Standing Ovation: Group 3 "The Moment" Against Schools

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Group 3 "The Moment" Against Schools

The essay “Against School” was written and published in 2003. Previous to this essay the “No Child Left Behind” act was introduced in 2001. With this act schools are now required to raise standard test scores and if students do not meet requirements they will need tutoring or are given the option to attend a different school. The students test scores are now linked to the schools funding through this act. Schools are basing everything on test scores to ensure they get their funding. John Gatto explains that as test scores become the most important factor a schools curriculum the student’s individual needs become less important. When schools focus on core classes like math, reading and writing, though it may be great for kids who excel in those subjects, where do the individuals fit in who have better understanding of science, art and theater. This new act helps make Gatto’s point about how schooling promotes conformity and not the uniqueness of the individual

Group 3 "The Moment" Mehdi, Mike, Jordan, Alison

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Welcome

Welcome to our Eng 100 Blog “Standing Ovation”! The title of this blog refers to the audience of active readers we are creating by sharing our academic writing for Eng 100 with a larger group of students, instructors, academics, and just about anybody who chooses to follow our blog! When you write and post your reader responses here (and, later, as you write your essays for the course), I encourage you to use this audience to conceptualize who you are writing for and, most important, how to communicate your ideas so that this group of academic readers and writers can easily follow your line of thinking. Think about it this way: What do you need to explain and articulate in order for the other bloggers to understand your response to the essays we’ve read in class? What does your audience need to know about those essays and the authors who wrote them? And how can you show your readers, in writing, which ideas you add to these “conversations” that take place in the texts we study?
As students of Eng 100, you will use this blog to begin conversations with other academic writers on campus (students and instructors alike). We become active readers of each other’s writing when we comment on posts here. And, best of all, we are using this space to share ideas! I encourage you to use this blog to further think through the topics and writing strategies you will be introduced to this quarter. As always, be sure to give credit to those people whose ideas you borrow for your own thinking and writing (you should do this in the blog by commenting on their post, but you will also be required to cite what you borrow from your peers/instructors if and when it winds up in your essays. More details on that later).
Finally, keep in mind that writing to and for this audience is a good way to prepare for the panel of readers (faculty at WCC) who will be reading and assessing your writing portfolio at the end of the quarter. I hope that as a large group of active readers, we can better prepare each other for this experience. But, in the meantime, let’s have fun with it!