More Snootmore

If you haven't read the previous post, you might do that first.

Here are three more essays from Snootmore Academy: same exclusive day school, same class, same subject. Reflections to follow. Once more, these were responses to this SAT prompt:

There is, of course, no legitimate branch of science that enables us to predict the future accurately. Yet the degree of change in the world is so overwhelming and so promising that the future, I believe, is far brighter than anyone has contemplated since the end of the Second World War.

Adapted from Allan E. Goodman, A Brief History of the Future: The United States in a Changing World Order.

Assignment: Is the world changing for the better? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

As before, all errors have been laboriously transcribed. Try not to be [sic]. Here we go. Number one:

Yes, the world is changing for the best. The world is changing for the best because people are always looking to better themselves. Over the past 90 years the world as a whole has changed greatly. Much new technology and transpertation has been developed. For example, the world now has computers with online which is a new form of education. Although mostly kids are the one's that use it, the computers still [illegible] many people together across the world.

Another, example of the world trying to better itself is with the most recent advancments on cars. People are now begining to develop new ways to fuel the car. For example, their are new advancments where a car can run off gasoline and off of electricity. The advancement makes the car not need to use gasoline as often and in the long run may drop down the recent gasoline and oil crisis. These two examples are bettering the world because the computers are connecting the world together even more than a phone could ever do and the cars are trying to conserve oil and stop poluting the world.

Therefore, the world is bettering itself day by day. It may be with cars or even medicine but in the end all the developments are contribuating to the most important idea in the world. This idea is that, yes we as a world are bettering ourselfs with new developments and technology.

Number two:

The world is changing for the better. By looking into the past and comparing the past to the present we can see the progress that we, the whole world, has made since the past.

As Allan E. Goodman says, "There is, of course, no legitimate branch of science that enables us to predict the future accurately." We do not need a branch of science to predict the future. By taking a look into the past and looking from that time at all the advances' weve made in various fields the world can only get better.

According to Allan E. Goodmen, "the degree of change in the world is so overwhelming and so promising that the future is far brighter than anyone has contimplated since the end of the second World War." He thinks that the world is changing for the better, and over time it will only get better. He thinks the future will be, "far brighter than anyone has contemplated."

Is the world changing for the better? Yes. With what the world has gone through in the past up to the present the only place to go is higher. Although we are not able to see the future by seeing what we have done we can only do better.

And one more:

The world is changing for the better in some ways. Technology is a big part of the world for human beings. We have been able to do extraordinary things because of science technology. The world has changed after the second World War. Life is different for humans in many ways. Industry, agriculture and other industries have prospered greatly. There are more jobs available for people to seek and earn money from. However, there is still poverty in the world and humans all together are acting as one to help those in need of shelter and food.

Science does not enable us to predict the future of the world. There are those who think ahead and guess and plan for after their time. The human race is working as one to change the world for the better. It is up to us to decide the future of our world and our lives. Engaging in wars with other peoples is not a great way to help make the world a better place for everyone. As of now the world is not getting any better by having the US be in a war with Iraq. A lot of people have been killed, and bloodshed is not the answer for peace in the world.

Overall, there a good and bad things that make or do not make the world a better place.

Frightening, isn't it?

***************

So what is my point? To make fun of the students at Snootmore Academy? Well, no, not really. The students in my class were not particularly dumb. Though they were terrible writers, they were more articulate in person than these essays would suggest. And some of them scored quite well on other sections of the SAT. They weren't just the bottom-feeders.

On the other hand, out of a graduating class of about 50 students, I had 17 of them in my class. A fair sample, I think. Here's the point: on an independently produced, well-designed standardized test, they didn't do particularly well. Despite attending a private school with every apparent advantage, these students were decidedly mediocre.

We hear so much about "our failing public schools," especially from people who support vouchers and privatization. Even people who should know better jump on the "education reform" bandwagon. It's popular. It makes it sound as if you care.

It's easy to criticize the public schools. Statistics abound. Even the raw data are usually available, should you wish to analyze them yourself. Of course, these data exist because the schools are public. Similar statistics on private schools are much harder to find, if they exist at all. Private schools are not required to compile them. If they do, they are not required to share them. If they do share them, they may share whatever they choose, calculated however they wish.

It's called "advertising."

Our public schools aren't failing. At the least, they do no worse than private schools and at a fraction of the cost. The private schools keep the evidence of this largely to themselves, but some of us have seen it.

Read these essays again and judge for yourself.

Very Truly Yours,

Porcupine