Thinking about the Text

1. Bob Herbert argues that America's current public school system must vastly change to meet the needs of changing times. He discusses this with Professor Thomas Kane, and points to two places that would most easily make the biggest changes. The first was teacher quality. Herbert explains we should be making sure the teachers effectiveness in the classroom is looked at closely, and not just their credentials. The second area Herbert explained is looking at alternative school models. We can take ideas from schools that are set up differently and are more successful.

2. I would describe Herbert's tone as disappointed but also earnest. In the beginning he states, "There is no reason to celebrate these minuscule gains." To me he seems disappointed in where the American society as a whole is putting their focus. In the next sentence he says simply, "We need so much more." At the very end of his essay, he says it again: "They [American kids] need something better...." His persistence in the idea that we need more success and better results indicates to me he is earnest about this subject.

3. Herbert establishes the importance of his topic in the fifth and sixth paragraph. He explains how a four-year college degree is the minimum for living a middle-class life. His sixth paragraph goes on to say, "Over the next 20 or 30 years, when today's children are raising children of their own in an ever more technologically advanced and globalized society, the educational requirements will only grow more rigorous and unforgiving." First he points out the need for a good education in today's world. Any reader then feels the full weight and importance of this article when he states that the demanding need for education will only increase further.

4. Herbert is appealing directly to his reader's values in these two passages:
"The latest federal test results showed some improvement in public school math and reading scores, but there is no reason to celebrate these minuscule gains. We need so much more. A four-year college degree is now all but mandatory for building and sustaining a middle-class standard of living in the U.S.
"If American kids--all American kids, not just the children of the elite--are to have a fair chance at a rewarding life over the next several decades, we've got to give them a school system adequate to the times."

5.  I agree with this article in the sense of a need for education to continue America's development. The need for STEM education, for example, is on the rise: more and more fields are asking for these requirements. If we are to move forward as a country, we must move our education forward. However, I disagree with his idea that you need so much education to live a rewarding life. I suppose that depends your own view of what a rewarding life entails.