School is bad for children - John Halt

 School is bad for children

                                                                  John Halt

In this essay, the writer seems to be against the idea of formal education about, he is not in favor of abolishing the school education, and however he stands for the reformation of traditional teaching system.

          According to him, schools are killing the curiosity of the students by imposing (forcing) the final truth in their mind. When a child comes at school he comes with a lot of expectation and frantically he returns home with the feeling of pessimism. Besides, the writer argues that the school has changed the students' natural intelligence, curiosity, confidence, resourcefulness independence, patience and energy into past, laziness, dependences, indifference. Actually the child has got immense confidence about his potentiality but the teachers always discourage him. The additional to this child, finds the classroom to be cooled and ugly. There are other children but they are unable to communicate with each other.

          Most of the schools separate the learning from the living. When they create the gap between life and learning the children are confused. The classroom environment is artificial and the teachers act almost like robots.

          Usually the students are taken as a blank sheet of paper and the teachers are free to write on their mind. The teachers never trust the students and they never appreciate their natural knowledge. As a result the children feel that he is not worth of listening to.

          The teachers neglect the needs for the respects of individual difference. Every individual has got different perspective and the teachers always try to establish the final perspective.

          The teachers teach the students that to make a mistake or to be confused is to commit a crime and as a result the students start creating the teacher. The writer claims that the schools are teaching him to be indifferent. The class environment is just opposite to the way how a child lives his life in a natural form. There is no doubt that there are other children in the classroom but all of them are in silence. They all seem as if they have nothing to do with each others. As a result, the child takes his teachers to be inhuman.

-         Reformation

According to the writer, there are fundamental changes necessary for school education. The first and foremost thing is that compulsory attendance should be abolished. He justifies that when something is made compulsory it develops unwillingness from the students. It is self-evident that forceful. Knowledge is useless at the time of crisis. Curiosity is developed not to force but through freedom. Undoubtedly, the critics might counter argue, “If the children did not go to school where would they go?” It does not necessarily mean that if the children are not compelled to go to school, they will come out in the street. When the education system is made free, the children will be more eager to go to school.

          The second reformation that the writer puts forward is that the students or the children should be taught in a natural environment. In other words, the teachers should bring the outer world into the school. For example, the students should learn about the law not from the teacher but from the judging himself.

The children should be allowed to judge their works by themselves. It is better to encourage the student to learn from each other rather than dictating what to the small kids learn more readily from their teacher. They also point out the exams should be at list and the fixed curriculum should also be abolished. His argument is that certain hour's examination cannot judge the ability of the students. Besides the fixed curriculum units, should be given the unlimited potentiality of the students.

          In this way John Halt stand for the reformation of the traditional system of school education. In his opinion most of the schools are running natural knowledge of the students and they are making them passive and dull.

 

 

In the first half in this essay John Halt criticizes formal education and says that schools convert students natural intelligences curiosity, confidence, resourcefulness independence ,patience and energy into passiveness, laziness, dependences, indifferences, boredom and low self-esteem. Halt further says that the schools discourage experimentation, creativity and originality. - They teach students that learning in separated from living and that students can't be trusted to learn and are no good at it. The children from school learn that the learning is a passive process. - School neglect students need and interest and shows no respect from individual differences - They teach students that, “to be wrong uncertain, confused is a crime and as a result students start to dodge, bluff, fake, cheat. - School doesn't teach to interact with other people and to lives and without paying attention to anything going around them. - Schools are almost always ugly, cold (not interested) and inhuman. - They encourage dishonesty, --- and anxiety - They provide, little opportunity for students to learn about the real world.

Halt’s recommendations to enhance real learning and improve school

·       - Abolish or modify compulsory school, attention.

·       - Take students into the community to learn about real world first hand.

·        - Bring more of the real world into schools different professional people to talk that they actually do.

·        - Encourage students to work together and learn from each other.

·       - Encourage students to learn to evaluate their own work and find their mistake and correct them.

·       - Eliminate (avoid) grades, exams and rank.

·       - Abolish the fixed, required curriculum.

How the web destroys the quality of Students Research Paper. - David Rothenberg

 How the web destroys the quality of Students Research Paper.

