High School Experience

My high school experience was very similar to Gatto's in many ways. I noticed the boredom among both the students and the teachers. Many did not want to be there for various reasons. Some thought their classes were too easy, others had difficulty learning in them; both resulted in overwhelming apathy. While some teachers still retained passion for what they taught, many were also bored. Their frustration was often taken out on the students. It was not all bad though. Many students still had the desire to learn and many teachers still enjoyed educating. What was most off putting was the atmosphere and the sense of forced instruction. More energy was focused on discipline, than on education. Gatto also mentioned that creativity is not valued in the public school system. My school was victim to this, as many creative programs I was involved were cut my senior year. I do not think this was the result of some sort of capitalist plot, however, as Gatto seems to suggest. Much of the problems are due to a disconnect between students and administrators. Schools often deal with heavy financial problems and therefore cannot offer all the programs they would like to. This often results in poor decisions by school administrators. Many are afraid of facing financial hardship and often cut programs deemed as "non-essential" because of it. These are often creative programs such as music, art and language. Most do not realize the importance of these programs to the students and the impact they have on education. Basic classes are important for fundamental education, but they should not be the only classes that are valued. While I do not agree with Gatto on his claim that public education is entirely useless, he does point out some serious flaws in the system that I have experience in my own life.