14 December 2018
Dear Reader,
I have always struggled with English; however, it was fun to write about topics I have a vast amount of interest in. I have enclosed three works that I submitted for an introductory writing class at City College of New York, English 110, Introduction to Composition: an analysis paper, a profile paper, and a research paper. I selected these papers because they exhibit flaws and my strength in writing. These papers reflected my course learning outcomes because my analysis paper demonstrates I was able to read someone else’s work critically and analytically then evaluate it. Then, the profile paper conveys how I was able to write an expository paper by investigating idea through research. Finally, the research paper emphasizes I can write two thousand five hundred words of a research paper. Below, I present descriptions of my essays with my weaknesses and strengths.
My purpose in writing the analysis paper Do Video Games Lead to Violence? was to find someone else’s work then carefully examine its contents, audiences, and sources to evaluate it. I analyzed her points about video games that video games affect children negatively and positively and supported her arguments with outside sources. I intended to point out to the people that video games can be harmful and useful. I chose this topic because teenage violence is increasing in the society and often many believe violence happens with teenagers because they are a fan of the first person shooting games and the game injects aggressive behavior in their mind.
I believe that this paper could be improved in two areas. Firstly, I have to remove all redundancy to educate readers to learn new things in each sentence and encourage them to read full essay. For example, when I introduce quotes and it already mentions seeing violence repeatedly lower down emotions. My follow up sentence was Anderson acknowledges that violent games do have effects on teenagers behavior because they are used to seeing dead bodies, blood, and weapons. Basically, I am repeating what Anderson said in his quote differently and this has weakened my paper because redundancy makes the essay boring and the audience shows less enthusiasm. My second area of concern was I did not include my perspective at all, and this is probably my misunderstanding of the assignment because in the introduction and conclusion I was supposed to talk about my view on violent games. The high point of my analysis paper is that I was able to find a perfect article to analyze because primarily articles are intended to take a position, and they influence people to pick their sides; however, in this instance the title of the article had questions mark and the article is not choosing any sides. Instead the article includes positive and negative things about video games to help the audience to make their own judgement. Overall, I believe my analysis of the article was powerful and to support each point I tried to use my knowledge. One of the argument was graphics in video games is realistic, and it is hard to tell the difference between the environment in the game and the real world. In the games, there is competition; therefore, teenagers are killing others to survive and they are bringing this poor mentality in the real world. I was able to connect this idea to Charles Darwin theory of adaptation because the theory suggests surviving in the environment people must adapt to their surroundings to survive.
The second paper, Beauty of Italy is an expository paper. I intended to convince my audience to visit Italy. I mainly choose Italy because this semester I have taken Early Modern European class and Introduction to Visual Arts of the World, and I have learned about Renaissance artists and some of their techniques which made them exceptional compared to artists from other countries. Italy has a lot of inspirational history and painting, which is enlightening for the people because they can gain a vast amount of knowledge.
I think that the best part of my essays was a citation because I have never been to Italy yet; therefore, all I heard about Italy was online. Consequently, it was little hard for the audience to trust me; however, my nephew has been there recently, and I was able to interview him and include his experience in the essay. This citation adds credibility to my argument, and his expertise demonstrated it was worthwhile to visit Italy. Also, paintings from Da Vinci convey a lot of about Renaissance technique. I was able to use Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to demonstrate he used a new technique called sfumato in his paintings and people should travel there to learn more about these Renaissance techniques. In contrast, I think the area that needs further attention is the body paragraph. Overall I think my ideas are strong, but I have to be more specific so my audience could understand my argument. For example, in the first body, I said that the thriving economy during the Renaissance brought change in Italy because people became wealthier. As a result, Pope Julius II was able to pay a lot of money to Michelangelo for painting frescoes on the Ceiling. I did not mention the thriving economy helped Pope Julius II to commission Michelangelo. If I had said a thriving economy allows churches to charge high taxes on people and with that money, Pope Julius II was able to commission Michelangelo. This would make the body paragraphs clear and more comfortable for my audience to understand my points. Also, I had a lot of grammatical errors in this essay, which played an essential role in changing my meaning of the sentences.
