1. Philosophy of Education
1.1. Role of the Teacher
1.1.1. It is the teacher's responsibility to analyze and discuss ideas with students in order for students to move to new levels of awareness so that ultimately they can be transformed.
1.2. Methods of Instruction
1.2.1. Through questioning, students are encouraged to discuss, analyze, synthesize, and apply what they have read to contemporary society. Students are also encouraged to work in groups or individually on research projects, both oral and written.
1.3. Curriculum
1.3.1. Idealists place great importance on the study of classics (i.e., great literature of past civilizations that illustrated temporary concerns). Curriculum for realists consists of basics: science and math, reading and writing, and the humanities. Existentialists and phenomenologists would choose curriculum heavily biased toward the humanities.
1.4. Generic Notions
1.4.1. Philosophers often pose difficult, abstract questions that are not easily answered. Plato helped initiate this tradition through his concern for the search for truth. Plato thought that education, in particular, was important as a means of moving individuals collectively toward achieving the good. Aristotle, however, believed that only through studying the material world was it possible for an individual to clarify or develop ideas.
1.5. Goal of Education
1.5.1. Educators who subscribe to idealism are interested in the search for truth through ideas rather than through the examination of the false shadowy world of matter. Both Aristotle and Plato believed that important questions concerning such notions as the good life, truth, beauty, and so on could be answered through the study of ideas, using the dialectical method.
1.6. Key Researchers
1.6.1. Aristotle is particularly important because he was the first philosopher to develop a rational, systematic method for testing the logic of statements people make.
2. Schools as Organizations
2.1. Local
2.1.1. Superintendent: Rodney Green
2.1.2. Local School Board: Blount County Board of Education
2.2. State
2.2.1. Superintendent: Tommy Bice
2.2.2. House of Representatives: http://www.legislature.state.al.us/aliswww/Representatives.aspx
2.2.3. Representative on State School Board: Governor Robert J. Bentley "President"
2.2.4. State Senators: Governor Robert J. Bentley and Secretary of State John Merrill
2.3. China Education
2.3.1. Education in China is a state-run system of public education run by the Ministry of Education. All citizens must attend school for at least nine years, known as the nine-year compulsory education, which the government funds.
3. Curriculum and Pedagogy
3.1. Humanist Curriculum
3.1.1. Reflects the idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts is the cornerstone of an educated citizenry and that the purpose of education is to present to students the best of what has been thought and written.
3.1.2. The history of the curriculum helps explain why the curriculum looks as it does today.
3.1.3. This curriculum model dominated nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century U.S. education and was codified in the National Education Association's Committee of Ten.
3.2. Sociological Curriculum
3.2.1. Sociologists of curriculum have focused on not only what is taught but why it is taught.
3.2.2. Sociologists of curriculum reject the objectivist notion that curriculum is value neutral; rather, they view it as a reflection of particular interests within society.
3.2.3. The sociology of the curriculum concentrates on the function of what is taught in schools and its relationship to the role of schools within society.
4. Equality of Opportunity
4.1. Educational Achievement and Attainment
4.1.1. The academic achievement of students from different backgrounds is an important aspect of sociological research on education.
4.1.2. For persons of both sexes 25 years old or older, 92.1 percent of whites graduated high school and 33.3 percent received a bachelors degree; 84 percent of African Americans graduated high school and 52.4 percent received a bachelors degree.
4.1.3. These data indicate that despite improvements by minority students, other races still lag behind white students in educational achievement and attainment.
5. Educational Inequality
5.1. Sociological Explanation
5.1.1. Sociological research on educational outcomes attempts to separate the independent effects of variables. It is clear, however, that that although gender, race, and ethnicity have independent effects, and that women, African Americans, and other ethnic groups are often negatively affected by societal and school processes.
5.2. School-Centered Explanation
5.2.1. How does one explain differences in academic performance among groups of students within the same school? A completely individualistic explanation states that these differences are the result of individual differences in intelligence or initiative.
6. Politics of Education
6.1. Conservative Perspective
6.1.1. Conservative perspective looks at social evolution as the process that enables the strongest individuals and/or groups to survive, and looks at human and social evolution as adaptation to changes in the environment. From this point of view, individuals and groups must compete in the social environment to survive, and human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive.
6.1.2. A second feature of the conservative perspective is believing that the free market or market economy of capitalism is both the most economically productive economic system and the system that is most respectful of human needs (e.g. for competition and freedom).
6.1.3. Thus, the conservative view of social problems places its primary emphasis on the individual and suggests that individuals have the capacity to earn or not earn their place within a market economy, and that solutions to problems should also be addressed at the individual level.
