1. Politics of Education
1.1. The Conservative Perspective
1.1.1. Developed originally by William Graham Sumner
1.1.1.1. Individuals and groups must compete in the social environment in order to survive, and human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive
1.1.1.1.1. The view that individuals are rational actors who make decisions on a cost benefit scale.
1.2. Traditional Visions of Eductation
1.2.1. View the schools as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society
1.2.1.1. Examples: Hard work, family unity, individual initiative
1.2.1.1.1. Believes the schools should pass on the best of what was and what is
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School
2.1.1. The period from 1820-1860 in the U.S. was a period in which enormous changes took place with unprecedented speed.
2.1.1.1. By 1828, Andrew Jackson was elected and all men had obtained the right to vote
2.1.1.1.1. In 1837, Horace Mann became Massachusetts first secretary of the board of education.
2.1.2. Taxation for public education was viewed as "unjust" by nonrecipients
2.1.2.1. In 1821, Emma Hart Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York
2.1.2.1.1. In 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified.
2.2. The Democratic-Liberal School
2.2.1. Definition- believe that the history of U.S. education involves the progressive evolution, albeit flawed, of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.
2.2.1.1. Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawrence A. Cremin all represent this view
2.2.1.1.1. The Common School Era was portrayed as a victory for democratic movements and the first step in opening the U.S. education to all.
2.2.2. Popular Education and Its Discontents (1990) by Cremin
2.2.2.1. Two ideals: equality and excellence
2.2.2.1.1. Democratic- liberals believe that the U.S. educational system must continue to move closer to each, without sacrificing one or the other too dramatically.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Functional Theory
3.1.1. Creates structure, programs, and curricula that are technically advanced, rational, and encourage social unity
3.1.1.1. Emile Durkheim supports this views. His major works are Moral Education (1962), The Evolution of Educational Thought (1977), and Education and Sociology (1956).
3.1.1.1.1. Believed that education, virtually all societies, was of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony.
3.2. Three effects of schooling on individuals
3.2.1. Attitudes: I think that having the right attitude has a major impact on individuals. For example, if a student is constantly disruptive in school, when he/she goes out into the real world they will never survive without the right attitude.
3.2.1.1. Education: I know there are lots of people who do not have never graduated high school or college and they have decent jobs. However, I do believe that having a degree and going to school will better educate you and prepare you for the real world and for a real job.
3.2.1.1.1. Employment: I think that those who went to college and graduated have a better job than those you didn't. According to the book in 1986, about 54 percent of the 8 million college graduates in the U.S. entered professional and technical jobs (pg. 121).
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Pragmatism is generally viewed as an American philosophy that developed in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Pragmatism comes from the Greek word pragma, meaning work. Dewey's philosophy of education was the most important influence on what has been termed progressive education.
4.1.1. Generic Notions: Dewey's form of pragmatism- instrumentalism and experimentalism- was founded on the new psychology, behaviorism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. Dewey's ideas about education, often referred to as progressive, proposed that education start with the needs and interests of the child in the classroom, allow the child to participate in planning his or her course of study, employ project method group learning, and depend heavily on experiential learning. He advocated both freedom and responsibility for students, since this are vital components of democratic living.
4.1.1.1. Key Researchers: The founders of this school of thought are George Sanders Pierce (1839-1914), William James (1842-1910), and John Dewey (1859-1952). There are European philosophers from earlier periods who might also be classified as pragmatists, such as Frances Bacon, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
4.1.1.1.1. Goal of Education: Dewey believed that philosophy had a responsibility to society and that ideas require laboratory testing; hence he stressed the importance of the school as a place where ideas can be implemented, challenged, and restructured, with the goal of providing students with the knowledge of how to improve the social order. Dewey's philosophy of education made a conscious attempt to balance the social role of the school with its effects on the social, intellectual, and personal development of individuals. His view that the role of the school was to integrate children into not just any type of society but a democratic one. The primary role of education was growth. The role of the school was to be "a lever of social reform"- that is, to be the central institution for societal and personal improvement, and to do so by balancing a complex set of processes.
4.2. Role of the Teacher: The teacher is no longer the authoritarian figure from which all knowledge flows; rather, the teacher assumes the peripheral position of facilitator. The teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study. The teacher also writes curriculum and must have a command of serval disciplines in order to create and implement curriculum.