The third Paper Is the Education System in the U.S Running Smoothly or Not? is a research paper intended not only to take a clear position on issues but also to convince the reader that my position is the right one. In this paper, I talk about education, especially flaws in the education system, because I felt there are some serious flaws about the education system that need an immediate action towards them. Throughout the essay, I tried to point to things that need to be fixed to improve our education system, and I used various articles to acknowledge that it needs to be fixed because it is harming both students and teachers.
Perhaps the best part of my essay was I am not suggesting administrators abolished standardized tests, Common Core Standards, traditional knowledge, and removed classes like history. Instead, I am proposing to make necessary changes that could improve the education system. As a student, I know it is impossible to remove all the flaws, and nothing is perfect; therefore, the end of each paragraph I offer possible solutions to these flaws to make it better. One of the low points of my first draft was I wrote down one of my opinions as a fact, and this has weakened down my argument. For instance, one of my quote only talk about how during the recession began jobs were lost and defaults rates were high. However, my following up sentence was the author confirms that default credit cards are one of the contributors to the recession in 2008. As you can see my quotes did not say anything about contributors, so the following sentence was completely my opinion, and I wrote that statement as fact.
The research paper was the best essay I wrote in this class because I was able to incorporate course learning outcomes from the narrative, profile, and analysis paper into my research paper. I believe the overall structure of the research paper is very organized because every topic sentence is connected to my thesis statement. I also mentioned positive things about standardized tests and Common Core Standards then I refuted those ideas to encourage my audience to supports my ideas. My least favorite essay was analysis paper because I had a slight misunderstanding of the assignment; my analysis was good, but in the introduction and conclusion I was supposed to include my perspective, but I ended my essay analyzing the article conclusions instead of my conclusions.
Additionally, to write these papers I followed specific techniques. First and foremost, I made sure my room was cleaned and organized because I feel distracted when my room is unorganized. Then I do a brainstorm to jot down my ideas about the topic and I do more research to learn more information. Afterward, I began to write my formal outlines to shows the hierarchy of my ideas. I believe outlining before each essay was the most helpful technique because outlining gives me glances of each paragraph before writing out the second drafts. Later on, writing becomes more leisurely because all I have to do is expand those bullet points into bigger sentences. However, I feel brainstorming was less helpful because I already know what I will write about my topic in my mind; therefore, writing it down was a waste of time. For example, when I was writing about education, I knew exactly what I will be writing about in each body paragraph and I skipped brainstorming and wrote down my formal outline. Later on, I still was able to write eight-page long essay, so brainstorming has fewer impacts in my writing.
Throughout the semester I had learned things that I did not learn in the past also writing this portfolio I realize my essays has improved lot. One of the skills I learned in this class is a block quote. In my high school, teachers suggested us not to use long quotes in the essay; instead, used three dots to shorten the long quotes, and I did not know I can use block quotes to cite long quotes. However, I realized that in this semester I had used a lot of block quotes in my essay without using three dots to shorten the quotes. Surely, this skills will help in future classes.
In this class, I was very punctual, and every time I completed my first draft and final draft on time. Before I wrote an essay I had a four-day schedule so I would not have to rush to finish my essay. Basically, a week before the assignment was due, I began to work with my essay. The first day I did brainstorming and researching. The second day, I outlined my essay and came up with an effective thesis. The third day, I began to write my second draft, and fourth day I revised and edits. Then I submitted my essay on time. I was able to get plenty of feedback from my professor, and whenever I had conferences with her, she kept telling my comprehensive was excellent, but I need to do a lot of work on my grammar. After I received feedback from her, I edited my essay then I went to the writing center to seek additional help to make sure there is no grammatical errors in my final draft.
I put a great deal of time, effort, and personal reflection into each essay. While I am not hesitant to say that I have struggled with a few things, at the same I am satisfied with my performance in this class. Writing this portfolio, I have realized that my writing has evolved and I will use my experience in this class influence to become a better writer. I hope reading this portfolio you will have the better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses in this class.
Sincerely,
Abu Sayeed
Abu Sayeed
English 1100/A
Introduction to Composition
Prof. Iris Bodre
December 5, 2018
Do Video Games Lead To Violence?
