In general American citizens, when compared with citizens of other advancing countries, are considered lazy and under educated. This is portrayed through the media and through testing averages. It is commonly known that in countries like China the drive for success and excess knowledge (overall intellectuality) is much higher than in the United States. But can this truly be blamed on the American citizens? Or is it the fault of the system that we live in? According to Ralph Waldo Emerson in his speech The American Scholar, there are steps to take, and specific qualities to have in order to become an American scholar. According to him it can be accomplished by anyone, but is unfortunately being accomplished by very few people in the United States. Emerson puts blame in the learners’ hands instead of the teachers. I agree with the fact that there are not many scholars in the American society, but I do not think that the blame is of the students.
One of the steps that Emerson believes any American can take to become a scholar is to make their own conclusions. In order to do this they need to take observations about different things surrounding them. From there they need to use their own views and their own research to make conclusions about what they see. By doing this, he says that the scholar will be in a much higher position than others. He writes that, “The ambitious soul sits down before each refractory fact; one after another, reduces all strange constitutions, all new powers, to their class and their law…”Here he suggests that a scholar is someone who will never be confused to fascinated about something new. By using their own observations they will make new things familiar to them and be able to move on. Scholars are therefore in a higher position because they become the teachers. They are the ones that can understand complex things and can help others understand. Therefore he is saying that it is imperative that an American scholar be very observant and find the answers in difficult situations.
It would be ideal if more Americans had the knowledge and drive to observe, experiment and conclude for themselves, however as students we are not trained to do so. In today’s society school systems generally work in only one way. A student is given a problem, and the teachers allow for only one response. (This is talked about in more detail in Sir Ken Robinson’s video Changing Education Paradigms). One of the countries biggest issues is that we do not have many scholars and therefore we do not have many good teachers. They teach things that are easily found on the Internet. That way when students research there is little chance that the students will research and make their own conclusions because there is a risk that they will get it wrong and get a bad grade. I think what should happen is that teachers should ask questions that students cannot just research and copy off of the Internet. For example if a history teacher asked a question like “What do you think your role would be in a Native American tribe?” This way it is an opinion question, and it is about the specific person so it cannot be researched. It is still educational because they still have to know about tribes and different roles that they have. Emerson would agree that we do not have enough good teachers, but might disagree that it is the teacher’s fault that students are not behaving in a scholarly way. I believe that it is in the fault of the teachers because ironically people must be trained to think for themselves.
Another step that Emerson believes people should make is to learn through experience and through the environment. He says that the experience we get from being in our environment and studying it will give us an advantage. There are two different environments that he is referencing, the objects and people that surround us, and the nature outside. Studying the people around us will give us a good look of the patterns that they have. And Emerson believes that we all come from nature and will benefit from studying it. For example, we use experience from earthquake patterns to better prepare and look out for them. In the speech he states, “So much only of life as I know by experience, so much of the wilderness have I vanquished and planted, or so far have I extended my being, my dominion.” In that passage he is saying that only experience in both of these areas will cause a person to really store in their memory and gain knowledge of it. This knowledge is something that will stay with them throughout their entire lives. He believes that it is up to our citizens to individually learn from these experiences.
In my view Emerson is right that it is important that a person study their environment on their own, but I do not think that it is practical in the everyday American lifestyle. This goes back to the impression that Americans are lazy. While a Chinese student may spend hours after school extending their knowledge, American students generally relax. This is the fault of the American society. WE live in a money based society and since it is possible to get a job without even a high school diploma, what is the drive to learn more? Especially now that we have so many new technologies few people want to go out, observe and interact when they could be playing the new Xbox game. According to CNN Health, Americans do not get enough exercise, so I doubt that a high percent of people go hiking or traveling and take the time to experience what nature has to offer. I understand that Emerson thinks it is best that people see things for their selves; I personally remember things better when I experience it for myself, but it is not realistic in our society. If someone were to take the time out to experience things and make their own conclusions they would probably feel as if they are wasting their time. We are not a society that is taught that we must learn through our environment. We are taught through a textbook in a classroom, or through research online that someone has already done. Rarely do fieldtrips mean going outside and experiencing things on our own, but they mean to go to museums and see what others have experienced. Although Emerson may argue that it should be a person’s priority and concern to go out and experience these things, it is unlikely to happen. In fact the only way that it will happen is if the American society changes and teachers are not teaching what they know, but instead teaching students to be active.
