right to speak out against authority. The state has committed to providing a reliable alternative to private schooling for parents who are unable to afford spending the equivalent to college tuition on a high school education. By accepting that responsibility, they are also committed to providing the best education possible with the resources they have. One implementation of this attempt to “better” the public school system is the “No Child Left Behind” act that was proposed by George Bush in January 2001. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) attempted to improve the public education system by increasing the standards on which the schools are evaluated. The idea is that by setting measurable and attainable goals, the school system is able to assess the student’s progress through his/her journey through the public school system (wikipedia.com). This attempt by the government to better the school system through standardized testing proves their willingness and commitment to providing the highest education possible. By attempting to take away extracurricular activities in the public school system, they are contradicting this attempt to better the school system. Schooling is not solely about statistics and learning does not only take place within a classroom. By cutting extracurricular activities, the school system is limiting the knowledge their students are able to learn, in turn not withholding their obligation to provide the best schooling possible. In addition, the public school is a system that is supported by the taxes of parents who send their children to those schools. Even though students are not directly contributing their own money to the school system themselves, they are taking on a role in society which requires them to participate in this system. The parents of these students are able to pay taxes which result directly in the success of the school system. Because their parents are acting as active contributors and members of society, their children have every right to speak out against the school system. Extracurricular activities provide a means for students to gain knowledge outside of the classroom. Without these activities, a “complete education” cannot be attained. These activities such as marching/concert band, art, sports, drama, and any other organization that is formed outside of an academic setting steps in to fill the void that an academic class fails to fill. They are stimulating, time consuming and act as a working support system for whomever joins them. They are the activities that students spend their extra time participating in, and they teach the students vital life skills that would have otherwise not been learned in just an academic setting. While on a sports team or participating in a band, members learn how to interact properly and work together toward a common goal. Despite significant differences in background, race, religion, and other demographic qualities, students are able to look past them and function as a unit. Challenges such as winning a game or a competition force students to work together and reach out to other members of the team. Students grow close over the course of a sports season or while participating in a musical; this introduces the quality of friendship and the important role it plays in the larger scope of life. One of the most important skills a student can learn through an extracurricular activity is the skill of compromising. The ability to confront differences with an appropriate tone and non-offensive demeanor is a skill that would not have otherwise been learned in an academic setting. It was this skill that led the students of Plymouth, Massachusetts to the town hall where they confronted town officials about their decision to cut the budget. Without the activity of band, sports, or drama, these students would not have had the skills or desire to fight back against the school system. In his article, Michael Grodon claims that music has an effect on several characteristics of an individual: Contingent reinforcement within school settings has been applied to shape a variety of behaviors, both musical and nonmusical. A number of studies have clearly established music as a back-up reinforcer for behaviors that directly influence academic performance of students in a classroom. These behaviors include attentiveness, self-esteem, and verbalization (Gordon 88) Without these three behaviors Gordon mentions: attentiveness, self-esteem, and verbalization, the students of Plymouth would not have been able to voice their opinions to town officials. It was the result of a stimulating musical environment that led the members of the band to be the first students to step up to the plate. Shortly following their lead was the sports teams, art students, and drama club. Their intentions were not to assert themselves in a way that showed them in a negative light, their intent was to educate the residents of Plymouth as to why these activities were so important to them. I would argue that the role of education in any students life is a two way street. A teacher most certainly can educate a student, but also, a student can educate a teacher. Educate can be defined in many ways, but for the purposes of this essay, education is defined as any attempt by one person or group of people to inform another person or group of people of something that they did not already know. Education is not limited to facts and figures nor is it limited to just the classroom. Education takes place all around us; the act of educating works in many ways in the public school system. The government educates the schools systems about their regulations, the authorities within those school systems educate the teachers about their specific expectations, the teachers then educate the students in their specific field and the students receive the information. Often times, it is not expected that the student break this “hierarchy of education” chain. It is not socially expected for students to speak out in an attempt to educate others or criticize the system that is providing them with a “complete education”. It is only when the rights of that student or group of students is violated that they are willing to speak out. I would argue that a complete education is one that includes not only academic education, but extracurricular education and the ability of the student to have certain liberties within the classroom. Is the public school