Teenagers most often play video games, especially violent game, because games help them to sharpen their skills by playing hardcore mode. Susan Scutti in her article, “Do Video Games Lead to Violence?” suggests that the increase in gun violence in the world is the further evidence that violent games affect teenagers negatively. Scutti’s purpose in the article is to educate readers that exposure to violent games stimulates aggression in teenagers’ behavior and decreases their emotions.
Scutti’s targeted audience is teenagers because they love to play video games to spend amazing time with friends. Scutti points out that most of the school shootings or street killings around the world happen to teenagers. Scutti conveys that when teenagers are addicted to the video games it injects them with a violent behavior in their mind without realization. She includes real-world violence in her article to inform the audience of the consequences of the violent video games on teenagers and other people. In the article, she mentions that “In Munich, Germany, an 18-year-old gunman who killed nine people in July 2016 was a fan of first-person shooter video games, according to reports. This detail led many to worry that violent video games may be negatively affecting their own children” (Scutti). Scutti implies that prolonged exposure to violent games is not ideal for teenagers because they are losing control over themselves and are killing others without proper reasons. She did not use advanced level vocabulary to convey that an eighteen- years-old teenager killed nine people in Germany, and this incident led parents to feel insecure about their children playing violent games because CNN has a larger audiences and not everyone understands complex words. Scutti also claims violent games are persuading teenagers to kill others because these games are first-person shooting games and they are leading the killings. In her article “8 Ways Violent Games Are Bad for You”, Laura St. John emphasizes that “ To kids, virtual experiences feel very real, not only because the graphics today are so amazing, but because they are taking on a first-person role in the killing process” (St. John). She indicates that technology has advanced recently; therefore, the quality of graphics has improved significantly. Graphics in the video games look realistic and naturalistic because buildings in the games look similar to buildings on the earth. Also, the graphic incorporates precise details about nature because the game creators want teenagers to visualize the graphics in a way that they perceive nature. More importantly, teenagers are killing others to survive in the games because there is a competition and if they do not kill others than they would not survive. They are mistakenly bearing this poor mentality with them, and it relates to Charles Darwin theory of adaptation. His finding suggests that to survive in environments people must quickly adapt to their surroundings. Similarly, teenagers might think while playing games that they have to adapt to violence to survive in the real world.
Scutti implies that teenagers express less empathy toward others because in the games they are killing people without feeling guilty and shameful and without encountering consequences. Scutti also includes research from the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics to add credibility to her argument because they researched violent games. Their research states, “Should not use human or other living targets or award points for killing, because this teaches children to associate pleasure and success with their ability to cause pain and suffering to others” (Scutti). The researchers are suggesting that violent games change teenagers’ personalities because after playing these games they become antisocial and kill for pleasures because they understand killing others is rewarding. Also, the research warns game developers that they should not use living things for killing because teenagers becoming menacing towards them. Craig A. Anderson claims in “Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: a Meta-Analytic Review” that, “Systematic desensitization therapies suggest that repeated exposures to gory scenes of violence and to pain and suffering of others will have some impact on a person’s physiological reactions to new scenes of violence (desensitization) and on empathetic responses to victims” (Anderson, 156). Anderson acknowledges that violent games do have effects on teenagers behavior because they are used to seeing dead bodies, blood, and weapons. When people die in the real world, teenagers show less compassion than others because it does not make a big difference to them. Violent games are turning teenagers into emotionless humans because games are decreasing emotions from their mind.
