There is such a heavy, yet unnecessary, emphasis on tests in school systems today. There is no point in creating a curriculum that caters to test questions because it is not real learning. If teachers just taught for children to pass tests, then the entire school system is useless. We should be teaching children to look forward to other things rather than passing the regents, the SATs, or any other important tests. To have children, teachers, and schools ridiculed over test scores is not realistic at all. Students could just be really bad test takers, but to have the burden of passing the test on their backs, just makes it that much harder for them to focus on school work. In high school, I was a straight A student, but my SAT scores were really low. In some cases, children can be good test takers and bad participants in school, but in the end, they’ll get praised because test scores is the only thing that matters. Despite disagreeing with the amount of weight put on tests, there seems to be no better way to screen children and schools to see if they’re on the right track.
The idea of eugenics and sterilization is extremely bizarre. It’s the same as categorizing people into adequate and inadequate groups, but who’s is to say if a person’s capabilities are worthy or not? Just because a student has a mental illness, it does not mean that they are dumb or stupid, and it is certainly far-fetched to try to contain levels of mentally-ill children from being born. Students with learning disabilities need more patience and attention, not neglect. They will learn at their own pace, and it may not be the same as the average child, but to try to “improve the level of intelligence of the American population.. by making it impossible for those with low levels of intelligence to have children” is extremely insensitive and unreasonable (286). Like the book says eugenics is similar to Nazi’s and their creation of the “super race”. American school systems are always trying to categorize students so that they can improve learning, but is that really working? I find that when you separate children and put them into learner groups, they tend to fail more because it will be obvious to them who is the smarter group and who is the failing group.
Ultimately, a reason that the American school system seems to be failing is because learning is geared towards the wrong purpose. To teach children strictly material on tests is useless and a waste of time. Academics should be taught in a way that can be applied to the real world, not just tests. So what changes should be made in the school systems so that students could learn realistically? And what kind of programs can be provided to ensure that?