The last very important step the Emerson says to take in order to become an American scholar is for a person to have confidence in what they are doing. If a person does not have confidence then why would anyone believe that his or her conclusions are correct or, consequently, matter? Also if a person does not have confidence, even if they were to venture off on their own, they probably would not believe that they have the skills to come up with their conclusions. Emerson writes, “In silence, in steadiness, in severe abstraction, let him hold by himself; add observation to observation, patient of neglect, patient of reproach; and bide by his own time,--happy enough, if he can satisfy himself alone, that is the day he has seen something truly.” In this passage he was saying through making observations and eventually finding a conclusion a person can learn confidence and trust in him or herself to experiment more. He believes that the fact that they are using their own knowledge should make a person even more confident.
I agree that people do generally need confidence in order to succeed in what they want, however many people do not have that much confidence to begin with.
From what Emerson was saying I took out of it the fact that before you become a scholar a person must have some confidence to believe in what they are doing. Then later, when they reach their conclusions they gain even more. However, many people in American school systems lose confidence as they get older. It could either be because they have too much confidence to begin with or that they lacked the confidence in the first place. One thing that Tara Parker-Pope pointed out is that some schools are trying to do at a young age is instill a lot of confidence in elementary aged children. At first this seems harmless but they are giving to much praise to the children rather than making sure that they truly know the answers to the questions that they are asked. The reason that this is bad is because as students get older they lose their confidence when they get things wrong. I learned in Psychology that when a person starts out over confident and they do poorly their confidence drops significantly. This leaves an unlikely chance that these people will become scholars. And many people lack confidence, especially in areas of poverty. Many schools have students that live in harsh conditions and do not have time or the drive to focus on intellectual matters. For example, a teen attending a school that already has a child may not have time to focus on their work. Therefore they will do poorly on exams and feel way less confident. Another example is that a kids parents or siblings may be in jail, and the students have the mentality that they will not do any better. Unfortunately the schools are doing little to help them. One thing that they should do is have teachers who will ask them questions that they can answer but that are still intellectual. Opinion questions would work best in this environment. They should also have teachers that give the students hope and that show that they care about them and believe in them. What they really need is more of a support group. It is easy for Emerson to say that a scholar must have confidence, but it is not so easy for everyone to achieve that, especially with the school systems today.
In the modern day society Emerson is right to say that there are not many scholars, but it is hard to be one especially in the conditions that we live in. It is wrong of him to believe that a person can easily become a scholar by changing the ways hey views things. It is not easy for some people to get enough information that they need to even begin making their own conclusions about certain situations. It is easiest for a person to follow how schools have worked for so long rather then risking a grade. The main complication at hand is that there has been a cycle of unworthy teachers along with an unwilling society. A scholar is not someone who simply learns the knowledge of other people, they are people who are taught to be scholarly and think alone. If scholars are not there in the first place it is very difficult to teach others to be scholars. Much of the lack of drive and confidence can be blamed on the American society and schools also. In the Unites States people are taught that the goal in life is to have a good job and to be able to have a family to support. In order to do this, a person needs a job. Since a person can get a job without any type of diploma, the competition and drive for them is not that high. And because of the low goals and low expectations, the confidence that the average American has is low. These situations are not things that a single person can fix. It will take a while to change a society and its views. Therefore it will take a long time and a lot of changes to see more and more scholars in The United States.