However, Scutti also mentions positive aspects of the violent games to remove bias from her article to help her readers make the right decisions regarding video games. She stresses that Christopher Ferguson, Associate Professor and Co-Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Stetson University, believes violent games have no effects on stimulating teenagers aggressive behavior, instead they prevent violence in the society. Fergusson concludes from his observations, “Basically, by keeping young males busy with things they like and this would include everything from playing sports and collecting stamps to playing first-person shooter video games you keep them off the streets and out of trouble”(Scutti). Ferguson is claiming that keeping teenagers busy with their favorite activities will reduce violence because they will have less time to go outside to get in trouble. Ferguson is indirectly indicating to the parents that they should let their child play their favorite video games so they can keep them away from trouble. These games can be beneficial for teenagers’ health because they can feel less anxiety after playing games. In his article “Playing Video Games is Good for Your Brain”, Mark Griffiths states, “Because video games can be so engaging, they can also be used therapeutically. A number of studies have shown that when children play video games following chemotherapy, they need fewer painkillers than do others” (Griffiths). Griffith demonstrates that violent video games can be engaging and exciting for teenagers and that they might serve as medicine for them because it decreases their anxiety since they take out their frustrations on people by killing them. Also, taking painkillers daily can become a habit, and it can harm cardiovascular health since those painkillers are powerful drugs. Playing video games can have positive impacts on teenagers’ health; however, these games decrease teenagers empathy. The kindness is an essential trait of human, and if teenagers are losing their feelings, then they are turning into a robot because they look like a human, but they cannot express emotions like a human being.
To end the article, Scutti reemphasizes the incident that took place in Munich because after that event parents had misconception towards the violent games. She includes opinions from Whitney DeCamp, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Western Michigan University, who researched the correlation between aggressive behavior and playing the violent games. He said about the Munich incident, “We need to take a lot of caution before we place the blame on any one particular thing” (Scutti). DeCamp warns everyone not to blame on violent games because it relates to the event. The fact that the teen shooter was a fan of violent games does not imply the incident happened because of these games. There are many teenagers that play violent games and do not do anything silly; as a result, it is unfair to blame the games. Scutti ends with practical advice for the parents that prohibiting their children from playing violent games is not the best solution because it is not hundred percent confirmed by research that games increases violence.
Works Cited
Anderson, Craig A. et al. “Violent video game effects on aggression, empathy, and prosocial
behavior in eastern and western countries: a meta-analytic review.” Psychological bulletin 136 2 (2010): 151-73. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
Griffiths, Mark. “Playing Video Games Is Good for Your Brain.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 11 Nov. 2014. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/11/11/playing-video-games-is-good-for-your-brain/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.64b1b925e874. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
John, Laura St. “8 Ways Violent Games Are Bad for Your Kids.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Dec. 2017. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-st-john/8-ways-violent-games_b_3875846.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
Scutti, Susan. “Do Video Games Lead to Violence?” CNN. Cable News Network, 22 Feb. 2018. https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/25/health/video-games-and-violence/index.html. Accessed 23 Nov. 2018.
Abu Sayeed
English 1100/A
Intro to Composition
Prof. Iris Bodre
October 25, 2018
The Beauty of Italy
Every country has a unique property that is well known, and represents the country to the whole world; such as White house represents the United States, skyscraper buildings represents the United Arab Emirates, the Eiffel tower represents France, and more importantly, Leaning Tower of Pisa represents Italy. Italy is located in central Europe, and the Mediterranean Sea surrounds it. The population in the country is approximately sixty-one million and the capital of the country is Rome (Google). Italy is considered one of the most beautiful and most visited countries on the earth because there are so many remarkable places that people would not have enough time to visit all of the sites. Although Italy is not a big country, people love travel to there because of its unique art history, to advance their knowledge of the arts, and see the astonishing cities.
In my Early Modern European class, I learned that the Mediterranean Sea gave a geographic advantage to the Italian people because the sea made international trade possible in Italy. The international trade was profitable for the Italian economy because the British imported wool in Italy while the Florence textile industry used this wool to make Florentine clothes. They then exported these clothes to other countries. Moreover, the thriving economy brought about change to Italy because the people became very wealthy through international trading. As a result, Pope Julius II hired Michelangelo to paint the frescoes on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. In the textbook, A History of Modern Europe, John Merriman mentions, “Michelangelo signed a contract that stipulated a payment of 3,000 ducats and began work that very day in May” (44). These 3000 ducats roughly equal to 530,000 U.S dollars in today’s currency for the painting. The painting was costly but Pope Julius II was able to commission Michelangelo because the economy was flourishing. Thus, Italy became the center of the Renaissance because other European countries did not have economic prosperity.
