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The History Teacher Billy Collins Analysis

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The Culture of Education Ideas create the world. Ideas, from the murky unknown of our imagination or the onerous research performed over decades, is fed by the desire to build something. Ideas require no materials except that of the human mind and the will to paint the world around us. Ideas can build or destroy. Ideas can be squandered. This country was shaped through the idea of a better society in which people could have their inalienable rights protected. The American Revolution was fought against the closed-mindedness of society with its detached indifference to the well-being of its citizens. American history was shaped by revolutions, and the seed to every revolution was an idea. The most disturbing thing I observe in the modern …show more content…

Under the guise of tradition, teachers are able to instruct their pupils about a country without mistakes, and without truth. There is an insightful poem by Billy Collins about this form of good-hearted negligence in instruction called “The History Teacher”. He writes about an educator who “[t]rying to protect his students’ innocence/he told them the Ice Age was really just/ the Chilly Age, a period of a million years/ when everyone had to wear sweaters”. This satirical view of education really gives an uneasy credence to the philosophy of education that some schools in the U.S. have adopted. Not only does it lie about the true nature of our history, but it dumbs down its …show more content…

This is unfortunate, because it was 63 years ago that the court case, Brown vs. The Board of Education, labelled the “separate but equal” philosophy of education to be unconstitutional. Even though segregation is outlawed, there are more concealed methods of creating an unfair educational community. Wealthier areas are privileged with better teachers and learning environment, while areas less fortunate are doomed with a poorer quality of staff, supplies, and technology. This is a condemnation of these students, whose lack of a proper education will result in a cyclical motion of disengagement from education. In the past, education was used as a way to keep the class system in check by letting the rich be educated and allowing the poor to remain ignorant to their servitude. Today, this approach is softened, but still

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In the article, “Savage Inequalities: Children in U.S. Schools”, by Jonathan Kozol, discusses the inequalities that exist in class differences. Money is spent more in wealthy areas than in the poor or low class areas. The schools located in the wealthy areas are funded more and receive more supplies and better teachers. The schools in the not-so-wealthy areas do not have the best teachers and they need better teachers than the students in the wealthy areas. Kozol displays how schools are still segregated as they were in the past.

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330 Words | 2 Pages

In the article “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Education Apartheid” author Jonathan Kozol argues that segregation is still a major issue in our education system. Kozol talks about schools where minorities make up the major student body. He states that schools with namesakes tied to the civil rights movement are some of the most isolated schools for minorities where white students make up less than a third of the student body. Kozol proceeds to talk about these schools where minorities make up the student population, he says that these are some of the poorest schools they are old and in need of repairs and new technology and supplies. He says that the education of these students has been deemed less important and that they are not

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1246 Words | 5 Pages

This book and more specifically, this quote shows were author Ray Bradbury feels school has become dumbed down. He describes a world which has abandoned ideas like history and literature, which I reference the aged-old quote,

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932 Words | 4 Pages

Inequality is an issue in the current American society and it is widely existing in every aspect of the society. The question why the education inequalities are still exacerbated today by racial segregation and concentrated poverty in many American schools. The evidence provided in the book “Savage Inequality”, written by the Jonathan Kozol in 1991. This book addresses the disparities in the education funding and discusses the difference of the education quality between urban schools and suburban schools. This book is based on Kozol’s two years observation of public school and interviews with students, teachers, and parents in Mississippi, Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., and San Antonio.

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1700 Words | 7 Pages

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Education). Education is a crucial making an intelligent and prosperous world. Every person is entitled to an equal education, deserving to be taught and have the ability to learn at the same beneficial level as any other person. However, the disparity between what some have for a school and what others have for schools that far surpass the others is unacceptable. Children in the United States are not getting the education they deserve to receive.