4.2.1. Method of Institution: Dewey proposed that children learn both individually and in groups. He believed that children should start their mode of inquiry by posing questions about what they want to know. Today, that method is referred to as problem solving. Formal instruction was abandoned. Traditional blocks of time for specific discipline instruction were eliminated. Furniture, usually nailed to the floor, were discarded in favor of tables and chairs that could be grouped as needed. Children could converse quietly with one another, could stand up and stretch if warranted, and could pursue independent study or group work. Lockstep, rote memorization of traditional schools was replaced with individualized study, problem solving, and the project method.
4.2.1.1. Curriculum: Progressive schools generally follow Dewey's notion of a core curriculum, or an integrated curriculum. A particular subject matter under investigation by students, such as whales, would yield problems to be solved using math, science, history, reading, writing, music, art, wood or metal working, cooking and sewing- all the academic and vocational disciplines in an integrated interconnected way. Progressive educators support starting with contemporary problems and working from the known to the unknown, or what is now called in social studies education, "the curriculum of expanding environments." Progressive educators are not wedded to a fixed curriculum either; rather, curriculum changes as the social order changes and as children's interests and needs change.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. State Senator is Senator Arthur Orr
5.1.1. State House of Representatives: Micky Hammon, Ken Johnson, Terri Collins, Ed Henry, Randall Shedd
5.1.1.1. State Superintendent: Dr. Tommy Bice
5.1.1.1.1. Representative on State School Board: Cynthia McCarty
5.2. Compare another country's education system (Great Britain): Before the 19th Century, the education of children of Great Britain was considered to be a responsibility of parents. All schools were private. For children of very wealthy families, parents often hired tutors. For poor children there was no schooling. During the 19th century, there was a system of charity schools for the poor. Most of these schools were operated by religious organizations.
5.2.1. The establishment of a national education system for all children in the early 19th Century was opposed by the Church of England and Roman Catholics. The 1870 Education Act led to the beginnings of a national system, although the Church of England continued to maintain its own schools. This compromise between Church and State led to the dual system of education that still exists in Great Britain, whereby State-run schools are controlled by Local Education Authorities, while Church schools continue to operate, often funded by the State through the LEAs.
5.2.1.1. There were many attempts to reform this system, but not until the 1944 Education Act that a truly national system of education was established as part of an "integrated public service welfare state." Free primary and secondary education was provided for all children. Children from wealthy homes received academic training in grammar schools, and children from working-class homes received vocational training.
5.2.1.1.1. During the 1960s, there was an effort to democratize Great Britain's educational system. Throughout the 1980s, the Conservative Government, led by Margaret Thatcher, attempted to reform the educational system by privatizing public education, by encouraging greater parental choice, and by reorganizing the administrative structure of the Senate educational system.
6. Curriculum of Pedagogy
6.1. Historical:The developmentalist curriculum: is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
6.1.1. This curriculum emanated from the aspects of Dewey's writings related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum, as well as developmental psychologists such as Piaget, and it emphasized the process of teaching as well as its content.
6.1.1.1. This philosophically progressive approach to teaching was student centered and was concerned with relating the curriculum to the needs and interests of each child at particular developmental stages.
6.2. Sociological: The hidden curriculum: includes what is taught to students through implicit rules and messages, as well as through what is left out of the formal curriculum.
6.2.1. For example, very few undergraduate or graduate students can list more than one 19th century American feminist. In fact, many don't know that there was a feminist movement in the 19th century. We believe it is because the history of women has never been a part of the school curriculum.
6.2.1.1. Certain ideas, people, and events are not part of the curriculum because those who formulate it do not deem them important enough. In terms of the hidden curriculum, students receive a message that these things are just not important, which ultimately is powerful force in shaping human consciousness.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Educational achievement and attainment of women
7.1.1. Today, females are less likely to drop out of school than males, and more likely to have a higher level of reading proficiency than males.
7.1.1.1. According to the graphs in the book: Females achieve at higher levels in reading at ages 9,13, and 17. Females achieve at slightly higher levels in mathematics at age 9 and at lower levels at age 13 and 17. Females achieve at lower levels in science at ages 9,13, and 17.
7.1.1.1.1. Females have outperformed males in reading since 1973 and males have out numbered females in mathematics and science since 1973.