People who want to become artists travel to Italy because they will gain knowledge about the arts. My nephew recently had a school trip to Italy, and he was amazed by the fact that Italy looks more beautiful than he expected. When I interviewed him about his experience in Italy he expressed:
“It was mind-blowing to be there and I had enjoy the artistic beauty in Italy because the frescoes on the walls and the paintings were astonishing, also exceptional than other arts. The artists concentrated on every vivid detail, and they included natural beauty in the background that it seems like they existed on the earth. Furthermore, one striking aspect of Renaissance artists I was astounded by is every artist has been used their techniques because I observed most of the Michelangelo painting I saw he included nude figures. Similarly, Leonardo da Vinci used the sfumato technique often refer to the smokey paintings and then other artist used techniques like foreshortening to create an illusion and chiaroscuro to used light and dark color in the painting” (Adib, Khondoker. Personal Interview. 10 Oct. 2018).
My nephew’s experience Da Vinci’s vividly drawn painting “Mona Lisa” and people could learned new techniques from these paintings.
Figure 1. “Mona Lisa” painting by Leonardo Da Vinci founded on a website called Paris Tours.
Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” uses the sfumato technique because there is a smokey aspect on the painting around Mona Lisa’s face, mouth, and eyes. Da Vinci used the technique to provide a transition between the colors and tones.
People should travel to Italy because it has incredible cities such as Venice, Florence, and Rome etc. First and foremost, there are no other parts of the world that look like Venice. One of the spectacular things about Venice is the buildings are built surrounded by the grand canals as a result their common transportation system exclusive from others. According to the Anna de Filippo, in the article “Some Reasons Why Venice is Unique in the World” she mentions that, “in Venice, many houses have a boat outside tied with a rope instead of a motorbike or a car or a bike” (Life In Italy). Venice is an ideal place for the people who hate traveling with cars because water boats are the primary source of transportations. More importantly, there are less car or trucks noise. Florence is a city full of paintings and beauty located inside the buildings. The Uffizi gallery museum, situated in Florence and the museum includes paintings from the famous painters like Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael. The masterpiece works done by these artists give the viewer a glimpse of all of Italy because the museum includes paintings from all periods. Finally, Rome is known for its beautiful architecture; such as the Pantheon and the Colosseum etc. In my Art Philosophy class, I learned that Pantheon is known for unique architecture structure because it has a dome on a round barrel and then there is an open space on the vault called the Oculus. The fascinating thing about the Pantheon is the building does not flood or get destroyed when there is rain or snow because there are drainage system on the floor that effectively remove the water. The Colosseum is known for its architecture design because it is the double size of any theater and they used tons of marble and concrete to construct it. Unfortunately, the Colosseum is getting destroyed by natural disasters. It is still gorgeous and attracts a lot of people to visit every year.
It is worthwhile to visit Italy because of the delicious food. The most popular food in Italy is the Italian pizza and Spaghetti, these foods are eaten by people worldwide. Therefore when people visit Italy, they will not have a problem with the food. According to the article “Why Is Italian Food so Popular?” indicate that “most of the people are aware of the benefits of a Mediterranean diet and it helps in preventing heart-related diseases” (Walt’s Pizza). The foods are superior in Italy because the Mediterranean diets have a vast amount of nutrition, which will help the visitors to maintain stable blood level. Similarly, eating healthy food does have a significant impact on people’s behavior because they will help to improve the visitor’s mood. Therefore, people, who are traveling to Italy they can visit without feeling the insecurity of getting heart diseases.
Also, Italy has a lot of marvelous hotels for visitors to stay. Rebecca Wallwork mentions in her article that “the Bulgari hotel has a large private garden and cream colored linen wallpaper keep things fresh, and the walls were graced with framed sketches of iconic Bulgari jewels”(CNN). The hotels are high quality in Italy because some hotels has private gardens where visitors can spend their time in nature so that they can reduce their depression. Visitors will not have to struggle to find a terrific hotel where they can enjoy their vacation.
