The Myth of Education and Empowerment - Essay Example

The Myth of Education and Empowerment Thesis statement The effectiveness of education system in America Introduction This essay centers on the deteriorating and failing system of education in the USA. Michael Moore brings to light his reasons as to why he depicts the education system as collapsing. He cites lack of financing as the major reason for the collapsing education system in America. In addition, politicians and the American companies contribute significantly to the decline of the education system in the United States of America. Although the United States regards education as important, the reasons that the writer provides indicate that they have neglected it with lack of enough funding as the major indicator. In essence, the essay has effectiveness and credibility that a reader would come across in non-subjective writing covering exclusively on factual evidence while remaining unbiased. Body Moore continues to assert that those schools and the districts start to follow up plans and details for getting financial support for their school programs. He compares the education system in America with that of Germany and Japan to illustrate how the United States government have neglected the education and hence has fallen below those countries education system. He clearly points out the irony between education and politics in America. In the essay, the writer uses a lot of humor to present his views to the listeners. He uses humor to illustrate the deteriorating system of education in America. Many Americans attend school, high school and advance to higher levels (university) in the education system. Despite this, the education system still lacks many things and therefore leaves a lot to be desired. The writer convinces that an ignorance in the education system by depicting that “seventy percent of students graduating from American colleges are not needed to learn foreign languages” (157). He also adds that many a good number of the American universities do not require a course in American history to fulfill there are requirements for graduation (157). There are only a few esteemed universities that they require that the students attend a Shakespeare course. The writer indicates that these universities have the potential to influence the leaders in believing that the existing system of education, both schools, and higher education, are deteriorating and short of meeting the requirement for education standards that benefit the country. The writing decisions that the writer of this essay uses are easy and clear to spot in the essay. He uses narration very well to narrate the state of the education system in America. He changes his tone when talking about the grim issues that are making the education system to deteriorate (Lauder, 34). He also changes the tone when underlining the importance of the point he is putting across in the essay. He used narration very well when he narrated how the United States' president "was bragging about ignorance during his commencement address to the Yale graduates in 2001" (2). He asserts, "President George Bush spoke proudly of having been a mediocre student at the university". He depicts that "the C students can be presidents of the united states because he was one of the class C students" (155). To illustrate the state of the education system in the United States, the writer provides a review that "recently, a team of 556 seniors from 55 prestigious united states universities was tested with multiple choice questions branded high school level. These top students scored only 53% of the questions correctly and only one student got all the questions correct" (155). Amazingly, "40% of the students did not know when the American civil war took place" (155). This illustrates how the education system in America is deteriorating. In addition, the writer indicates that education has not a priority. He depicts that the funding of education system including the remuneration of teachers is poor, "it is on the same level with meat inspectors and OSHA. A teacher, caring for children every day, is paid an average OF $41,351 yearly while a congressman receives $145,100 yearly" (161). The difference in payment indicates that education poorly funded. In addition to funding, there is the shortage of teachers with some schools recruiting teachers from abroad (France, China, Hungary) (161). "It is not just the teachers only; the schools themselves have also been neglected. A quarter of the united states public schools have at least one inadequate building with others in Washington D.C unsafe for students" (161). This only indicates how education in America is collapsing. Moreover, the enrollment is above the capacity of the schools. The writer asserts, "Approximately 10% of public schools in the USA record enrollment that is more by 25% than the building's capacity. As such, classes are held in outdoors, cafeteria, and hallways or in janitor closet". In New York, "at least 15% of the public schools do not have full-time custodians, as such; the students do without tissue papers while the teachers mop their own floors. Students are sent to the streets to hawk candy bars in order to assist their schools to buy some necessary instruments" (162) as the writer, asserts. This indicates the state of the schools in America. On the library department, some schools libraries have been shut while in some schools there is the reduction of the opening hours of the libraries because of lack of books and other materials. Additionally, the reading materials in the libraries are very old dating back to the 1970s and 1980s because there are no additions of books in the libraries due to lack of funding by the government. The books in the libraries are tattered, dated and discolored while many of the books are in a state of disintegration. "The available books contain outdated facts as well as theories that may not be much help to the students. There are no important books with information relating to AIDS or other diseases, past USA history, exploration and such books" (163) as Moore depicts. These are proofs the writer indicate how the education system in America is deteriorating. To make the education system even worse, "president bush government proposed to reduce and cut federal government spending on libraries by a total of $39 million, a reduction of approximately 19 percent (162)". The Americans view and consider education as the gateway to success as well as a crucial ascend to socio-economy ranking. Nevertheless, writer of this essay depicts that there is no equal distribution of education to students in schools across the different socio-economic course. He depicts it as a fraudulent mirage that the country leadership uses to keep the middle class and working class students in good schools while the others lament in schools without some crucial education materials such as books and qualified teachers. The writer portrays the poor education system, lack of educational materials and different education philosophies in the school systems affect the standard of education and empowerment in the country. In empowering the students through education, the writer says that it is very important to develop and provide the necessary learning materials such as funding libraries and construction of classes. By implementing these measures, students will have the opportunity to have passive learning experiences. It is also incredibly significant for the educators to have total control of their classrooms to dictate and influence learning to the students. Control by the teachers makes them stimulate the student's brain. As such, the school system will be based on the work of the students being assessed on the ability of the students. The evaluation will center on the capability of the students to follow the teacher's guide and correct steps rather than doing the evaluation on the basis of whether a student is right or wrong. The writer recommends this type of education system to educate and more importantly empower the students in realizing their abilities. Work cited Lauder Hugh, Brown Phillip, Dillabough Jo Anne & Halsey Albert Henry "Education, globalization, and social change" (2006) 34. Read More