- David Rothenberg

       In this essay Prof. Rothenberg has a display the harmful effects of the use of external especially for the students. The writer has claimed that plagiarism (copying) has lost the sense of originality. In fact his experience with the last semester students clarify that the students were eager to download the materials without mentioning their sources likewise all the references were taken from the external and the students even didn’t know where they exactly occurred.

                   For the ever growing use of the web, the students themselves aren’t fully responsible because the universities themselves teach the students,” Don’t read, just connect”. Instead of searching the materials in the libraries, it is easy for the students to cut and paste.

                   The university teachers must be friendly with the students and they must encourage the students to read books from the libraries and consult the related journals .When the teachers give pressure to the students they are likely to download the materials form the web that helps them to secure a good grade and avoid the pressure of the teacher.

                   It is also necessary that libraries must be mad up-to-date. It is better to invest on buying book than spending so much money for computer.

 

Text

          According to the writer, he is given hundreds of research papers by the final year's students. He would like to read all of them and evaluate them but he knows that this papers aren’t the original creation of the students for they were down loaded from the web.

          It was obvious that the downloaded materials lost their originality due to which writing of the students lost coherence (unity).

          While looking at the papers the writer noticed that all the works cited from the web and they were written during two months. It clarified that the students were missing the general trend of the past and they also failed to make their papers specific. Neither they were able to take any authentic writers. For their citation nor were they able to give credit to the owner of the material.

          In the research papers the beautiful pictures had been quoted but those pictures were the result of copy ,cut and paste. Besides random quotations were found but the sources weren’t maintain.

          Prof. Rotherberg Denies that he is a Luddite but against the idea of misusing the technology. In other words, he believes that the students' quality should not be damaged by so – called industrialization.

          After finding out the errors with students, the writer talks about the causing factors for their flight. First of all, universities themselves are responsible because they are trying to show themselves modernize and spend a huge amount for the computers. The slogan “don’t read, first connect “encourages the students to download the materials rather than create their own ideas. Similarly the teachers are unable to provide adequate information to the students, the result is downloading the materials. Especially the students of second language download the materials so as to secure a good grade in their exams.

          Therefore the students must be made aware about the harmful effects of downloading the materials and they must be encouraged to use libraries free – entry.

Richard Cummins / An opposing view Richard Cummins

 

An opposing view

                           Richard Cummins

          When the article of Rothenberg was published a lot of responses appeared in the newspaper. Among them Richard Cummins also could not help publishing his ideas. He opposed the idea of Rothenberg and tries to establish the web as an inevitable part of modern students.

          Richard Cummins appreciates the logics given by Rothenberg but he criticizes the narrow concept of Rothenberg. Cummins argues that the available materials should be provided to the students so that they can make their writing and thinking even better. Similarly he rejects the idea of originality and clarifies that there is nothing of modern techniques that enable the students to increase their quality.

          Cummins uses the metaphor of a spider and a fly. It is up to the students whether to become a spider or a fly. In other words good and evil come together. Whether we take the good aspects or the bad ones depend on ourselves. So the web is not responsible for the destruction of students for their plight.

          Therefore the teachers should not advocate for banning (to respect) the modern techniques but they should teach the students how to get benefit out of them –

·        Personal persuasive essay

·        Educational hazards (dangerous situation) of the world wide web (www)

·        Rothenberg’s criticism of students use of www

·        The use of interest is don’t read just connect, surf (search), download, cut and paste.

BA 2nd year TU Compulsory English 202

First Grade – Standing The Hall

 First Grade – Standing The Hall   

                                                      Chenyl Savageale

          This poem depicts a real picture of a classroom in which a poor student is punished by the teacher. By showing ill practice a punishment that poet strongly speaks for the reformative of the education system. In fact punishment has got negative effect on the learners and teaching learning system is incomplete with punishment.

          According to the poem the boy couldn’t read and the teacher threw him out side of the class. He stood there and remembers his grandmother who told him the stories but how she was at hospital. He wondered when she would be back at home. The boy knew that the letters told the stories but unfortunately he could not read them. Besides everyone pointed out him as a stupid and a hopeless and the principal punished him. He always waited for the bell to ring or the teacher calling him back in the class. Despite the punishment he still saw the sign port of hope looking at the spider webbing, its net and the sun making the life possible. He felt a kind of communication with them and felt himself distinct from him teacher.

