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Tuesday, January 15, 2013
February 21…The Contemporary Scene (Demerath & Lipman)
React to Demerath's depiction of the
"Wilton Way." Did you recognize anything from your own schooling? The
author draws directly on Labaree--do you see any connections to any other
readings?
The description of the Wilton school really hits home with me because it exactly mirrors what my high school valued and and was surrounded by. I went to a public high school which was surrounded by extremely wealthy neighborhoods and suburbs. My school's motto was "A blue ribbon school of excellence" and was in my opinion the most competitive school in the county. I often wondered that if I had went to a different school with the same grades whether I would have had a much better class standing than I did at my high school. My class ranking was considered good but within the group I was categorized into, I was mediocre. Students obsessed over getting the highest grade on tests and in most classrooms teachers would have a whiteboard listing the student with the highest grade in the class. This would change every week and made students even more competitive. No one took what they were learning seriously, everyone including myself, just wanted to get into a good college with a good scholarship and being one of the best in high school was the way to do it. The environment was cut throat and miserable, but somehow I excelled and got into a good college with a good scholarship, so I guess in a way this system worked for me. I would like to say that the system we have in place now sets kids up for failure but then again I'd kind of be a hypocrite because the system worked just fine for me. It's a shame however that this phenomena usually only occurs in school districts that are well off and affluent because I do think that those who aren't as affluent in society have a hard time fitting into the mold and getting through the public school system. The way the education system is set up now sucks but change will come slow if it comes at all because the current system works so well for the affluent communities and that's as long as the affluent community is thriving, all seems to be right with the world as unfortunate as that is.
Also, in the reading the author does directly refer to Labaree and his concept of social mobility in schooling and how schools have become a means for personal advancement and achievement rather than a center to benefit everybody and the community/environment. And I struggle with this. I think social mobility is a good thing, I like that fact that just because my family isn't that wealthy I still have a chance to go to medical school and become the doctor I've always wanted to become but I do feel as though it's kind of an extreme now.Social mobility has fostered a hostile education environment that has increased depression among students, increased cheating rates and increased the suicide rate in students. The concept of the academic arms race that he mentions makes me think of the reading my group read in class the other day about the US "falling behind" other countries in terms of academic achievement and success. It's so sad that society has become so focused around trying to become the best that we've forgotten what really matter in life. And although I would be hypocrite if I said that I am completely against this because I've always been and always will be focused on being the best in order to achieve what I want to achieve in my life but I feel as though I would benefit if the world just wasn't such a competitive place. One can argue that this highly competitive environment fosters advancement and creation in society but one can also argue that this extreme competitiveness kills culture, uniformity and enjoyment in life.
The first thing that really jumped off the page for me was the description of schools as a place for individual competition to make one’s self the most “marketable” as possible. The “threat” of falling behind one’s peers in this race for knowledge and class ranking is supposedly the underlying influence is for students in the middle class. I think this is both true and false because grades do matter when getting into college but the true thing that sets someone apart is not the ability to achieve academic success but to achieve success in life as a whole. This means being able to; conduct yourself, show common sense, communicate, motivate others, be well rounded and help others, etc.… You could graduate from MIT or Harvard and still be just as smart of a person (academic or “street”) as the guy that went to any other college but other than having the school you graduated from on your resume when you go into an interview it’s on you to be prepared and make the employer you are right for the job. The school you went to has a minimal effect on that.
The next part in the article about the interview with David showed a side of the students enamored with fitting into the mold of the supposed perfect student. The student with the 4.0 GPA, perfect SAT score, team captain of a sports team, leadership in school activities and the list can go on depending on who is being asked. This is not possible for everyone to do and if it was, where is the individualism if everyone is striving to be this machine programmed to follow some exact steps to the “promise land” in life. Student should not be told to be something they should figure out what they want to be off of their own experiences. If not then we might as well have Apple or Microsoft come out with a chip to program everyone to complete the “checklist” to success.
Throughout my reading of Demerath’s work at the Burnham school, I could not stop making connections between what he observed and the way I got myself through the International Baccalaureate program during high school. The parts I most identified with were the “self-cultivation of worth ethic” and “impression management” sections. I think that by my junior year of high school, I had trained myself to turn on a sort of mindset whenever I had a lot of homework (which was often); I just accepted the endless fatigue and hard work as a definition of what was productive. I was always juggling extracurricular activities, and would stay up late to get things done because that was the only time of the day I had to do it. I’ve always had a fear of doing the wrong thing or doing badly, and I think this has a lot to do with how I developed such a strong work ethic.
The “impression management” aspect of the “Wilton Way” comes in for me here; I always felt in the act of doing my homework well, I was preparing myself to appear put-together and knowledgeable, because I hated to be caught unprepared or saying something that was accidentally ignorant. In addition to this, I am usually the kind of person who works better when I am able to take my time because I like to put a lot of effort into what I am assigned, because it always resulted in a feeling of satisfying accomplishment. I think this, in some way or another, has to be attributed to a wish to succeed, because succeeding means that I am doing “well” (like Demerath explains), and it in high school that success meant I could get into the college I wanted, and the program I wanted. So in some ways I took my high school education very seriously not so that I could have a meaningful learning experience, but so I would not appear “behind” or uncultured compared to the people around me.
