COLLECTING PASSAGES & ESSAY OUTLINE - FINAL DRAFT

A. COLLECTING PASSAGES

I. First Text:
1. Passage:
SCHOOL IS BAD FOR CHILDREN
Written By John Holt

Almost every child on the first day he sets foot in a school building, is smarter,
more curious, less afraid of what he doesn't know, better at finding and figuring
things out, more confident, resourceful, persistent and independent than he will
ever be again in his schooling – or, unless he is very unusual and very lucky, for
the rest of his life. Already, by paying close attention to and interacting with the
world and people around him, and without any school-type formal instruction, he
has done a task far more difficult, complicated and abstract than anything he will
be asked to do in school, or than any of his teachers has done for years. He has
solved the mystery of language. He has discovered it – babies don't even know
that language exists – and he has found out how it works and learned to use it. He
has done it by exploring, by experimenting, by developing his own model of the
grammar of language, by trying it out and seeing whether it works, by gradually
changing it and refining it until it does work. And while he has been doing this, he
has been learning other things as well, including many of the "concepts" that the
schools think only they can teach him, and many that are more complicated than
the ones they do try to teach him.
In he comes, this curious, patient, determined, energetic, skillful learner. We sit
him down at a desk, and what do we teach him? Many things. First, that learning
is separate from living. "You come to school to learn," we tell him, as if the child
hadn't been learning before, as if living were out there and learning were in here,
and there were no connection between the two. Secondly, that he cannot be trusted
to learn and is no good at it. Everything we teach about reading, a task far simpler
than many that the child has already mastered, says to him, "If we don't make you
read, you won't, and if you don’t do it exactly the way we tell you, you can’t. In
short, he comes to feel that learning is a passive process, something that someone
else does to you, instead of something you do for yourself.

In a great many other ways he learns that he is worthless, untrustworthy, fit only to
take other people's orders, a blank sheet for other people to write on. Oh, we make
a lot of nice noises in school about respect for the child and individual differences,
and the like. But our acts, as opposed to our talk, says to the child, "Your
experience, your concerns, your curiosities, your needs, what you know, what you
want, what you wonder about, what you hope for, what you fear, what you like
and dislike, what you are good at or not so good at – all this is of not the slightest
importance, it counts for nothing. What counts here, and the only thing that
counts, is what we know, what we think is important, what we want you to do,
think and be.” The child soon learns not to ask questions - the teacher isn’t there
to satisfy his curiosity. Having learned to hide his curiosity, he later learns to be
ashamed of it. Given no chance to find out who he is – and to develop that person,
whoever it is – he soon comes to accept the adults evaluation of him.

He learns many other things. He learns that to be wrong, uncertain, confused, is a

crime. Right Answers are what the school wants, and he learns countless strategies
for prying these answers out of the teacher, for conning her into thinking he knows
what he doesn't know. He learns to dodge, bluff, fake, cheat. He learns to be lazy!
Before he came to school, he would work for hours on end, on his own, with no
thought of reward, at business of making sense of the world and gaining
competence in it. In school he learns, like every buck private, how to goldbrick,
how not to work when the sergeant isn't looking, how to know when he is looking,
how to make him think you are working even when he is looking. He learns that in
real life you don't do anything unless you are bribed, bullied or conned into doing
it, that nothing is worth doing for its own sake, or that if it is, you can't do it in
school. He learns to be bored, to work with a small part of his mind, to escape
from the reality around him into daydreams and fantasies – but not like the
fantasies of his preschool years, in which he played a very active part.

The child comes to school curious about other people, particularly other children,
and the school teaches him to be indifferent. The most interesting thing in the
classroom – often the only interesting thing in it – is the other children, but he has
to act as if these other children, all about him, only a few feet away, are not really
there. He cannot interact with them, talk with them, smile at them. In many
schools he can't talk to other children in the halls between classes; in more than a
few, and some of these in stylish suburbs, he can't even talk to them at lunch.
Splendid training for a world in which, when you're not studying the other person
to figure out how to do him in, you pay no attention to him.

In fact, he learns how to live without paying attention to anything going on around
him. You might say that school is a long lesson in how to turn yourself off, which
may be one reason why so many young people, seeking the awareness of the
world and responsiveness to it they had when they were little, think they can only
find it in drugs. Aside from being boring, the school is almost always ugly, cold,
inhuman – even the most stylish, glass-windowed,$2O-a square-foot schools.

