1. Politics of Education
1.1. I believe in conservative political views because I was raised in a Baptist Christian home with strong conservative values.
1.1.1. Being raised in this type of environment causes me to have deep beliefs in the faith of God, the Bible, and the practices of Jesus Christ.
1.1.2. There are certain beliefs in other political views that do not agree with my faith. Therefore, I am conservative.
1.2. I believe that the education system should be evolving from the traditional aspects of teaching to the progressivism aspects of teaching.
1.2.1. It is important for a teacher to understand their students in order to teach them.
1.2.2. Students learn in various ways. Therefore, it is important for educators to know their students styles of learning.
2. History of U.S Educaation
2.1. Education for women was viewed to harmful and to stressful. Throughout the nineteenth century, opportunities for education for women was very limited. Few females achieved and education other than rudimentary literacy and numeracy
2.2. The middle of the nineteenth century, a significant number of girls attended elementary schools. Most of those girls went to a private school.
2.3. In 1856, The University of Iowa was the first state university to admit women. The first of Seven Sisters women's colleges, was founded in Poughkeepsie, New York.
2.4. Throughout the Civil War, Educational opportunities for woman kept expanding, and education for African-Americans was limited. The teaching of reading and writing was forbidden to African-Americans.
2.5. African American's was encouraged to establish their own schools. They were usually administered by their churches and aided in part through funds from abolitionists.
3. Sociological Perspective
3.1. Sociology of education is never ending field, and questions between school and society are fundamental and complex.
3.2. Schools, parents, churches and synagogues shape children's perceptions of the world by processes of socialization.
3.3. The higher social class background of a student, the higher his or her achievement level is.
3.4. Understanding the transmission of inequalities, one ought to recognize that the cultural and social characteristics of individuals and groups are significant indicators of status and class position.
3.5. The advancement ideology convinces students and teachers that schools promote learning, and select students to their abilities rather than their social status.
3.6. Pictures of society are created by humans and interpreted by them.
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. generic notions, key researchers, goal of education, role of teacher, method of instruction, and curriculum
4.2. In general, I feel that education is vital to the advancement of society.
4.3. I have found that my philosophy resonates with the theorist Schӧn who believes that we “learn by doing” (Provenzo, 2011, p.2).
4.3.1. Provenzo (2011). The teacher in American society: A critical anthology. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
4.4. In the words of Aristotle, “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them” (Aristotle, 2009).
4.4.1. Aristotle. (2009, January 1). Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. Retrieved April 21, 2015, from http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/nicomachaen.2.ii.html
4.5. “No one can tell another person in any definite way how he should think, any more than how he ought to breathe or to have his blood circulate” (Dewey, J., 1933, p. 3).
4.5.1. Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
4.6. I believe the goal of education is to build a society of life long learners, who strive to attain the knowledge it takes to make the world a better place.
4.7. The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning including conduct, sportsmanship, and the ability to understand their personal health and well-being.
4.8. The best method of instruction is hands-on learning, where students are able to learn by doing.
4.9. I believe the curriculum should be aligned with the state standards and developmentally appropriate for each age and grade level.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. It is important for teachers to have a college degree and must be capable to demonstrating subject matter. They also must dress in a professional way.
5.2. It is expected for teachers to perform miracles with their students, but seldom given respect that they deserve.
5.3. Teachers play a key role in education, but yet their knowledge is devalued.
5.4. Teachers are asked to put at least 60-hours weeks but get paid n small salaries.
5.5. Education is vital to the advancement of society. I believe the goal of education is to build a society of lifelong learners, who strive to attain the knowledge it takes to make the world a better place.
5.6. Teachers should be caring, empathetic, well-rounded and act as a role model to their students, the teachers and other professionals.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. I am an advocate for social meliorist curriculum. It developed in the 1930's both out the writhing of Dewey, who was concernced with the role of the schools in reforming society (James, 1995: Semel and Sadovnik, 1999), as well as a response to the growing dominance of the social efficiency curriculum. Is it an explicit theory that the schools should change society, or , at the least, help solve the fundamental problems. Critics proposed that the school curriculum should teach students to think and help solve societal problems, if not to change the society itself.