system offering the student a complete education by telling them what they have to learn, how they have to learn it, and testing them on sometimes arbitrary facts and figures? What about life skills, discussion and dialogue, and real life education? Most of these things are absent within the construct of the public school systems. Can education be beneficial without the presence of outside stimulus’s such as extracurricular activities? And without these activities would students otherwise be encouraged to be active contributors in society? The value of education has shifted from being fairly important to being extremely vital to future success. Society is focused on the outcome and statistics produced by the public schools, that they are forgetting to assess the quality of the information students are learning. Students are expected to attend class, listen and act as sponges to absorb the information given to them. Rarely are students challenged in a way that gets them talking beyond the classroom, and rarely are students expected to question and inquire further about what they learn. Mark Edmundson, a professor at the University of Virginia writes about the increasing complacency he notices in his students. In his observation, he sees a lack of passion and interest in students to learn and discover; he recognizes the school system as a business and considers the students consumers. Students of the present have become increasingly absorbed in this consumer culture that a sense of “settlement” has sunk in. Students are pleased to just “settle” for the education they are receiving, and the advice they are given, and the opportunities that present themselves to them. They rarely seek out opportunities, they only allow them to fall into their reach: Whether the students are sorority/fraternity types, grunge aficionados, piercer/tattooers, black or white, rich or middle class (alas, I teach almost no students from truly poor backgrounds), they are, nearly across the board, very, very self-contained. On good days they display a light, appealing glow; on bad days, shuffling disgruntlement. But there's little fire, little passion to be found (Edmundson 2). This lack of passion can only be attributed to the expectancies of the authorities that teach the students. If students are taught that school is simply a place to absorb and memorize, they cannot take that step further and become active in their lives. Topically, teachers are educating students about facts, figures, and numbers, but underneath the surface, students are being taught to be passive members of society. Paulo Freire, a scholar, argues that educators are narrators in the education to students. They have a monopoly over the information the students can learn. Students are simply receptors of this information and they are expected as participants in the school system to accept information without question. This seems to be particularly prominent in the public school system, where the students are not paying an excessive amount of money to attend. The amount of lethargy and complacency among school professionals in public school systems seems to grow increasingly as the students are accepted as passive partakers in the education process. With this hierarchy of authority in place and growing content among both students and educators alike, students are not being adequately stimulated to participate as activists in their own life. Without the stimulation of analysis, problem posing, and inquiry, students are not given the adequate tools to participate in a “reality in process” (Freire 152). This reality in process is considered to be an active, changing world in which all members are actively contributing to the betterment of the whole. In stark contrast to a “reality in process” is a “static reality” (Freire 152). A static reality is more reflective of a typical public school student. It is a reality that virtually stands still; there is no contribution of ideas because no one is offering advice, there is no progress, no movement. The reality is literally at a standstill, because no single member of the community has been properly trained to become an active participant. When limited solely to academic classes a student would experience life in this static reality and become a questionable participator in the larger community. By voicing their opinions, the students of Plymouth were making an attempt to educate their public (anyone watching or attending the town meetings) as to why extracurricular activities were so important to their well being. There were many methods through which the students were able to take initiative and educate others. One of the primary modes of education was through speech. The town hall opened up the topic for debate and several students, coaches, parents, and teachers made their way to the podium in the town hall to speak about their feelings. Some spoke out about how taxes could not be raised and how their investment in the school system was no longer necessary. Others made practical arguments that without a good school system property values would decrease and the community would suffer as a whole.  In the end, the students were able to regain their right to a complete education by continuing to receive funding for their organizations and activities. As a society, we rely on a construct that is implemented based on hierarchy of power. Those who are elected to be at the top of the hierarchy are responsible for implementing and maintaining rules and funding to allow society to function smoothly. Without these obligations to society, public schooling would not be possible. However, without adequate public schooling and an opportunity for a complete education, certain students are left at a serious disadvantage to succeed in society. Students have the right to criticize the public school system because it is a construct that is so vital to their future. They are unable (by the standards that have been implemented today) to achieve “great success” in life without a proper foundation on which to build upon. Students must realize their disadvantage and speak out against the liberties that are being taken at their expense. By marching down to the town hall  of Plymouth , Massachusetts , the students were able to assert themselves and become active members of society. They criticized the system in a way that allowed them to regain their rights and still have their extracurricular activities.