A Dictatorial Education :: Free Essays Online

A Dictatorial Education My secondary schooling was quite similar to some of the insights in Jonathan Kozol's The Night is Dark and I am Far From Home. I attended Cardinal Spellman High School, a Catholic secondary school in the Bronx, NY. Spellman required girls to wear a uniform skirt and boys to wear beige or blue pants with a tie and a white shirt. A blue school sweater was worn by all and boys were required to be clean shaven everyday for school- uniformity was obviously essential to my education. The teaching ethic at Spellman was one of the teacher exerting supreme authority over their students. Students were not encouraged to express their own opinions or feelings but were taught rather to accept the teacher or textbook's opinions as gospel. Once while interpreting a poem I was told that my interpretation was false because it was contrary to my teacher's. I did not understand why or how there could be only one interpretation of a particular poem. Extreme authority over students also extended outside of the classroom. Teachers were not willing to listen to reasons why a student was late but rather assumed that the cause of their lateness was because of some activity which broke school regulations. After feeling sick one morning I decided to go to the nurse before going to homeroom. As a result I was marked absent eventhough I was obviously present. When I explained the situation to my dean I was told that eventhough I was having an asthma attack that I should have first gone up the flight of stairs to my homeroom, asked permission to go to the nurse, get a pass, and then finally go to the nurse. I could not believe my dean when she told me this and when I asked why I was threatened with another day of JUG if I did not calm down. JUG, (Justice Under God), ithe Catholic school version of detention. Throughout my schooling students were poisoned with the notion that if they decided to put forth an opinion or did not shave one day for class that they should be punished harshly under God. What happened to the gentle, loving and forgiving God that I learned about in sixth period religion class? Is using the name of God in such a fashion positive reinforcement of his loving nature which we are drilled with every day for four years?