Before children even enter school they begin to learn. Baker illustrates that most of what a child learns before school is not beneficial. He says that much of what is learned comes from what is seen on television. From this Baker says the child will learn such things as how to "pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all daylong, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments." Baker believes that up to this point the acquired knowledge of the child is ill-suited for someone at the age of six, and in mo

Now the student enters formal education, and begins to learn the fundamentals such as numbers, and letters. Over the next few years the child becomes smarter, in the sense that he or she now knows the minimum that has to be done to get by. Baker says that "During formal education the child learns that life is for testing and that success comes from telling their testers what they want to hear." What's the point of doing anything else? These students have no incentives to do well. They know that they will proceed to the next level without doing anything but the minimum. Baker says, "Students realize that even dumber students get to be promoted to the next level." So without any incentives to be a "smart student," those who are "dumb," quite trying. According to Baker, "At this point in schooling students are either smart or dumb." If a teacher labels a student as being "dumb", that student may really come to believe it, and might think that being smart is not possible. The teacher will not tell the student directly that he or she is dumb, but according to Baker the teacher illustrates this by expecting less from one student and more from others. The students that have less demanded from them "soon quit telling the testers what they want to hear," Baker says.

st cases morally wrong for anyone of any age. What makes this so bad is that the child is too young to realize that what he or she has seen and learned is wrong. The child will only know what he or she was taught, and if raised well, will be more interested in learning. Sometimes parents might not even realize the

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Approximate Word count = 1068
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)