In addition to labeling kids who learn differently as problematic, sometimes defective, most schools classify, track, and categorize students from very early ages. As an abundance of research studies confirm, these classifications tend to become self-perpetuating and self-confirming. My interviewees illuminate the ways in which grades, tests, and opportunities to learn are often arbitrary or related to class, race, and gender. In the supposed meritocracy of schooling, these markers and estimations have profound impact, not just structuring how we fit into the learning hierarchy of an individual classroom, but who we are who whom we believe we will become. . Kirsten Olson
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In the book "The Schoolhouse Gate: Why Public Education Has Failed America, and How to Fix It" by Peter Applebome, he talks about the importance of education and the impacts that it has on us as individuals. He states, "People still regard school as a university of sorts and educational attainment as a credential. But most Americans now realize that they don’t have to go to college or even graduate from high school to be successful." The author goes on to say that we do not need a college degree to be successful and that these degrees are only partially useful. He states that we need education beyond the classroom and that we should look at people who do not have a college degree as sources of information.

Source: Wounded By School: Recapturing The Joy In Learning And Standing Up To Old School Culture

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  1. In addition to labeling kids who learn differently as problematic, sometimes defective, most schools classify, track, and categorize students from very early ages. As an abundance of research studies confirm, these classifications tend to become self-perpetuating and self-confirming. My interviewees illuminate the ways in which...

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