School Bells
Most people would agree that education is very important. Education is a necessity to survive in this high paced world, or if you are a mountain man who lives off the natural world then certainly the knowledge of the land and the skills need to hunt is definitely required, but do you ever ask yourself if it is possible for this nation, the United States, to improve the performance of its schools? That is what Lewis H. Lapham asks in his article "School Bells." Lapham believes "we could bring the schools to the standard of efficiency required of a well-run amusement park"(7). Lapham sounds awfully negative, but has good intentions. Why can't this nation improve its schools? "Certainly":...we possess the necessary resources. We are an energetic people, rich in money and intelligence, capable of making high-performance automobiles and venture-capital funds. Over the last twenty years we have added $10 trillion to the sum of the national wealth, cloned monkeys, reconfigured the weather, multiplied the reach and value of the Internet. (7) Even the two candidates for president, Bush and Gore, have recognized this issue and both have proposed large sums, "$13.5 billion over five years, and $115 b
Soup Company, Prego, and Ragu have to do with improving education? Lapham is missing relevant information. "As a nation we now spend upward of a trillion dollars a year on liquor, pornography, and drugs"(8). Well, how much money does our nation spend on education? How much is spent on books, educational computer programs, office supplies, and private lessons or tutors? Another question that pops into mind is the age concentration of this issue. Lapham mentions "the boys and girls weren't learning how to read, didn't know the difference between an aardvark and an anarchist, couldn't count to twenty or point to California on a map"(7). What exactly is the age Lapham is trying to target with this comment? If the kids are in high school, then we definitely have a problem, but if the people Lapham is referring to as boys and girls are indeed in kindergarten then I guess we can be a little forgiving. Lapham uses statistical numbers everywhere. He mentions "$10 trillion to the sum of the national wealth (7)... $13.5 billion... $115 billion... 7 percent of the funding... a trillion dollars a year...70 million functional illiterates...12 million students, ten minutes, two minuets"(8). All of witch is unrepresentative statistical results. Where did those numbers come from? Did those numbers just appear in Lapham's imagination, or are they actually based on facts? And can someone tell me what Revlon, Campbell illion over ten years" respectively to raise the education standards to quality (8). Improvement does not intellect yields a higher rate of return than the old arrangement with the Russians"(8). This sen
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Approximate Word count = 1102
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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