Thus, people should consider visits to Italy to obtain different experiences due to its unique history and stunning cities. Italy has everything that visitors desire for because there are many scenic places that the visitors unwilling to put the camera inside the bag. In Venice, people will experience life traveling without cars, in Florence, people will experience the beauty of arts, and in Rome, the people will experience beautiful architecture designed buildings. Furthermore, people, who will visit Italy, will experience great foods and gorgeous hotels. I have not been to Italy yet; however, I have a dream to visit Italy once I am finished with my education, and I have a job because Italy is a glamorous place to visit and I cannot find these qualities in other countries.
Works Cited
Filippo, Anna De. “Some Reasons Why Venice Is Unique in the World.” Life In Italy. Ed. Francesca Bezzone. https://www.lifeinitaly.com/potpourri/some-reasons-why-venice-unique-world/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2018.
Google Search. Google. https://www.google.com/search?q=italy%2Bpopulation&oq=italy%2Bpopul&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j0l4.8126j0j3&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed18 Oct. 2018.
Khondoker, Adib. Personal Interview. 10 Oct. 2018.
“The Renaissance.” A History of Modern Europe, by John M. Merriman, 3rd ed., vol. 1, W.W. Norton & Co., 2010, pp. 44–45.
Vinci, Leonardo Da. Mona Lisa. 1503. Louvre Museum, Paris. Paris Tour. https://www.pariscityvision.com/en/paris/museums/louvre-museum/the-mona-lisa-history-and-mystery/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2018.
Wallwork, Rebecca. “The 25 Most Beautiful Hotels in Italy.” CNN. Cable News Network, 09 Oct. 2018. https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/italy-most-beautiful-hotels/index.html/. Accessed 13 Oct. 2018.
“Why Is Italian Food so Popular?” Walt’s Pizza. http://waltspizza.com/blogs/why-italian-food-so-popular. Accessed 18 Oct. 2018.
Abu Sayeed
English 1100/A
Introduction to English Composition
Prof. Iris Bodre
December 12, 2018
Is the Education System in the United States Running Smoothly Or Not?
Education is invaluable because it helps people to become first-class citizens in a country and to better understand their roles in society. Nelson Mandela stated, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” (Google Search). Mandela’s statement is very accurate because education allows people to discover their talents in school; they might come up with an invention and innovation which will benefit the country. People in the United States have access to public education. However, some serious flaws in the current education system need to be addressed because they fail to stimulate students’ enthusiasm due to the fact education is mostly based on students’ performance on standardized tests. The Common Core standards restrict students learning about interesting topics because the Department of Education wants them to learn specific skills in class. Teachers are not allowed to use their decision-making skills because they are only preparing students for standardized tests. The current education system in the United States is outdated because time is changing, but it remains stagnant. Although the education system in the United States is of a high quality, defects in standardized tests, Common Core standards, schools failing to teach basic skills, and outdated knowledge weaken the system.
Standardized tests fail to measure students’ skills accurately; instead, they put tremendous pressure on them. Many students have done exceedingly well in class, but when it comes to the test, they perform poorly because they are not fully aware of what will be on the tests so it increases anxiety and they cannot absorb the vast amount of pressure. Throughout the school year, teachers follow the textbooks because they contain all the topics that will be on the exams. According to Donald Freemen in his article “Do Textbooks and Tests Define a National Curriculum in Elementary School Mathematics?”, “ The proportion of topics covered on a standardized test that received more than cursory treatment in each textbook was never higher than 50%” (511). Administrators create the test in a way so that students fail to perform well because they are unfamiliar with questions that do not come from the textbook because teachers do not teach those topics in class. Students with high intelligence quotient will figure out remedies to those questions, but others will guess. The administrators can reduce the flaws in the test by including all contents from the textbook; then students cannot blame tests for their poor performance, and they will feel less stress because they have resources to study at home to receive successful scores.
Standardized tests affect teachers negatively because teachers are responsible for the students’ poor performance. The consequence of blaming teachers is they are more concentrated on raising students’ test scores. When I was in high school, I had options to take the Common Core Algebra II Regents in January because my teacher signed up students she felt were ready for the exam. It was impossible for her to teach every topic in half of the semester, and we had to go Saturday class. She explained topics that came on the previous test because it does not change much, so she already knew what kind of questions would be on the exam. I passed the exam, although I did not know everything because I was familiar with questions on the test. Oscar Haugh, in his article “The Standardized Test: To Be or Not to Be”:
Many teachers look upon the standardized test as a threat since they have been held accountable for the performance of their students by administrators who are also held accountable by boards of education. If teachers are to be judged by the scores their students make on standardized tests, it is inevitable that many will concentrate on teaching the content of tests. In this way a standardized test dictates the material to be taught (53).
