1. The Politics of Education (Ch 2)
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. Intellectual Purposes- teaching of basic cognitive skills (Ex: reading, writing, or mathematics); teaches higher thinking skills (Ex: analysis, evaluation, or synthesis); transmits certain knowledge (Ex: in literature, history, or science).
1.1.2. Political Purposes- to teach current political order or "Patriotism"; to prepare people for possibly working in the political order; to help diverse cultures into one common political order; to teach basic law of society.
1.1.3. Social Purposes- helps solve social problems; to help socialize kids into later roles, behaviors, and values expected by society (also called Socialization and is important for stability of society!)
1.1.4. Economic Purposes- prepare students for job roles later in life; select and train people for division of labor; Most societies directly prepare kids for working (depends on the society).
1.2. Perspectives
1.2.1. Role of School- conservative perspective, liberal perspective, and radical perspective.
1.2.1.1. Conservative Perspective: in the role of education the individual is responsible for their own success. Those that are hard-working and have success receive the most attention and do better socially and economically in society.
1.2.1.2. Liberal Perspective: believes that every student deserves the equal learning opportunity as another student. They do believe that the students with a lower level socioeconomic statues has less of a chance to succeed in school and in adult society compared to a higher up level student.
1.2.1.3. Radical Perspective: that minorities and poor students have been failed by the educational system. They believe the curriculum is racist and sexist towards different racial students and women. Culture and history a big curriculum topics that are felt to be left behind. Overall they believe the education system supports unequal opportunities for women and diverse students.
1.2.2. Explanation of Unequal performance
1.2.2.1. Conservatives believe that individuals control the outcome of their abilities, hard-work, and even their ambitions. Hard-work and sacrifices are needed to make achievements as well. From this standpoint the education system is designed to allows students to succeed.
1.2.2.2. Liberals believe that each student has a different outcome in life chances. Some students have more advantages than others so they succeed more than the less advantaged. This requires the school system to put in place policies and other tools to create a much more equal school system.
1.2.2.3. Radicals are consider similar with the liberals views because they think the lower socioeconomic students are given unequal educational chances. The difference though is that radicals blame the economy not the education system for these problems. Only way they think it can be fixed is through politics and economics.
1.2.3. Definition of Educational Problems
1.2.3.1. Conservative definition of problems
1.2.3.1.1. bad standards, weak curriculum that then causes a weak school system; loss of teaching standards and morals; no traditional discipline found in the school system after some time.
1.2.3.2. Liberal definition of problems
1.2.3.2.1. critical issue of poor and under privileged students being limited by the schools so underachievement becomes a big problem; feel students can't develop themselves individually due to the strong discipline and authority given; inequality is the biggest issue whether its by student socioeconomic or location of the school system; curriculum forgets to include diversity related topics.
1.2.3.3. Radicals definition of problems
1.2.3.3.1. the educational system failed minorities, the poor, and women with classicism, racism, and sexist policies in the system; the curriculum is also said the have the same policies and leaves out culture and historical values. There is no encouragements to create conformity in the teaching or curriculum.
2. The sociology of Education (Ch 4)
2.1. Theoretical perspectives between school and society.
2.1.1. Functionalism- society pressures the Independence of the social system. Society is viewed as more of a machine to Functionalist. Functional theories are for society and break down conflicting issues of shared values to create things such as structure in programs and school societies.
2.1.2. Conflict Theory- Tension and conflict come up when resources such as status and power are not distributed evenly between groups in society. This brings attention to power struggle between different classes.
2.1.3. Interactionalism- This questions social cognition and how one understands another person. This brings focus to students behavior and how the environment might be affecting their behavior and mental process.
2.2. Five effects of schooling on individuals.
2.2.1. Knowledge and Attitude, Teacher Behavior, Employment, Inadequate Schools, and Educations and Inequality are all important things for education.
2.2.1.1. Knowledge and Attitude are important because it can determine if a child is more likely to read or be involved with politics. It shapes how a child grows up and interacts.
2.2.1.2. Teacher Behavior can have a large impact on students because students watch how a teacher reacts to things and can pick up on those habits. So, its very important that teachers give a positive attitude and make appropriate interactions with people. Teachers behavior can impact how students learn.
