1. Sociological Perspectives
1.1. Functional Theory
1.1.1. view society as a machine that articulates and produces the energy needed to make society work
1.1.2. Emile Durkheim
1.1.2.1. recognized that education had taken different forms at different times
1.1.2.2. believed that education was of critical importance in creating the moral unity and harmony of society
1.1.2.3. moral values were the foundation of society
1.1.3. tends to assume that consensus is the normal state in society and conflict represents a breakdown of values
1.1.4. selects students according to their abilities
1.1.5. supposed to create structures, programs, and curricula that are technically advanced, rational, and encourage social unity
1.1.6. moat US educators and reformers base their suggestions on functional theories of schooling
1.2. Effects of schooling on individuals that had the greatest impact on students in my opinion are:
1.2.1. employment
1.2.2. attitudes
2. Politics of Education
2.1. My perspective is more conservative.
2.1.1. I believe in you get out what you put in. If you put in little, you should get little in return and the opposite. This is how the social order dictates. You have the ability to change and adapt to your social environments and "climb the ladder" so to speak. I also have a slight perspective of a liberal focus in that I believe in equal opportunities.
2.1.2. I agree that conservative viewpoints of education are for social stability and economic productivity.
2.2. My vision is more progressive education.
2.2.1. I believe schools and education should be part of a plan to change the world for the better, be it technology or new concepts.
2.2.2. My vision is slightly different than you would think. I do understand the importance of a more traditional vision of education with concepts such as work ethics, family values, morals, and initiative. I also realize the importance of change and how much it will greatly affect our economy and social order for the better.
3. Philosophy of Education
3.1. Idealism- Prato
3.1.1. General Notation
3.1.1.1. He initiated the tradition of questioning and the search for the truth
3.1.1.2. His only constant was mathematics
3.1.1.3. His philosophy was to engage individuals in dialogue to gain their perspectives
3.1.1.4. His thought that education was important as a means of moving individuals collectively towards achieving a goal
3.1.2. Key Researchers
3.1.2.1. St. Augustine, Rene' Descartes, Immanuel Kant, George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
3.1.3. Goal of Education
3.1.3.1. interested in the search for truth through ideas
3.1.3.2. encourage students to discover truth with responsibility
3.1.3.3. ideas can change lives
3.1.4. Role of Teacher
3.1.4.1. analyze and discuss ideas with students
3.1.4.2. deal with abstract notions through dialectic methods
3.1.4.3. plays an active role in discussions, questioning, selecting materials and environments
3.1.4.4. teacher desired outcome
3.1.5. Mode of Instruction
3.1.5.1. take active part in students' learning
3.1.5.2. lectures, dialectic approach, questioning
3.1.6. Curriculum
3.1.6.1. back to basics approach
3.1.6.2. the 3 R's
3.2. Realism- Plato and Aristotle
3.2.1. General Notion
3.2.1.1. study the material for individuals to clarify ideas
3.2.1.2. material world is real
3.2.1.3. Realists hold that matter exists, independent of ideas
3.2.2. Key Researchers
3.2.2.1. Thomas Aquinas, Francis Bacon, John Locke, Alfred North Whitehead, Bertrand Russell
3.2.3. Goal of Education
3.2.3.1. emphasized only the study of ideas to understand ideas
3.2.3.2. real world was the starting point in the quest for understanding
3.2.3.3. help individuals understand and apply principles of science to help solve problems
3.2.4. Role of Teacher
3.2.4.1. steeped in the basic academic disciplines in order to transmit to their students the knowledge
3.2.4.2. solid ground in science, mathematics, and humanities
3.2.4.3. present ideas in a clear and consistent manner
3.2.4.4. enable students to learn objective methods of evaluating certain works
3.2.5. Mode of Instruction
3.2.5.1. lecture, question and answer
3.2.5.2. competency-based assessment
