Blog Assignment #6

1. In “The Progressive Basics,” Francesco Delbanco compares the methodology of a progressive education to that of a traditional one. Delbanco investigates the teaching styles of one progressive school in particular, the Prospect School, and makes some interesting observations. The progressive method focuses on self expression and interest rather than traditional educational concepts. Delbanco compares the activities of the traditional student to a progressive one, explaining that “They conjugated verb tenses and diagrammed sentences; we learned to feed baby goats from EvenFlo bottles” (Delbanco 275). I believe my personal education was definitely traditional. I remember participating in artistic and enjoyable activities, however they still served an educational purpose. I feel that while a student’s education should provide the opportunities to nurture their personal interests, it is still important that a well-rounded education is involved. You may want to be a firefighter or a teacher as a child, but this dream will most likely change at some point. Therefore, it is important to receive an education which provides a general knowledge in a variety of areas so you are able to change your mind in the future. I think school systems should tackle this issue by providing elective courses earlier in education so students can experience a specific career or path of study and decide whether they want to pursue it.

2. Through Delbanco’s work at Seventeen magazine and her “School Zone” column, she is able to examine a variety of approaches to education. However, her visit to the Putney School presented her with a much more radical attitude than she could’ve imagined. Students at the school rejected the magazine and her role as an observer, criticizing its ability to target and diminish self esteem among readers. Delbanco expected a warm welcome to the school, but instead was greeted by protesting students clad in anti-Seventeen apparel and armed with an irritated outlook. In order to dissolve or at least reduce the uproar, the administration agreed to allow Delbanco and her crew to deliver a mission statement of the magazine and the objective of their visit to the school. I felt this was an effective way of allowing the students to receive clarification of the true ideals of the magazine, rather than those they simply assumed. However, I was shocked that the administration allowed the chaos and protest to develop so strongly before Delbanco and her crew arrived. I sympathized with Delbanco’s statement describing her reaction to the progressivism of the Putney School: “Self-professed liberal that I am, the seeds of conservatism already blossomed in my twenty-five-year-old heart; apparently I’d spent enough years calling my own teachers “Mr.” and “Mrs.” to begin to see some merit in those conventions. I feel some degree of authority and discipline is imperative to the administration of an educational institution, no matter how progressive it may be.

3. I feel Delbanco’s attitude toward progressive education is conflicted. While she appreciates some of the liberalism of this education and the benefits she herself reaped from it, she also realizes that some educational and authoritative structure is important. When she first arrived at the Putney School, the self-righteousness and pugnacity of the students shocked her. She realizes the students would never make it in the real world with the defiant attitudes they possessed, however she came to admire the courage and confidence of the students by the end of her visit. She explains that “The progressive system may at times veer too far in the opposite direction, but nurturing the individual does deliver intellectual dividends” (Delbanco 281). I feel that all American schools should nurture the individual, but in a sensible manner. If a student doesn’t wish to participate in a particular event because it conflicts with their beliefs, that should be respected. Students should also be offered occupational directed courses which provide them with an education which is not necessarily purely intellectual, but which caters to their personal interest. I don’t feel public schools lack resources to encourage “independent thinking” because that is an ideology and method of thought, which can be encouraged without any resources at all.

