Brandon Colcord
Professor Frank
English 110
September 21st, 2021
Multiple Insights on Our Education System
Do you believe that people retain the knowledge given to them, even if they do not like the subject? Recent debates have taken place on these differences. In 2016 specifically, two individuals, professor Patrick Sullivan and Scott Newstok, created passages to try and reach out to students explaining how there is an actual difference between reading, learning, and having a love for what you’re engaging in. I personally agree with Patrick Sullivan, the author of “An Open Letter To High School Students About Reading”. Essentially, Sullivan believes if you can find a way to enjoy what you’re reading, then you’re more likely to retain the knowledge within the content of what you’ve read. Although, as experienced in my time throughout high school, I believe Scott Newstok, the author of “How to think like Shakespeare ” is on to something when he tells people, subjects that most would adore are being deleted out of the school system to focus on need-to-know subjects. He also explains how this makes it so students can’t grow as individuals in their personal knowledge.
Patrick Sullivan believes that students who develop a skill for deep reading within a subject become more successful in a way that the knowledge or content learned is retained. When Sullivan says “Many students often read only to finish rather than to understand what they have read. Students may favor this kind of approach to learning because it requires minimal effort” (Sullivan par.11). It made me think back on when I was in high school and this is what I did. I would just skim most of my assignments just to turn them in, not really caring about the content. When Sullivan explains ““deep reading” requires reflection, curiosity, humility, sustained attention, a commitment to re-reading, consideration of multiple possibilities” he is telling us as students if we put the effort into developing this skill, it can lead to more successful school careers due to the mind expanding possibilities (Sullivan, par.12).
Scott Newstok doesn’t exactly have a devil’s advocate type of opposing article against Patrick Sullivan’s beliefs. He more or less has a different point of view on how testing is affecting our ability to want to learn the content. He says, “Your generation is the first to have gone through primary and secondary school knowing no alternative to a national regimen of assessment. And your professors are only now beginning to realize how this unrelenting assessment has stunted your imaginations” (Newstok, par. 2). He’s talking about how we as students can’t expand our thoughts through “fun Learning” I would call it. When I was in high school we had a lot of external classes like JROTC, art, drama, music\band, sports, and so on. We also had a lot of testing and myself as a student didn’t really focus much or have time to focus on the relevance of a subject. I just got the content required for my test and that was it. This is where I agree with what Newstok is preaching. However, when he states “course offerings in art, drama, music, history, world languages and the sciences were all too often set aside “to create more time for reading and math instruction” I don’t really feel as if that occurred during my schooling (Newstok, par. 2) . Although, I do feel the extensive push towards testing and you can see the frustration amongst teachers when they start to go off topic with students because that’s not “part of the curriculum”. So in all, no love in what you’re learning.
During my time reading these articles I found myself relating to both of the authors, Patrick Sullivan and Scott Newstok. They have strong arguments either way. Both individuals made me think back on my high school career and the first few months of my college career and teachers tend to care more about the results of tests and the class average. Not a lot of teachers actually make the time to see how the student is retaining the knowledge. Unfortunately, it is solely the students’ responsibility to request it or seek guidance. I have never been told “no” by a teacher. I just never had the courage in high school to admit I was behind all of the others in class. To sum this up, I feel school is a very uncomfortable environment at times and both of these individuals go into detail on why that is.
In conclusion, Scott Newstok makes solid arguments on how testing is affecting our education. However, he isn’t exactly offering a solution. On the other hand, Patrick Sullivan explains if students are more engaged and developed deep reading abilities, even if developed through their previous ability to surface learn, then they’re able to expand their entire learning experience. The education system isn’t perfect, which was perfectly explained by both the authors. However, only Sullivan provided a solution that could help students prepare for it, which happens to be the author talking about students who were the opposite of me in high school. I was more of a Newstok student myself.
Work Cited
Sullivan, Patrick. “An Open Letter To Highschool Students About Reading.” American Association Of University Professors, vol.102 no.3, May-June 2016, No Pg.
Newstok, Scott. “How to Think Like Shakespeare” The Chronicle Of A Higher Education, August 29, 2016, No Pg.
