Thinking About the Text: Page 91

1.) Bob Herbert argues that American schools have ill-prepared kids to the modern world. He cites first hand, text, and interview evidence that provides support to his position. A teenager doesn't know his vice president, a four year college degree is mandatory for ~$50K salary, and a colleague of his discusses possible solutions to raising educational output.

2.) His tone can't be placed in one word. It's a bit like, "We should expect better," an acute form of disappointment. This can be felt in the very first lines of text.
 "I asked a high school kid walking along Commonwealth Avenue if he knew who the vice president of the      United States was.
 He thought for a moment and then said, "No."
 I told him to take a guess."

3.) In my perspective, he establishes the grave nature of education by stating how "A four-year college degree is now all but mandatory for building and sustaining a middle-class standard of living in the U.S."

4.) Here are two selections from the text which appeal directly to the reader's values.
 "The U.S. has not yet faced up to the fact that it needs a school system capable of fufilling the educational  needs of children growing up in an era that will be at least as different from the 20th century as the 20th  century was from the 19th."
 "They need something better than a post-World War II system in a post-9/11 world."

5.) I completely agree with this essay, the evidence is seen everywhere and felt by 99 percent of the American population. Outsourcing, layovers, and the ranks in math, science, and English among the global community is stunning in the broadest of perspectives. We depend on these children to continue a legacy of outstanding achievements in this nation, and we cannot reach this ideal by just shrugging off C-'s. One thing that has been missing from the conversation in public is better teachers via teaching ethics, not scores or reports. I loathed Spanish, despite it being easy, and loved Honors Physics, despite it being hard, due to who was teaching—regardless of subject matter.