Sherry’s own son, who always got by in school, was told by one of his teachers that he could either do his work or fail the class. The threat of failure motivated him to learn. She sees the resentment those students that were passed through school have for the system because as adults they value the education they threw away as teens. Sherry argues that teachers and parents must relook at the merit of failing because it can be a positive teaching
Roughly “15% of life is spent at school” in the United States (“What percentage of”). Humans are in school during the early years of development, thus the education system impacts their thoughts, choices, and overall wellbeing. It promotes discovery, but still confides the students to certain rules. This concept is explored throughout many poems including “Pass/Fail,” “Trouble with Math in a One-Room Country School,” “Zimmer’s Head Thudding against the Blackboard,” “The School Room on the Second Floor of the Knitting Mill,” and “Fork.” An overall negative attitude emerges from the themes that discusses how education and schooling impact you, for better or for worse.
However, it can be categorized as being content with your place in life with what you are given. First, in order to know happiness, people have to experience countering emotions. “Happiness is being able to ride the wave of every emotion that life throws at you, knowing that you can come out the other side just a little better than what you were before because you have the skills (focus, courage, curiosity), the resources (a positive mindset), and the support structure (a community) to make that happen” stated Penny Locaso, author of “Hacking Happiness. ”Happiness is not just feeling excited and joyful 24/7, it’s more about being confident that everything happens for a reason and knowing that you are strong enough to overcome the bad things that may happen to you. Brock Bastian, a social psychologist at the University of Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, stated, “The danger of feeling that we should avoid our negative experiences is that we respond to them badly when they do arise”...
In my life I have faced some extremely trying experiences and, from them, learned some very valuable lessons. My father, SPC Theodore “TJ” Ingemanson, an Iraq War Veteran and Wounded Warrior, passed unexpectedly, from injuries he suffered during his deployment for Operation Iraqi Freedom. I was twelve years old. Two months after this devastating event, my mother was sent to prison for choices she made that impacted our lives in a negative way. Life, as I knew it, became a chaotic tailspin, changing rapidly and drastically.
Others view happiness as a more internal and long-lasting state of being that is rooted in a sense of purpose, self-acceptance, and connection with others. In an article called “Read This Story and Get Happier” written by Adam Sternbergh.
The Grading System: Completely Necessary Grades are an important part of the school system. Grades set the extraordinary students apart from the ordinary ones. In Jerry Farber’s essay, “A Young Person’s Guide to the Grading System,” he argues that grades are the only motivation students have in school. Farber even calls it “phony motivation.” He argues that students do not actually learn anything.
In my first three years of high school, I have had many struggles that have taken me on a different track than what I expected. My freshman year I had received four concussions. Some of these were sports related while others just happening by accident. These accidents left me missing tons of school and made me fall behind. Classes were hard to keep up with mentally as well as emotionally.
Not many achieve happiness in their lifetime. Either they do not live long enough to witness it or they are not prepared for what their happiness is. Happiness is very subjective. Each person’s version of happiness is different. This version of happiness is universal.
Attending a small school for now 5 years, I understand that most kids at my age go to a larger middle school with a graduating class of approximately 200-300 kids in their class, but going to a large school, teachers don 't have time to spend on a specific individual for many things, and I find myself lucky to get that at North Cape. Going through many situations and conflicts at North Cape led me in temporary unfortunate paths, but greatly impacted my reason to try and change to become a more successful individual in my education and life that made a permanent change. It all started 7th grade year, I wasn 't trying, it was as simple as that, until I received a suspension that was for an unnecessary conflict. I then had decided to try and get good grades and do something worth my time and put a smile on my family’s face. Because of the decision I made, things got better and made me feel better as a person, and made me realize I’m not only doing this for my family; I 'm doing it for myself.
School is a place where you go to spend about half of your life learning about topics that simply do not interest you or that truly won’t help you in the future. The U.S government tells the teachers what they need to teach in their schools for the class curriculums, so that the students can learn a healthy amount of material. The best thing is that many high schools fail to teach their students important things. Many teachers just pass students along through their class, because they don’t want to hold them back and deal with them for another year, but soon enough most of us move onto college. I’ve seen many people fail during college, because their high school did not push them to try to achieve great grades.
Since the parents believe their children are passing, they don’t take an interest in their child’s studies. They allow the child to spend little time on homework and more time on other activities, such as watching television. When a child comes home with an F, then the parents will take notice. Only then will parents take an active role in their child’s education, instead of letting the schools do it all. The schools are failing the students by giving them passing grades they don’t deserve.
I didn’t care if I failed or passed a test because nothing mattered to me. I thought I was stupid and that no one thought that I was smart, so what was the point of being there? My stellar grades dropped tremendously. But I still didn’t care. I felt so lost and misplaced.
A recent study released by Pearson that questioned over 400,000 students in grades 6-12 shows that only “48% of students think their teachers care about them…and only 45% of students think teachers care if they are absent from school” (Hare, 2015). This shocking statistic demonstrates what American students think about their teachers. Most students are under the impression that their teachers don’t care about them. When teachers don’t care about their students and allow them to fail, many students with unrealized potential give up on education. Mike Rose’s “I Just Wanna Be Average” describes his journey through high school on the vocational track after the results of his “tests got confused with those of another student named Rose” (Rose, 1989, p. 2).
Fitting in. In other words “to fit in.” How can two simple words influence society and hold such weight over adolescents and even adults? Though my mind can’t understand the idea of what this phrase truly means, these words genuinely took a toll on me for a period of time during my semester here at Stony. If someone asked me what fitting in meant two years ago, I would have responded stating that “in order to “fit in,” you must have a lot of friends, do things you might not be comfortable with in order to please someone or a group, be skinny, wear make-up, wearing expensive clothing so that you won’t be considered a bump, etc.
In school, the teachers are focused more on our academics than our life problems. Although the school does teach us some of the basic life skills that we need, they do not teach us the most important ones that revolve around our lives every single day. “Though high school and college are excellent in