Haugh implies that standardized tests are ineffective because no teacher wants to encounter consequences, and the classes revolve around the exercises of the standardized test so the students can raise their test scores. Teachers fragile mentalities are harming students learning because they are gaining insufficient knowledge in class and are learning topics most likely to be in the exam. This conveys that knowledge is based on numbers. If students score higher on the exam, it implies they have more knowledge than students who did not receive higher score. The administrators should make teachers less accountable for the students’ performances because everyone is not serious about education. Then teachers will not view the tests as a threat to them, and they will give as much knowledge as possible to students because they will not allow the tests to dictate their class.
The Common Core standards kill students’ critical thinking because teachers are not teaching them literary canon in Common Core classes. Students will think critically when they are introduced to complex books. The Common Core standards are not apparent to the teachers because the standards only mention particular reading and writing skills to them. Teachers choose books that can be easily understands by students to get across their points, and in this way, they are turning into machines. They do not choose difficult books to challenge them, and they used same books to teach every year. According to Sandra Stotsky, in her article, “Revise or Reject: The Common Core’s Serious Flaws” she points out,
Common Core’s ELA standards do not specify the literary/historical knowledge students need. They require no British literature aside from Shakespeare. They require no authors from the ancient world or selected pieces from the Bible as literature so that students can learn about their influence on English and American literature (National Association of Scholars).
Stotsky acknowledges that Common Core standards fail to prepare students for the college readiness because they do not require teachers to teach literary canon. When I was taking Common Core English in high school, I did not struggle with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. However, when I took AP Literature and Language, I was struggled to read books like The Grapes of Wrath, Middlesex, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because students require higher level of thinking to read these literary canons. The Department of Education needs to assign the teachers particular books, and authors, then students can have opportunities to read complex books to develop critical thinking skills and be ready for college.
In school, teachers fail to teach skills that will help students in the real world because they do not teach about credit cards and picking the right health insurances. For example, if students do not know how to use credit cards responsibly, then they will default their credit cards, which might lead to economic crisis. Diane K Schooley, in the article “Fueling the Credit Crisis: Who Uses Consumer Credit and What Drives Debt Burden?” she notes, “Mortgages debt was used to finance consumer spending, which compromises 70 percent of the U.S GDP. Since the downturn that began in 2007, jobs have been lost, housing markets are down, and default rates are up” (66). The author confirms that defaulting credit cards lead to economic crisis in this country because default credit lead to bankruptcy. In the U.S economy people must spend money in the markets, and to prevent economic crisis banks finance loans so people can spend. If schools teach about credit cards and it consequences, then people would stay away from defaulting and banks would not have to declare bankruptcy. Beth Braverman, in her article “5 Money Lessons Students Should (But Usually Don’t) Learn in School” observes that, “Once you’ve established poor credit habits, it’s difficult to change course. Understanding credit and the long-term implications of debt will also help prepare them to make college-financing decisions in a few short years” (Forbes). Braverman acknowledges the importance of learning about credit as soon as possible because understanding the loans will be helpful for students’ to select their college based on the financial advantages. Unfortunately, students are not learning about credit in high school, and students end up with debt. In the classroom, teachers should also be concentrating on teaching basic skills, which will help them to avoid conflicts and make the right decisions.
