Ethical Education (SAT Practice Essay #2)

When you ask any student, "Why do you go to school?", chances are they will respond with an unenthusiastic "to learn." Thus, questions begin to arise, what is knowledge? Is wisdom synonomous with knowledge? And as we are faced with this question today, "should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues?" I say, most definately.
Take for example, one yound pupil with perfect marks on the SAT, flying colors on report cards, and teacher comments to die for. The student however knows nothing about right verses wrong, ethical verses unethical, and is utterly oblivious to the challenges faced by our society, not to mention how to deal with them. A different student, sitting on the opposite side of the specturm does, lets say, less than "satisfactoy" on exams, is lazy as heck, and never does his homework. He is however an outstanding athlete, human rights activist, and accepts as well as embraces cultural diversity. I can guarentee that the second student would be more sucessfull out in the "real world", leading a much more prosperous, happy, and virtuous life than that of the straight A student with no street smarts.
There are simple, "cruise classes," as many students at my school call them, based off of decision making, discovering ethics (not necessarily choosing which ones to live by) and overcoming social problems that arise typically outside of the classrooms. These classes are fairly easy to conduct, not to discredit the professionals that teach them, and are often even led b the students themselves through what our teachers call, cofacilitation, a hightly effective method of learning. Simply providing an opportunity to discuss such issues amongs peers is growth in itself and can greatly improve necessary social tools that everyone should be equiped with.
On the other hand, schools definately do have the responsibility to prepare students for college and a technologically advanced and ever changing world. The No Child Left Behind program, requiring all students to meet designated ruberics, and pass nationally standardized tests, is an excellent idea and im sure that since its creation, test scores have increased and college enrollment percentages have been on the rise. There is no doubt that such academic skills are also required for success in todays society.
Our nations schools need to find an appropriate balance, or perhaps more realistically, a ratio, of teaching academic, by-the-book skills, as well as social skills and undetstanding, and ethical exploration. Both types of knowledge are what most post high school educators seek, simply because they are what it really takes to do well in life.