I was probably more excited about taking my government class than any other class this year (except AP English, of course). I've always had an interest in the intricacies of our government and have endeavored to learn more about the topic. I'd hoped that I would learn exactly what I wanted to learn when I took government, but the class hasn't exactly cleared everything up. Granted, this is only a reflection on the first semester of the class but I feel it is still valid.
The largest issue that I have with this class is that it is unable to explain the more intricate aspects of how our government functions. I'd love to know exactly how legislature is written, revised and submitted, and where to look for current copies of these documents. I'd love to research some of the current issues that our government faces. I actually assumed that government would cover more current issues, but as a textbook-based class, it's slightly unrealistic to expect a complete, up-to-date education on government proceedings. It is not unrealistic to expect the class to prepare students for observing and understanding what the government is actually doing on a day-to-day basis. That is exactly what the class should accomplish; students should emerge from the class with the tools to decipher legislative jargon and interpret what politicians actually mean. In reality, the class teaches how the government is structured and who performs what duties in the system. In simpler terms, the class teaches the 'what' of government, while ignoring the 'how' and, most importantly, the 'why'.
I think this grievance displays one of the most fundamental issues with how public education is structured in our country: students are taught what they need to know, but they are never given the tools to intelligently analyze the topics they are shown. 'Why' is the first question that we learn as children, and we become obsessed with it. Asking 'why' moved humanity out of the fertile crescent and into space. The question of 'why' is completely ignored by public education.
Not to diss Rossi or anything, but that was the main reason I really didn't want to take normal Government. In AP, we do actually learn a lot of this stuff. We have textbook work yes, but it's more indepth and explanatory. On the flipside, we are doing a lot of work on legislature and the structure of the government aside from what you have explained. It's a shame you didn't take that class, it would have fit your desires a lot more!
ReplyDelete