In addition to the direct relationship to Labaree’s education purpose theories, I see a few connections in this reading with the Thomas Jefferson reading. On the exterior, Jefferson preached an equal education in favor of creating productive citizens viewpoint. However, the policy that he proposed for the top couple boys in their class to be sent to the “grammar” schools represents a belief that people should be rewarded for their hard work, and should be rewarded for standing out from the pack. This type of thinking is what has created the highly individualized view of education that exists in many suburban towns like Wilton. It is also the kind of thinking that makes education out as an exchange for a successful life rather than having an education to learn something.
Reading about the Wilton Way honestly blew my mind in many ways, because it really hit me of how the Wilton Way really played into my own life. In the back of my mind, I always knew that the schools I attended placed much focus on individual achievement, academic progress, classroom involvement, school and community engagement, etc. The most recent memories that jump into my mind come from high school. We had class rank; we had assemblies that acknowledged those who got perfect SOL scores, high PSAT/SAT scores, and straight A’s; we had trophies and plaques hanging up on the walls near the main entrance of our school which would highlight our victories in sports and show pictures of our past valedictorians and most honored students. We had multiple community service organizations, clubs, as well as band, orchestra, chorus, theater, and honor societies. Our school was pretty competitive, too. Many students were tackling honors and AP courses, along with jobs, extracurricular activities, sports. A good majority of people were always pushing themselves to get those high grades because they all had some kind of goal they wanted to reach in the near future. Around exam time, stress and anxiety levels were pretty high. You could always see students cramming last-minute information into their heads during the 30 minute break we had between exams. We also had a specialty center, which I myself was a part of. Everyone knew who the top students were. And our school in an upper-middle class area. I can now really see how the ideas behind the Wilton Way really shaped my academic life. From the beginning, I was a part of this type of system, whether I knew it or not, and whether I liked it or not. And I really never knew anything differently, because in a way, this was all I knew. In a lot of ways, my “world” consisted of balancing school work and my life outside of school, making sure to have some time for myself, friends, and family while still handling all my school work. There really wasn’t anything else to do. I won’t deny that I believe in hard work and individual effort, but I also believe that things shouldn’t be as highly competitive as they are. I was reading some of the statements that some of the students made in Demerath’s interviews, and even though I know of some people with the same mentalities of these students, I was still rather shocked by some of their statements of how they define success and how much pressure they put on themselves. In my case, I never pulled an all-nighter for any school assignment or exam. And honestly, for the most part, the latest I would stay up at night was 1am, because I knew if I stayed up later than that, I would never be able to concentrate and I would just be wasting my time. Although I had a lot to think about during my high school years, I was never the type of person who really stressed out too easily, or at least, I managed to stay fairly calm about everything. Nor was I extremely competitive. I never really paid too much attention to the grades of others, or how my grades stood again theirs. I always just wanted to be the best that I could be and learn as much as I could, without pushing my limits to an extreme. Even with AP classes, I didn’t try and cram in every AP class as possible. I took the ones that interested me the most, so I’m glad with the way I handled my school life. In terms of relating this article to other readings, besides of Labaree, I was reminded of Counts’ article, and his statement of how we are not born free, but how we are born helpless. As Demerath’s article showed, there were great differences between the mentalities of students brought up in a community such as the Wilton School District and the mentalities of students New Guinea. Who we become as people and what we value is greatly determined by where we come from, and there’s really nothing we can do about it, or at least that is what I believe. I was also reminded of the readings we had about Thomas Jefferson and the whole idea of meritocracy.
From the interviews and Demerath’s research I definitely recognize ideas from my own schooling. I think the International Baccalaureate Programme tries to sidestep the exact ideas of the “Wilton Way”: blue-ribbon schools and funding based on test-scores, by creating an international standard and network of school. Within my high school, I think administrators hoped IB would alleviate some of the usual stresses of high-achieving students. Neither of these ideas I think actually panned out. The school put huge pressure on the IB class to succeed (by scoring high marks on the test and so raising the school’s rankings overall and also within the network of other IB schools). As well, within the program itself, there was even more acute competition to be the “best”. Like with the “Wilton Way” grades and test scores became a measure of happiness for a person. Some of my friends became so obsessed with their marketability they would take any internship or take on any extra responsibility just to give them a supposed leg-up over all the other IB graduates with a 4.0 GPA.
When Demerath brought up the concept of being “impression-oriented”, I could very much relate. Our school motto was both, “Generals will succeed” and “Impress for success”; the idea being, that if you could impress someone with authority, you could achieve this sort of arbitrary success. Granted, 90% of my high school was not in the IB program, and benefited a lot from being taught how to have a good impression: many students had no concept of appropriate dress for a formal situation (e.g showing up in pajama pants at graduation). The counseling department offered mock interviews if you were required or suggested to have an alumni interview to apply to college. I attended one of these, and was instantly told I was not bragging about myself enough (even when the bragging was not applicable at all to the interviewer’s question). This focus on impression promotes a false sense of self and self-confidence; students are never happy with themselves, but they are “proud” of their credentials (hello, Labaree).
