Roger Sipher is a man with strong beliefs. His New York Times article “So That Nobody Has To Go To School If They Don’t Want To,” explains his point of view American education system. Sigher believes if schools weren’t mandatory for every child, it would benefit the willing while excluding the recalcitrant student. He also believes this act will improve the education level of student attending school and it will show them how important education really is. To me this doesn’t seem right. Sipher makes many points in his article that I don’t agree with.
At the beginning of his article, Sipher writes, “Standardized test scores indicate American education is in trouble.” In schools the standardized test scores are not part of your grade and do not reflect academic performance. Schools do make it a mandatory test, unless waived by the parents of the student. Nonetheless, schools encourage parents and students to take the test seriously. From my experience, most students just fill in the bubble at random which make these “test scores” not adequate.
Sipher explains that the student with no desire to learn ruins it for everyone. This
Alternative and continuation schools now solve most of Siphers points. These may not have existed in 1977, when this article as written. But, from personal experience, education grew on me. Being forced to be there wasn’t always fun, but I got used to it and learned responsibility from it. I now regret taking it for granted and I am continuing on my own (with out force) through college. I hope that Siphers solution for American education never becomes an act and that education will become better and progress over the years.
Another point Sipher makes is that school systems have never effectively enforced attendance laws because of the expenses involved. Why not leave this leave the problem to each individual teacher and/or school? Depending on if the student is passing and understanding the work they may deserve to take a few days off. It can be used as motivation.
The non-compulsory attendance laws would make grades show what they are suppose to, which is how well a student is learning. I believe this should and in some cases does happen anyway. Teachers should grade on effort and the student, not just the paper. The attendance laws would not affect this
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