And so, in this dull and ugly place, where nobody ever says anything very truthful,
where everybody is playing a kind of role, as in a charade where the teachers are
no more free to respond honestly to the students than the students are free to
respond to the teachers or each other, where the air practically vibrates with
suspicion and anxiety, the child learns to live in a daze, saving his energies for
those small parts of his life that are too trivial for the adults to bother with, and
thus remain his. It is a rare child who can come through his schooling with much
left of his curiosity, his independence or his sense of his own dignity, competence
and worth.

So much for criticism. What do we need to do? Many things. Some are easy – we
can do them right away. Some are hard, and may take some time. Take a hard one
first. We should abolish compulsory school attendance. At the very least we
should modify it perhaps by giving children every year a large number of
authorized absences. Our compulsory school-attendance laws once served a
humane and useful purpose. They protected childrens’ right to some schooling,
against those adults who would otherwise have denied it to them in order to
exploit their labor, in farm, store, mine or factory. Today the laws help nobody,
not the schools, not the teachers, not the children. To keep kids in school who
would rather not be there costs the schools an enormous amount of time and
trouble – to say nothing of what it costs to repair the damage that these angry and
resentful prisoners do every time they get a chance. Every teacher knows that any
kid in class who, for whatever reason, would rather not be there, not only doesn't
learn anything himself but makes it a great deal tougher for anyone else. As for
protecting the children from exploitation, the chief and indeed only exploiters of
children these days are the schools. Kids caught in the college rush more often
than not work 70 hours or more a week, most of it on paper busy work. For kids
who aren't going to college, school is just a useless time waster, preventing them
from earning some money or doing some useful work, or even doing some true
learnings.

Objections. "If kids didn't have to go, they’d all be out in the streets.” No, they
wouldn’t. In the first place, even if schools stayed the way they are, children
would spend at least some time there because that's where they’d be likely to find
friends; it's a natural meeting place for children. In the second place, schools
wouldn’t stay the way they are, they'd get better, because we would have to start
making them what they ought to be right now – places where children would want
to be. In the third place, those children who did not want to go to school could
find, particularly if we stirred up our brains and gave them a little help, other
things to do – the things many children now do during their summers and
holidays.

There's something easier we could do. We need to get kids out of the school
buildings, give them a chance to learn about the world at first hand. It is a very
recent idea, and a crazy one, that the way to teach our young people about the
world they live in is to take them out of it and shut them up in brick boxes.
Fortunately, educators are beginning to realize this. In Philadelphia and Port-land,
Oregon, to pick only two places I happen to have heard about, plans are being
drawn up for public schools that won't have any school buildings at all, that will
take the students out into the city and help them to use it and its people as a
learning resource. In other words, students, perhaps in groups, perhaps
independently, will go to libraries museums, exhibits, courtrooms, legis-latures,
radio and TV stations, meetings, businesses and laboratories to learn about their
world and society at first hand. A small private school in Washington is already
doing this. It makes sense. We need more of it.

As we help children get out into the world, to do their learning there, we can get
more of the world into the schools. Aside from their parents, most children never
have any close contact with any adults except people whose sole business is
children. No wonder they have no idea what adult life or work is like. We need to
bring a lot more people who are not full-time teachers into the schools, and into
contact with the children. In New York City, under the Teachers and Writers
Collaborative, real writers working writers – novelists, poets, playwrights – come
into the schools, read their work, and talk to the children about the problems of
their craft. The children eat it up. In another school I know of a practicing
attorney from a nearby city comes in every month or so and talks to several classes
about the law. Not the law as it is in books but as he sees it and encounters it in his
cases, his problems, his work. And the children love it. It is real, grown-up, true,
not My Weekly Reader, not “social studies,” not lies and baloney.

Something easier yet. Let children work together, help each other, learn from each
other and each others’ mistakes. We now know, from the experience of many
schools, both rich-suburban and poor-city, that children are often the best teachers
of other children. What is more important, we know that when a fifth-or sixth-
grader who has been having trouble with reading starts helping a first grader, his
own reading sharply improves. A number of schools are beginning to use what
some call Paired Learning. This means that you let children form partnerships with
other children, do their work, even including their tests, together, and share
whatever marks or results this work gets – just like grownups in the real world. It
seems to work.