6.2. The major stakeholders
6.2.1. Alabama State Senators
6.2.1.1. Jefferson Sessions
6.2.1.2. Richard Shelby
6.2.2. House of Representatives
6.2.2.1. Representative Lindsey, Richard J.
6.2.3. State Superintendent
6.2.3.1. Dr. Tommy Bice
6.2.4. Representative on State School Board
6.2.4.1. Robert J. Bentley (Present)
6.2.5. Local Superintendent
6.2.5.1. Hugh Taylor
6.2.6. Local School Board
6.2.6.1. Dekalb Local School Board: Dr. Joyce A. Morley (district 7)
6.3. I will approach the curriculum with the intent to build a relationship between each child and the curriculum in order to enhance their ability to chance society and help solve societal problems.
6.4. My pedagogical practices will have a strong research base and will identify student learning needs. I want to be aware of my students' multiple intelligence
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Most people are discriminated against on the basis of gender and race. Through their own efforts, they can overcome the effects of stratification, that is, educational and social mobility are matters of individuals life experiences.
7.2. Studies show that the number of books in a family's home is related to the academic achievement of its children. Middle and Upper middle-class children are more likely to speak "standard" English. Teachers seem to think more highly of these types of children rather than the working-class and underclass children because working-class and underclass do not speak middle-class English.
7.3. In today's time,females are less likely drop out of school than males, and are more likely to have a higher level of reading proficiency than males. It is the same for writing. Overall, males are more likely to score higher on the SATs than females. In the last 20 years, gender differences between men and women, in terms of educational attainment, have been reduced. The one area that males outperform females is in mathematics proficiency.
7.4. The success of educational reforms aimed at improving achievement; conservatives argue that the decline in male achievement ant attainment is a result of the "feminizing" of the classroom. There are still advantages for men competing for the most prestigious academic prize, however society still discriminates against women occupationally and socially.
7.5. White children are less likely to drop of out class. For instance, 5.2 white students drop out of school. Whereas for African-American students the percentage is 9.3 and 17.6 percent for Hispanic-American students. Race is related to educational outcomes in undeniable, although, given the nature of U.S. society, it is extremely difficult to separate race from class.
7.6. 89 percent of white students will be able to read at the intermediate level, which includes the ability to search for specific information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations about literature, science,and social studies materials. However, 66 percent of African-American students have reached that level of reading proficiency and 70 percent of Hispanic-American students are reading at the intermediate level.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Functionalists believe that the role of schools is to provide a fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting out the best and brightest individuals, regardless of family background.
8.2. Functionalists expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results, and these results are based on individual differences between students, not to group differences.
8.3. Conflict theorists believe that the role of schooling is to reproduce rather than eliminate inequality. Conflict theorist are concerned with both equality of opportunity and results.
8.3.1. Cultural deprivation theories states that working-class and nonwhite families often lack cultural resources, such as books and other educational stimuli, thus arrive at school at a significant disadvantage. If these students are not prepared for school at home, then is it the role of the preschool to provide the necessary foundation for learning.
8.3.2. The culture of poverty reflects hard work and initiative as a means to success, and does not view schooling as the means to social mobility
8.4. Cultural difference theories agree that there are cultural and family difference between working-class and nonwhite students, and white middle-class students.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. It is clear that teachers work within social and organizational environments that indeed have profound effects on them and often limit their ability to affect meaningful change. Also teachers can and do make a difference, often in spite of what may seem like intractable problems. The research indicates that solutions to educational problems cannot rely on talent,energy, and hard work of teachers alone, but must reform the social and organizational conditions of schooling.
9.2. Schools must have "highly qualified"teachers for the "core academic subjects" (English, reading or language arts, math, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography)
9.2.1. Testing is annually required for students in grades 3rd through 8th in reading and math and once in 10th and 12th grade.
9.2.2. States and Districts are required to report school-by-school data on student test performance whether the student is African-American, Hispanic-American, Native-American, Asian-American, white non-Hispanic, special education, limited English proficiency (LEP) and/or low income.
9.2.3. Minority and lower class children have more vision, hearing, and oral health problems than white children,which can affect their ability to focus and learn during school. Twas many poor children have severe vision impairments, which interferes with their academic work
9.3. The Traditional distinction between public and private education became blurred with private education companies increasingly becoming involved in public education in a variety of ways.
9.3.1. Each state and locally created school-to-school system had to contain three core elements: (1) school-based learning (classroom instruction based on high academic and business-defined occupational skill standards); (2) work-based learning (career exploration, work experience, structured training and mentoring at job sites); (3) connecting activities (courses integrating classroom and on-the-job instruction, matching students with participating employers, training of mentors, and the building of other bridges between school and work)