Persuasive Essay

        It has been learned that education is thought of as some kind of reform for the human mind. Some people would say what is the sense in an education when I have already learned everything I need to know on the street. Part of our education is convincing us to think, through the process of grade school (this includes k-12 grades), like "good" citizens should. A good citizen being someone that wakes goes to work maybe has a family, goes home and does it all over again the next day. It is said that within the lesson plans used in school there lies a hidden curriculum. On which students are graded on how well they conform to the learning structure of the school district. John Gatto said in his books that when he taught his classes sometimes useless and unconnected facts he was really teaching seven important lessons that are taught nationally. Gatto described these lessons, as confusion, class position, indifference, emotional dependency, provisional self-esteem, and that one cannot escape conforming to these lessons. Gatto also stated that this was the plan, since the Roman Empire. "Plato reluctantly transmitted in The Republic when Glaucon and Adeimantus extort from Socrates the plan for total state control of human life, a plan necessary to maintain a society where some people take more then there share. "I will show you," say Socrates, "how to bring about such a feverish city, but you will not like what I am going to say." And so the blue print for the seven-lesson school plan was sketched." Of course things are not as harsh as they once were, but the underlying plan still exists while separating the extent of education by social class.

        Not all education is equal, we must be taught to remain in the place we were born. While some children are sitting quietly trying to memorize dates for their quiz on Friday there are other classrooms filled with excited discussion questioning history or a math problem, why did or do things work this way. The type of education one receives depends on where one attends school. "Bowles and Gintis for example, have argued that students in different social-class backgrounds are rewarded for classroom behaviors that correspond to personality traits allegedly rewarded in the different occupational strata - the working classes for docility and obedience, the managerial classes for initiative and personal assertiveness." Some children learn to have and blossom analytical thinking skills while others if so desired are left to find these skills on their own. Otherwise they are taught to follow directions and not really think things through. This is not all true for every neighborhood and every classroom, because there are many different teachers out there with many different styles and methods of teaching. It is believed that teachers in lower class neighborhoods are not given adequate supplies and orders from the superintendent to be creative with their lesson plans. Here is a thought maybe teachers in these positions are paid less and/or ...