7.2. Response to Coleman: Round Two
7.2.1. The debate over the High School Achievement findings has centered on the interpretations attached to the magnitude of his findings.
7.2.1.1. Jencks used Coleman's findings to compute the estimated yearly average achievement gain by public and Catholic school students.
7.2.1.1.1. Studies that have compared public and private schools have also found that private schools seem to "do it better," particularly for low-income students.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Sociological: 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.
8.1.1. The functionalist vision of a just society is one where individual talent and hard work based on universal principles of evaluation are more important than ascriptive characteristics based on particularistic methods of evaluation.
8.1.1.1. Functionalists expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results, but these results ought to be based on individual differences between students, not on group differences.
8.1.1.1.1. For functionalists, it is imperative to understand the sources of educational inequality so as to ensure the elimination of structural barriers to educational success and to provide all groups a fair chance to compete in the educational marketplace.
8.2. Student-Centered Explanation: Genetic Differences: The most controversial student centered explanation is the genetic or biological argument.
8.2.1. The argument that unequal educational performance by working class and non white students is due to genetic differences in intelligence was offered by psychologist Arthur Jensen in a highly controversial article in the Harvard Educational Review.
8.2.1.1. Jensen indicated that compensatory programs were doomed to failure because they were aimed at changing social and environmental factors, when the root of the problem was biological.
8.2.1.1.1. Jensen, based on sophisticated statistical analyses, argued that African Americans, genetically, are less intelligent than whites and therefore do less well in school, where intelligence is an important component of educational success. Given these date and his conclusions, Jensen was pessimistic about the likelihood that the academic performance of African Americans could be substantially improved.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School Based Reform: School Business Partnerships- During the 1980s, business leaders became increasingly concerned that the nation's schools were not producing the kinds of graduates necessary for a revitalization of the U.S. economy. Several school business partnerships were formed, the most notable of which was the Boston Compact began in 1982.
9.1.1. In 1991, the Committee to Support Philadelphia Public Schools pledged management assistance and training to the Philadelphia School District to restructure and implement a site-based management plan. In return, the city promised that by 1995 it would raise the test scores of its graduates and improve grade promotion rates.
9.1.1.1. Despite the considerable publicity that surrounds the partnerships, the fact is that in the 1980s, only 1.5 percent of corporate giving was to public primary and secondary public schools. Corporate and business support for public schools has fallen dramatically since the 1970s.
9.1.1.1.1. Over the past decade, a group of foundations and entrepreneurs have contributed significantly to education reform efforts. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed hundreds of million dollars to small schools and more recently teacher to teacher effectiveness. The $100 million contributed by Mark Zuckerberg to improve education in Newark, New Jersey. School- business partnerships have attracted considerable media attention, but there is little convincing evidence that they have significantly improved schools or that, as a means of reform, school- business partnerships will address fundamental problems facing U.S. education.
9.2. Societal,community, economic, political reform: School Finance Reforms- Following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Rodriguez v. San Antonio, which declared there is no constitutional right to an equal education, school finance equity and adequacy advocates litigated at the state level.
9.2.1. The court ruled in 1990, stating that more funding was needed to serve children in the poorer school districts, In order to provide a "thorough and efficient education" in urban districts, funding was equalized between urban and suburban school districts. It was also determined that extra funding was to be distributed to provide additional programs in order to eliminate disadvantages within poorer school districts.
9.2.1.1. In 1998, the state was required to implement a package of supplemental programs, including preschool, as well as a plan to renovate urban school facilities. Abbott V implemented additional entitlements for urban schools, including whole school reform, full day kindergarten, preschool for all 3 and 4 year olds, a comprehensively managed and funded facilities program to correct code violations; a plan to eliminate overcrowding, and to provide adequate space for all educational programs at Abbott schools.
9.2.1.1.1. Although all of these educational reforms have demonstrated the potential to improve schools for low-income and minority children, especially in urban areas, by themselves they are limited in reducing the achievement gaps unless they also address the factors outside the schools responsible for educational inequalities. In addition to school based programs, such as early childhood programs, summer programs, and after school programs, Rothstein calls for economic programs to reduce income inequality and to create stable and affordable housing, and the expansion of school community clinics to provide health care and counseling.