Let the children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not
learn by being corrected all the time – if corrected too much, he will stop talking.
He compares, a thousand times a day, the difference between language as he uses
it and as those around him use it. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to
make his language like other peoples. In the same way, kids learning to do all the
other things they learn without adult teachers – to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a
bike, skate, play games, jump rope – compare their own performance with what
more skilled people do, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we
never give a child a chance to detect his mistakes, let alone correct them. We do it
all for him. We act as if we thought he would never notice a mistake unless it was
pointed out to him, or correct it unless he was made to. Soon he becomes
dependent on the expert. We should let him do it himself. Let him figure out, with
the help of other children if he wants it, what this word says, what is the answer to
that problem, whether this is a good way of saying or doing this or that. If right
answers are involved, as in some math or science, give him the answer book, let
him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time on such donkey
work? Our job should be to help the kid when he tells us that he can't find a way to
get the right answer. Let's get rid of all this nonsense of grades, exams, marks. We
don't know now, and we never will know, how to measure what another person
knows or understands. We certainly can’t find out by asking him questions. All we
find out is what he doesn't know which is what most tests are for, anyway. Throw
it all out, and let the child learn what every educated person must someday learn,
how to measure his own understanding, how to know what he knows or does not
know.
We could also abolish the fixed, required curriculum. People remember only what
is interesting and useful to them, what helps them make sense of the world, or
helps them get along in it. All else they quickly forget, if they ever learn it at all
The idea of a "body of knowledge," to be picked up in school and used for the rest
of one' s life, is nonsense in a world as complicated and rapidly changing as ours.
Anyway, the most important questions and problems of our time are not it the
curriculum, not even in the hotshot universities, let alone the schools.

Children want, more than they want anything else, and even after years of
miseducation, to make sense of the world, themselves, other human beings. Let
them get at this job, with our help if they ask for it, in the way that makes most
sense to them.

2. Note takings

Why School is bad for children?

- Children can not be trusted to learn and is no good at it “If we don’t make you
read, you won’t and if you don’t do it exactly the way we tell you, yon can’t”

- We are given no chance to find out who he is – and develop that person,
whoever it is – he soon comes to accept the adults evaluation of him.

- Right answer are what the school wants, and he learns countless strategies for
prying these answers out of the teacher
- In school he learns how to goldbrick, how to make him think you are working
even when he is looking

- School teaches him to be indifferent

- School is dull and a ugly place where nobody ever says anything truthfull,
teacher are no more free to respond honestly to the students than the students
are free to respond to the teachers.

What we can do to help our children?

- Abolish compulsory school attendance. Kids caught in the college rush more
often than not work 70 hours or more a week.

- Get kids out of the school buildings, give them a chance to learn about the
world at first hand. Students perhaps in groups, perhaps independentlly, will go
to libraries, museums, exhibits,… to learn about their world and society at first
hand.

- Get more of the world into schools, bring a lot more people who are not full –
time teachers into schools and into contact with the children.

- Let children work together, help each other, learn from each other and each
other’s mistakes.

- Let children learn to judge their own work, let him figure out. Let’s get rid of
all this nonsense of grades, exams, marks.

- Abolish the fixed, required curriculum.

3. Main idea

When the child was born, they already have ability to learn. Learning how to talk,
to create their language although they do not know anything about languge.
However, when they come to school, school teaches them being passive instead of
self – learning and being themselves. Despite of the fact that, school is always
taking about how they respect children as well as individual difference, school is
doing the opposite sayings.Things you good at or things you like which is not
important than the way school thinks about him. Children gradually accept the
adults evaluation. Before going to school, children are willing to learn with
passion without marks, judgements. After children go to school, children is
learned how to cheating, lazy, unwilling to do things. Additionally, children go to
school to communicate and make friend but school once again teach us to be
indifferent. Curiosity and creation are being replaced by the framework set by the
school. What we going to do to fix our generation? First of all, we have to dissolve
the compulsory school attendance or at least have more days off. School is
preventing them from earning money or doing useful work or even doing some
true learnings. Secondly, we need to get them out of walls by going to libraries,
museums… to learn. Thirdly, bringing the real world to their lessons such as:
inviting writers, novelists who work in real world. Then, let children do some
teamworks in order to help and learn from another children. Moreover, let them be
self-judge to their own actions. Finally, we should dissolve the fixed, required
curriculum which is not really necessary for them in the real world.

