"What did you learn at school today?" is a common question asked by my parents at the dinner table. Most often I answer them with an unenthusiastic "nothing". This conversation symbolizes the boredom commonly found in American public schools. The students are bored and frustrated with their classes and education. Similarly the teachers are bored and frustrated with the lack of enthusiasm from their students. Students complain that the teachers are incapable of teaching their material and the teachers complain the students do not want to learn. John Taylor Gatto discusses this common classroom attitude in his article "Against School." Gatto proposes the question then of who is to blame for the affliction of boredom among teachers and students alike. Gatto answers this with the simple sentence of "We all are." The truth in the situation is that people are responsible for their own education and their own entertainment.
It is up to the individual to overcome their own boredom, be it in school, the workplace or at home. It is up to the student to find interest in what they are learning and to take care of their own education to ensure their own future. There is a lack of appreciation for education that wasn't prevalent 100 or even 75 years ago. Education has become something that is taken for granted in this country and therefore school is seen as boring. To go to school used to be a privilege and something to be valued in this country because it meant that your family could afford to send you to school and you were not needed to work instead. It was a privilege that was only granted to boys and meant that they might be able to lead a better life than that of their fathers. In today's world it is required for children to attend school. With this requirement comes an educated society with very low illiteracy rates and a high percentage of the population not only attending grade school but finishing high school, a number that has increased significantly since the turn of the last century.