McNulty 1

Jack McNulty

Professor Rodrick

English 115

22 October 2017

Cookie Cutter Students

While observing the typical high school classroom, one will observe a dreary room thats

isolated entirely from the real world. A system provided by the school allows little to no freedom

in what you can study. You are forced by the school to study what they want you to, or risk

failure. Students need to be ready for the world once they graduate, and having their identities

shaped by a conformative system for the first seventeen to nineteen years of their life does not

help. The students are put into a biased educational program that favors some students, their

aspirations are ignored and instead of learning applicable skills they are forced to involve

themselves in learning that may not benefit them when applying for jobs. Students would get a

more to the point education if they were involved in the study of one subject from high school

through college. The typical US high school educational system is shaping young teens by

keeping them in isolated learning environments, forcing them to think a certain way, and failing

them if they dont conform.

Taking a closer look at a typical US classroom, there really isnt much there. The walls

are covered in cheap educational posters and few windows allow light to rid of the dark

ambiance. The confined room is full of hyperactive teenagers and refusing freedom which

forcefully shapes them into model students through being exposed to such an isolated

classroom. The school does this on purpose to mold the students into accepting an isolated
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learning environment where creativity and freedom are not accepted. In Emily Corinnes article,

The Consequences of Discrimination in the Classroom, she shows how disruptions in the

classroom environment can lead to dysfunction of the student. She explains Previous research

has shown how fundamental attribution errors, and cognitive errors in general are due to

stereotyping and prejudices, which can cause discrimination that can negatively influence the

classroom environment. I agree with Corinne on nearly all points, except for she fails to

describe how the classroom environment can also have detrimental effects on students. The

classroom is there to give the students a safe space to learn in. However, modern classrooms are

small and limit the freedom of students to excel in learning by forcing them to be in

environments which lack the space for creative thinking. A learning space that supports creative

thinking would consists of bigger classrooms that allow for small group learning, technology

spaces for online activities that steer away from the fixed curriculum, and a more vibrant and

exciting ambiance that students will be excited to see and be encouraged to go to class. Modern

day classrooms lack almost all of these aspects unless they attend a private school, and most

families cannot financially achieve this. With no freedom in the classroom, the students identity

is changed to believe in a conformative environment as the societal norm for learning and for

future endeavors. This limits the amount of creative thinking and teamwork that can be achieved

through a less conformed learning space. Another problem in the classroom environment

consists of the spacing of the desk alignment in the classroom. Most modern day classrooms

have desks aligned in rows while facing the teacher, this limits the amount of interaction the

students can have with each other. More student interaction with their surroundings allows for

freedom in the classroom by enabling a more positive environment in which to learn in. The

school system aligns the desks this way in order to focus the students attention to the teacher.
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Although, over a large amount of time this task gets tedious and students get distracted easily

and they focus their attention on something else. Viewing this from a different angle, a

conformative learning environment shapes the identity of students to believe in a conformative

lifestyle in which they are all individuals. This is not applicable in the real world where most

jobs require teamwork. Giving students more freedom in their classroom will allow them to

flourish in their studies rather than be in an isolated learning environment where their

personalities and identitys are shaped into a conformed manner that accepts individual thinking

rather than group thinking. This environment lacks social interaction and creativity which can be

very helpful in future learning as well as jobs. This process shapes the

students identities to get comfortable with a conformed environment which

is not natural in the real world. Along with an isolated learning environment

comes an isolated curriculum that is standardized across the nation.

Students are forced to study and think a certain way by pre-chosen courses. In high

school, there are subject requirements that you must complete in order to graduate and progress

onto college. However, this dilutes the non-conformative goal that some

students have. The closed off classroom and curriculum can be seen as a wall

between reality and what the school system wants reality to be viewed as.

Today, students are sat down in a desk and forced to learn subjects that may not benefit them in

the future. The school system has pre-set curriculums that put students on a path that will not

always be effective. This is done through credit requirements that students must complete in

order to move on to college. The reason for this primarily comes around to a goal for basic

knowledge on all subjects set up by most modern day school systems. A basic all around

educated student is able to know just a small amount of information on all topics. This is not the
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way things should be done. In a real world situation where these students need jobs, companies

look for the ones who have excelled in their studies towards a certain subject rather than an all-

around knowledge basis. The school system supports this wide basis of knowledge because they

think a well-rounded student will contribute to a society. They are shaping these students

identities to believe that only a little is enough, an identity that lacks determination for a common

goal by depleting their drive for academic and future success. These are new times, times where

job availability is scarce and only the students who are on top will have a shot at the best

opportunities.

Another aspect of the US education system that shapes students identities is through

standardized tests. Standardized testing puts a higher emphasis on memorizing the subject at

hand rather than actually understanding it. This process accepts students who are good at

memorization and excludes the hands on learners. If testing methods were more hands-on and

less focused on memorization, then students would be more likely to understand topics.