Besides Labaree’s credentialism and the tensions of schooling as a public or private good, I think the “Wilton Way” discussion also goes back to the Counts article. Counts’ argument that the “American Dream” (common man’s life is easier, enriched, and ennobled) becomes over-stated in Demarath’s findings. The original goals of the American Dream, it seems, have been twisted out of proportion, so that the idea of anyone being able to achieve “success” is no longer the idea of leading an easier, enriched life, but instead one of accumulation (of things or credentials).
I think it is also interesting that Demerath points out that with the “Wilton Way” success and control are inextricable linked. In a sense, this fosters the idea that you are never good enough and that you have never reached “success” because there is no end-point, just a constantly moving goal post.
In Pakistan I lived in a small town where everyone in the town knew each other. At the end of the school year class ranks would be made public. For example, in third grade the "valedictorian" would be so and so, in fourth grade the "valedictorian" would be so and so person and so on all the way through high school. The individual who topped the class ranking would get a trophy or other rewards. The parents in the town would brag about their children's achievement. So there would be great deal of 'shame' if you did poorly in a school year and there was a lot of pressure to do well. This article relates directly to Labaree and his assertion that private good of schooling has won over public good of schooling. Students aims are to have as many credentials as possible in order to get a good occupation one day. Likewise, this competitive nature that is present in schools is to push students to outdo one another and that is the only way to attain those credentials. This competitive nature is usually present in well to do schools and generally lacking in 'poor-er' schools. This prevents the public school system from attaining one of its major goals which is to be an equalizing factor.
As someone who grew up in Northern Virginia, I can totally relate to this reading. Like many of my classmates, my schooling was a constant battle of who got better grades, had better activities, and etc. Instead of attempting to motivate students to do things for intrinsic gratification this model encourages them to succeed for pride along with tangible things like medals and ribbons. Education is more than the rewards you get from it.
Demerath's progressive depiction of the suburban middle-class public school is pretty solid. Many of these "Wilton Way" superintendents are only interested in seeing their line graphs increase by the month. There is an obsession, almost to the point where the APA could concoct another disorder based on grade-obsessive individuals because our families and teachers have reared us in direction. We're just a herd of cows in this Pavlovian fundamentalistic education system, where grades mean money. Grants are the incentive for the upper-level administrations, which has to be implemented through the teachers. Something that surprised me, but shouldn't have: "Academic cheating has reached an all-time high". Ask any pre-med and we can all say that we know a handful of kids that are willing to steal exams to get that A in their organic chemistry exams. After spending sleepless nights at the library, staring at structures and overdosing on caffeine, one would resort to a miracle - "God-damn it why can't I just become a neurosurgeon and make $500,000". The "Wilton Way" is to be blamed for this idiosyncratic, obsessive approach to schooling. We were told throughout grade school: either make the honor roll or land a job at McDonald's. Well, when we turn our TVs on and watch plastic surgeons looking like Greek Gods with stunning wives and drinking scotch at their summer homes, we develop an image. An image that transforms into one thing, money. You want to be rich? Well, one of the few legal ways is to become a doctor. Majority of our peers that seem so aspired to help society through medicine don't realize there's social work and 100 other occupations that are just as, if not more, helpful towards society. But guess what? They don't make six figures. The "Wilton Way" has made this the norm at most middle-class school systems. Demerath's liberalism is reflective of Labaree and Dewey's approach, especially in the sense that grades do not show how smart a student is. Instead a student should have the freedom to choose what he or she wants to learn.
Reading this article really opened my eyes to an experience that I was going through in school overseas. We had class rankings and GPA calculations. In my story however, since I was trying to get into medical school, one had to achieve perfect scores in every single class they took. That was crazy to me how students are being evaluated. My experience involved students who were tops of their classes being recognized while others who are very talented yet not very high achieving acdemically were not recognized. That was very disappointing because it shut off many students from achieving their dreams and instead motivated them to achieve what society wants them to do. I agree this connects with Labaree's article about how soical efficiency can be created in schools
I believe this is a very sad but true incident in our societies nowadays. Something must be done to allow kids to not only be motivated to achieve highly academically because they have to but because they want to. Their talents should no be shut off. They should not feel pressured to do well on tests to please society but rather to achieve their dreams.
My high school had a major split between those who were in programs such as AP, Dual-Enrollment, and Honors and those who were not. Wilton’s Way was exactly how the students in these programs at my school looked at schooling. They did everything in their will power to make themselves stand out, to distinguish themselves from the rest. The task became difficult of course when it got to be too much and some students tried to continue to balance it all. I have watched students turn bloodshot red because they were so angry from getting a C on a test, and I couldn’t help but think it’s just one test. However, the GPA was everything to these students. On the other hand, those students who were not in the special programs were calmer about their schooling. They cared more if they understood subject, then their GPA. This was because most of these students took trade classes at our Technical High, and planned on doing that specific trade once they graduated high school. I myself fell in the middle. I took a trade class at our Technical School and I was in Honors and Dual-Enrollment classes.
To me Wilton’s Way is definitely not the only way. It’s not all about what Labaree explains as social mobility. Social Mobility is a resume builder to me, and even if your resume looks awesome, one could still lack in working as a team, good customer service, common sense. In my high school students that were in the top 20 of my class were recognized at graduation, and I must say that after taking classes with them most of my k-12 career, some of them lacked common sense. It takes more than just book sense to survive in society.