6.2. Traditional Vision
6.2.1. Discussions of education often refer to traditional and progressive visions. Although these terms have a great deal in common with the conservative, liberal, and radical perspectives, they are sometimes used interchangeably or without clear definitions, and therefore there is often confusion concerning terminology.
6.2.2. Traditional visions tend to view the school's as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society, such as hard work, family unity, individual initiative, and so on.
6.2.3. In a nutshell, traditionalist believe the schools should pass on the best of what was and what is, and progressives believe the schools should be part of the steady progress to make things better.
7. History of U.S. Education
7.1. Reform Movement
7.1.1. In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence (1983), founded by President Reagan's Secretary of Education, Terrel Bell, issued its now famous report, A Nation At Risk. This report provided serious indictment of U.S. education and cited high rates of adult literacy, declining SAT scores, and low scores on international comparisons of knowledge by U.S. students as examples of the decline of literacy and standards.
7.1.2. By the late 1970s, conservative critics began to react to the educational reforms of the 1960s and 1970s. They argued that liberal reforms in pedagogy and curriculum, and in the arena of educational opportunity had resulted in the decline of authority and standards.
7.1.3. As solutions, the commission offered five recommendations: (1) that all students graduating from high school complete what was termed the "new basics"- four years of English, three years of math, three years of science, three years of social studies, and a half year of computer science; (2) that schools at all levels expect higher achievement from their students and that four-year colleges and universities raise their admissions requirements; (3) that more time be devoted to teaching the new basics; (4) that the profession; and (5) that citizens require their elected representatives to support and fund these reforms (cited in Cremin, 1990, p. 31).
7.2. Historical Interpretation
7.2.1. The history of education in the United States, as we have illustrated, has been one of conflict, struggle, and disappointment. It has also been marked by a somewhat ironic pattern of cycles of reform about aims, goals, and purpose of education on one hand, and little change in actual classroom practice on the other (Cuban, 1984).
7.2.2. The different interpretations of U.S. educational history revolve around the tensions between equity and excellence.
7.2.3. This occurred first, by extending primary school to all through compulsory education laws during the Common School Era; second, by extending high school education to the majority of adolescents by the end of the Progressive Era; and third, by extending postsecondary education to the largest number of high school graduates in the world by the 1990s.
8. Sociological Perspectives
8.1. Theoretical Perspectives
8.1.1. A good definition of "theory" is an integration of all known principles, laws, and information pertaining to a specific area of study. For example, functional theories. Functionalist view society as a kind of machine, where one part articulates with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work.
8.1.2. Conflict theories: Not all sociologists of education believe that society is held together by shared values alone. Some sociologists argue that the social order is not based on some collective agreement, but on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation.
8.1.3. Interactional theories about the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
8.2. Three Effects of Schooling
8.2.1. 1. Knowledge and Attitudes: Generally, it is found that the higher the social class background of the student, the higher his or her achievement level. Other research has indicated that the more education individuals receive, the more likely they are to read to newspapers, books, and magazines, and to take part in politics and public affairs. More highly educated people are also more likely to be liberal in their political and social attitudes.
8.2.2. 2. Employment: Most students believe that graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities, and they are right. Research has shown that large organizations, such as corporations, require high levels of education for white-collar, managerial, or administrative jobs.
8.2.3. 3. Education and Mobility: The belief that occupational and social mobility begin at the schoolhouse door is a critical component of the American ethos.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School-Based Reforms
9.1.1. During the 1980s and 1990s, many educational researchers and policy analysis indicated that most public schools were failing in terms of student achievement, discipline, and morality. At the same period, some researchers were investigating private schools and concluding that they were more effective learning environments than public schools.
9.1.2. Charter Schools- Passage of the first state-legislated charter law in MN in 1991 has spawned enactment of charter laws in 41 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The movement has produced nearly 3,700 charter schools serving 1,076,964 students nationwide. Demands for charter schools still remain high.
9.1.3. Vouchers- In the 1990s, a number of states, including Wisconsin, Ohio, and Florida implemented school voucher programs, all of which were challenged in state courts for violating the separation of Church and State.
9.2. Societal, Community, Economic, and Political Reforms
9.2.1. For several decades at least, school accountability has been a prominent issue on the national education scene. Accountability has taken many forms, often involving state regulation or oversight.
9.2.2. Harlem Children's Zone- Growing up in the South Bronx and an-all black community on Long Island didn't prepare Geoffrey Canada for the academic and social challenges he faced at Bowden College in Maine. As a result, he wanted to ensure that other African American children were prepared.
9.2.3. Connecting School, Community, and Societal Reforms- Research argues that successful school reform must be based on a number of essential supports, including: 1. leadership as the driver for change; 2. parent-community ties; 3. professional capacity; 4. student-centered learning climate; 5. instructional guidance.