4. Glossary

Words Pronunciation Definition

1 /kɑːn/ to make someone believe something false,
Con
usually so that that personwill give
you their money or possessions

2 /dɑːdʒ/ to avoid something unpleasant

Dodge

3 Bluff /blʌf/ to deceive someone by making

them think either that you are going to do
something when you really have
no intention of doing it, or that you
have knowledge that you do not really have, or
that you are someone else

4 Buck /bʌkˈpraɪ.vət/ Person of the lowest rank in the U.S. Army and
private Marine Corps

5 Goldbrick /ɡoʊld brɪk/ To avoid assigned duties or work

6 Sergeant /ˈsɑː.dʒənt/ a soldier of middle rank

7 Bribe /braɪb/ to try to make someone do something for you

by giving them money, presents, or
something else that they want

8 Splendid /ˈsplen.dɪd/ excellent, or beautiful and impressive

9 Charade /ʃəˈreɪd/ an act or event that is clearly false

10 Resentful /rɪˈzent.fəl/ feeling angry because you have

been forced to accept someone or something
that you do not like

11 Stirr up /stɝː/ to cause an unpleasant emotion or problem to

begin or grow

12 Courtroom /ˈkɔːt.rʊm/ a room where a law court meets

13 Legislature /ˈledʒ.ɪ.slə.tʃʊə the group of people in a country or part of

r
/ a country who have thepower to make
and change laws

14 Laboratory /ˈlæb.rə.tɔːr.i/ a room or building with scientificequipment for

doing scientific tests or forteaching science, or
a place where chemicalsor medicines are produ
ced

15 Playwrights /ˈpleɪ.raɪt/ a person who writes plays

16 Attorney /əˈtɝː.ni/ a lawyer

17 Hotshot /ˈhɑːt.ʃɑːt/ someone who is skilful and successful at

something

II. Second text

1. Passage

IS SCHOOL A HEALTHY PLACE FOR YOUR CHILD?

Written by Kalman Heller, PhD

It continues to amaze me that contemporary parents who are so concerned about

their children’s health and safety continue to ignore all the evidence that school is
increasingly an unhealthy place for their children.

Yes, it’s September. Your children are back in school and it is time for my annual
article urging parents to work toward creating a healthier and better-rounded
education for their children.

In a recent three-week period, there were three newspaper articles underscoring

how schools have increasingly become pressure cookers that may be harmful to
your children. A few years ago, in the Boston Globe, there was an article about
some local high schools trying to develop ways of reducing teen stress. I have
reported in past columns about the epidemic of anxiety, depression, and eating
disorders among high school students. Parents and high school staff, especially in
affluent suburbs, have become obsessed with building resumes in order to get into
the best possible colleges, even though the evidence continues to say that the
college you go to is not a significant predictor of life success.

The Globe article described groups of parents and staff who are recognizing this
and even report that college admissions offices are accepting some responsibility
for this trend. The admissions staff are concerned about a rise in the number of
new students who are arriving on campuses in poor physical and mental health.
(Again, I have reported before about the epidemic of mental health problems
among college students that are simply overwhelming the inadequately staffed
college counseling centers.)

Small steps being taken by some schools include eliminating homework over
vacations, eliminating mid-year exams, and adding yoga to phys ed. (Of course
phys ed is disappearing from our schools!) I love the idea of yoga classes in high
schools. There is an abundance of evidence that teaching some form of stress
management is essential for reducing the negative impact of excessive stress. In
turn, learning to manage stress is a critical component in developing problem-
solving skills and boosting self-confidence.

Of course, some administrators see this as psychobabble and talk about asking
more of their students rather than less. I think these administrators are more
concerned with the ranking of their high schools than the needs of their students.
In our country’s obsession with getting results now, we are turning high schools
into junior colleges with an ever-increasing focus on having students taking
honors and advanced placement courses. Meanwhile, high schools continue to
ignore the plea by physicians that our teens are suffering from sleep deprivation,
noting that high school schedules (early morning starts) ignore the changing sleep
patterns of teens. Research has shown that students learn more when they have had
a good night’s sleep and have eaten a reasonable breakfast and lunch. Such
obvious needs are being ignored. And we trust our children’s welfare to these
people?

On August 6th, a Boston Globe article reported that elementary school lunches are
shrinking. In just the past two years, lunch periods, on average, have been reduced
from 30 minutes to 24 minutes. That’s the lunch period. Subtract the time it takes
to get to the cafeteria, assuming the students leave class exactly on time (which,
reportedly is often not the case), and children generally have less than 20 minutes
to eat. Much too rushed.
 It’s not only about having time to eat. Lunch period is an important socializing
time as well as a break from the rigors of the classroom. When you add to this,
reports of shrinking recess as well, there is a clear pattern of schools increasing
anxiety about statewide test scores and trying to cram more academics into the
school day. The school day unfortunately has become increasingly focused on
teaching to the tests and less on teachers being able to introduce creative
curriculum.