When I was reading about the way anthropologist use a comparative perspective, my first thought was of the readings we read in class. It made me think of how we compared countries around the world based on test scores, but these anthropologists were looking at it more from a qualitative perspective I would say. Thank goodness for the anthropologist, because when comparing education systems, I believe you have to look beyond the test scores. We can’t just say the U.S. ranked 15th in a particular subject.
I thought that Demerath’s depiction of the “Wilton Way” was very similar to my high school experience. Growing up and attending school in Fairfax County, competition was extremely important. Not only is it competitive within your own school, it is also competitive in the county as a whole. Fairfax County is highly populated and in some areas not very diverse. Therefore, our teachers would tell us that many students in the county would have over a 4.0 GPA, almost perfect SAT scores and tons of extra curricular activities. They put great emphasis on being the MOST marketable to colleges.. My education was very individualized just like in the reading. Taking IB classes may have been one of the worst decisions but with the focus on being the best, I was pushed into believing that if I did not do this, I would not get into a good college. I say that it was a bad decision because looking back on my high school experience I realize how machine-like I was. I woke up, went to class, went to practice or club meetings, came home, ate dinner, did homework, and slept if I had time. This process continued for 4 straight years, Monday-Friday, over and over, like clock work.
Demerath directly discusses Labree’s work. Laberee’s social mobility theory relates to Demerath’s overall point. In the social mobility model, it is completely individualized and based of personal advancement. There is never a common goal to better the community. It either benefits you or nothing else. This is shown in education today by the lack of class discussions and group projects. Especially in IB or AP classes, social mobility often the case. It is based on an individual paper, an individual reading and an individual test score. There is little socialization which is a key point in Demerath’s argument.
Seeing as all of us are honors students, we've obviously been encouraged and maybe even pressured to do well in school and maintain a high GPA. As some of the studies in Demerath's book show, this individualistic success idea has been pushed in earlier and earlier age groups. With some advanced learning programs select students showing intellectual ability are encouraged to do more outside of their required learning, which is fine until the point where it isn't even focused on the content or quality of information being processed. This definitely becomes more relevant in high school when grades dictate college which currently dictates success. While I certainly felt this pressure, I wanted to do well and attend a good college and be successful, I also saw plenty of people around me who didn't try as hard and got much more money in scholarships for athletics... It comes down to the fact that this system is preparing students to memorize and regurgitate information and feel no certain way about the education itself, and lacking to prepare them for citizenship and meeting the needs of the job market.
Labaree's principles are briefly mentioned in the introduction, and brings into focus the fact that this "Wilton Way" is very much abandoning the social efficiency purpose of education and focusing solely on personal advancement and therefore social mobility.
What this article made me think about was America’s educational systems’ heightened emphasis on social mobility. The article makes reference to our generation being the ‘stress generation” and middle class America being obsessed with the fear of ‘falling’ in social class. I will vividly remember my 10th grade history teacher speaking to this phenomenon when explaining the history of America. “The rich will usually stay rich, and the poor will usually stay poor, but the middle class are caught in between wanting to be rich and fearing being poor.” I believe that this has completely created the insanity that Demerath is analyzing since education is seen as a way for social mobility. But the end goal is financial and self-centered and as Demerath points out could have consequences for our society as a whole. I connected this article with the article my group analyzed in class about the concern about America’s test scores in comparison to other countries. These two issues may seem on the other ends of the spectrum since one is about individuals trying to outperform individuals, and the other is about nations trying to out compete each other. But both share the belief that there is an end result to be achieved. The overall goal in both cases is to be the most ‘educated’ then anybody else because the most ‘educated’ wins. Whether this concept has any merit for our educational system can be debated. There is obviously a basic education that all citizens should receive, but the concept of the most ‘education’ is a very linear one and one that is flawed in its motivation. For the individual ‘more education’ means a higher standard of living, and as a nation ‘more education’ means a more dominant country. Neither of these are about learning for learning’s sake. So it almost seems sometimes that learning for learning’s sake can be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, disguising people’s real motivation which is to be more successful then your neighbor. If lifelong learner’s make more money I am sure everyone would jump on that ship.
The Wilton Way certainly rang true with my own education. I grew up in a very middle class, very "white urban" family. My family is all women, and my mother is a teacher, and from a young age she made it clear that doing well in school was extremely important. I was grade-hungry as a middle-schooler, and from the moment I realized that I was capable of doing well in school, that is all I focused on. My teachers complimented me on being a good student, and when I came home with straight A's on my report card, my mom said, "You've done it once, so there's no reason not to do it for every other semester." This desire to work towards the grade is nothing more than actively seeking quantitative approval. I missed out on many opportunities and most likely learning experiences because I only sought to get the A. I would write papers that were thoughtful, and smart, but not spend enough time actually researching or studying to write something I could be proud of. All that mattered was getting a 100%, and graduating high school with the highest GPA.
Of course, I can see where that got me. I'm about to graduate with a BFA in Theatre Performance, and I'm moving off somewhere to work a few part time jobs and hope for the best. I'm glad I was able to shrug the Wilton Way of Thinking, because it's allowed me to pursue what I care most about. But I easily could have gotten stuck, and wound up doing a job that I hated, just because I was good at it.
