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Adam Schmits

Wyatt Bowen

Brennan McCartney

Bradley Onstott

Professor Christopher Wyman

ENG 111 M09

14 February 2017

Education is limiting students freedom of choice, not only literally, but also figuratively.

Students are now required to take courses that often times have no relation to their desired career

pathway. For example, a student going into a culinary career is still required to take a certain

number of math courses before being allowed to take classes directly associated with their career.

These restrictions inhibit a students motivation to learn. Rather than see passing these classes as

a gateway into their career, many people most likely see them as a waste of time, especially

when one factors in how fascinated with technology society has become. It is easy to assume that

maintaining focus on a subject that has no correlation to ones future is difficult.

Humans arent programmed to lust for the same goals as one another. All humans express

different aspirations. Matthew B. Crawfords Attention as a Cultural Problem explains this by

stating Animals are guided by appetites that are fixed, and so are we, but we can also form a

second-order desire, a desire for desire, when we entertain some picture of the sort of person

we would like to be- a person who is better not because she has more self-control, but because

she is moved by worthier desires (47.) Taking this at face value, one can deduce that humans are
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in control of what interests them, and what drives them to achieve what they want. This is

exemplified earlier in Crawfords article, in a section labeled Individuality, in which Crawford

compares watching television to reading ancient Greek (45.) The same idea applies to education.

Those who are intrigued by one subject will pay more attention to it than they would a different

topic.

Crawfords examination on technologys stimulation can be compared to education.

Though the core classes may seem to be a necessity, consider Crawfords statement: The

content of stimulation almost becomes irrelevant. Our distractibility seems to indicate what we

are agnostic on the question of what is worth paying attention to-that is, what to value (38.) The

overstimulation of the same core classes can cause one to become desensitized to what is being

taught. If a person doesnt value and understand what is being taught, the information being

given to them will not be retained. Humans have the choice of what to pay attention to what

interests them. This is also known as freedom of choice. Crawford describes choice and

freedom as catering to satisfy ones preferences, calling them the authentic core of a self

whose freedom is realized when there are no encumbrances (46.)

These encumbrances can not be lifted until one passes what our government sees fit to be

labeled as core classes. Core classes are often generalizations of a certain skill: Math, Science,

English and History. As these selections offer a broad variety of ideals, they also offer

opportunities for differing opinions among students. No two humans will ever think alike. Jack

Mezirow, a former professor at Columbia University, applies this concept through the theory of

transformative learning. This theory links a humans opinions to their frames of reference,
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saying that they shape and delimit expectations, perceptions, cognition, and feelings (87.)

Frames of reference can contribute to a student's view on a particular class, and limiting these

choices can also limit ones motivation. If a student had a negative experience with a science

course in the past, said students point of view on all science classes will most likely be negative.

This in turn could impact the students desire to complete core classes related to science. If a

student were instead given the option to choose something closer to ones interests, then the same

core classes could just as easily be integrated, although under the guise of what a student

enjoyed. Even a student who had a disliking for English would be inhibited to express creativity

towards a passion. If a student wanted to go into law, and tried to express said passion by

translating it into an english assignment, the student would be charged. Mike Rose, a former

UCLA campus professor explains this, The faculty, for the most part, do not provide freshman

with instruction on how to use knowledge creatively - and then penalize them when they try to

do so (114.)

Mezirow explains different types of learning, and then goes on to identify autonomous

thinking. He states that society now focuses on creating a workforce that can adapt.

Adaptation and change put limitations on ones ability to focus on a certain set of skills, and

instead directs one towards learning only the fundamentals of education (89.) While society is

constantly changing, and the need for adaptation and evolution seems relevant. It also means less

focus on what a student desires to learn, and more emphasis on what will be required presently

due to technology and current demands.

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While the idea of allowing a student to select a class better suited to ones needs may

seem practical, and undoubtedly offers many benefits - the idea has yet to be entertained, at least

from the beginning of college. Students are still expected to complete core classes that many

most likely see as repetitious, as grade school required the same core skills. To quote William

Edward Hickson, If at first you dont succeed: try, try again. Repetition isnt always negative,

but when subjected to classes similar to what has been previously completed, especially when

courses more suited to ones desires hang so tantalizingly close, it would seem logical to offer

these from the start.

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Works Cited

Crawford, Matthew B. Attention as a Cultural Problem. Exploring Connections. 2013. 37-47.

Print.

Mezirow, Jack. Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice. Exploring Connections. 2013.

86-93. Print.

Rose, Mike. The Politics of Remediation. Exploring Connections. 2013. 99-124. Print.