Danielle Cook

Danielle Cook

Education 140

Wilson

The Game of School

Education in America has greatly changed over time. It started out as an exclusive club of

which only the wealthy, white citizens could be members. As the United States became more

accepting, the education system also allowed more people a chance. However, in the past,

education has been viewed as a privilege that everyone wanted. In todays world, education

seems like a burden to the youth. Very few children enjoy school, which leads to a lack of

authentic learning. The Game of School brings some insight in to why this change of attitude has

occurred, and how to prevent it from continuing.

One method that The Game of School describes to foster authentic learning is to

encourage curiosity. In schools today, children are taught to conform: Our curiosity may be seen

as impudence, our creativity misjudged as failure to follow directions (Fried 6). Children must

listen to everything that the teacher says, and if a student questions the teacher, the student is

seen as challenging and as disrespectful. Instead of encouraging creativity and curiosity, teachers

suppress these traits and punish students who act as individuals. If a student were to ask if they

could write a book report on a different book that is at the same reading level, but in a subject

that is more interesting to that student, they are told to conform and read the book that everyone

else is reading. Individuality is not accepted in school: But in school, we soon learn, its

important for everyone to be doing things pretty much in the same way. There just isnt time for

individual negotiation on assignments or other directives (Fried, 2005, p. 11). Starting at a

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young age, students are not allowed to pursue topics that interest them, which leads to their

disinterest in school.

Allowing students to pursue their curiosities allows them to grow as learners. In The

Game of School, a specific story is told about a little girl who discovered an unknown animal in a

tree. She is amazed by this and continues to conduct experiments to discover what type of animal

is living there. She is intrigued and learns so much just from doing these simple experiments

(Fried, 2005, p. 52). Too often, schools focus on boring material that they give to students to

memorize for a test. These students just regurgitate the information on the test, but never truly

learn it. In order for students to be able to accurately learn information they need to interact with

it and connect it to real life. The little girl in the story learned much more about classifying

animals, and the type of animal she found, than she ever would have in school. In order to have

authentic learning, schools need to support students passions and allow them to connect the

information they are learning to real life.

Authentic learning does not occur when students are given busy work. When students

focus on finishing work they become game players by reflex, and learners only on occasion

(Fried, 2005, p. 14). Instead of learning the material, students are preoccupied with finishing

their work in order to get a good grade for completion. Many assignments will not only be

useless in regards to the student learning, but also will lead the student to have negative feelings

towards school. For example, giving students a list of words that they are required to know how

to spell will make their love of learning diminish. Instead, giving them a writing assignment will

allow them to expand their vocabulary and be creative (Fried 66). These students will experience

authentic learning and will still obtain their love for learning.
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Another important characteristic is the classroom environment where authentic learning

can take place. If a classroom is too wild, or too strict, the students do not get the full effect.

Teachers many times think they need to manage the classroom: Once we decide to think,

plan, and act within the management mind-set, we put ourselves in serious danger of losing the

war, no matter how adept we many become at winning the battles (Fried, 2005, p. 118).

Managing a classroom often leads to teachers being very strict and not connecting to the

students. However, if this becomes the case, students do not feel welcome in the classroom, so

authentic learning is less likely to occur. Teachers need to respect the students as much as they

want the students to respect themselves. When the students feel respected, they are more open to

engaging in classroom activities and will truly be able to learn, rather than just obeying a teacher.

Teachers also need to be able to share information with students rather than just telling

them what they need to know (Fried, 2005, p. 126). This includes showing them the information

and demonstrating what is important. If teachers do this effectively, students will learn quicker

and easier than if a teacher were to just stand in front of them and tell them what is important.

Instruction should include all of the senses rather than just sight and hearing (Fried, 2005, p.

128). Allowing information to be conveyed to the student using every sense will allow it to stick

in their brain more and they will truly learn and understand it.

One of the most important factors in allowing authentic learning to take place is the

involvement of the community (Fried, 2005, p. 140). The community includes parents and other

teachers. Students cannot learn effectively if the whole community is not involved. If their

parents do not know what is going on in school, or how their child is doing, the child might not

put effort into his or her education. When other teachers are involved in learning, better
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instructional strategies are used. Other teachers bring in more experience, which allows better

planning to happen. The community is a very important factor in authentic learning.

The personal accounts in this book have helped prove the points made by the author. The

first story, by Elcira Delgado allows the perspective from a student. Her story exemplified the

loss of love for learning that students experience in the current education system. She talks about

how she went from loving school and getting good grades, to hating it and getting by while doing

the minimum amount of work. The pointless school work led to her despising school, Drilling

of math problems, pages upon pages of wars, grammar, I couldnt take it. Do you think I really

read every chapter of my textbooks to answer questions? Of course I didnt (Fried, 2005, p. 19).

She no longer was excited for school because it was work rather than fun. The school system did

not allow her to become engaged in school, so she lost interest.

The second story is from Heidi Thomas, a teacher who has successfully gotten past the

game of school. She talks about how she is flexible and allows kids to have some independence

rather than forcing them to obey her rules (Fried, 2005, p. 46). Instead of telling her children

what to do or learn, she shows them and shares information with them, Its like I want to model

safe and useful procedures, but not impose a regime on them (Fried, 2005, p. 47). She allows

students to grow and learn on their own, as long as they are safe. She does not require students to

do everything her way, but she will share her knowledge with them so they can make informed

decisions. Heidi Thomas demonstrates ways to overcome the game of school.

The final story is by Randall Wisehart and his experiences as a teacher. He has seen many

obstacles in his teaching career, and does not find it as easy to overcome the game as Heidi

Thomas did. He believes that schools put too much emphasis on their test scores than the actual

learning that goes on in the classroom, When we reduce learning in our students eyes to
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numbers and letters, we lose passion, we lose complexity, we lose fun, we lose depth, we lose the

essence of learning (Fried, 2005, p. 146). Schools focusing on test scores have kept learning

from occurring. Relationships are no longer built, which is essential to learning (Fried, 2005, p.

149). Schools no longer care about the relationships, if the test scores are high enough. Randall

also touched on the subject of giving grades for effort. He believes that teachers giving As for

participation are showing students that learning is not important as long as they are obedient

(Fried, 2005, p. 151). Students no longer associate school with learning, but instead associate

school with showing up and behaving. Randall shows many faults in the education system and

how they contribute to the game of school.

The Game of School labeled seven different types of students in classes today. These

categories are evidence that the game of school is truly taking place and hurting the students. In

order to make sure authentic learning takes place, a teacher needs to be familiar with the seven

categories of learners. Teachers need to be able to identify which category the students in their

classrooms belong to, so they can cater their teaching style to them. If the class is full of a bunch

of giver-uppers, teachers need to realize that more time should be focused on these students

and figuring out how to engage them (Fried, 2005, p. 94). If a teacher is able to recognize the

categories in his or her students, the teacher will be better equipped with the strategies he or she

should use to get authentic learning to occur.

The Game of School brought up several different problems in the education system today.

Authentic learning is hard to come by in classrooms. However, there are some ways to overcome

this game like allowing for more creativity in classrooms. The Game of School is a useful tool in

deciding what to do about the problems and how to avoid them from happening again.
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References

Fried, R. (2005). The game of school. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.