Also, the education system in the U.S is failing because knowledge has been the same for over centuries and they need to evolve as time goes on to make sure the system is not outdated. Brenda Maddox’s book called Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA points out Franklin was the first lady to discover the double helix structure which is an essential component of DNA, but due to her ovarian cancer she could not finish her research. Then James Watson stole her research and discovered DNA without crediting Franklin for her contribution. In schools, students’ are still learning about James Watson and Francis Crick for their contributions to the DNA. When I took AP biology, my teacher discussed Watson’s and Crick’s contribution; however, she did not mention anything about Franklin, although teachers know she deserves equal credit. I did not even know about Franklin. When I researched about Watson discoveries, I learned that he stole Franklin ideas. Ruth Hubbard book review of Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA, “Once Watson appeared in person to say that Franklin’s contribution has been critical to his and Crick discovery” (974). Watson’s statement conveyed to everyone that Franklin contribution was indispensable to science because without the double helix structures it was impossible for him to discover DNA. Today Franklin remains unknown to most people, and they do not even know she was a contributor of DNA. Therefore, knowledge is outdated because we are still following traditional education system and the Department of Education needs to update the system to remove controversial or misleading information to keep the balance between modern and traditional education.
There are too many flaws in standardized tests; however, it encourages students’ to concentrate in class because without tests education will be straightforward and they will not find any challenges. People have misconceptions about standardized tests because many people thinks that objective tests are unable to measures students’ particular skills. According to Marion G. Epstein, in his article “Standardized Tests Can Measure the Right Things” implies that, “Some people firmly hold that it is impossible to test such things as complex problem solving and the higher levels of mathematical thinking an objective test, I am convinced that this conclusion is unwarranted” (363). Epstein believes that it is possible to test students with complex problems that require a higher level of mathematical thinking in objective tests. Most multiple choice questions on math tests require students to apply many mathematical formulas to answer questions correctly, so they cannot guess on every question and perform better on the exam. Also, standardized tests serve as an evaluation for whether teachers are harming students’ learning, but their better performance on tests imply they are able to learn knowledge from teachers. Marcus Winters, in his article “Testing Students to Grade Teachers” he insists, “Despite their limitations, standardized tests provide important information about teacher quality that can improve our flawed system for evaluating teachers” (New York Times). It is impossible for the school’s administrator to observe the teachers every day; similarly, it is also impossible for administrators from education departments to observe schools every day. The standardized tests make the evaluations easier because tests allow the Department of Education to identify in which area teachers are lacking in terms of teaching and take appropriate actions to improve. Standardized tests can be useful to evaluate teachers and to measure students’ skills in objective tests; however, tests are unfair because not all question comes from textbooks. The Department of Education should concentrate on evaluating students performance instead of teachers because the end of the day their performance on the test matter most and to evaluate their skills fairly then all content must come from textbooks.
There are issues with the Common Core standards; however, they manage to keep the students on the same page because if there are no Common Core standards, then teachers will have more flexibilities to choose their lessons. Each school will have a different lesson, and most students will fall behind from others because not everyone is learning the same skills; however, the Common Core standards give opportunities to everyone to learn the same knowledge to improve their skills. According to Arthur N. Applebee, in his article “Common Core State Standards: The Promise and the Peril in a National Palimpsest” emphasizes that, “The strengths of the English language arts standards lie in areas; a central place for writing with an integrated view of the language arts” (26). The Common Core standards help students to improve their writing and understands of language arts, and it would not be an ideal idea to eliminate Common Core standards since nothing is perfect. The standards attempt to enhance students’ skills and try to prepare students for college; also, they reduces gap between schools and students. The Common Core standards have positive intents to keep students on the same page and enhance their understanding of language arts; however, students fail to develop a higher level of thinking skills under the standard. As a result, students are struggling in college because they are expected to know how to interpret books with critical thinking, but in reality, they do not read books in Common Core classes that require the higher level of thinking.
Ultimately, it is impossible to remove all defects in standardized tests, Common Core standards, schools not teaching fundamental knowledge, and schools teaching outdated knowledge; however, necessary changes could benefit the education system and students. One must understand that imperfection of standardized tests harming students and teachers, but if all contents come from a textbook, then they will feel less anxiety and perform better on the exams. If the Common Core standards assign teachers specific books, then it will prepare students for college readiness. More importantly, schools should teach about basic skills so it can benefit students and country, and the outdated knowledge is preventing them from learning new expertise except they are learning about controversial knowledge. This is an ideal time to change the education system because change will increase students enthusiasm in learning and they would not perceive the knowledge and school as insignificant.
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