"Group Minds" (RL)

     The main claim of Doris Lessing's "Group Minds" is that the individual has been lost to the power and influence of the group. She supports this by starting explaining the dynamic of a group and how easy people and their opinions become overtaken by the majority. She even describes an experiment that furthered proved her claim. Lessing does hint at the opposing claims of her argument and sufficiently so. She notes that people do believe that the power of the group is just a tradition of sorts; it is human nature. So why should it be changed? How? She acknowledges this opposing position as true. However, she still states that there is a problem to be solved. I think Lessing describes the issue well. She could have given a few more specific examples of when a group can overpower the individual. She also could have provided a better call to action by providing more ways to fix the issue.

"When Bright Girls..." (RL15 part two)

     In this essay, Susan Jacoby aims to prove that women are less capable in math and science, because young girls decide for it to be so. Girls are chosing to drop higher level math and science classes, opting to take classes in fields like Art. In result, these girls are limiting themselves form future success when these make slated choices. It is especially unfortunate as girls are only making these kinds of decisions because boys find "brains" unattractive, Jacoby says. To evade this, parents should only tell their daughters "No" when they try to get out of their Algebra and Chemistry classes.

     I do not relate with this essay, nor do I fully agree with Jacoby. Yes, women are statistically less capable in the math and science area. I do not agree, however, that a lot of girls are drop out of those types of classes because of boys. In my high school in Batesville, AR, my Honors Chem class had a ratio of 5:1, girls to boys, and there were just a many girls in my Pre-Calculus and Trigonometry class my Junior year. I, for one, simply do not like math, ever since I got a C in Pre-Cal/Trig and was introduced to The Math Zone. Boys were never an issue.

"Have It Your Way..." (RL15 part one)

     In "Have It Your Way: Consumerism in Education", Simon Benlow stresses the difference between consumers and students while it aims to make sure that the two are never one in the same. He, first, describes what a true consumer is. It is a passive buyer of goods and services and someone else's ideas, someone who can choice what he or she wants and how they want it, dismissing things they do not want. On the other hand, a student is an active learner who has to take part in their own learning experience, even though there are some rules and regulations they have to follow. Benlow states the confusing a consumer for a student is easily done. However, according to him, this should not be, as schools and colleges should not be places full of consumerism, unnecessary choices, and students who would rather have everything done for them.

     I can slightly relate to this essay as I was brought up in am extremely consumeristic world. Most people in my generation, including myself, are used to things being done for us. Even though I am not as affected as some of the students Benlow described, and I can easily see where he is coming from and just how right he is.

Not Homeschooling? (RL14)

1.)     Vaughan supports her claim that the public school system is an blatant advertisement for the government as better educators of children than their own parents by stating the tradition of the notion in a "post-feminist" world. This is true as the government funds the schools and it has final say in many of the issues that surround it. However, as Vaughan preaches that a major change is in order, she fails to realize that not all parents are "over-educated" and financially equipped like her, nor do they have the extra time to educate their own children.

2.)     Government Education has a school-to-work agenda because work is exactly what students are taught is a primary goal of school. I remember from a young age hearing things like "You have to get good grades so you can get a good job." However, that school-to-work agenda is slightly corrupted as students have a choice in what exactly what they want to do in the work field, how exactly they want to work.

3.)     I can see where a system of education that forces students to sit in a classroom all day is ineffective, as children can easily get bored and become uninterested and distracted by everything outside of what is being taught. I do remember times when particular lessons, whether they were taught when I was in fourth grade or a junior in high school, that went on far to long and I did space out in my own day-dreamland. However, I do not remember staying in any one classroom all day throughout my entire education career. In elementary and middle school there was recess, lunch, Computer class on Monday, Music class on Wednesdays, P.E. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Art class on Fridays. In high school, class periods and blocks were introduced. This is why Vaughan's description is inaccurate. She fails to mention all of these activities that a lot of students are able to take part in week by week. "[Sitting] in a classroom all day" is not exactly what students do on a day to day basis in the education system.

Floppy Disk Fallacies- Thesis (RL)

Even though there are many pros of their usage, computers have created a massive negative impact on education and the young students in the system, rendering them less creative, less social, and less imaginative.