Monday Matters #13

    Heres a question. We all want children to be in a safe environment when we children and teens, including myself, are at school. However, should school be treacherous when it comes down to gritty learning? Frank Bruni can answer this question with his article on "The Wilds of Education".  Frank Bruni explains how education is supposed to "provoke, disrupt, challenge the paradigms that young people have consciously embraced." He believes that books are supposed to ignite the fire for wisdom and school to be the perfect environment for it all to happen. He gives the names of seven books that were banned by high school administrators. For example, "An Abundance of Katherines," by John Green because it was deemed "too sexually frank," and "The Working Poor: Invisible in America," by David Shipler because it refrenced rape and abortion. He says these books aren't as bad as "Fifty Shades of Grey" which i heard to be very graphic in it's descriptions. He describes the trouble standardized tests had with the words they used like slavery and poverty because it might cause uneasiness inside the student because of those little words. He also doesn't give teachers a good name by saying the "inflate grades"rather than challenging the student. which also leads the to taking it easy on themselves in college by only taking classes they CAN rather than what TROUBLES and CHALLENGES them. It leads to misuse of education. Education is growing and evolving and sugar coating the process does not motivate anyone. He paraphrases a credible man named Garth Stein who recalled himself in eight grade and how he took a recommended book which had bullies who would pick on one kid and it made him angry but said "it was a situation alien to his own experience. That's also why he needed to be exposed to it"