If there really isn’t enough time in the school day to address all these needs, why
not lengthen the school day? When did six hours become the golden rule? The best
of our schools, highly rated private day schools, keep children all day and add
mandatory participation in sports as well as providing increased access to teachers
and smaller classes so education can be more individualized. No reason public
schools can’t do this. Except for unions. Private school teachers do this for less
pay and benefits. It shouldn’t be about the money. Most teachers spend hours at
home correcting papers and planning classes. If they had a longer day at work,
time could be made available for their “homework” to be done at school.

The distorted expectations just keep creeping downward. The pressure to achieve
academically is increasingly dominating our model of education, ignoring the old
saying about teaching the total child – cognitive, social and emotional aspects
need to be balanced for a healthy life. Schools are failing our children by ignoring
the social and emotional needs and parents have unfortunately become their
accomplices in this process. In fact, parents are often the driving force.

2. Note taking

How does school affect our children?

- Local high schools are trying to develop ways of reducing teen stress
- The author has reported in past columns about the epidemic of anxiety,
depression, and eating disorders among high school students.

- Parents and high school staffs obsessed with buiding resumes in order to get
into the best possible colleges => increasing stress among teens

- Administrators are more concerned with the ranking of their high schools than
the needs of their students

- Being obsession with getting results now, we are turning high schools into
junior colleges with an ever – increasing focus on having students taking
honors and advanced placement courses.

- School continues to ignore the plea by physicians that our teens are suffering
from sleep deprivation

- Lunch periods, on average, have been reduced from 30 minutes to 24 minutes.

- Schools increasing anxiety about statewide test scores and trying to cram more
academics into school day

- The school day unfortunately has become increasingly focused on teaching to

the test and less on teachers being able to introduce creative curriculum.

What we can do to reduce this solutions?

- Eliminate homework over vacations

- Eliminate mid – year exam

- Adding yoga phys ed

- Teaching some forms of stress management

 - Lengthen the school day

3. Main idea

To begin with, the author had pointed out that school is an unhealthy place for
children where parents and teacher are obsessed with results and being in a
possible college. This created much pressure on students. A lot of solutions has
been introduce such as: dissolve homework over vacations, mid – term test, adding
yoga class which can help children developing some soft skills while school only
focuses on their ranking, students’ needs are not being satisfied. Lengthen the
school day is not only help reduce the work load for teachers but also increasing
individuality each students should have.

4. Glossary

Words Pronunciation Definition

1 underscoring /ˌʌn.dɚˈskɔːr/ to underline

2 eating disorders /ˈiː.t̬ ɪŋ dɪˌsɔːr.dɚ/ a mental illness in which people

eat far too little or far too much
food and are unhappy with their
bodies

3 affluent /ˈæf.lu.ənt/ having a lot of money or owning

a lot of things

4 psychobabble /ˈsaɪ.koʊˌbæb.əl/ language using a lot of words

and expressions taken from
psychology(= the study of the
 human mind)

5 deprivation /ˌdep.rəˈveɪ.ʃən/ a situation in which you do not

have things or conditions that are
usually considered necessary for
a pleasant life

6 rigors /ˈrɪɡ·ərz/ difficult conditions

7 statewide /ˈsteɪt.waɪd/ in every part of a state

8 mandatory /ˈmæn.də.tɔːr.i/ Something that is mandatory

must be done, or is demanded by
law

9 cognitive /ˈkɑːɡ.nə.t̬ ɪv/ connected with thinking or

conscious mental processes

10 suburbs /ˈsʌb.ɝːb/ an area on the edge of a large

town or city where people who
work in the town or city often
live
II. Third text
1. Passage:

ELEMENTARY STUDENTS WITH DEPRESSION MORE AT RISK FOR

SKILLS DEFICITS, NEW STUDY REPORTS

Written by Amelia Harper

Dive Brief:

 Researchers at the University of Missouri (MU) found evidence that children

who show symptoms of depression in 2nd and 3rd grade are six times more
likely to have social or academic skill deficits than those without, eSchool
News reports.
 Though the Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that as
many as 3% of children ages 6-12 might have major depressive disorder and
30% of children in the study reported being mildly to severely depressed,
parents and teachers often do not identify the symptoms, partly because they
are seeing different aspects of the child’s behavior in their own environments.
 Keith Herman, a professor in the MU College of Education, suggests that
mental health professionals should work with teachers and parents in the
identification of symptoms of depression and that mental health screening
should also include observation of social difficulties, inattention and skill
deficits as possible symptoms of depression.

Dive Insight:

During the ongoing school safety debate, mental illness in students has
emerged as a major concern. However, most students with mental health issues
are not a danger to others. Instead, their symptoms affect them more
 subtly, interfering with their ability to learn and interact appropriately with
others. Anxiety and depression can also keep students from attending school at
all, hindering their education to an even greater extent.