3.2.6. Curriculum
3.2.6.1. basics- math, science, reading, and writing
3.3. Pragmatism- John Dewey
3.3.1. General Notion
3.3.1.1. instrumentalism and experimentalism
3.3.1.2. founded on new psychology, behaviorism, and philosophy of pragmatism
3.3.1.3. ideas were influences by theory of evolution and optimistic belief in progress
3.3.1.4. obtain a better society through education
3.3.2. Key Researchers
3.3.2.1. George Sanders Peirce, William James, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
3.3.3. Goals of Education
3.3.3.1. rooted in social order
3.3.3.2. larger project of social progress and improvement
3.3.3.3. balance the social role with the effects on development of the individual
3.3.3.4. integrate students into a democratic society
3.3.3.5. growth
3.3.4. Role of Teachers
3.3.4.1. no longer the authoritarian figure
3.3.4.2. teacher assumes the peripheral position as facilitator
3.3.4.3. encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan the courses of study
3.3.5. Modes of Instruction
3.3.5.1. students learn both individually and in groups
3.3.5.2. students start their mode of inquiry by posing questions
3.3.5.3. problem-solving or inquiry method
3.3.5.4. field trips, projects, books are important aspects
3.3.5.5. formal instruction abandoned
3.3.6. Curriculum
3.3.6.1. follow a core curriculum
3.3.6.2. contemporary problem solving
3.4. Existentialism/Phenomenology
3.4.1. General Notion
3.4.1.1. individuals are placed on earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter
3.4.1.2. "existence precedes essence"
3.4.1.3. people must create themselves, their own meaning, make up their own lives
3.4.1.4. creating chaos and order, good and evil
3.4.1.5. choice
3.4.2. Key Researchers
3.4.2.1. Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Paul Sartre, Maxine Greene, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty
3.4.3. Goals of Education
3.4.3.1. education should focus on the needs of the individual both cognitively and affectively
3.4.3.2. education should stress individuality
3.4.3.3. notion of possibility
3.4.3.4. activity of liberating the individual from chaos
3.4.4. Roles of Teacher
3.4.4.1. understand their own "lived worlds" as well as their students'
3.4.4.2. take risks, work constantly to enable students to become "wide awake"
3.4.4.3. intensely personal
3.4.5. Modes of Instruction
3.4.5.1. different learning styles
3.4.5.2. learn cooperatively
3.4.5.3. nontraditional, nonthreatening
3.4.5.4. help students understand the world through posing questions generating activities, and working together
3.4.6. Curriculum
3.4.6.1. heavily based toward humanities such as literature, art, drama, and music
3.5. Neo-Marxism- Karl Marx
3.5.1. General Notion
3.5.1.1. intellectual, theoretical, methodological
3.5.1.2. socialism
3.5.2. Key Researchers
3.5.2.1. Samuel Bowles, Herbert Gintis, Michael Apple, Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux
3.5.3. Goals of Education
3.5.3.1. reproduce the economic, social, and political staus quo
3.5.3.2. ideology and curriculum and pedagogic practices transmit dominant beliefs to children to legitimate the capitalist order
3.5.3.3. empower students to question ideology
3.5.3.4. enable individuals both to understand the weaknesses and to construct alternate visions and possibilities
3.5.4. Roles of Teacher
3.5.4.1. teacher must be "transformative intellectual" to engage students in critical examination of the world
3.5.5. Modes of Instruction
3.5.5.1. favors dialectic approach
3.5.5.2. question and answer
3.5.5.3. rigorous analysis of aspects of the world
3.5.5.4. reveal underlying assumptions of society and help students see alternative possibilities
3.5.6. Curriculum
3.5.6.1. not objective to value free but is socially constructed
3.5.6.2. organized and codified representation of the power that shapes students' need to know
3.6. Postmodernist/Critical Theory
3.6.1. General Notion
3.6.1.1. developed out of the profound dissatisfication with modernism
3.6.1.2. based on the belief in progress through science and technology
3.6.1.3. emphasized Enlightenment belief in reason
3.6.1.4. stressed Enlightenment principles such as equality, liberty, and justice
