1. Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. 1. Intellectual Purpose
1.1.1.1. The intellectual purpose of education is to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematical skills.
1.1.2. 2. Political Purpose
1.1.2.1. The political purpose of education is to instill patriotism, prepare citizens who will assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order and to teach children the basic laws of society.
1.1.3. 3. Social Purpose
1.1.3.1. The social purpose of education is to help solve perceived problems in society.
1.1.4. 4. Economic Purpose
1.1.4.1. The economic purpose of education is to prepare students for occupational roles, and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division labor.
1.2. 1. The Role of the School
1.2.1. A central focus of each of the perspectives (Conservative, Liberal, Radical, and Neo-liberal) is at the heart of their differing analysis. The school's role in the broadest sense is directly concerned with the aims, purposes, and functions of education within a society.
1.2.1.1. Conservative perspective: 1 )thinks that the school should educate students to be the best they can in the work force so they will be productive in their social and economical activities, 2) believe that schools socialize children into the adult roles necessary to the maintenance of the social order, 3) sees schools function as one of transmitting the cultural traditions through what is taught.
1.3. 2. Explanations of Unequal Performance
1.3.1. Conservative perspective: 1) think students rise and fall on their own intelligence, hard work and initiative and that achievement is based on hard work and sacrifice, 2) thinks the school system is designed to allow students to opportunity to succeed. If they don't it is because they are deficient in some manner or because of deficiency in group members.
1.4. 3. Definition of educational problems
1.4.1. Conservative perspective: 1) "decline of standards" ) - schools systemically lowered academic standards and reduced educational quality, 2) "decline of cultural literacy" - schools watered down the traditional curriculum which has weakened the school's ability to pass on the American/Western civilizations to children.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. The Common School Era of 1837
2.1.1. Horace Mann was a huge advocate of the common school, or free publicly funded elementary schools.
2.1.2. Horace Mann (1796-1859)
2.1.3. He was the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education.
2.1.4. He believed that education was a child's "natural right," and that moral education should be the heart of the curriculum.
2.2. The Democratic-Liberals historical interpretation of U.S. education
2.2.1. Believe that it involves progressive evolution of school system and should provide equality to everyone
2.2.2. Believes that liberal reformers are involved in expanding the educational opportunities.
2.2.3. Important people: Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti; and Lawrence A. Cremin.
2.2.4. Optimistic View
2.3. John Dewey: Progressivism
2.3.1. Father of modern education. Scientific Inquiry: Why we do what we do.
2.4. Reforms of the Standards Era 1980's-present
2.4.1. Nation at Risk (Reagan)
2.4.2. Goals 2000 (Clinton)
2.4.3. NCLB (Bush)
2.4.4. RTT (Obama)
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. The School and the Soceity
3.1.1. The schools 1) socialize students
3.1.1.1. Socialization: process that causes people to have values, beliefs, and norms of society internalized so they will think and act like other members of the society.
3.1.2. 2) shapes children's consciousness
3.2. Functionalism
3.2.1. Functionalist view society working together like a machine- it depends on other parts to properly work.
3.2.1.1. Emilie Durkheim (1858-1917)
3.2.1.1.1. He was the earliest sociologist that believed that education should be in all societies and that education was mandatory for creating moral unity that is needed for social cohesion and harmony.
3.2.2. Functionalist believe that consensus is the normal state of society and that conflict represents a breakdown of shared values.
3.3. Conflict Theory
3.3.1. They believe that it is the economic, political, cultural, and military power that holds the society together.
3.3.1.1. Karl Marx (1818-1883)
3.3.1.1.1. He is the intellectual founder of the conflict school in the sociology of education.
3.3.1.2. Max Weber (1864-1920)
3.3.1.2.1. He had a little different view of the conflict theory
3.3.2. The achievement ideology disguises that real power relations within the school, which in turn, reflect and correspond to the power relations to the larger society (Bowels and Gintis, 1976)
3.4. Interactionalism
3.4.1. Seen as critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict theories
3.4.1.1. Basil Berstein
3.4.2. They try to make the ordinary things into everyday behaviors and interactions between the students and teachers, and with the teachers and students.
3.5. Five Effects of Schooling
3.5.1. 1) Knowledge and Attitudes
3.5.1.1. According to some research, people who are more educated are more likely to read newspapers, books, and magazines and will and will take part in political and public affairs.
3.5.1.2. They are also more likely to be liberal in their political and social attitudes.
3.5.1.3. They have a sense of well-being and self-esteem.
3.5.2. 2) Employment
3.5.2.1. Students that have graduated from college have more employment opportunities.
3.5.2.2. Education alone does not fully explain the difference in the amount of income.
3.5.3. 3) Education and Mobility
3.5.3.1. For individuals who have achieved higher education, education will lead to higher occupational mobility. For the rich and poor, it may not affect their occupational mobility.
3.5.4. 4) Teacher Behavior
3.5.4.1. Teachers "wear many occupational hats" such as instructor, disciplinarian, bureaucrat, employer, friend, confidant, educator, etc.
3.5.4.2. Having so many roles can cause teachers to have "role strain" or when the teacher doesn't feel comfortable in any of the roles.
3.5.4.3. Teachers are motivators, role models, and guides to their students.
3.5.5. 5) Student Peer Groups and Alienation
3.5.5.1. Students break themselves into different social groups.
3.5.5.2. If students feel that there is conflict between the adult culture and student culture this could lead to alienation, which could lead to violence.