2.2.1.3. Employment is another important thing for students and education because in order to get good employment students want to have education. Most jobs today require some type of college and schooling such as a GED to get a decent job.
2.2.1.4. Inadequate Schools is a major problem that impacts schools and society because some students that live in more rural areas or go to public school don't get as equal of an education as someone that is urban and in private school. These inequalities in education cause great barriers when they finish schooling and move onto employment and other opportunities.
2.2.1.5. Tracking allows students to be placed in a suitable curriculum program based off their abilities and inclinations. Sometimes the class and race of the student can determine placement. Low-tracking and high tracking placements can determine cognitive development skills.
3. Schools as Organizations (Ch 6)
3.1. Major Stakeholders
3.1.1. Federal Alabama senators: Richard Shelby & Doug Jones
3.1.1.1. House of Representative: Mo Brooks
3.1.2. State Senator: Steve Livingston
3.1.2.1. House of Representative: Howard Sanderford
3.1.3. State Superintendent: Ed Richardson (Now) because Michael Sentance Resigned.
3.1.4. Representative on State School Board: Kay Ivey (President), Jackie Zalger (District 1), Betty Peters (District 2), Stephanie Bell(district 3), Yvette M. Richardson, Ed. D (District 4), Ella B. Bell (District 5), Cynthia Sanders McCarthy, Ph.D. (District 6), Jeffrey Newman (District 7), and Mary Scott Hunter (District 8).
3.1.5. Local Superintendent: Dr. Matt Akin (Huntsville City Schools)
3.1.6. All Members on Local School Board: Elisa Ferrell (District 3), Walker McGinnis (District 4), Beth Wilder (District 2), Michelle Watkins (District 1), Pam Hill (District 5)
3.2. Identify and describe the elements of change
3.2.1. School Processes: Number of School districts has changed over time.(ex:public school districts have decreased due to fewer "single-teacher" schools). All thought public school districts have decreased the number of students have increased in public schools. School sizes and number of students in classrooms is changing as well.
3.2.2. School Cultures: Depending on where we live culture variations range differently in school systems. Residential segregation has also become a norm in some places. Private schools are for the wealthy and committed families or sometimes just for more religious families. School cultures are fragile and easily disrupted. Conflicting goals are found when teachers pedagogic goals are difficult for students to following and teachers struggle to follow administrative goals, which leads to disruption and conflict. Patience and skills are important when it comes to changing or handling school cultures.
4. Equality of Opportunity and Educational Outcomes (Ch 8)
4.1. Describe how class,race, and gender each impact educational outcomes.
4.1.1. Class will affect a persons education based on where you live, school system zone, and the economic class your in for example: upper, middle, and lower class. Lower class will receive a less focused and thorough education like the middle or upper class might receive.
4.1.2. Race: When a school has minorities in their system sometimes they can receive less attention and care like other students. In the reading it talks about the difficulty of separating race from class. If a black lower class student is the minority in a mostly white upper class school that student will probably receive less thorough education. This can lead to poor academic achievement and higher drop out rates.
4.1.3. Gender: When it comes to education outcome and gender males sometimes are taught over females. I believe because society favors males in jobs and other areas in the world they get more focus in their education. Males tend to excel more in STEM subject such as science, math,, engineering , and etc.) and women are given less attention in those areas. In today society woman are slowly getting more equality but it is still more in favor of male society.
4.2. What were the two responses to the Coleman Study from 1982 (focus only on ones from 1982).
4.2.1. First response: The studies basically concluded that race, where you live, and the type of school you attend can determine the type of education you receive and the test scores given. (ex: private schools are better than public with test scores and overall education quality).
4.2.2. Second response: school segregation based on race and class status is what makes the difference in test score not whether its a public or private school.
5. The History of Education (Ch 3)
5.1. Reform movement that influenced education the most: Education for women and Blacks.
5.1.1. Blacks took a little longer than woman to get the same education due to the Civil War.
5.1.2. Ohio was the first to open their doors in education to women and blacks.
5.1.3. The unequal education for women and black compared to the rest of society was a big concern that people expressed to the educational system. This reform changed history for women and blacks.
