The Cost Of Education By Neil Postman

To the honorable government person.

This letter addresses education, and I am asking you to hear my plea. Education needs some positive changes to be made to help students. Schooling has changed since education became available in America, some positive, some negative. Now, though, there are some issues, especially regarding the ultimate goal of education in America. This is a problem that needs to be acted upon now, not later. Schools are failing our nation's youth. There is a difference between teaching kids and actually learning. Luckily, Neil Postman has written a book about education that helps show problems and possible solutions for the education system. Some of my solutions are from Postman’s book, but others are not. Education has

He believes that the school agenda has been altered for the worse. “Schools have accepted the offer made by Christopher Whittle to include, daily, two minutes of commercial messages in the curriculum. Whittle offers his own ten-minute version of the news of the day and free, expensive television equipment, including a satellite dish.” (Postman, 35) This goes to show that many schools have the god of Consumership ruling which should not be imposed upon our youth. Being bought out for some equipment and biased news should not be an example of education. One other major issue that correlates to consumership is technology. Technology will always be part of our lives, but it should not become an education. He discusses the differences between richer and poorer people and how no matter how much some believe in it, but “it would be quite astonishing if computer technology equalized all learning opportunities, irrespective of economic differences.” (Postman, 47) One of the biggest issues in education is that students are not learning, rather, they are memorizing material for a short amount of time. A proposal from Neil Postman’s, which I completely agree with, is to get rid of textbooks. It is not effective for students in the

Campbell, lectures. He has a slide presentation with main points on it as he discusses. He uses visuals, asks questions and writes them on the white board during lectures to help us use critical thinking, and will use hands-on incorporations as well. In the lecture about respiration, Mr. Campbell handed a rubber band to each student. He had us twist it once and put both of our index fingers through them; we would pull our fingers polar from each other to show the strain the rubber band makes. He used this as a hands-on example as to how hydrogen (H+) bonds make it more difficult for the lungs to expand. Another teacher, Mr. Sibley, uses poker chips to encourage students to ask questions about the government topic of the day. Each quarter, students must acquire sixty chips; this helps students greatly in asking questions and thinking to help understand the material being taught. Education should be about this, helping students think about what they are being taught and learning new things. One of the greatest parts of Neil’s book is describing one of the school agendas. He states that schools make kids of all races and backgrounds into Americans. It is a great way to picture education. It helps eliminate segregation,