Good Example Of Essay On The End Of Education: Redefining The Value Of School
A Response Essay in Relation to the Article
A Response Essay in Relation to the Article:
The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School
The article written by Neil Postman entitled “The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School,” as he pointed out deeply in education of the youth and posed explanations for the current crisis in the public school system in America. It only shows that education plays a vital role in molding the young minds of the learners. Neil Postman has clearly stated two main issues on how adults or educators should conduct the schooling of the young generation: first, the issue on engineering, second, the issue of metaphysical area. He emphasized that, “Essentially, the engineering issue is evidently technical. It is the obligation of the adults to guide the young people to learn and that is how it supposed to happen. The issue is not a simple matter, thus, education must offer better solutions” . He also added that, “As the old saying goes, there are many ways to sing tribal lays; all of the ways are correct” . Learning is universal; there is not enough to say that this is the best thing to do to know, feel, see, remember, apply, or connect things better. What the young generations need is the change in the education system. Better insights, concepts, and visions are necessary to obtain the desired education for the young generation. The great opportunity for each individual is needed in accordance with his or her ability to achieve the dreams for better, richer, and fuller future. The desired change needs a reason, thus, addressing the issue on metaphysical area. Accordingly, a reason is different from motivation. In the context of education, motivation is a temporary physic event; focused only curiosity and attention. In addition, learners can still participate during the class discussion, take the examination, and do the homework even they are not motivated. The metaphysical event is an abstract event; not always present in the individuals’ consciousness. Without this metaphysics, education is pointless; teachers, parents and young ones must exert more efforts to achieve their goals, quality education. A well-redefined education system from means to ends can redefine the crisis of education; a balance education leads to better future generation through proper techniques for teaching engineering and metaphysics.
Education should focus on how to make a life, not how to make a living. This idea depicts the importance on the ends and not the means. Most of the educators tend to focus more attention on learning engineering and metaphysics. Educators in the public education are concerns of the information age. Millions of computer technology and devices inhibited the earth and ethical issues occurred. The ethical issues are privacy, accuracy, property, and accessibility. These ethical issues strongly affect the learning of the youth. The learners have no balance education because they devoted most of their time in technology aspects. Neil Postman strongly said that, “for the school to make sense including the young, parents, and teachers, they must have gods to serve” . It is a direct point to say the gods the author referring to is the narrative; tells the origin and envisions the future through constructions of ideal, rules of conduct, source of authority, and the sense of continuity and purpose of education. Good narratives lead to an organized life with full attention to a balanced education. Common narratives are capable of enhancing and sustaining the rationale of the public education. It gives meaning to the metaphysics of education that is significant to every outcome such as the sense of community life, personal identity, moral values, and explanations of the unknown ideas. The economic utility is one of the primary current narratives in the public education. It demands the focal objectives of learning to prepare every student to participate and contribute to the economy in the community they belonged. The human worth is very significant because it has the ability to secure the benefits and idea of “you are what you do the most for a living” or “you are what you accumulate” . The purpose of education is to perform the best to secure a better job for a better future with high standards of achievements and strong guidelines for academic discipline. However, the author argues that, “any education that is primarily about economic utility is too limited to be practical, and diminishes the world that it ridicules the humanity of a person” .
Personally, after reading the article, I would say that the author unsuccessfully demonstrated his attempts to provide some alternative ways or techniques to restore the public school system at present. However, I commend Sir Neil Postman for offering keen and thorough criticism of the values and ideas happening in the education today. It is very necessary for every school to avoid the gods or narratives of technology and economics. They should replace the false gods with better ones. The author has mainly successful in demonstrating the restoration of the spiritual aspect of learning. Every young person should give a worthy and meaningful purpose to education to achieve the desired future. The education system should start from the means to ends; a well-redefined education system. There should be balance learning in engineering and metaphysics with a better purpose for a better future generation. Indeed, education plays a significant part in creating brilliant young minds.
Reference
Mason, R. O. (1986). Four Ethical Issues of the Information Age. MIS Quaterly, 10 (1), 5-12.
doi>10.2307/248873.
Mondale, S., & Patton, S. (2001). School: The Story of American Public Education. Boston,
Massachusetts, USA: Beacon Press.
Moyers, B. (2008). About Us: Deepening the American Dream. Retrieved April 6, 2015, from
Deepening the American Drea Web site: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/americandream/
Postman, N. (1996). The end of education: Redefining the value of school. New York, USA.
Retrieved from http://brilliant-learning.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/04/Neil-Postman-The-End-of-Education.pdf: Vintage Book.
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