Blog Assignment #5 1. Richard Rodriguez experiences a great struggle throughout his life between excelling in education while still respecting his culture and family. Education functioned as a means of separating Rodriguez from the traditions of his family. It allowed him to start a new life, in which he could avoid the uneducated, Hispanic background he faced at home every day. Although being educated was something Rodriguez longed for, it created a conflict with himself because he constantly struggled with his embarrassment over his parents’ lack of education. He explains, “I intended to hurt my mother and father. I was still angry at them for having encouraged me toward classroom English. But gradually this anger was exhausted, replaced by guilt as school grew more and more attractive to me” ( Rodriguez 219). Rodriguez’s education also caused separation from his family because he would seek refuse in his books while distancing himself from family tradition and bonding. In the end, his efforts only proved to be more harmful. As he struggled to forget his home life and old culture, he only remember it more. Education may have seemed like a way out of his past, but in the end it only brought him back to it with greater remorse. 2. Repeatedly, Rodriguez referred to an analysis made by Richard Hoggart, describing the concept of a “scholarship boy.” This concept was one of the few that Rodriguez was actually able to identify with and compare to his own love/hate relationship with education. The idea of a “scholarship boy” is an individual who struggles with his sense of intelligence and eagerness to learn and its interference with his familial atmosphere. Although this individual may be extremely knowledgeable, they have a low sense of self esteem and confidence. Often their background or lack of education in their family contradicts with their own intelligence, and causes personal confusion. The “scholarship boy” learns to create boundaries between learning environments, such as the classroom, and their home. … The scholarship boy must move between environments, his home and the classroom, which are at cultural extremes, opposed. With his family, the boy has the intense pleasure of intimacy, the family’s consolation in feeling public alienation… Then, at school, the instruction bids him to trust lonely reason primarily (Rodriguez 217). A “scholarship boy” may experience academic success, but at the same time a rise in anxiety, as this intelligence sets him apart from his background. 3. While studying in London, Rodriguez seems to have an epiphany about his extensive education. He comes to realize the loneliness of intelligence and extreme ambition to learn. The trust and dependence he had placed so heavily on education as a method of escaping his roots all of a sudden seemed foolish. In one regard, Rodriguez had achieved the intellectual success he had strived for. He was highly educated and had an intelligent opinion on most situations. However, he had lost something far more important – the ability to express his personal opinions or beliefs, rather than simply educated ones. Rodriguez also acknowledged the loneliness that he and many other intellectual individuals experienced, burying themselves in books and distancing themselves from personal interactions. He also began to question himself and whether his work and the dedication he devoted to his dissertation would ever impact anyone or serve a purpose. After questioning himself and reevaluating his education, Rodriguez states “I told myself that I wanted a more passionate life. And a life less thoughtful. And above all, I wanted to be less alone” (Rodriguez 225). I found it extremely refreshing that for once, Rodriguez was able to admit that while he spent his entire life thinking and reasoning, he no longer wanted his intelligence to control his life. 4. Many factors motivate and encourage Rodriguez’s desire to learn and succeed educationally. Rodriguez’s drive for success seems to derive from his desire to avoid his culture and the lack of intelligence in his family. By succeeding in school he can steer farther away from the fate of an uneducated adulthood like that of his parents. At one point, Rodriguez explains his anger and sadness when his mother was unable to read a book that he read as a young child. “But when, several weeks later, I happened to see it next to her bead unread expcept for the first few pages, I was furious and suddenly wanted to cry” (Rodriguez 221). He is also inspired to succeed by the intelligence of his teachers. He feels that by burying himself in schooling and books, he will aspire to their level of aptitude. Rodriguez believes intelligence is synonymous with success and achievement. His parents, on the other hand seem to be proud of Rodriguez but also question his extreme passion and obsession with education. 5. As an adult, Rodriguez is finally able to analyze his struggle with and passion for education growing up. He realizes that while education was able to provide him with a sense of confidence, often this was confidence was fake. In the end, the family life he avoided was something he desired. While providing him with intelligence and self assuredness, his addiction to education also provided a great deal of loneliness. Through his fixation and strive for intelligence, Rodriguez had succeeded in separating himself from his culture and family. However, he came to realize that this may not have been something he wanted after all. He explains this when he states, “If, because of my schooling, I had grown culturally separated from my parents, my education finally had given me ways of speaking and caring about that fact” (Rodriguez 226). I feel that while Rodriguez may have missed out on a great deal of the cultural aspects and personal relationships of his family, at least he was able to recognize that as an adult. He then was able to rebuild some of these relationships when he moved back in with his family. Although it may have taken him a long time to realize, Rodriguez did finally come to terms with the importance of his family and culture.