States and school districts are looking at different ways to address the
issue. The Edmonds School District in Washington, for example, is working to
raise awareness about depression and suicide. New York State is now
requiring mental health education in schools. And some advocates area
calling for mental health screenings in schools.

Whatever the approach, experts say the need for more mental health
professionals in schools is increasing. These professionals are not only better
trained at recognizing symptoms but can also help teachers learn to spot them
as well. These professionals, however, are also expected to be harder to find in
years to come.

2. Note-taking

- Children who show symptoms of depression in 2nd and 3rd grade are six
times more likely to have social or academic skill deficits than those
without.
- As many as 3% of children ages 6-12 might have major depressive disorder
and 30% of children in the study reported being mildly to severely
depressed
- Their symptoms affect them more subtly, interfering with their ability to
learn and interact appropriately with others
3. Main idea

Many researches have shown that depression in primary children is dramatically

increasing, due to its negative effects; it causes lack of academic as well as social
skills to elementary children. Mental health professionals should collaborate with
 parents in order to identify depression symptoms among children, so they can help
children as fast as the can.

4. Glossary

Words Pronunciation Definition

1 mildly /ˈmaɪld.li/ slightly

2 Skill deficit /skɪl ˈdef.ə.sɪt/ Skill deficiency at the workplace

is if a person lacks the necessary
& basic skills & business
knowledge, which are necessary
to carry out the mandatory duties
required at the workplace to
reach the organizational goals
(which are based on the learning
ability of an individual). Skill is
defined as the ability of an
individual to learn or acquire
things through deliberate and
sustained efforts and with it carry
out the job functions be it
cognitive, technical or
interpersonal.

IV. Fourth text

1. Passage:
 SCHOOLS ARE KILLING CREATIVITY.

Written by Jackie Gerstain, Ed.D.

Several posts this week noted how we are failing with the nurturing, facilitating,
and direct teaching of creativity within school environments.

Adobe posted Universal Concern that Creativity is Suffering at Work and School

New research reveals a global creativity gap in five of the world’s largest
economies, according to the Adobe® State of Create global benchmark study. The
research shows 8 in 10 people feel that unlocking creativity is critical to economic
growth and nearly two-thirds of respondents feel creativity is valuable to society,
yet a striking minority – only 1 in 4 people – believe they are living up to their
own creative potential. More than half of those surveyed feel that creativity is
being stifled by their education systems, and many believe creativity is taken for
granted (52% globally, 70% in the United States).

One of the myths of creativity is that very few people are really creative,” said Sir
Ken Robinson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in the development of
education, creativity and innovation. “The truth is that everyone has great
capacities but not everyone develops them. One of the problems is that too often
our educational systems don’t enable students to develop their natural creative
powers. Instead, they promote uniformity and standardization. The result is that
we’re draining people of their creative possibilities and, as this study reveals,
producing a workforce that’s conditioned to prioritize conformity over creativity.”

David Brooks in his New York Times op-ed piece The Creative Monopoly notes
the following:

Creative people don’t follow the crowds; they seek out the blank spots on the map.
Creative people wander through faraway and forgotten traditions and then
integrate marginal perspectives back to the mainstream. Instead of being fastest
around the tracks everybody knows, creative people move adaptively through
wildernesses nobody knows.

Students have to jump through ever-more demanding, preassigned academic

hoops. Instead of developing a passion for one subject, they’re rewarded for
becoming professional students, getting great grades across all subjects, regardless
of their intrinsic interests. Instead of wandering across strange domains, they have
to prudentially apportion their time, making productive use of each hour.

But none of this is new. Most educators are familiar with Sir Ken Robinson’s
2007 TED talk, Do Schools Kill Creativity?

But the culture of schools is driven by standardization – common core standards,

standardized curriculum, and standardized tests. I appreciate creativity-based
projects within school time such as Google 20% Project, Fedex days, and Identity
Days, but why is the inclusion of passion-based and creativity-driven pursuits
considered an add-on or special occasion? We know better. Creativity is a great
intrinsic motivator, the essence for innovation, and important for the continued
evolution of the self and humankind. It has been five years since Sir Ken’s talk
and schools are still killing creativity.

For some of the more creative kids, their creativity will help them survive their
standardized school years. For others, this standardization crushes their passions,
spirits, and joy. I believe the biggest ethical travesty of our times is extinguishing
a child’s passion.

