Education Exposed
What you think you know about America’s system is about to be tragically reversed.
Typically, when we think about the concept of the American Dream, we look towards ultimate wealth, equality, or whatever else we desire most. However, Noam Chomsky presents an opposite approach to the idea throughout his book Requiem for the American Dream. He lays out the 10 greatest issues that are responsible for ultimately destroying the American Dream. Personally, I found Principle #2: Shape Ideology to be most interesting.
This principle deals with the concept of the modern education system. He takes what we know about the system (the fact that universities are expensive, the belief that Charter schools provide the children with a better education, and the truth that children raised in areas corrupted with poverty have a more difficult time focusing in elementary school) and flips it on its axis to reveal the truth behind the common misconceptions set forth by those in power.
When making his brutal points, Chomsky skips straight to the point. He does not dance around the ideas, rather he lays it down straight for us to consume. Each of these beliefs that I addressed earlier hold the answers to the issues in our societies. Chomsky reveals that unrealistic tuition prices “deprives large parts of the population the option of higher education” (20). From an outside perspective, you would initially think that as a single country we would want our citizens to be well educated in order to advance, but if you are a high status elite your goal is to remain in power without any potential threats. One way to ensure this is to prevent others from receiving optimal education due to expenses.
I have friends who grew up going to Charter schools because their parents believed that attending those schools would provide their children with the best form of education. Chomsky rises the idea that “Charter schools are a way of drawing public funds into private institutions, which will undermine the public school system” (21). He pinpoints another flaw, which leads right back to the idea of destroying the public school system. Although Charter schools give off a reputation of providing the children with greater benefits, it’s all just another scam to keep the wealthy in power.
However, what I found to be most significant in this section is Chomsky’s focus on the children in poverty. He stresses the idea that despite the children being prescribed Adderall to help them focus, there is actually nothing medically wrong with them. To provide sufficient evidence to his claim, Chomsky includes the article “Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School” by Alan Schwarz. He uses this article to showcase how doctors are forced to write unnecessary prescriptions for these kids due to the unchanging system they are locked in: “They are prescribing stimulants to struggling students in schools starved of extra money—not to treat A.D.H.D., necessarily, but to boost their academic performance” (30). To me, this is the largest problem encountered in this section. The education system is not willing to change, so doctors are pretending that the children need medical enhancers in order to change them. These children are growing up in poor areas and thinking that they have medical issues, but in reality they are not receiving the type of education that they need. This is absolutely striking and I never would have thought it to be true if I had not read it here myself. These children, already growing up in unhealthy environments, think that they have to change. The school system has to change, not them.
After reading into Chomsky’s thoughts, I have come to realize that several parts of the education system are ploys to strip us of our creative thoughts and individuality, forcing us to conform. With minimal unique minds out there, the wealthy elites stand a better chance at remaining in power.
It's hard to read parts of this, and it's hard to believe. I mean, my underlying tend to believe that schools and doctors will always do what's best for kids. Chomsky has evidence, but I wonder if there is corroborating evidence. Do educators and doctors do this intentionally?
ReplyDeleteYou raise some disturbing details.
As I was reading, I was also really surprised by the idea that some doctors prescribe children adderall if they are struggling in school, when in reality, it's the weak education system that is preventing them from reaching their full potential. I especially resonate with the last line of your blog post: "with minimal unique minds out there, the wealthy elites stand a better chance at remaining in power." It's crazy to think about how our backgrounds can affect our futures. Children from unfortunate backgrounds are bound to gain education in low-income areas, where education is bad quality. This immediately keeps America's elites at the top, due to the fact that low-income children don't have access to a quality education like the wealthy do.
ReplyDeleteI also found it disturbing when Chomsky mentioned that doctors are prescribing Adderall to children in poverty mainly because the system does not want to change (to spend more money). It is morally wrong to prescribe someone, especially children, something that they don't actually need. Not only can it mess with their human body but it only makes the poor pay for something they can't afford. Thinking about it, because the education system does not want to change, who benefits from it? The pharmacy business. Chomsky also mentioned how some doctors are labeling children with ADHD because of this and it makes me question, why? There are some schools that do not get much funding from state and federal government but why treat this children like this? They go to school to get an education not to be told that something is "wrong" with them.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely one of the most unnerving portions of Chomsky's piece. The thought that doctors and teachers and parents alike will create issues for their children to help them succeed in a school system that is already corrupt and faulty is not only disturbing, but saddening. It just adds to the stereotype that Americans will always take the easy way out; rather than try to fight the system and stop the perpetuating of making our kids feel like they're not good enough, we change the easiest path. This is why the American Dream is also harder to achieve, because no one is willing to speak out and say that there are issues all over our society. If we can't do it for our children, how do we expect to succeed ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI also thought that what was most troubling about the wealthy having so much power is that they are manipulating our education system to benefit them when we are old enough to join the work force. it wasn't until i read Chomsky that i realized this. I am personally very angry that the wealthy are doing this because as we are growing up we believe that getting an education will help lead to a better life so we can achieve our personal American Dream. Now we know that this is perhaps not true, we seek a higher education just to fall into a giant hole of debt that would potentially just lead us into a job we could've gotten right after high school. I am glad we were assigned this reading because it helped open our eyes to the reality we are living in. So now our job is to avoid falling into the traps of the wealthy and hopefully succeed.
ReplyDeleteI found this part in the book about wrongly prescribed Adderall to children very shocking, as well. I can't believe doctors need to pretend a child needs a drug, when they are perfectly fine. As Mrs. Flew brought up in the comments, I wonder if they do this intentionally. Either way, this is unacceptable to make children take a drug in order to excel in school because of the poor education system. I agree with you (and Chomsky) that there is a significant problem with the education system in this sense and is in need of desperate changes. Children, no matter what their background, should never have to feel like they are not good enough for societal standards.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness I wrote something so similar to you, and this is my first time looking at your post! The part about the children taking adderall for school got my attention too! That was the one most shocking/interesting aspect I wrote about as well. I also wrote about the increasing college tuition and how it makes getting a college degree seem unattainable. There are so many people I know that aren't going to college or aren't going to a certain school of their choice because it is too expensive. This makes me sad because I don't think money should hinder one's path to success. Students should be able to afford a good education beyond high school without having a lifetime of debt on their shoulders. Yes schools do provide scholarships, grants, and financial aid, but not everyone gets it. And if they do receive any money at all, it still isn't even close to being enough to not be in debt. I think this issue should be addressed immediately because every child is set up to go to college, and current students and future students shouldn't deal with it.
ReplyDelete