The Hypocritical Truth of American Education

In his op-ed, “We’re teaching kids to follow their dreams. Maybe teach them to be helpful instead”, Joel Stein asserts that the American education system is hypocritical in its attempts to teach young Americans about stories of helping others, but never teach them the necessary skills to help others. To prove the sanctimoniousness of our education system, Stein begins with a personal anecdote from his elementary school days, a time where teachers struggled to teach their self-absorbed students about important historical figures. Joel then uses this anecdote in order to introduce his main point of criticism: The so-called “living wax museums” used by teachers today to dress up their students as heroic people allows the students to perform speeches in front of their classmates, giving them a taste of leadership through the lens of a past American hero. While this may sound good on paper, Stein provides yet another anecdote in paragraph 2, this time in the classroom of his 4th-grade son instead, wryly reminiscing the ironic atmosphere of the room一 opposite of what one would expect from an empowering speech. For example, he compares the classroom to a standup comedy show, where “each comedian has to drag in two audience members to fill the house.” Stein continues to scoff at the lunacy of the situation by recalling his son’s preposterous stories about JFK being a sailor and discovering “14 bags of Whoppahs and a Mahs bah.” Through the usage of such personal experiences, Stein develops pathos that appeals to the audience on the failures of our educational system to deliver the very values it must prioritize: knowledge, character, and education. It is essential that Stein appeals to his audience in this way so as to emotionally stir other teachers and parents in his audience to realize the fundamental issues in our schools and the lack of action to amend such ailments in society. Besides anecdotes and pathos, Stein uses exaggeration and satire to convey the ironic state of things. In paragraph 5, Stein openly reveals that each student concluded their speeches with the good qualities of their model and not with the impact or morals behind their actions. Due to this, Stein jokingly states that Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education, would “rescind the right of girls to go to this school” if she were ever to witness these children focusing on her “pursuing her dreams” and not her altruistic actions. Using Malala’s status as a child activist, Stein generates a satirical effect and humorously addresses the misrepresentation of these significant figures by clueless young children and the naive pedagogy constructed by the teachers who organize these events. Stein uses this same example to address how schools have drifted from teaching children to be helpful to others and instead molding them into potential leaders. Finally, he addresses such schools’ hypocrisy once again as they aim to teach students how to become good leaders but quickly turn critical if their students want to become the next “Nixon or Trump”. Through his anecdotes and satire, Stein humorously criticizes the hypocrisy of American schools while maintaining a serious attitude towards the end in an attempt to educate fellow parents and teachers on this crisis.