May Your Sky Always Be Yellow

He always wanted to explain things. But no one cared

So he drew

Sometimes he would draw and it wasn’t anything. He wanted to carve it in stone

Or write it in the sky

He would lie out on the grass. And look up at the sky

And it would be only the sky and him that needed saying

And it was after that. He drew the picture. It was a beautiful picture

He kept it under his pillow. And would let no one see it

And he would look at it every night. And think about it

And when it was dark. And his eyes were closed. He could still see it

And it was all of him. And he loved it

When he started school he brought it with him

Not to show anyone but just to have it with him. Like a friend

It was funny about school

He sat in a square brown desk. Like all the other square brown desks

And he thought it should be red

And his room was a square brown room. Like all the other rooms

And it was tight and close. And stiff

He hated to hold the pencil and chalk

With his arms stiff and his feet flat on the floor. Stiff

With the teacher watching. And watching

The teacher came and smiled at him

She told him to wear a tie. Like all the other boys

He said he didn’t like them. And she said it didn’t matter

After that they drew. And he drew all yellow

And it was the way he felt about morning

And it was beautiful

The teacher came and smiled at him

“What’s this?” she said

“Why don’t you draw something like Ken’s drawing?”

“Isn’t that beautiful?”

After that his mother bought him a tie

And he always drew airplanes and rocket ships. Like everyone else

And he threw the old picture away

And when he lay out alone and looked out at the sky. It was big and blue and all of
everything

But he wasn’t anymore

He was square inside and brown. And his hands were stiff

And he was like everyone else

And the things inside him that needed saying

Didn’t need it anymore

It had stopped pushing

It was crushed

Stiff

Like everything else.

The boy handed this poem to his English teacher. Two weeks later he took his own
life.
2. Note – taking

- The research shows 8 in 10 people feel that unlocking creativity is critical to

economic growth and nearly two-thirds of respondents feel creativity is
valuable to society, yet a striking minority – only 1 in 4 people – believe they
are living up to their own creative potential.
- Creative people don’t follow the crowds; they seek out the blank spots on the
map
- Students have to jump through ever-more demanding, preassigned academic
hoops
- The culture of schools is driven by standardization – common core standards,
standardized curriculum, and standardized tests.
- Standardization crushes their passions, spirits, and joy.
2. Main idea

Some new research has pointed out that creativity is being stifled by their
education systems, and many believe creativity is taken for granted. Sir Ken
Robinson once admitted that school now is forced student to formation and
standardization which is killed children’s creativity. David Brooks on the New
York Times said that school should encourage students developing their creativity
instead of following the rule. Students have their right prudentially apportion their
time, making productive use of each hour. Unfortunately, traditional school is
driven by standardization – common core standards, standardized curriculum, and
standardized tests. For creative ones, their creativity will help them survive their
standardized school years. For others, this standardization destroys their love of
learning.

3. Glossary

Words Pronunciation Definition

1 stifle /ˈstaɪ.fəl/ to prevent something from
happening, being expressed, or
continuing

2 prioritize /praɪˈɔːr.ə.taɪz/ to decide which of a group of

things are the most important so
that you can deal with them first

3 conformity /kənˈfɔːr.mə.t̬ i/ behavior that follows the usual

standards that are expected by a
group or society

4 intrinsic /ɪnˈtrɪn.zɪk/ being an extremely important

and basic characteristic of a
person or thing

5 domain /doʊˈmeɪn/ an area of interest or an area over

which a person has control

6 prudential /pruːˈdən.ʃəl/ careful and avoiding risks

7 apportion /əˈpɔːr.ʃən/ to give or share out something,

especially blame or money,
among several people or things

8 travesty /ˈtræv.ə.sti/ something that fails to represent

the values and qualities that it is
intended to represent, in a way
that is shocking or offensive
9 stiff /stɪf/ not easily bent or moved

V. Fifth text

1. Passage:
EARLY SCHOOLING MATTERS MOST FOR CHILDREN
Written by Anthea Lipsett

Nursery and primary school are more important than home environment, study
shows

Attending a good pre-school and primary has more impact on children's academic
progress than their gender or family background, researchers claimed today.

The Institute of Education study found that the quality of teaching children receive
is more important than their gender or family income.

A high quality pre-school followed by an academically effective primary school

gives children's development a significant boost, the researchers found.

But they said children also need a stimulating early years home-learning
environment to build upon.

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education project tracked almost 3,000

children from the time they started pre-school until age 11.

While all children benefit from a good pre-school, high quality is particularly
important for children with special educational needs, those with mothers with low
qualifications or children who come from unstimulating homes, the project found.
At primary school, the quality of teaching affects both children's social behavior
and intellectual development.

