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Casey Aldrich
Ms. Gardner
English Honors 10
28 October 2014
The Tyrant Who Refuses to Teach

My fellow classmates, today we have gathered here to speak of the acts brought on by
some undeniable nature of humankind as a whole; the act of tyranny. Of all the acts of the world,
those of tyranny are remembered as the dark times of our history; our blemishes, if you will.
Who could forget the tyrannical reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, the path of terror brought upon
our history by Adolf Hitler, the cruel rule of Caligula? These events dotted our ancestors lives
like spots on a leopard. But I am not here to teach World History. I am here to speak of a new
form of tyranny that is sweeping the nation, and even dwells within this school. Yes, I am
speaking of the dreaded beast that is the school system itself.
You may wonder Is she trying to make me laugh? Am I supposed to find this funny?.
But, and I only venture to guess, most of you think She is only being stereotypical; the average
mutterings of a procrastinator. However, this is not the case.
In this new year, we as a school have adopted the new Common Core Standards for
education at Casa Grande. These new ways of teaching seem to benefit at least some of the
teachers here and might even be working in some classrooms. Just like the standards before, the
foundation for CCSS (Common Core State Standards) are math and English with emphasis on
science and other ranges of topics (including drama and music). Like Casa Grande, 44 of the 50
U.S. States and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards
Initiative, while states like Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, Alaska, Nebraska and Indiana have yet to

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do so. According to the District of Columbia and the Department of Defense Education Activity
(DoDEA), these standards are the only way to reach out and take hold of a spot in the
international rankings in the world around us. They tell us that these new levels are set so that we
will be prepared for the competitive and fast paced adult world that is currently buzzing around
us. They tell us that these standards are here to set a platform for all states and countries in the
world so that all have equal footing. What they dont tell us is that this is all just a hunk of
malarkey. A lie in the shape of the truth.
According to the established speaker Ethan Young, a high school senior at Farragut High
School in Knox County, Tennessee, this is not a plan based on the findings of educators and
teachers, but from Bureaucratic convenience. What this form of tyranny has taken away from
the average student is what makes the school system so terrible; the robbery of the students
ability to want to learn what the teacher has to teach. What use is a school if not to teach?
Before mandatory school was established, learning was a voluntary thing of the past.
Most people think that these times were the ages where the human race was undereducated and
stuck in backwards way of treating life, but it was the people who choose to attend school that
wanted the learn, who brought the major contributions to this world and to explain the what is
happening around you and me.
Most people think that the school system is structured the way it is because it is the
fundamental way for cramming the knowledge into your head. And for some, it is. But for most,
this system is confusing and stressful to the point of breaking. The truth about the school system
is it that it was built out of mere convenience rather that is applicability for learning and
teaching.

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And this form of tyranny does not just affect the students of the school. Some teachers
have taken a stand against this new standard of instructing their students, saying that this new
common core system is destroying the students ability to appreciate the way of learning and
turning them away from the possibilities that learning could give them later in life.People who
look at schools think there is nothing wrong. But when you see the stress start to take effect;
when you feel the intensity of the student body; when you watch your friend cry over the work
and the pressure to be the best; when you feel inadequate after comparing yourself to the
geniuses of the rest of the world; when the mounting standards and rules take away from the
things that make school the greatest; when your friends and even family become walking corpses
deprived from sleep and nutrition because they had to study, it is then that you realize that this
is not working, it is not healthy.
The new standards say that they are meant to put students all together on the same level
of learning as everyone else, but all they have done is created a steeper slope that for some of us,
the student body, just cant climb. They give us these standards and then tell us they are for our
own good, but little do we know that these people that are helping us really have no idea what it
is they are trying to do. These standards add to the melting pot of students lives, an element of
stress that has originally only been reserved for those who have worked their way to the top of
the education food chain; the stress and worries of how you place in the world. These statements
are giving the student a number, not a life. All the school system does now is tell the student that
all there is to life is school and projects and stress. This, though it rings with the truth of real
world problems, shouldnt be the case. The average student shouldnt have to worry about their
own personal rankings in the world, or the feeling that they will never reach the common core
standards. School should be about teaching what students need to advance to where they want to

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in the school system. This forced push up the metaphorical stairs could very well push the
students right over the edge.
But what can we do to change this dangerous way of life? Well Im here to say
Just Stand Up!. People want to know about your troubles with this system. And for every
person who doesnt listen, there is another that will not only listen, but take action. The only ones
who will listen will help us raise the problem up from the bottom to the top and show just how
much this tyrannical monster of a curriculum is taking away from our lives. But before that
happens, people need to know that this system is wrong, and we must be the ones to tell them.
Thank You

Works Cited

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Department of Defense Education Activity. "Standards in Your State." Home. Department of

Defense Education Activity, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Friedman, Milton, and Rose Friedman. "What's Wrong with Our Schools?" The Friedman
Foundation for Educational Choice RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Garland, Sarah. "Hope and Anxiety: What Do Teachers Think about the Common Core
Standards? - The Hechinger Report." The Hechinger Report Hope and Anxiety What
Do Teachers Think about the Common Core Standards Comments. The Hechinger
Report, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 03 Nov. 2014.
N/A. "The Effects of Trauma on Schools and Learning." National Child Traumatic Stress
Network. National Child Traumatic Stress Network, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
Willard, Laura. "A Student Explains What's Wrong With Our School System And Why We
Mistrust Teachers. Nails It." Upworthy. Laura Willard, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.