Benjamin R. Barber, who graduated from Harvard University in 1966 and was a consultant for President Bill Clinton, writes the essay, “America Skips School,” about America not taking education seriously. Barber writes about different statistics in this essay. One of these is how teachers are paid less than many other profession, a few of these being accountants, architects, and judges. America’s future is in the hands of today’s generation.
Barber lets us know that some changes are needed for Americas education system like, Americans even caring about their kid’s education, the amount of time spent in school rather than watching television, and giving the students a school based education not street based education. Barber writes, …show more content…
We think that we spend too much time at school when there is other stuff we can be doing that is more important to us. Barber mentions in his essay,” our kids spend 900 hours a year in school and from 1,200 to 1,800 hours a year sitting in front of a television set,” (230). Another one of his statistics in the essay. It seems like the number of hours spent watching TV. is ridiculous and that there is no possible way it’s true. However only going to school 180 days a year leaves us with 185 days with time to do so. Personally myself, I do come home after school or work whatever it may be and sit down in front of my television to watch whatever may be on at the time. I don 't start with homework or chores because I figure that those things can wait for later. Also if I were to go to a friend’s house the first thing we do is watch TV. Barber mentions another statistic about the number of school days American children have compared to other countries. He says, “ American children are in school for 180 days a year, as against 240 days or more for children in Europe or Japan,”(Barber 229). Americans spend nearly half the time in school compared to those countries. This being said, does it mean that we’re not getting the same amount of education as them. It goes back to America not truly caring for their education. One big change that we could make is more schooling each year. That may help the problem, or at least it would be a start. In my opinion doing this would raise our education levels and test scores. Also it would give students less television time and less time to get into any
Barber lets us know that some changes are needed for Americas education system like, Americans even caring about their kid’s education, the amount of time spent in school rather than watching television, and giving the students a school based education not street based education. Barber writes, …show more content…
We think that we spend too much time at school when there is other stuff we can be doing that is more important to us. Barber mentions in his essay,” our kids spend 900 hours a year in school and from 1,200 to 1,800 hours a year sitting in front of a television set,” (230). Another one of his statistics in the essay. It seems like the number of hours spent watching TV. is ridiculous and that there is no possible way it’s true. However only going to school 180 days a year leaves us with 185 days with time to do so. Personally myself, I do come home after school or work whatever it may be and sit down in front of my television to watch whatever may be on at the time. I don 't start with homework or chores because I figure that those things can wait for later. Also if I were to go to a friend’s house the first thing we do is watch TV. Barber mentions another statistic about the number of school days American children have compared to other countries. He says, “ American children are in school for 180 days a year, as against 240 days or more for children in Europe or Japan,”(Barber 229). Americans spend nearly half the time in school compared to those countries. This being said, does it mean that we’re not getting the same amount of education as them. It goes back to America not truly caring for their education. One big change that we could make is more schooling each year. That may help the problem, or at least it would be a start. In my opinion doing this would raise our education levels and test scores. Also it would give students less television time and less time to get into any