Understanding topics is a lot different than just knowing them, when a student understands a

topic they can attack a problem that relates from all angles. Memorization tactics used in

standardized testing allows students to know how to attack a problem from only one direction.

This limits the ability of that student to succeed in circumstances that hold more real-life

application. The school system supports standardized testing on the grounds that the students

memorization of the topic enforces their understanding of it. This is false on the point that

students are more likely to understand a topic not through memorization, but through hands on

learning. In Greg Jouriless article, Here's Why We Don't Need Standardized Tests, he explains

the cons of standardized testing; that this form of testing highlights the information students

already know and only requires the student to memorize the topics rather than comprehend what
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they mean. Jouriles says Standardized tests are unnecessary because they rarely show what we

don't already know. Jouriles, throughout the essay, points out that standardized testing merely

reports the obvious. However, by taking this a step further, we can assume that the tests are

basically another biased obstacle that students need to pass in order to graduate. The test can be

seen as a checkpoint for the students memorization on a specific topic. The questions are based

on finding the answer through a specific task on the grounds of the students memory. This limits

the need for creative thinking and shapes the learning capabilities of them to a very close-minded

view. Their identity is changed to view situations in only one way which enforces a single-

minded outlook due to the school systems goal of a well-rounded basis of knowledge. Sadly, the

students who understand this and refuse to follow the guidelines of the conformative system will

most likely fail due to the way the system us set up.

If you dont conform, you fail. The way the school system is set up forces students to

conform to a certain way of learning through essentially useless acts. If a student fails to conform

and change their identity to fit the system, they will most likely fail. This process of student

learning focuses on a fixed curriculum around a basic set of overall skills and a less determined

pupil through negative learning environments. A system that has a fixed curriculum can have

negative effects on a students ability to succeed by involving them in situations where they are

set up for failure. It singles out the kids who dont succeed in all of the required courses even if

they dont necessarily need the knowledge from those courses in their future career. The current

system set up in schools is constructed using a biased learning environment that affects students

who are not naturally well-rounded in their education. David Edwards is a professor at Harvard

University in the History of Science department. In his article American Schools are Training

Kids for a World that Doesnt Exist Edwards emphasizes that the faulty curriculum that schools
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have set up is abolishing the chances of student success. Edwards explains Failing to create a

new way of learning adapted to contemporary circumstances might be a national disaster. This

quote backs up my argument on how the curriculum of modern schools is not applicable and I

agree with Edwards on all points. For years now we have been allowing the same system to

prepare students for the world without realizing that generations are changing. This now biased

learning curriculum focuses on students who are naturally well rounded in all of their studies

while leaving the others behind. The modern system for learning set up in schools is constructed

using a biased learning environment that denies some students based on the fact that they are not

knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects.

The typical US high school classroom is shaping young teens by keeping them in isolated

learning environments, forcing them to think a certain way, and failing them if they dont

conform. Young teens are shaped from the very beginning by being isolated in a room that does

not allow creativity and freedom of their knowledge. This shapes their identity to one more

focused on individual achievement rather than group teamwork applicable later in life. Through

standardized testing, memorization is essential rather than understanding topics which creates a

less informed pupil for job opportunities. If the students do not conform to this biased style of

learning while having their identities shaped by the system, they will most likely lose their drive

or fail out of the system. The shaping of teens in the high school educational system needs to

change and adapt to allow them to acquire an advanced set of skills that will be used for their

future career rather than forcing them to take classes that will be irrelevant as they progress into

college. Allowing the students to acquire advanced knowledge on the subject they are interested

in from an early stage in their life will produce smarter citizens that can contribute to our society.
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Works Cited

Classroom Desks. Photos Public Domain, Photos-Public-Domain.com, 21 Aug. 2011.

Accessed 23 Oct. 2017.

Corinne, Emily. The Consequences of Discrimination in the Classroom. The Consequences of

Discrimination in the Classroom - Applied Social Psychology (ASP), 20 Mar. 2014.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/bfr3/blogs/asp/2013/03/the-consequences-of-

discrimination-in-the-classroom.html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2017.

Edwards, David. American Schools are Training Kids for a World that doesnt Exist. Wired,

17 Oct. 2014, https://www.wired.com/2014/10/on-learning-by-doing. Accessed 7 Dec.

2017

Jouriles, Greg. Here's Why We Don't Need Standardized Tests. Education Week, 6 Oct. 2017.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/07/09/36jouriles.h33.html. Accessed 23 Oct.

2017.

Zyglis, Adam. Square Peg, Round Hole. Surge, Orlando Sentinal, 9 Mar. 2015. Accessed 23

Oct. 2017.