The researchers found much variation in the quality of teaching at age 10 and said
this had a more powerful impact on children's academic progress than their gender
or whether or not they receive free school meals.

Children who attend a more academically effective primary school show better
attainment and progress in key stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) than children with similar
characteristics who attend a less effective school, they said.

Going to a highly academically effective primary school gives a particular boost to

very disadvantaged children.

But home matters too, the researchers found.

A stimulating home learning environment at age 3 to 4 is linked to long-term gains

in children's development and has an equal impact to the mother's qualification
level.

The higher their parents' qualification levels, the more likely children are to do
well at school and be good socially at age 11.

Prof Pam Sammons from the University of Nottingham, one of the project's lead
researchers, said: "The research confirms the importance of early experiences and
the powerful combination of home, pre-school and primary school in improving
children's learning."

2. Note taking

How important is preschool to children?

- Attending a good pre – school and primary has more impact on children’s
academic progress than their gender or family background.
- Gives children’s development a significant boost.
- Children need a stimulating early year’s home – learning environment to build
upon.
- High – quality is particularly important and for children with special educational
needs.
- Quality of teaching affects both children’s social behavior and intellectual
development.

How was home – learning helping children’s development?

- In children’s development and has an equal impact to the mother’s qualification

level

- The importance of early experiences and the powerful combination of home, pre –
school and primary school in improving children’s learning.

3. Main idea

A lot of research has shown that early school is very important to children’s
development. A high – quality preschool helps children boost their children’s
development. It is not also effect social behavior but also intellectual development
of their children. However, building early home – learning environment is one of
the crucial stage before attend preschool such as nursery, kindergarten…
Moreover, the research admits the necessary of early experiences and the
importance between home, pre-school and primary school in improving children's
learning.

4. Glossary
 Words Pronunciation Definition

1 attainment /əˈteɪn.mənt/ the act of achieving something

2 stimulate /ˈstɪm.jə.leɪt/ to encourage something

to grow, develop,
or become active

3 intellectual /ˌɪn.t̬ əlˈek.tʃu.əl/ relating to your ability to think a

nd understand things, especiallyc
omplicated ideas

B. ESSAY OUTLINE

I. Introductory Paragraph

Thesis statement: School system is bad for children for damaging health of children
as well as sabotaging children creation.

II. Body of Argument

1. Claim: School is bad for children are its negative effect on children’s health.
Evidence:

 High marks, assigned homework and entrance exam cause great depression
on these student (Holt, 1969)
  A huge number of students are suffered from anxiety, depression and eating
disorders due to high expectation from their parents and teachers especially
in affluent suburbs. (Holt, 1969)

 Research has shown that students are studying easily when they can have a
good night sleep and eat a on-time breakfast and lunch as well (Heller,
2016)

2. Claim: School is becoming more and more untrustworthy place for children

since its destruction of creativity.

Evidence:

 According to Holt (1969), children was born with their natural studying
ability. As a result, this ability creates several ways of learning thanks for
children’s creation.

 Children are told that the only way to get knowledge is school and make
them believe that they are not trusted in self-learning (Holt, 1969)

 Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D., an internationally recognized leader in the

development of education, creativity and innovation once admitted in
2014 that each person has wonderful potential development but not
everyone develops them and the problems is that educational systems
don’t allow students to develop their natural creative ability. They teach
them to be uniformity and standardization instead

III. Addressing the Opposite Side

1. Claim: It cannot be denied that school has been done some good effects on

children
 Evidence:

 Children joining academically primary demonstrate better fulfillment

and advancement in key stage than kids with comparable attributes who
go to a less successful school (Lipsett, 2008)

 Many research have confirmed the importance of early experiences and

the powerful combination of home, pre-school and primary school in
improving children’s learning (Lipsett, 2008)

IV. Conclusion

REFERENCE LIST

Harper, A. (2018). Elementary students with depression more at risk for skill deficits,
new study reports. Retrieved from https://educationdive.com/news/elementary-
students-with-depression-more-at-risk-for-skill-deficits-new-st/532271/
Heller, K. (2016). Is School a Healthy place for Your Child?. Retrieved from
https://psychcentral.com/lib/is-school-a-healthy-place-for-your-child/
Holt, J. (1969). School is bad for children. The Saturday Evening Post.
Lipsett, A. (2008). Early school matters most for children. Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/nov/27/primary-school-importance.
Robinson, K. (2007). Do schools kill creativity?.[Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity