Mitchell Hennings
ENG 110
Ronald Barnett and Martha Nussbaum Views on Education
Education in the United States prior to college and other routes of higher education are oppressive, crush creativity, and force the student to learn in ways they cannot. High schools across the country teach for the test and have no care for the students welfare, or if they actually understand the material being taught. Learning should be a process of enlightenment, opening the students eyes to different possibilities. Challenging the student to explore and search for answers even if there are none.
Barnett’s view on education is realistic and to the point, he believes that education is meant to be a challenge and to put you out of your comfort zone. Barnett has a darker look on education than Nussbaum, he believes that instead of babying students and allowing them to take easy classes and skate by, they should be pushed to the darkness of their comfort zone. The fog from the students eyes be lifted and the truth be shown of how things should be. The search for answers should be infinite.
Barnett’s and Nussbaum’s views on education overlap, education should be a challenging experience and that class rooms need to change to meet this. The authors both agree that education is “about challenging the mind to become active, competent, and thoughtfully critical experiences”(Nussbaum). Education in the United States is lacking in most areas for the reason that students are not being challenged in ways they should be in progressing the student. This progression does not fully happen till after 12 years of school, but at this point the student has no motivation for any further higher learning. If the student decides that higher education is the path they want to take then the possibilities are endless. College is much different from the high school curriculum, in the aspect that the teachers are not hovering over you and making you complete senseless work. Professors are meant to guide you but not hold your hand, show you different ways of thinking and thus open your eyes to more questions.
In my own experiences, education is something that is dreaded, as a student being forced to conform you lose sight of the true goal of education. The true goal of education is to explore and learn with no boundaries and to continue asking questions even if you don’t want to know the answer. College is a chance to do all of that, higher education can give you all the tools that you need to become successful and challenge yourself. I relate to both of the authors in the sense that I want to be challenged, I want to confront the idea that all things are the way they are meant to be. But, I relate more to the ideas of Barnett, the idea that “education is unsettling, it is not meant to be a cozy experience…no matter how much effort is put in..there are no final answers.”(Barnett). I have always thought that education was supposed to be challenging and entertaining, sitting in a high school class learning for a test never enlightened me the way I had wanted.