The description of the Wilton school really hits home with me because it exactly mirrors what my high school valued and and was surrounded by. I went to a public high school which was surrounded by extremely wealthy neighborhoods and suburbs. My school's motto was "A blue ribbon school of excellence" and was in my opinion the most competitive school in the county. I often wondered that if I had went to a different school with the same grades whether I would have had a much better class standing than I did at my high school. My class ranking was considered good but within the group I was categorized into, I was mediocre. Students obsessed over getting the highest grade on tests and in most classrooms teachers would have a whiteboard listing the student with the highest grade in the class. This would change every week and made students even more competitive. No one took what they were learning seriously, everyone including myself, just wanted to get into a good college with a good scholarship and being one of the best in high school was the way to do it. The environment was cut throat and miserable, but somehow I excelled and got into a good college with a good scholarship, so I guess in a way this system worked for me. I would like to say that the system we have in place now sets kids up for failure but then again I'd kind of be a hypocrite because the system worked just fine for me. It's a shame however that this phenomena usually only occurs in school districts that are well off and affluent because I do think that those who aren't as affluent in society have a hard time fitting into the mold and getting through the public school system. The way the education system is set up now sucks but change will come slow if it comes at all because the current system works so well for the affluent communities and that's as long as the affluent community is thriving, all seems to be right with the world as unfortunate as that is.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in the reading the author does directly refer to Labaree and his concept of social mobility in schooling and how schools have become a means for personal advancement and achievement rather than a center to benefit everybody and the community/environment. And I struggle with this. I think social mobility is a good thing, I like that fact that just because my family isn't that wealthy I still have a chance to go to medical school and become the doctor I've always wanted to become but I do feel as though it's kind of an extreme now.Social mobility has fostered a hostile education environment that has increased depression among students, increased cheating rates and increased the suicide rate in students. The concept of the academic arms race that he mentions makes me think of the reading my group read in class the other day about the US "falling behind" other countries in terms of academic achievement and success. It's so sad that society has become so focused around trying to become the best that we've forgotten what really matter in life. And although I would be hypocrite if I said that I am completely against this because I've always been and always will be focused on being the best in order to achieve what I want to achieve in my life but I feel as though I would benefit if the world just wasn't such a competitive place. One can argue that this highly competitive environment fosters advancement and creation in society but one can also argue that this extreme competitiveness kills culture, uniformity and enjoyment in life.
Jordan Hiegel
The first thing that really jumped off the page for me was the description of schools as a place for individual competition to make one’s self the most “marketable” as possible. The “threat” of falling behind one’s peers in this race for knowledge and class ranking is supposedly the underlying influence is for students in the middle class. I think this is both true and false because grades do matter when getting into college but the true thing that sets someone apart is not the ability to achieve academic success but to achieve success in life as a whole. This means being able to; conduct yourself, show common sense, communicate, motivate others, be well rounded and help others, etc.… You could graduate from MIT or Harvard and still be just as smart of a person (academic or “street”) as the guy that went to any other college but other than having the school you graduated from on your resume when you go into an interview it’s on you to be prepared and make the employer you are right for the job. The school you went to has a minimal effect on that.
ReplyDeleteThe next part in the article about the interview with David showed a side of the students enamored with fitting into the mold of the supposed perfect student. The student with the 4.0 GPA, perfect SAT score, team captain of a sports team, leadership in school activities and the list can go on depending on who is being asked. This is not possible for everyone to do and if it was, where is the individualism if everyone is striving to be this machine programmed to follow some exact steps to the “promise land” in life. Student should not be told to be something they should figure out what they want to be off of their own experiences. If not then we might as well have Apple or Microsoft come out with a chip to program everyone to complete the “checklist” to success.
Craig Luskey
Throughout my reading of Demerath’s work at the Burnham school, I could not stop making connections between what he observed and the way I got myself through the International Baccalaureate program during high school. The parts I most identified with were the “self-cultivation of worth ethic” and “impression management” sections. I think that by my junior year of high school, I had trained myself to turn on a sort of mindset whenever I had a lot of homework (which was often); I just accepted the endless fatigue and hard work as a definition of what was productive. I was always juggling extracurricular activities, and would stay up late to get things done because that was the only time of the day I had to do it. I’ve always had a fear of doing the wrong thing or doing badly, and I think this has a lot to do with how I developed such a strong work ethic.
ReplyDeleteThe “impression management” aspect of the “Wilton Way” comes in for me here; I always felt in the act of doing my homework well, I was preparing myself to appear put-together and knowledgeable, because I hated to be caught unprepared or saying something that was accidentally ignorant. In addition to this, I am usually the kind of person who works better when I am able to take my time because I like to put a lot of effort into what I am assigned, because it always resulted in a feeling of satisfying accomplishment. I think this, in some way or another, has to be attributed to a wish to succeed, because succeeding means that I am doing “well” (like Demerath explains), and it in high school that success meant I could get into the college I wanted, and the program I wanted. So in some ways I took my high school education very seriously not so that I could have a meaningful learning experience, but so I would not appear “behind” or uncultured compared to the people around me.
In addition to the direct relationship to Labaree’s education purpose theories, I see a few connections in this reading with the Thomas Jefferson reading. On the exterior, Jefferson preached an equal education in favor of creating productive citizens viewpoint. However, the policy that he proposed for the top couple boys in their class to be sent to the “grammar” schools represents a belief that people should be rewarded for their hard work, and should be rewarded for standing out from the pack. This type of thinking is what has created the highly individualized view of education that exists in many suburban towns like Wilton. It is also the kind of thinking that makes education out as an exchange for a successful life rather than having an education to learn something.
