America's Need for Schools

Education is an important part of American society. It is hard to even find job today without some form of education. I disagree with Gatto’s opinion that schools prolong childhood and are obsolete.  Public education is needed in the country because it increases maturity and provides knowledge and skills.

            Gatto was very wrong in his opinion that schools prolong childhood. In my experience, school actually promotes maturity. Childhood is a time to play and have fun with friends, schools do allow time for this at recess, but that time is short lived and cut off after elementary school. In middle school and high school childishness is punished. Students are discouraged from acting childish with consequences such as detention, referrals, and revoking of privileges. In high school you are expected to act mature in preparation for entering society as an adult.

            In contrast to Gotto’s opinion, education is beneficial to society. There are parents and families that are unable to educate their children due to substance abuse problems or a lack of education themselves. At school students are taught appropriate social behavior and manners that they may not learn at home. School provides students the opportunity to learn challenging subjects such as chemistry and geometry, which would be hard to learn without help from someone educated. School encourages students to seek higher education and provides them with the resources necessary to go to college. Gatto was very wrong to suggest that we do not need schools because they are a very important part of helping children grow and prosper.

Making Decisions Before Puberty

A rising hot topic that has come about is transgendered children. Families are struggling with children that insist that they were born into the wrong body. Parents are torn between guiding their children’s mind towards ignoring their feelings and accepting their bodies or having their children undergo medical treatment to change their bodies. Parents are allowing their children as young as eleven to make these life altering decisions. Children should not be allowed to make decisions concerning their own medical treatment until they have reached well into puberty because only then can they truly understand their bodies.

            Having children wait until puberty to do any kind of medical treatment for gender identity problems is the best moral decision for parents. Rosin gives an example of a girl that struggled with wanting to be a boy but soon after she started her period her views changed and now she is living a happy life as a female (Rosin 562). This example shows how children’s minds change during puberty, so it’s crazy that parents would allow their pre-pubescent children to undergo such drastic changes to their bodies.

            Critics that disagree with waiting, bring up the fact that puberty blockers only work if you use them before a child goes through puberty.  Allowing your child to do this could potentially make things worse if they have a bad reaction to the drugs or undergo ridicule from peers due to the difference in their appearance. Having any kind of medical gender treatment is a major decision that many parents make due to the wishes of their children. The roles of parents are to protect their children and make the best decisions possible for them. Waiting until children are mature enough to know if they want these changes is the best option for parents.

America's Misconception of Poor

We live in an amazing country that provides us with multiple opportunities and freedoms. We have so much opportunity and freedom that we put ourselves in a bubble, ignoring the struggle of those living in countries less fortunate than ours. Americans have a misconception of what it means to be poor because of the media portrayal of the rich and famous.

            Our image of wealth and success comes mostly from the media. The media constantly bombards us with images and stories about the rich and famous. We start to idolize those people and desire to be like them. Once we realize how unlikely it is that we will reach their wealth, we feel insecure about own wealth and lifestyle, and consider ourselves poor and unsuccessful. The media also depict poor people very negatively. Television shows portray poor people as dirty, substance abusers, and harmful to themselves and others (Kendall 334). This image guides us to believe we are better than the poor and warns us never to be at that level of society.

            What some people fail to realize is that the poor in America are richer than in other countries. This country provides many shelters and programs to aid the poor and keep them from starving, something unseen in other countries. We consider someone poor based on how much money they make, while in other countries the poor have no money. In America we focus on what we don’t have compared to the rich people, when we should be focusing on how abundant our lives our compared to the truly poor in third world countries. As Americans we need to realize that we are much more fortunate than we give ourselves credit for.