5.2. Historical interpretation of U.S education
5.2.1. Democratic-Liberal historical interpretation of education in the U.S is a very positive interpretation.
5.2.2. Radicals began to challenge democratic-liberals positive views; Radical historians Michael Katz, Joel Spring, and Clarence Karier made many arguments on U.S. education expansion stories and success; Radicals say the education system expanded to meet the needs of the upper class to control the working class and immigrants; The expansion also was to improve economic efficiency and productivity.
5.2.3. Conservatives all believed the U.S. educational system was being watered down and academic success was being taken away.
6. The Philosophy of Education (Ch 5)
6.1. World View of one student-centered philosophy of education: {Pragmatism)- American philosophy that developed in that late nineteenth century.
6.1.1. Generic Notions: Education that deals with the needs and interest of the child. The views that children should be able to learn what they want to learn. Working in groups is encouraged and experimentation learning. Children are active and growing and need education that can accommodate to their growth.
6.1.2. Key Researchers: Founders are George Sanders Pierce, William James, and John Dewey.
6.1.3. Goal of Education:The needs of society, community, and others should be balanced by schools. Students should be prepared for democratic society. Students require growth and continuous amounts of growth. Knowledge on social order and how to improved is important.
6.1.4. Role of Teacher: Is there to encourage, answer questions, and offer suggestions. Responsible for planning course of study and writing a curriculum for the classroom. Provide disciplinary action in the classroom.
6.1.5. Method of Instruction: learn in groups and individually. Students choose what they want to learn. No traditional time blocks set. Students should be in an environment that allows for them to talk to one another and stretch if needed.
6.1.6. Curriculum: All curriculum is interconnected. Students learn about what interest them.
7. Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Transmission of Knowledge (Ch 7)
7.1. Explain a curriculum theory you advocate.
7.1.1. Developmentalist Curriculum- I advocate for this theory because it focuses all on the student. There is plenty of flexibility and the needs of the students are put first. Their needs are especially put before societies needs. Life experiences are made relatable to the curriculum being taught. Therefore the information being taught students can use later on in life whether they go to college or not.
7.2. Two Dominant traditions of teaching.
7.2.1. Mimetic- Tradition in which the teacher is the person with all the knowledge and is transferring that knowledge to the student without student input. Students are the learner who is absorbing information. Student can not add value to learning process due to them not knowing what the teacher knows. (Hence Knower-Learner relationship)
7.2.2. Trans formative- this tradition rejects authoritative relationship between the student and teacher. Students need to be changed in a meaningful way. Transfer of knowledge isn't seen as the only booster to learning in this tradition compared to the other tradition. This tradition involves teacher and student interaction and dialogue between one another. Interaction stops the process of expecting students to just process knowledge being emitted all over the place.
8. Explanations of Educational Inequalities (Ch 9)
8.1. Explain at least two types of cultural differences theory (pg. 424-427)
8.1.1. Researcher John Ogbu believe that black children achieve less in school because they conform to their oppressed position in the class and social structure.
8.1.2. Macro sociological believe that educational inequalities is a direct result of relationships between family, schools, and even economic structures.
8.2. Describe at least four school-centered (not student centered) explanations for educational inequality.
8.2.1. School Financing - schools in nicer areas get more money compared to poor areas. Between school differences- there are many differences when it comes to school curriculum and pedagogic practices. Effective School research- differences within the school can be more or less significant than between school differences. Within School Differences- explains student division from teacher recommendation, test scores, and "ascriptive" characteristics.
9. Educational Reform and School Improvement (Ch 10)
9.1. Describe two school based reforms (school-based, school-business partnerships, privatization, school-to-work programs, teacher education or teacher quality).
9.1.1. School-Business Partnership- is when schools did not prepare students for the economy so schools they dealt with business were created to teach students business related information.
9.1.2. School-to-work programs- is viewed sometimes as a trade school. The program gives students the opportunity to learn skills that give jobs such as welding, health, automotive work. It takes less time than a four year college.
9.2. Describe at least two societal, economic, community, or political reforms that impact education.
9.2.1. Full Service and Community Schools- the whole community needs to be educated not just the children.
9.2.2. School Finance Reforms- focuses on the need for school funding. There have been many cases that have addressed the concern.