Laura Zoellner
Reading about the Wilton Way honestly blew my mind in many ways, because it really hit me of how the Wilton Way really played into my own life. In the back of my mind, I always knew that the schools I attended placed much focus on individual achievement, academic progress, classroom involvement, school and community engagement, etc. The most recent memories that jump into my mind come from high school. We had class rank; we had assemblies that acknowledged those who got perfect SOL scores, high PSAT/SAT scores, and straight A’s; we had trophies and plaques hanging up on the walls near the main entrance of our school which would highlight our victories in sports and show pictures of our past valedictorians and most honored students. We had multiple community service organizations, clubs, as well as band, orchestra, chorus, theater, and honor societies. Our school was pretty competitive, too. Many students were tackling honors and AP courses, along with jobs, extracurricular activities, sports. A good majority of people were always pushing themselves to get those high grades because they all had some kind of goal they wanted to reach in the near future. Around exam time, stress and anxiety levels were pretty high. You could always see students cramming last-minute information into their heads during the 30 minute break we had between exams. We also had a specialty center, which I myself was a part of. Everyone knew who the top students were. And our school in an upper-middle class area. I can now really see how the ideas behind the Wilton Way really shaped my academic life. From the beginning, I was a part of this type of system, whether I knew it or not, and whether I liked it or not. And I really never knew anything differently, because in a way, this was all I knew. In a lot of ways, my “world” consisted of balancing school work and my life outside of school, making sure to have some time for myself, friends, and family while still handling all my school work. There really wasn’t anything else to do.
ReplyDeleteI won’t deny that I believe in hard work and individual effort, but I also believe that things shouldn’t be as highly competitive as they are. I was reading some of the statements that some of the students made in Demerath’s interviews, and even though I know of some people with the same mentalities of these students, I was still rather shocked by some of their statements of how they define success and how much pressure they put on themselves. In my case, I never pulled an all-nighter for any school assignment or exam. And honestly, for the most part, the latest I would stay up at night was 1am, because I knew if I stayed up later than that, I would never be able to concentrate and I would just be wasting my time. Although I had a lot to think about during my high school years, I was never the type of person who really stressed out too easily, or at least, I managed to stay fairly calm about everything. Nor was I extremely competitive. I never really paid too much attention to the grades of others, or how my grades stood again theirs. I always just wanted to be the best that I could be and learn as much as I could, without pushing my limits to an extreme. Even with AP classes, I didn’t try and cram in every AP class as possible. I took the ones that interested me the most, so I’m glad with the way I handled my school life.
In terms of relating this article to other readings, besides of Labaree, I was reminded of Counts’ article, and his statement of how we are not born free, but how we are born helpless. As Demerath’s article showed, there were great differences between the mentalities of students brought up in a community such as the Wilton School District and the mentalities of students New Guinea. Who we become as people and what we value is greatly determined by where we come from, and there’s really nothing we can do about it, or at least that is what I believe. I was also reminded of the readings we had about Thomas Jefferson and the whole idea of meritocracy.
Navami Ravindra
From the interviews and Demerath’s research I definitely recognize ideas from my own schooling. I think the International Baccalaureate Programme tries to sidestep the exact ideas of the “Wilton Way”: blue-ribbon schools and funding based on test-scores, by creating an international standard and network of school. Within my high school, I think administrators hoped IB would alleviate some of the usual stresses of high-achieving students. Neither of these ideas I think actually panned out. The school put huge pressure on the IB class to succeed (by scoring high marks on the test and so raising the school’s rankings overall and also within the network of other IB schools). As well, within the program itself, there was even more acute competition to be the “best”. Like with the “Wilton Way” grades and test scores became a measure of happiness for a person. Some of my friends became so obsessed with their marketability they would take any internship or take on any extra responsibility just to give them a supposed leg-up over all the other IB graduates with a 4.0 GPA.
ReplyDeleteWhen Demerath brought up the concept of being “impression-oriented”, I could very much relate. Our school motto was both, “Generals will succeed” and “Impress for success”; the idea being, that if you could impress someone with authority, you could achieve this sort of arbitrary success. Granted, 90% of my high school was not in the IB program, and benefited a lot from being taught how to have a good impression: many students had no concept of appropriate dress for a formal situation (e.g showing up in pajama pants at graduation). The counseling department offered mock interviews if you were required or suggested to have an alumni interview to apply to college. I attended one of these, and was instantly told I was not bragging about myself enough (even when the bragging was not applicable at all to the interviewer’s question). This focus on impression promotes a false sense of self and self-confidence; students are never happy with themselves, but they are “proud” of their credentials (hello, Labaree).
Besides Labaree’s credentialism and the tensions of schooling as a public or private good, I think the “Wilton Way” discussion also goes back to the Counts article. Counts’ argument that the “American Dream” (common man’s life is easier, enriched, and ennobled) becomes over-stated in Demarath’s findings. The original goals of the American Dream, it seems, have been twisted out of proportion, so that the idea of anyone being able to achieve “success” is no longer the idea of leading an easier, enriched life, but instead one of accumulation (of things or credentials).
