English Composition
The three articles that this paper took into consideration are Against School by John Taylor Gatto, The End of White America? by Hua Hsu and Girl by Jamaica Kincaid. I choose these three articles because they shed light into matters that have been ignored in our society yet they are or much importance to the people, and I can safely argue that the findings were what I expected in the response.
Everybody, parents, elders, influential people in the society, our president and his cabinet plus teachers, as well, all advocate for education as a vital key to a brighter future (Gatto 1). Therefore, I was overwhelmed to stumble upon an article that advocated against schools, public schools in particular, and was written by the most unexpected person, a teacher, John Taylor Gatto. John Taylor Gatto, who has taught in some of the worst public schools in the United States, thinks that public schools cripple students who are enrolled in them. John Taylor Gatto, who has also been teaching for the past 30 years, gives some of the main reasons why public education is among the worst options of shaping up the life of American students (Gatto 1). It is safe to argue that a majority of parents from the United States prefer public schools to private since they are much cheaper, and also offer good schooling just as the private schools. Therefore, such an article that advocates against public education, especially by a teacher himself, would be extremely useful to parents, teachers, students and other stakeholders concerned with public education.
Some of the main reasons that the teacher gave against public education is that they mostly give rise to boredom. The bad thing about public schools is that the government has chosen to remain traditional with them unlike how private schools learn (Gatto 1). Public schools consider education as their main endeavor, and only stick to the traditional ways of teaching their students. This, as the teacher reports, leads to boredom, and boredom is bad for education. Therefore, this article would assist stakeholders in the public education sector to consider revising its curriculum in order to maintain the significance of education.
The voting of Obama is one the most staggering demonstration of a bigger trend: the slow erosion of “whiteness” as the benchmark of what it symbolizes to be American (Hsu 1). If the fading away of white people is a demographic and cultural inevitability, then how will the new-fangled normal appear like, and how will the whites fit into it? Furthermore, what will it denote to be a white person when whiteness norm fades away? And will a post-white United States be less culturally separated? These are some of the questions that Hsu (1) asks the reader in his article The End of White America? Some might argue that the author is being a racist or is against the African American leadership in the United States, but this is not a matter to overlook. For centuries, it has all been about white supremacy in the United States. It has never been considered that, one day, the United States would be ruled by their fellow African American counterparts. However, that it not the case today as Barack Obama, a man with an African origin, is the leader of the most powerful nation in the world or, as some would say, the most powerful president in the world. This just goes to show how Africans are also turning out to be influential people. Therefore, the author, Hsu (1), asks the question of whether this might be signifying the end of white supremacy of what is considered as the white man’s land. Taking this into consideration, it is vital for the American regime, whether controlled by the whites or African Americans, come up with ways that will ease the tension between these two races so that none of them thinks that the other is exploiting them.
Girl: Jamaica Kincaid
Finally, the last article, Girl by Jamaica Kincaid, dwells on the female spices and how the society puts too much pressure on them regarding the way they should behave. The author views these regulations as unethical since behavior should be to all humans and not only females. The article starts with a list of items, chores, which girls are meant to do, which totally make no sense. Clean the white garments on Monday and then hang them on the rock heap; clean the colors garments on Tuesday and hang them on the clothesline to dry up; do not stroll bare head in the scorching sun; and cook pumpkin dissipates in extremely hot sweet oil (Kincaid 1). These are just some of the minor examples the author uses to show how girls of today are being exploited, and not only that, girls are also urged that they should not wear “provocative” clothes especially on Sundays. Therefore, a person who does not choose to discriminate against sex will be left wondering why such harsh rules are being imposed on women. Women, with all their innocence, did not choose to be born as women. Therefore, it would be vital if the world stopped putting too much stress on them. Every sex has a role to play in this world, and the ones states on the beginning of Kincaid’s article are not among them (Kincaid 2). Even men can wash clothes and stop wearing clothes that “provoke” women. Men should bear in mind that this world is a give a take environment and that they should change their ways first before attacking the ways of a woman.
Works Cited
Gatto, John T. Against School. N.p, 2003. Web. <http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm>
Hsu, Hua. The End of White America? N.p, 2009. Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/01/the-end-of-white-america/307208/>
Kincaid, Jamaica. Girl. N.p, 2013. Web. <http://www.tildencca.org/ourpages/auto/2013/5/10/46977890/Girl.pdf>
