Hyper Active Lives
Parental involvement with a child's education is a topic of great controversy in America today. Should a parent take the reigns and closely overlook their child's life, or should children be left their space for independent thought and individuality? This question persistently pesters parents in the US and all over the world. In Making the Grade, an essay by James Atlas, Atlas attempts to answer the question of parental involvement by discussing both the way that he raises his children and also the way that he was raised. Throughout the essay, Atlas seems to give a plethora of support to the side that agrees with being avidly involved with a child's education. Alternately, Atlas also throws in some nostalgic stories of his childhood, which was governed mainly by very little parental involvement. Although Making the Grade hits many important points about this ongoing controversy, Atlas ends up supporting both sides too much, eventually leaving the reader confused as to what claim the essay is really promoting. We live in "the era of the child", which is defined by parents centering their lives around their children. Many parents in the modern US seem to have expectations on how they raise their childr
Atlas is a parent who seems to follow the daunting new standards of parental hyper-involvement. "At three o clock on a drizzly weekday afternoon. I stand on the corner of Madison and Ninety-sixth in an orange nylon vest, with a whistle hanging around my neck, clutching a walkie-talkie and scanning the streets for signs of trouble"(Atlas, 127). Atlas is on safety patrol, which is a voluntary/obligatory job he does some days for St. Bernard's school, where his son attends. Although many people, including myself, would not like the task of being safety patrolman, Atlas admits, "I like wearing the vest and hearing the self-important crackle of the walkie-talkie" (127). Atlas also is caught up in attending meetings and other events for his children, so much so that he writes, "...who has time for work? ...Can the citizenry of New York City afford to have the parents of school-age children keeping these indentured servant hours?"(128). It seems preposterous that a parent would still be compelled to go to all meetings and events, even if they interfere with their profession. Atlas thinks that these meetings and events are quite a good thing for his social life, he writes,"The children aren't the only ones who benefit. Despite my doubts about whether I'm up to the job, my kids' schools have become my surrogate community. I have to admit, there's something comforting abo
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 929
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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