Summary Of Project Classroom Makeover By Cathy Davidson

The word elite in Davidson's article applies to institutions that are able to be outstanding in accordance to the standard educational curriculum. In her article “Project Classroom makeover”, Cathy Davidson shares her view of the current educational system by exploring how they can be outdated and not inclusive to everyone. Despite praising institutions that broke the cycle of following the curriculum standard like Mrs Davidson’s classroom and her own university Duke Davidson she however, does not classify all those institutions as “elite”. Davidson’s own view of elite institutions is narrowed down to that of the “rich, privileged institution” (54) and not much with the learning style and the inclusiveness of different talents that she praises

The implication of the word elite in Davidson's article is very specific and only applies to certain institutions. An example of that when she says “ what this means for young people who come to an elite private university is that they have taken one of a number of specific routes to get there. One way is to test to get into the best preschools so you can go to the best private grammar schools so you can be admitted to the most elite boarding schools so you can be competitive at Ivies or an elite school outside the Ivies like Stanford or Duke” (51-52). In both instances where she mentioned the word elite, she referred to institutions that excel in the high level of education. Davidson even goes as far as saying that the students who are able to enter an elite school like the ones she mentioned above as “Young overachievers” (52). Clearly emphasizing the role of excelling in the traditional educational standard to being considered “elite”. Those standards, like fluency in English and mastery in mathematics, are not inclusive of all people that have different talents. Despite Davidson’s acknowledgement

In her article, Davidson explores our current educational system and its problem, she states “The problem, however, is the confusion of “high standards” with “standardization.” Our national educational policy depends on standardized tests, but it is not at all clear that preparing students to achieve high test scores is equivalent to setting a high standard for what and how kids should know and learn” (59). Despite excelling on these tests can be considered as overachieving or an elite quality, it does not however, test those skills that students may have acquired or are going to need to put into practice. Those standardized tests are also very limited and are not inclusive of other talents that a student might have. Just like the girl with the green hair in the middle school that Davidson visited, her artistic talents are never challenged or even considered by those educational standards. This is because “if we measure narrowly, you see results just as narrowly. In other words, the more standardized our assessment, the more kids fail” (61). The limitation that those standards create prevent students who have skills that are not measured to be exploring and building up those skills. These standards limit creativity and exploration of new ideas and ways of learning that can benefit students who were failed by the system. Despite all