I think it is also interesting that Demerath points out that with the “Wilton Way” success and control are inextricable linked. In a sense, this fosters the idea that you are never good enough and that you have never reached “success” because there is no end-point, just a constantly moving goal post.
Manon Loustaunau
In Pakistan I lived in a small town where everyone in the town knew each other. At the end of the school year class ranks would be made public. For example, in third grade the "valedictorian" would be so and so, in fourth grade the "valedictorian" would be so and so person and so on all the way through high school. The individual who topped the class ranking would get a trophy or other rewards. The parents in the town would brag about their children's achievement. So there would be great deal of 'shame' if you did poorly in a school year and there was a lot of pressure to do well.
ReplyDeleteThis article relates directly to Labaree and his assertion that private good of schooling has won over public good of schooling. Students aims are to have as many credentials as possible in order to get a good occupation one day. Likewise, this competitive nature that is present in schools is to push students to outdo one another and that is the only way to attain those credentials. This competitive nature is usually present in well to do schools and generally lacking in 'poor-er' schools. This prevents the public school system from attaining one of its major goals which is to be an equalizing factor.
Faisal Ali
As someone who grew up in Northern Virginia, I can totally relate to this reading. Like many of my classmates, my schooling was a constant battle of who got better grades, had better activities, and etc. Instead of attempting to motivate students to do things for intrinsic gratification this model encourages them to succeed for pride along with tangible things like medals and ribbons. Education is more than the rewards you get from it.
ReplyDelete-Sarah Meier
Demerath's progressive depiction of the suburban middle-class public school is pretty solid. Many of these "Wilton Way" superintendents are only interested in seeing their line graphs increase by the month. There is an obsession, almost to the point where the APA could concoct another disorder based on grade-obsessive individuals because our families and teachers have reared us in direction. We're just a herd of cows in this Pavlovian fundamentalistic education system, where grades mean money. Grants are the incentive for the upper-level administrations, which has to be implemented through the teachers.
ReplyDeleteSomething that surprised me, but shouldn't have: "Academic cheating has reached an all-time high". Ask any pre-med and we can all say that we know a handful of kids that are willing to steal exams to get that A in their organic chemistry exams. After spending sleepless nights at the library, staring at structures and overdosing on caffeine, one would resort to a miracle - "God-damn it why can't I just become a neurosurgeon and make $500,000". The "Wilton Way" is to be blamed for this idiosyncratic, obsessive approach to schooling. We were told throughout grade school: either make the honor roll or land a job at McDonald's. Well, when we turn our TVs on and watch plastic surgeons looking like Greek Gods with stunning wives and drinking scotch at their summer homes, we develop an image. An image that transforms into one thing, money. You want to be rich? Well, one of the few legal ways is to become a doctor. Majority of our peers that seem so aspired to help society through medicine don't realize there's social work and 100 other occupations that are just as, if not more, helpful towards society. But guess what? They don't make six figures. The "Wilton Way" has made this the norm at most middle-class school systems.
Demerath's liberalism is reflective of Labaree and Dewey's approach, especially in the sense that grades do not show how smart a student is. Instead a student should have the freedom to choose what he or she wants to learn.
Reading this article really opened my eyes to an experience that I was going through in school overseas. We had class rankings and GPA calculations. In my story however, since I was trying to get into medical school, one had to achieve perfect scores in every single class they took. That was crazy to me how students are being evaluated. My experience involved students who were tops of their classes being recognized while others who are very talented yet not very high achieving acdemically were not recognized. That was very disappointing because it shut off many students from achieving their dreams and instead motivated them to achieve what society wants them to do. I agree this connects with Labaree's article about how soical efficiency can be created in schools
ReplyDeleteI believe this is a very sad but true incident in our societies nowadays. Something must be done to allow kids to not only be motivated to achieve highly academically because they have to but because they want to. Their talents should no be shut off. They should not feel pressured to do well on tests to please society but rather to achieve their dreams.
Mohamed Ibrahim
My high school had a major split between those who were in programs such as AP, Dual-Enrollment, and Honors and those who were not. Wilton’s Way was exactly how the students in these programs at my school looked at schooling. They did everything in their will power to make themselves stand out, to distinguish themselves from the rest. The task became difficult of course when it got to be too much and some students tried to continue to balance it all. I have watched students turn bloodshot red because they were so angry from getting a C on a test, and I couldn’t help but think it’s just one test. However, the GPA was everything to these students. On the other hand, those students who were not in the special programs were calmer about their schooling. They cared more if they understood subject, then their GPA. This was because most of these students took trade classes at our Technical High, and planned on doing that specific trade once they graduated high school. I myself fell in the middle. I took a trade class at our Technical School and I was in Honors and Dual-Enrollment classes.
ReplyDeleteTo me Wilton’s Way is definitely not the only way. It’s not all about what Labaree explains as social mobility. Social Mobility is a resume builder to me, and even if your resume looks awesome, one could still lack in working as a team, good customer service, common sense. In my high school students that were in the top 20 of my class were recognized at graduation, and I must say that after taking classes with them most of my k-12 career, some of them lacked common sense. It takes more than just book sense to survive in society.