3.5.5.3. Some theories on the alienation and the violence suggest that it is caused by class size being too large and because teachers are underpaid.
3.5.5.4. The student culture affects their educational experiences.
4. Equality of Opportunity
4.1. Impacts of Educational Outcomes
4.1.1. Class: Due to the high cost of education children from wealthy upper-class families are more likely to complete school compared to children from working-class and underclass families.
4.1.2. Race: Minority students receive fewer and inferior educational opportunities than Caucasian students.
4.1.3. Gender: Gender differences have improved for women in educational terms, but women are discriminated occupationally and socially by society.
4.2. Two Coleman Study Responses
4.2.1. 1) Private schools provide better learning environments, and enforce discipline compared to public schools.
4.2.2. 2) Private schools expect more from their students than public schools.
5. Educational Inequality
5.1. Two Types of Cultural Differences Theory
5.1.1. 1) More affluent families have an educational advantage which cause educational inequalities.
5.1.2. 2) Working-class and nonwhite students embrace the working-class culture but reject the values of schooling.
5.2. School-Centered Explanations for Educational Inequality
5.2.1. 1) School Financing: More affluent communities provide more per-pupil spending than poorer districts.
5.2.2. 2) Effective School Research: socioeconomic backgrounds contribute to how well students perform academically.
5.2.3. 3) Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices: The culture and climate of schools in lower socioeconomic communities are significantly different.
5.2.4. 4) Curriculum and Ability Grouping: student groups from the same school can perform very differently.
6. Educational Reform
6.1. School-based Reforms
6.1.1. School- to-Work
6.1.1.1. School-based learning: Academic and occupational skills.
6.1.1.2. Work-based learning: Career exploration and work experience.
6.1.1.3. Connecting Activities: Courses integrating classroom instruction and matching students with employers.
6.1.2. Teacher Education: Upgrade intellectual rigor and factors, attract and retain competent teachers, and reorganize educational academic and professional development.
6.2. School Finance Reform: extra funding was to be distributed to provide additional programs in order to eliminate disadvantages within poorer school districts
6.3. State Intervention: accountability systems created for policy makers to focus their attention on how to reward schools and districts that perform well and how to sanction those that do not
7. Philosophy of Education
7.1. Pragmatism
7.1.1. 1) Generic Notions
7.1.1.1. Pragmatists believe that learning or discovery takes place by doing and experimenting to find the answer.
7.1.1.2. John Dewey's philosophy of education had the greatest impact on U.S. progressive education.
7.1.1.3. Dewey's ideas of pragmatism was a combination of instumentalsim and experimentalism
7.1.1.3.1. Dewey believed schools could prepare students for society by focusing on their needs and allowing students to learn by a hands on approach.
7.1.2. 2) Key Researchers
7.1.2.1. Frances Bacon (1561-1626)
7.1.2.2. John Locke (1632-1704)
7.1.2.3. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
7.1.2.4. George Sanders Pierce (1839-1914)
7.1.2.5. William James (1842-1910)
7.1.2.6. John Dewey (1859-1952)
7.1.3. 3) Goal of Education
7.1.3.1. John Dewey- the primary goal of education is growth that leads to more growth.
7.1.3.2. Education should focus on the needs of the whole child.
7.1.3.3. Schools should provide real-life experiences to prepare students for society.
7.1.4. 4) Role of Teacher
7.1.4.1. A facilitator of learning that encourages students to be an active participant.
7.1.5. 5) Method of Instruction
7.1.5.1. Student-centered: cooperative learning, hands on activities, problem-solving, inquiry and discussion.
7.1.5.2. Revolves around student learning styles (auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic)
7.1.6. 6) Curriculum
7.1.6.1. Builds on students' prior knowledge or experiences
7.1.6.2. Flexible curriculum that adjust based on students' interests and needs
7.1.6.3. Core academic and vocational subjects
8. Schools as Organizations
8.1. U.S. Senators
8.1.1. Richard Shelby
8.1.2. Doug Jones
8.2. U.S. House of Rep
8.2.1. Gary Palmer
8.3. State Senator
8.3.1. Shay Shelnutt
8.4. State Rep
8.4.1. David Standridge
8.5. State Superintendent
8.5.1. Michael Sentance
8.6. State School Board Representative
8.6.1. Cynthia Sanders McCarty
8.7. Local Superintendent (Blount County)
8.7.1. Rodney Green
8.8. School Board Members (Blount County)
8.8.1. Ken Benton
8.8.2. Chris Latta
8.8.3. Jackie Sivley
8.8.4. Bruce McAfee
8.8.5. William Ferry
8.9. The Elements of Change within School Processes and School Culture
8.9.1. 1) Conflict is a necessary part of change.
8.9.1.1. The school staff must be able to work together to resolve issues or conflicts that happen.
8.9.2. 2) New behaviors must be learned.
8.9.2.1. This requires the ability to collaborate, compromise, communicate, and respect other point of views.
9. Curriculum and Pedagogy
9.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
9.1.1. Curriculum stemmed from John Dewey and Jean Piaget's theories
9.1.2. The focus is on the needs and interests of students at specific developmental stages.
9.1.3. Curriculum is student-centered and the teacher is the facilitator.
9.2. Two Dominant Traditions of Teaching
9.2.1. 1) Mimetic
9.2.1.1. Basic core of knowledge to be learned by all.
9.2.2. 2) Transformative
9.2.2.1. Students needs should be the main focus of the curriculum.