In Chapter two of “A More Beautiful Question”, Warren Berger walks the reader through the journey of questioning in a typical adolescent’s life, explaining questioning begins at age two, reaches its prime at ages four and five, and then slowly dwindles upon the start of grade school. As I progressed in the chapter, it became increasingly difficult to stop comparing myself to this standard model and wonder if I had also been robbed of my natural instinct to question, whether or not the school system should take the blame, and most importantly, explore the possibility or reteaching this skill to myself.
When examining my early childhood, it’s evident that my life followed the typical path that Berger described. I was an incredibly chatty toddler who was always questioning, but this certainly started to slow once I began elementary school. While I doubt the school system is entirely at fault for this, I do agree that the increase of testing, pressure, and rigid structure directly thwart a student’s automatic desire to question, and the evidence Berger presents proves the fact that as grades increase, questioning decreases. For me, it’s not exactly that I never have questions while sitting in class, however, there’s an unspoken understanding that questions mean time wasted, and time wasted means that we may not get through the required material that will be on the test. Essentially from middle school and up, it seems that all learning is catered to tests, whether that be the class test, standardized tests, or major exams. I certainly am interested in learning other stuff, but I know that it won’t directly benefit my grades in school because I only need to know exactly what is on the test. As Berger perfectly puts it, “Somehow we’ve defined the goal of schooling as enabling you to have more ‘right answers’ than the person next to you. And we penalize incorrect answers. And we do this at a pace- especially now, in this highly focused test prep universe- where we don’t have time for extraneous questions” (46). Still, not all of my classes are like this, and I know that I am definitely privileged from going to a progressive school with small class sizes and fairly open teachers. Most of my classes have little busy work, projects instead of exams, and flexible schedules. For example, my World History teacher always says that he grades holistically, doesn’t try to trick us on tests, and provides different mediums so that every student can make a final project they feel proud of, whether that be an essay or an art form. My French teacher also tries to always assign projects instead of tests, as they allow students to express themselves and their knowledge in a less stressful environment. While I understand that other teachers are instructed to teach specific curriculum, I think that teachers like these prove that there are ways to open up a classroom, stray away from the test environment, and eventually encourage questioning. I think that we’re likely reading this to see the full value in questioning and understand how it can be beneficial to not only AP Lit, but all areas of life. Questioning helps us to see the bigger picture, gather new ideas, and do so many other things, so it’s certainly a skill worth having.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHi, my name is Perrin Kendall and I'm a senior at The Galloway School. This is my AP Lit blog where I will be conceptualizing, synthesizing, and sharing my own thoughts about various readings. Archives
December 2019
Categories |