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1234 Words | 5 Pages

He states that textbooks want to keep it simple and do not want their citizens to lose their sense of patriotism by finding out that a past president wasn’t the ideal human being. Thus, students are taught to characterize the lifetime of a figure by only a few of their actions and thus, this minimized version of history wrongly becomes the truth. The article “Why Study

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1300 Words | 6 Pages

One of the great qualities of America is that everyone is entitled to equal opportunities. That if we work hard enough we will be able to reach amazing heights and pave the way to a better future, but unfortunately some aren’t given that fair chance and it’s America’s children who are sadly suffering. All over the country children in public schools, minorities especially, are being subjected to school segregation. Based on matters such as race, ethnicity, and social class students are given an education that undoubtedly contradicts the promise of equal educational opportunities. The goal of America’s educational system is to provide all of the nation’s students with a public, gratuitous education that is of fair and equal quality, insuring

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1341 Words | 6 Pages

In Jonathan Kozol’s article “still separate, still unequal: America’s educational apartheid” Kozol argues that the current American school system is putting racial groups at a disadvantage by splitting them from richer urban school by their location that they live by putting them in underfunded city schools; which undermines and voids anti segregation movements such as the brown v board that were set up during the civil rights movement. “Educators make the argument today that... our only realistic goal should be the nurturing of strong, empowered, and well-funded schools in segregated neighborhoods. Black school officials in these situations have sometimes conveyed to me a bitter and clear-sighted recognition that they're being asked...to mediate and render functional an uncontested separation between children of their race and children of white people living...sometimes in almost their own immediate communities... And some...do not even dare to ask for, or expect, complete equality...but look instead for only a sufficiency of means—"adequacy"...

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1444 Words | 6 Pages

There are certain tools that are essential in schools for the success of education. Whether it be reading, writing, comprehending, or problem solving; these are all tools that are advantageous to possess in one’s education. Unfortunately, not all groups are able to acquire all these tools as easily as other groups are. It is unequivocal that education plays a major role in one’s future, but certain students cannot achieve their ideal education because of the lack of a proper education system. This is what leads to the inequality in education for students of color who are from an underprivileged area, compared to students on the contrary.

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Education is a noticeable social establishment used to sustain the overall estimations of a general public. Many of us believe and expect that, education should be an engaging procedure that permits and assistants kids to build up their interests, basic considering, critical thinking, empathy, and introduction towards smartness for favorable activity. The article Inequality in public school by Michael Godsey, the U.S. department of education mentioned that, “equality in education is vital because equality of opportunity is a core American value” and integral to the country’s economic strength (P. 71). As I believe that everybody has the privilege to get the education and there ought to be equivalent open door for every one of the general population

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1045 Words | 5 Pages

All these articles boil down to the fact that public education has the power to give financial security and personal growth which is expressed in Mann’s “Report of the Mass. Board of Education”. After analyzing these several articles, one can clearly see that socioeconomic status doesn’t impede on the quality of an education as there are resources and legislation for students no matter their ethnicity or class to achieve a quality education. First and foremost, let’s start at the beginning of public education with the Man who started it all. Horace Mann was an educational reformer who is known as the “father of Erwin 2 American public education”. Mann was dedicated to the idea of free and “universal education”.

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298 Words | 2 Pages

The poem “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins has a greater lie than “The Death of Santa Claus”, in its intention to save the innocence of students. It is necessary to tell the truth when the lie is destroying students future and breeding ignorance. To begin, in this poem the history teacher is trying to protect the innocence of his students by simplifying most historic allusions to make them sound friendly and less important. For example Collins writes, “The Spanish Inquisition was nothing more than an outbreak of questions...” (Collins 7-8).

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1690 Words | 7 Pages

If asked whether or not schools today are segregated, the majority of American citizens would quickly interject that they are not. In accordance with the law, the majority of American citizens would be correct. Though schools are no longer segregated in the sense that they were 64 years ago prior to the Brown vs. Board of Education ruling in 1954, schools are still dealing with a new type of segregation. This new type of segregation is referred to as “de facto”. In spite of the fact that de facto segregation has been caused by many events both in and out of the government’s control, based on evidence, there is no denying the fact that black students are both living and being educated in a segregated society.

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

I knew that death was real and it would eventually happen to all of us. But at 13 I never realized I would experience it yet. I thought that this week was gonna be fun, I mean, who doesn't love four days off of school. But it wasn't, this was the worst 4 day weekend of my life. I realized to hold the people/animals you love the most closest to you because the next morning they could be gone.

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1810 Words | 8 Pages

As Americans, we view the Constitution as a stepping stone to making the great country we live in today. Yet, we the people of the United States failed to realize another component in order to form a perfect union. Which is to establish and promote equal opportunities for a quality education for all. However, we live in a society where social locators such as class, gender, and race are huge factors in the determination of one’s educational future.

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