talking point #10

Shor

1. “People are naturally curious. They are born listeners. Education can either develop or still their inclination to ask why and to learn. A curriculum that avoids questioning school and society is not as, is commonly supposed, politically neutral."

Questions are the key to learning. We, as humans, were born wondering things. It is how we developed as children into who we are today. If we never asked questions or explored things then we would never be who we are today. I feel like everyone would be basically the same person with the same thoughts. If a curriculum doesn't allow for questions to be asked then everyone will just have to accept what they are taught and move on. If a student doesn't understand something they usually ask a question. If this is not allowed then they will never understand what they are being taught.

2. "Competition encourages people to survey other people’s differences for potential weak spots... We learn to ascribe winner or loser status based on certain perceived overt characteristics…"

Growing up grades were always most important to the class. Whoever got the best grade on a test was automatically the smartest in the class. Some teachers I had would call out the grades from the lowest to the highest. This was kind of embarrassing especially if you didn't do too well on that certain test. Everyone would think you were dumb if you did poorly on a test and everyone knew about it. Grades should be kept privet unless you yourself would like to share your grade with others. Besides grades children are very competitive at sports even in gym or at recess. This was always the case at the schools I attended.

3. "You must arouse children’s curiosity and make them think about school."

If you asked a group of students if they liked school, my guess would be that about half of them would reply no. I feel like it is a teachers responsibility to make school interesting for students. If they have a boring teacher they will not like school and never want to go to school. If a teacher is exciting and engaging in what she is doing with the students, then they will enjoy it a little better. You need to show them how important it is to go to school and that it is important to stay in school. Without an education it is very difficult to go anywhere in life and as teachers we need to show our students that.

Overall I really liked what this article was about. I thought it was very interesting that it seemed to talk about a little bit of everything that we learned this semester. It seems like a great way to end the year. Other than the topic, it was very long and hard to get through because of the length.