Schooling: Repeat After Me

Content

1. What motivated the students in Ken Alexander’s Adult ESL 1 class?


2. What do adolescents do when confronted with a new pedagogical trick? Why?


3. How are private schools trumping public schools?

Extended Thinking

1. Explain the term “fluid intelligence.” Is “fluid intelligence” an accurate assumption? Explain.


2. In your opinion, what should high-school students know before graduating?


3. Why is it possibly pleasurable for “regular readers” to write a “ten-paragraph essay on the colour red?”

Critique

1. Alexander is claiming that high-achieving high-school graduates are illiterate. Assuming his observations are accurate, do you concur?


2. As Alexander suggests, should students be subjected to a “core curriculum?”


3. If high-school students continue to graduate without basic skills in English, will it lead to the “end of civilization?”