Denise Clark Pope's Doing School

In the article “Doing School” by Denise Clark Pope , a senior lecturer and alumni at Stanford Graduate School of Education, Pope explains her thoughts and research on different school dynamics and what kind of students they are producing. First of all, what does “Doing school” even mean? According to Pope, Doing school is a term she uses for students and teachers finding ways to succeed without putting forth as much effort. Likewise most students are achieving high test scores and grades, but at what cost? Health, Social, and Mental stability is being sacrificed for the sake of what we consider “succeeding”. Pope also explains how this issue goes beyond the inside of schools. For some children, pressure for success has already begun before they are even born. Parents are willing to do anything to help their child acquire the “best” education and end with the most success. With that being said it is very hard for most students to live up to these standards. For this experiment Pope followed three students from Faircrest High through daily life as a highschooler and came to these following conclusions.

One of the most important aspects of school for most students happens to be grades, but for some, it is becoming too important. Pope refers to this as “The Grade Trap”, students are becoming so focused on the “A” grade that the actual material is being thrown to the side . Pope explains that an “A” grade doesn't mean they retained the information, it just means they memorized the information or facts just long enough to ace the test. Some students have even admitted to emptying the material out of their brain after the final test, for which they are required to move to the next topic to keep up with class. In addition, most things being taught in our schools have no relevance to the students or their lives, so they take no time to actually understand the topic or ask why. So what are our kids really learning? Pope concluded that high school is just a way to build tolerance to stress and realize that in life not everyone is able to succeed. After Pope’s time evaluating various students, she came to the consensus that many of them had been turned into “Robo Student” or Chameleons. The students had been taught since elementary that in order to “succeed” you must do exactly as the teachers asks and meet or exceed their expectations. Pope has realized that this is causing our students to go page by page doing the work, not thinking for themselves …show more content…
She states “ … high school curriculum has also remained virtually the same over the past few decades…”; this leads to many cracks in the system. Our students and research has evolved so why hasn't our curriculum? Since it was created many loopholes and cheats have been found and passed down. Students have also learned to kiss up and form treaties in order to gain the most success with the least amount of work. Conversely, most of these behaviors are unwanted and unnoticed by the students. They have just become habits of what is needed to succeed. Students feel they have no choice in the matter for which they will fall behind or fail if they do not use these “management