Miss

English 101
Dr. Kronbeck
2/25/13
Solutions To American Educational Problems
Have you ever felt that lost? Have you ever felt that you know you must finish something quickly but do not know how to start with? Students always feel that when homework’s due day is coming in the next few hours. The teachers always make some dead line to request students to finish their assignments in time. But sometimes those students do not know what information they are studying, they just know that those are requirements for good grade. To a certain extent, students are becoming study machines. As John Taylor Gatto argued in the article “Against School”, “Schools are to establish fixed habits of reaction to authority, to make kids learn, and do, foolish and boring things (P.152).” Also, in the article “Idiot Nation”, Michael Moore criticized that Americans are sliding into idiots because of problem schooling. Those showed there are some problems exist in the American public school system. In order to improve the American public school system, students’ critical thinking skills must be improved. To do so, school administrators and teachers can do some changes for their curriculums, such as school should reduce the use of standardized testing, teachers can use case study method and cooperative learning strategy instead of boring lecture.
In purpose of encouraging students to think critically, school should reduce the use of standardized testing. Test should be a procedure letting students know and improve their shortage. But standardized testing is not a real measure of a student’s ability. Moore also opposed this kind of standardization examination, he said “There’s nothing terribly wrong with the concept of using standardized testing to determine whether kids are learning to read and write and do math. But too many politicians and education bureaucrats have created a national obsession with testing, as if everything that’s wrong with the educational system in this country would be magically fixed if we could just raise those scores (P.138).” It means school can use standardized test to estimate students’ study situation, but not estimate the whole life of each student. Standardized test is a particular form of testing. Teacher gave a series of fixed answers in the exam paper, and the students only need to remember all standard information from the book or somewhere then select the “right” answers. During the exam, students didn’t think critically, they just used their memories to answer questions. So standardized tests are reducing students’ chances to think, not even think critically. It is clear that school should change standardized test to open-ended questions. Open-ended questions allow students to answer in their own words. There is no more stand answer, all students need to think in their own way, use all information they learnt to organize their own answers. That will be a way to push them to think more and think critically.
In additional to reduce using standardized testing, the teachers should also change their boring lecture into case study in order to motivate students’ critical thinking skills. In public school, teachers got used to talk and students got used to listen only. Those two groups were rarely having communications during class, let alone after school. As a result of this education condition, teachers feel tire of teaching and students feel boring to learn. Gatto argued that “if you ask the kids, as I often did, why they felt so bored, they always gave the same answers: They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around (P.148).” That means students are not excited by boring lecture. Meanwhile, Moore claimed a fact that “American mind is alive and well. It just isn’t challenged with anything interesting or exciting (P.129).” So students need something interesting to simulate their interests. To motivate students’ passion, teachers should change their teaching method such as case study. Teachers can use subject case from usual life to explain course contents, it would make students feel more close to what they are learning and devote in the discussion. Once students are interested in the course content, they would like to think more about it. That is a way to improve students’ critical thinking skills.
For more idea to improve students’ critical thinking skills, teachers can use cooperative learning strategy. During the classes, some students may be too shy to ask question. But when face to their classmates, they most at the same level that make them much easy to communicate with each other and help each other. Gatto ever wrote “Divide children by subject, by age-grading, by constant rankings on tests, and by many other more subtle means, and it was unlikely that the ignorant mass of mankind, separated in childhood, would ever re-integrate into a dangerous whole (P.152).”One student get one idea, but if they all get together and share their information, that would become many ideas. But now school always divides students into individual, all the worse cut off the sharing of information that reduced the learning efficiency greatly. It leads to a conclusion that teachers need to apply for cooperative learning strategy. Students typically work in teams that would guide them to stay on task, help each other, encourage each other, share information with each other and solve problems together. Everybody can get more information and think more completely to do self-improvement. More practice they did, much easier they reach to an academic success. That is the other way to develop students’ critical thinking skills.
As you can see, there were some serious problems existed in American education system. The most obvious problem is that lots of students slid into study machines. They didn’t think critically but only received information from their teachers. This problem must be solved or it will cause more educational disasters. Education should cultivate people for the development of society but not cultivate study machines. So those schools should change their testing form to open-ended questions, teachers should use different kinds of resource to motivate students to learn and think. For students, they need to recognize their real purpose of study, learn how to think critically. Let’s try our best to make an academic success right now.

Work Cited
Gatto, John Taylor. “Against School.” Rereading America, 8th ed. Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, eds. New York. Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 148-55. Print.
Moore, Michael. “Idiot Nation.” Columbo, Cullen, and Lisle. 128-40.

Cited: Gatto, John Taylor. “Against School.” Rereading America, 8th ed. Gary Columbo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, eds. New York. Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. 148-55. Print. Moore, Michael. “Idiot Nation.” Columbo, Cullen, and Lisle. 128-40.