3.6.2. Key Researchers
3.6.2.1. Derrida & Baudrillard, Aronowitz & Giroux, Harvey, Jameson, Marx & Engels, Durkheim
3.6.3. Goals of Education
3.6.3.1. explore differences between what may seem like inherently contradictory positions in an effort to achieve understanding, respect, and change
3.6.4. Roles of Teacher
3.6.4.1. transformative intellectuals and provide a critical pedagogy for school transformation
3.6.5. Methods of Instruction
3.6.5.1. incorporation of different voices into the curriculum and student reflection
3.6.6. Curriculum
3.6.6.1. curriculum development no longer a technocratic exercise concerned with educational goals and objectives but rather with providing students with new forms of knowledge
4. Local Stakeholders
4.1. Alabama State Board of Education
4.1.1. State Senator District 6
4.1.1.1. Larry Stutts
4.1.2. House of Representatives District 43
4.1.2.1. Arnold Mooney
4.1.3. State Superintendent
4.1.3.1. Thomas Bice
4.1.4. State Representatives
4.1.4.1. Robert Bentley- President, Jeff Newman- Vice President, Yvette Richardson- President pro tem, Thomas Bice- Secretary/Executive Officer
4.2. Shelby County Board of Education
4.2.1. Superintendent
4.2.1.1. Randy Fuller
4.2.2. Board Members
4.2.2.1. Aubrey Miller- President
4.2.2.2. Peg Hill, Jane Hampton, Jimmy Bice, Kevin Morris
5. History of U.S. Education
5.1. Progressive Movement
5.1.1. Equality of Opportunity
5.1.1.1. Civil Rights movements during the 40s and 50s saw that schools were anything but equal
5.1.1.2. Brown vs. Topeka BOE in 1954 changed a lot when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated schools were unconstitutional
5.1.1.3. There has been great strides for equality in education, but we still have issues arise on segregation in schools mainly based on communities and school placements
5.2. Conservative Perspectives
5.2.1. Diane Ravitch
5.2.1.1. argued that the preoccupation with using education to solve social problems was not working and has led to the erosion of educational excellance
5.2.1.2. argued that the adjustment of the traditional curriculum to meet the needs of all the different groups is a violation of the fundamental function of schooling
5.2.1.3. argued that certain reforms have resulted in a corporate takeover of public schooling and threaten the democratic nature of public education
6. Educational Inequality
6.1. What is educational inequality?
6.1.1. Educational inequality is described as significant differences in educational achievements and attainment based on social class, race, gender, and other ascriptive characteristics.
6.2. Argument against Cultural Deprivation
6.2.1. One argument against cultural deprivation is that it takes the focus of the responsibility of the school's success from teachers and the school to parents and families.
6.3. Student-Centered Explanations
6.3.1. genetic differences- unequal differences based on gender or disorders
6.3.2. race differences- unequal achievement among different race groups, achievement gaps
7. Schools as Organizations
7.1. Nature of Teaching
7.1.1. Teachers are expected to perform miracles with children but are seldom given the respect
7.1.2. Teachers are asked to put in 60 hour weeks but are paid relatively small salaries
7.1.3. Teachers are expected to reform education but are left out of the reform processes
7.1.4. Teachers must be skilled in many areas of technical expertise and human relations
7.2. Professionalism
7.2.1. Teachers are the key players in education but their voices are seldom heard and their knowledge is terribly underutilized and devalued
7.2.2. The role switching is extremely demanding and a major cause of teacher burnout
7.2.3. If teachers are to be truly professional, they must be able to share in the important decisions within the schools
8. Educational Inequality
9. Educational Reform
9.1. Preferred Approaches to School Reform
9.1.1. More Effective Teachers
9.1.1.1. better teacher education programs
9.1.2. School Finance Reform
9.1.2.1. smater funding based on need
9.1.3. Connecting Schools with Communities
9.1.3.1. after school programs, pre-K schools, HeadStart programs