          The poet may be trying to tell us that punishment never makes a student eager to learn. Besides a student's spill should not be measured in the narrow concept, there are obviously many skills. Through which a child can shape his future. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the child who can't read is really hopeless and stupid even if he is poor in studies he can do the best in other field. Therefore the child must be left to learn in the natural environment and according to his will.

·        This poem foregrounds the discussion about educational issues including literacy, oral versus writing tradition, bilingual education, minority students learning problems and disabilities, students punishment.

·        In this poem it is talked about the need for teacher to consider a student an individual. Different individuals have different interests background, intelligence. Imposition of any learning should be avoided. The students should be reflected in matters of creativity of their language, cultural background.

T

Mass Media And Technology

 Mass Media And Technology

A writers technique : figures of speech core reading -1

Computer and the pursuit of happiness

                                      David Gelernter

·        This essay refuses the fact that 21st century is the age of information technology. The writer puts three questions:

a)     Are computer and the internet really responsible for the revolution of information technology?

b)    Whether the computer and the internet has really helped the human being over 50 years.

c)     Will the computer and the internet play significant change in the next fifty years?

 

In this essay the writer is writing the public opinion that the writers have brought revolution in information technology. According to the writer it is not only the computer and the internet that has played a significant role is making the age as information is but the other means like radio and television are equally responsible.

                   The writer clearly says that neither we are in information nor the computers and internet have brought revolutionary development in human history. The people claim that what counts in 21^st century is the information but they have been mistaken. In fact the materials which were important in the 20^th century are equally important even in the present time. The writer says,” virtual food make you feel full but it does not prevent from starving.” It clarifies that the artificial world or the abstract ideas can never help the human beings to live a natural life.

                   It is generally claimed that we have got sophisticated machines to create stone and deliver the information. However this claim is not able to process that the present generation is much happier than precious ones. No doubt the children of the present time enjoy their self in play with computers. But it does not necessarily mean that the past generations were not happy.

                   The writer believes that the computers and the internet have brought a radical change in science and engineering however it is just an evolution of the industrial age in other sector. Therefore 21th century is not a revolution but it is an evolution of the 20^th century.

                   Have computers been good or bad for making seems they were invented 50 years ago. Obviously information has enriched the life a moral human beings but it doesn't necessarily mean that wealthy people are happy. The writer compares the information technology with plumbing. In the industrial age the common place was the well where face to face communication was possible. But in 21st century the water has been brought to home with the help of plumbing. Undoubted, it is easy but not healthy. Truly speaking the computer and the internet have ignored help benefit. Moreover human desires are the same although the ways to fulfill them might be different. Therefore the life of the mankind hasn’t been changed by the computers and the internet.

# Will the computers and internet bring significant changes in the next 50 years?

          The writer doesn't clearly state that the computers and the internet have brought changes in the present time. This main argument is that the development of the information technology is continuous and there is no revolution yet all. He compares the development of information technology which breathing. Just as breathing supports the life, so does information technology. Besides there is no significant change in the structure of human desires but here might be in the days to come. Although the writer criticizes the role of the computers and the internet in his first 2 points he argues that the whole points should not be given only to the computes and the internet. But we have to see the contribution of the industrial age for the progress of the 21st century.

Themes

-         Possibilities and limitations of technology.

-         The nature of technological change.

-         The pros (adv) and cons (disadv) of the internet

-         Online shopping and education.

-         The difference between information and knowledge

-         The distinction between reality and virtual reality.

 

Three Questions

I.            Whether thanks to the computers and the internet.

II.            Whether computes have been beneficial or detrimental (harmful)

III.            Whether computers are likely to have positive or negative influence.

David Gelernter in this argumentative essay raises three questions about the use of computers and internet and address them in his own way. First question he raises is whether thanks to computer and internet we are now giving in a new information age? He answers this question negatively and says that we aren’t in an information age and computer and the internet aren’t a revolutionary development in human history except in science and engineering. He opines that we need food, clothing, sheltered and possession and this thing are need now. There is not any change in these matters. Brought by information age he says information age is the revolutionary development of industrial age.

