Do You Hate School?
Summer is coming to an end, and it's almost time to start thinking about going back to school. If you're dreading the start of a new semester, you might not be the only one.
Ben Agger and Beth Anne Shelton, sociology professors and authors of I Hate School: Why American Kids are Turned Off Learning say that by the time students reach high school, majority of teens can't wait to finish school. They say that the schools are failing, and compare them to "warehouses" and "work houses."
"We are failing to spark the imagination of children to enable them to seek their muse and cherish the life of the mind," Shelton said.
In the duo's ideal school, formulaic writing would be replaced by thoughtful essays, and standardized tests would be gone all together. Instead, the students would be judged by a portfolio of their best work. Emphasis would be placed on more art classes and less math classes. "The litmus test of all this is simple," Agger said. "Are kids excited to get up in the morning and go to school?"
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