Blogger Respsonse: Johnson's "School Sucks"
Johnson explores students' hostility toward the educational system and how or if teachers contribute to the volatile behavior of students. This is a critical topic that needs investigation for the teaching institution. The massive proportion of student violence in various states indicates that the educational system may be a part of the deadly feud on the school campuses. It is important to diffuse the animosity that students have for teachers, but first it is important to examine the motivation behind the brewing hatred. Johnson reflects on his own childhood experiences of negative attitudes about teachers. What makes this worth investigation is that students exhibit the interest to want to learn and write, but what they create are rhymes or written literature that are venomous, specifically to academia. Johnson states, "Murder, arson, anarchy, and sadism: these are certainly no nursery rhymes. But their general logic follows directly out of the earlier pair. They all three give voice to a powerful rancor, a supremely negative reaction against the experience of being in school" (Johnson 623). What Johnson notices is that students' voices (rhymes) worsen by the day. What interest Johnson the most is that the students' rancor manifested in the action of writing; which is an indication that the students have a hidden desire to learn to write and have a fascination with words, but they rebel against the constructs of the educational system. This education system loses the student's attention to mainstream media (television and radio). Because of the large population of students who imitate rhymes and the production of written creativity from music and television, it is transparent that these two mediums are more influential to the students than the environment of the classroom. Characters like "Bart" and "Beavis" (Johnson 623) are models that students pattern themselves after states Johnson. Today students love to imitate rappers' demonic (vulgar) rhymes! A critical question emerges as I read this article, how can the educational system gain the interest of the students? As a person who is interested in teaching, how do I construct my teaching techniques to accommodate the academic needs of the students?

Johnson states Gorgias's theory, "Before a student can learn how to persuade an audience about anything, the student must first learn to enjoy composing, to generate a rigorous, positive excitement around the task of rhetorical action". This is a valuable angle, the therapeutic method. Johnson and other academics (Gorgias, Elbow, Entralgo) are addressing the reality that students are afraid of the educational institution which evokes fear and fight responses. The idea to obtain students trust through written assignments or methods that will bring them pleasure is a start to relinquish the students' animosity. Pleasurable writing activities will gain trust and probably can stimulate the student to become confident in the development of writing prose. This "pleasurable technique" challenges teachers to become creative with assignments using students' text. This is especially helpful for students who come from adverse situations, the "traumatized child".