Part 2 - 1900-1950: As American as Public School

 

A sentence that stuck out to me was “The critics complained that the life adjusters had watered down the curriculum for all students, not just the laggard few.” Page 69

    In this excerpt, the critics of the ‘life adjustment education program’ expressed their dislike for the program and how it’s negatively impacting the students. The reason I chose this part from the text is that I personally noticed this happening in schools I had attended in the past, mainly in middle school and high school. I attended a bilingual school, where we received an education on par with that of a public school, but we just added the second language class as an essential course just like English literature. Over the years, the curriculum for this class became easier/simpler. The reasoning behind it was because they believed students wouldn’t really need to learn this language as intricately or fully and that the basics would need to be enough. Also because the students just didn’t seem as motivated or interested to learn anymore. This didn’t seem fair to many students who actually wanted to learn and were motivated; it felt like the educational experience was being shortened/withheld for us. 

    It also emphasizes that education in a classroom setting is almost always a group effort. We can learn a lot from our peers through their different world views and experiences, but it can also be considered a group effort because if no one is contributing to conversations held in class then the topic could seem to have no nuance to it, especially on topics like politics, literature, history, etc.