The second question is whether computer have been beneficial, detrimental (harmful) to humanity over the last 50 years? Even this question, he, answers negatively. Though computers have generated lots of information and much wealth, human happiness has increased on the whole. New technologies have come into existence but social structure. They have engendered and haven’t necessarily improved the human element associated with old structure has decreased.

 

          The third question is whether computers are likely to have positive or negative influences over next half centuries (50 years). This question is answered rather positively. He says that technology will have little to do with human happiness in the future. Respite the new possibilities that new technologies introduce human uniqueness and happiness lie between technological strength, speed and intellect.

 

                  Response of Winn. F. Martin

·        Information technology has brought substantial changes in the western civilization.

·        Printing press has helped to throw off the monarchical systems.

·        Internet has challenged the policy of china.

·        The views of Gelernter are luddite

·        Internet has made possible for the direct voting systems.

·        Even a camel driver in the desert is not excluded from the world as he listens to the radio.

In this essay the writer Winn. F. Martin challenges the views of Gelernter and he strongly points but that information technology has brought revolutionary changes in the present time. The writer doesn't disagree the fact that the basic human beings are the same but the strongly argues that the way we get them is different. Especially in the western civilization information technology has played a significant role.

          It is the printing press that has helped to overflow the monarchical systems. Similarly the internet has challenged the secret policy of china due to which it is becoming democratic. Likewise the writer calls the ideas of Gelenter as being without   because he seems to be against the idea of industrialization. The writer gives an example of a camel driver in order to prove how information technology binds human being irrespective of the Geography.

          The most significant rule of the internet is in education system. In the present time a person can have foreign degree by staying on his over home. The education system has been globalized due to the internet. In fact the internet has become a public space for every month to meet and shake their opinion.

          Therefore computers and internet have become inhabitable part of modern human beings it is absolutely conservative feelings to under estimate the value of the computer and the internet improperly used it can be a boon but if it is misused, it can be a curse.

Compulsory English 202 TU 3 years Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) 2nd year New Direction

Coyote and the Crying Song by Harold Courlander

 Coyote and the Crying Song

Once there lived a coyote and dove on second Mesa near the village of shipaulovi. It was harvest time and the dove was collecting the seeds of the kwakwi grass. She had to separate seeds from the grass. The grass blade was sharp and it cut down her hands. Then she began to cry. Coyote heard this moan and felt that someone was singing beautifully. Then he came close to the dove. He asked her to sing again. But she said that she was crying. He insisted her to sing and moaned. To save her life, she moaned. Coyote wanted to imitate the song and wanted keep it safely at home. On the way home, he fell and forgets the song and came again to learn it. He repeatedly learned the song and forgets it when he fell.

At last he said that if he forget the song this time, he would take the dove home.so when coyote was out of sight, the the dove painted eyes on the dove birdlike stone and went away taking the kwakwi seeds. Coyote fell this time also and came to the dove angrily to take her home and to eat.
He saw the painted eyes and attacked. His teeth broke and started bleeding. He began to moan like dove. Just then a crow arrived to the field and said that coyote is singing beautifully. Coyote replied that the crow was foolish enough not to know the differences between singing and crying.

- Harold Courlander In this parable, the narrator is trying to focus on wrong process of teaching-learning system. Coyote represents the teachers and he alone obviously stands for the students. Without knowing the psychology of the students, the teachers always force them to believe, what they think even the crying sound of dove is forcefully turn into a song. The dove repeatedly rejected that he was singing. Coyote was forcing him that it was a song. Thus, incident mocks at the stupidity of the teacher.

This parable can also be interpreted in terms of moral lesson looking at Coyote's behaviour we can say that over confidence is a great obstacle in a learning process. Similarly reciting something without knowing its roots is a great mistake. Moreover, Coyote is impatient, ill tempered and easily frustrated which the great enemies in learning process are. Besides, this parable also clarifies that practical knowledge is superior to the bookish knowledge. When Coyote himself was hurt, he knew that Hu-hu-huu! Hu-hu-huu! Was not a song but a moaning sound.

In this way, this parable gives us some better tips in learning process. We must recited that teaching and learning must be in a natural environment and if possible, in a practical way.

New Directions, B.A. 2nd Year Compulsory English,