When I was reading about the way anthropologist use a comparative perspective, my first thought was of the readings we read in class. It made me think of how we compared countries around the world based on test scores, but these anthropologists were looking at it more from a qualitative perspective I would say. Thank goodness for the anthropologist, because when comparing education systems, I believe you have to look beyond the test scores. We can’t just say the U.S. ranked 15th in a particular subject.
Arielle Preston
I thought that Demerath’s depiction of the “Wilton Way” was very similar to my high school experience. Growing up and attending school in Fairfax County, competition was extremely important. Not only is it competitive within your own school, it is also competitive in the county as a whole. Fairfax County is highly populated and in some areas not very diverse. Therefore, our teachers would tell us that many students in the county would have over a 4.0 GPA, almost perfect SAT scores and tons of extra curricular activities. They put great emphasis on being the MOST marketable to colleges.. My education was very individualized just like in the reading. Taking IB classes may have been one of the worst decisions but with the focus on being the best, I was pushed into believing that if I did not do this, I would not get into a good college. I say that it was a bad decision because looking back on my high school experience I realize how machine-like I was. I woke up, went to class, went to practice or club meetings, came home, ate dinner, did homework, and slept if I had time. This process continued for 4 straight years, Monday-Friday, over and over, like clock work.
ReplyDeleteDemerath directly discusses Labree’s work. Laberee’s social mobility theory relates to Demerath’s overall point. In the social mobility model, it is completely individualized and based of personal advancement. There is never a common goal to better the community. It either benefits you or nothing else. This is shown in education today by the lack of class discussions and group projects. Especially in IB or AP classes, social mobility often the case. It is based on an individual paper, an individual reading and an individual test score. There is little socialization which is a key point in Demerath’s argument.
Seeing as all of us are honors students, we've obviously been encouraged and maybe even pressured to do well in school and maintain a high GPA. As some of the studies in Demerath's book show, this individualistic success idea has been pushed in earlier and earlier age groups. With some advanced learning programs select students showing intellectual ability are encouraged to do more outside of their required learning, which is fine until the point where it isn't even focused on the content or quality of information being processed. This definitely becomes more relevant in high school when grades dictate college which currently dictates success. While I certainly felt this pressure, I wanted to do well and attend a good college and be successful, I also saw plenty of people around me who didn't try as hard and got much more money in scholarships for athletics... It comes down to the fact that this system is preparing students to memorize and regurgitate information and feel no certain way about the education itself, and lacking to prepare them for citizenship and meeting the needs of the job market.
ReplyDeleteLabaree's principles are briefly mentioned in the introduction, and brings into focus the fact that this "Wilton Way" is very much abandoning the social efficiency purpose of education and focusing solely on personal advancement and therefore social mobility.
Taylor Thornberg
What this article made me think about was America’s educational systems’ heightened emphasis on social mobility. The article makes reference to our generation being the ‘stress generation” and middle class America being obsessed with the fear of ‘falling’ in social class. I will vividly remember my 10th grade history teacher speaking to this phenomenon when explaining the history of America. “The rich will usually stay rich, and the poor will usually stay poor, but the middle class are caught in between wanting to be rich and fearing being poor.” I believe that this has completely created the insanity that Demerath is analyzing since education is seen as a way for social mobility. But the end goal is financial and self-centered and as Demerath points out could have consequences for our society as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI connected this article with the article my group analyzed in class about the concern about America’s test scores in comparison to other countries. These two issues may seem on the other ends of the spectrum since one is about individuals trying to outperform individuals, and the other is about nations trying to out compete each other. But both share the belief that there is an end result to be achieved. The overall goal in both cases is to be the most ‘educated’ then anybody else because the most ‘educated’ wins. Whether this concept has any merit for our educational system can be debated. There is obviously a basic education that all citizens should receive, but the concept of the most ‘education’ is a very linear one and one that is flawed in its motivation. For the individual ‘more education’ means a higher standard of living, and as a nation ‘more education’ means a more dominant country. Neither of these are about learning for learning’s sake. So it almost seems sometimes that learning for learning’s sake can be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, disguising people’s real motivation which is to be more successful then your neighbor. If lifelong learner’s make more money I am sure everyone would jump on that ship.
Emily Marsh
The Wilton Way certainly rang true with my own education. I grew up in a very middle class, very "white urban" family. My family is all women, and my mother is a teacher, and from a young age she made it clear that doing well in school was extremely important. I was grade-hungry as a middle-schooler, and from the moment I realized that I was capable of doing well in school, that is all I focused on. My teachers complimented me on being a good student, and when I came home with straight A's on my report card, my mom said, "You've done it once, so there's no reason not to do it for every other semester." This desire to work towards the grade is nothing more than actively seeking quantitative approval. I missed out on many opportunities and most likely learning experiences because I only sought to get the A. I would write papers that were thoughtful, and smart, but not spend enough time actually researching or studying to write something I could be proud of. All that mattered was getting a 100%, and graduating high school with the highest GPA.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I can see where that got me. I'm about to graduate with a BFA in Theatre Performance, and I'm moving off somewhere to work a few part time jobs and hope for the best. I'm glad I was able to shrug the Wilton Way of Thinking, because it's allowed me to pursue what I care most about. But I easily could have gotten stuck, and wound up doing a job that I hated, just because I was good at it.