Response to, "Teaching Tolerance in America"

    High school is a time in every young person’s life where they learn many things about themselves, as well as the world around them. In the essay, “Teaching Tolerance in America”, which can be found on page 190 of The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers, the author, Dudley Erskine Devlin, discusses the many issues plaguing American school systems. The main issues of the schools that Devlin discusses are reduced funding, larger class sizes, fewer music and art classes, violence in schools, and also racial and class divisions among the students. While I agree that many of these issues are serious, what I do not agree with, is the manner in which the author suggests these issues be reformed.
    The author begins his essay, by stating that social cliques are basically the biggest issues known to mankind; or to all American high schools, anyways. While I agree with the idea that cliques are bad, I don’t believe they are as visibly present in the high schools as the author wants the reader to believe. Personally, I believe that people enjoy spending time around others that they have common bonds with. I don’t believe that people choose their friends based on their race, gender, social class, family income, or any other silly label. It seems to me like the author of this writing enjoys labeling things or putting people in categories. High school students choose their friends because they find them funny, or they enjoy their personality, or even because they share a similar interest. I get so absolutely irritated when people try to point out, what they assume, are “cliques” of people. What does it matter if two people who are raised in the same type of families, are friends? Does this mean that you should only look for friends who are from totally different backgrounds, or who are of an opposite gender? Isn’t that the only way for these so-called, “cliques”, to be taken care of?
    Another large issue that the author discusses in his essay, is the issue of bullying in high schools around the country. I understand that bullying is a horrible and degrading thing, but I don’t understand why the author decides to believe that bullying happens mostly as a result of the “cliques of America”. Personally, I always thought that bullying was a result of many more things than just the issue of not being in the same “clique”. Bullying can take place between people from the same background, people who both have low family incomes, and even people of the same gender and race. I just don’t understand why the author believes all the issues of a high school simply revolve around “cliques”.
    After the many discussions of all the negatives in high schools of America, the author decided to discuss how he believed these problems can be reformed. His number one recommendation, was to create strict, zero-tolerance uniform policies. I know first-hand, that just because you may be wearing the same exact polo as the person sitting next you to, it doesn’t mean that you will be best friends. It also doesn’t mean that you won’t be bullied by a person who tucks their shirt in neatly, rather than a person who comfortably wears a shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The whole idea is ridiculous! The author also suggested that schools should begin to create single-sex classrooms, and also require students to wear a photo ID around their necks at all times. To me, all of those ideas seem be big nuisances that would simply create even more issues in our schools, which we obviously don’t need.
    High schools in America do have issues, but I don’t believe they are as easy to fix as the author seems to suggest. If you were to fix all of these issues, you would basically have to go into every single high school and pin-point the unique issues that plague each one. Every high school in America probably has things in which it can improve upon, but to say you can solve these issues by reforming “cliques”, or by changing a dress code, is just irresponsible. If real change is going to happen in American high schools, it cannot and will not happen overnight. Real change takes time, and also, brighter ideas than what the author of this essay suggested.