1. Politics of Education
1.1. Viewpoints of education: Conservative, Liberal, Radical, Neo-liberal.
1.2. Conservative: believes social evolution as adaptation to changes in the environment. Enables the strongest groups to survive.
1.3. Liberal: believes if the market is left untouched, it's prone to significant abuses. Emphasis on equality and equal opportunities.
1.3.1. Liberals believe that too much power is given to the wealthy. They focus on balancing productivity with the social needs of majority of the people.
1.3.1.1. No child left behind act (2001)
1.4. Radical: Believes socialist economy that build on democratic political system would provide all with a decent style of living.
1.4.1. Radicals believe that social problems are caused by the U.S society. This does not pertain to individuals but the society as a whole.
1.5. Neo-liberal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lIj_znSrhQ
1.5.1. Neo-liberals believe in 5 areas for education policy: Austerity, market model, individualism, state intervention, and economic prosperity.
1.5.2. Austerity: cutting public spending on education
1.5.3. Market model: support charter schools along with private schools for low-income students
1.5.4. Individualism: educational success is the result of ones individual effort rather than social or economic factors.
1.5.5. State intervention: interventions in education systems are required to ensure equality.
1.5.6. Economic prosperity: Blame schools and teachers for education gaps for lower economical students.
1.6. Vision on education: Traditional and progressive
1.6.1. Traditional: necessary to the traditional values like hard work, family unity, individual initiative ect.
1.7. Progressive: views schools as central to solving social problems. Believes as essential to the development of individual potential.
1.7.1. http://www.wingraschool.org/who/progressive.htm
2. Educational Reform
3. History of U.S. Education
3.1. History of Education
3.2. Settlers brought their ideas to the new world. With their ideas came the Old Deluder law. This law was not very popular in New England but is a huge landmark in education today.
3.2.1. It was then Franklin who believed that education should pursue a study rather then than rote learning. This is where reading, writing, math and public speaking evolved.
3.2.1.1. The next huge milestone in education is Thomas Jefferson proposed the Bill for the more general diffusion of knowledge. This provided fee education to all children for the first three years of elementary school.
3.2.1.2. In elementary schools, student were taught mastery through memorization. They were taught writing skills as well. They were strictly disciplined
3.2.1.3. In secondary education, education emphases on the teaching of Latin and Greek.
3.3. Educational reform
3.4. Horace Mann of Massachusetts lead for free public education. It turns out, Mann was one of the greatest educational reformers.
3.4.1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAnTmplQ_tw
3.4.1.1. By the 19th century, women were attending elementary schools and private schools. Although education for African-Americans were severely limited.
3.4.1.1.1. Benjamin Roberts filed a legal suit on Boston because he was upset his daughter had to go to a segregated school. Then the court ruled that they could establish their own African-American schools.
3.5. Before 1875, fewer than 25,000 students were enrolled in high school. Diane Ravitch pointed out 4 themes that were troubling educators.
3.5.1. The first theme was causing tension between learning Latin and Greek and English. This was so much to be teaching kids and didn't apply real world application.
3.5.1.1. The second theme was high schools not being able to get students to meet college requirements because every college was different.
3.5.1.1.1. The third theme was getting educators to prepare students for life rather than normal everyday academics.
4. Sociological Perspectives
4.1. Three theoretical perspectives: Functional, conflict, and interactional
4.2. Functional: Believes that education in virtually all society's was vital in creating the moral unity for social harmony.
4.2.1. Emile Durkheim(1858-1917) was the earliest sociologist to embrace a view about relation and society.
4.2.1.1. After A nation at Risk was released in1983, it became apparent that education did not have the power to overcome deep social problems without changing the U.S
4.2.1.1.1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9KZBxmXCU
4.3. Conflict: Believes the dominant group will impose their will through force and manipulation. They do not see a relationship between school and society to be a problem.
4.3.1. Karl Marx(1818-1883) believed that the class system, which made class struggle inevitable.
4.3.1.1. Randall Collins believed that an accomplishment like a diploma did not indicate achievement. He said that raising the standards, would not raise the society.
4.4. Interactional: Believes in understanding everyday behaviors that happen in education. They ask what one never does in the education world, like what happens in a classroom everyday.
4.4.1. Interactional theorists examined how school systems worked on the inside, so that there would be logical meaningful; content. For example, how they score gifted children vs. how they group their lower students.
4.5. Three effects of schooling that I feel have the greatest impact on students is : achievement, the teacher, and the atmosphere.
4.5.1. Achievement: I find achievement to be a crucial impact in education because we need students to know what it feel like to succeed. I say that because we need to challenge students in order for them to grow. If a student has no benchmarked where needed, it is okay. What they need to understand is that they have improved and achieved a higher level. This is something I feel this has the greatest impact on students because it they have not had the opportunity to strive to achieve goals, they will lack confidence and not be successful in the real world.
4.5.2. Teachers: I believe that a great teacher has a great impact on students. When a student has a great teacher, that teacher does anything and everything to get that student where they need to be. Even if a student is below level or struggling, a great teacher takes the time and tries to fill the gaps that the student has with interventions.
4.5.2.1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is46e1EH9Jk
4.5.3. Atmosphere: I believe that a family oriented classroom that understands it's okay to make mistakes is where learning actually occurs. I say this because students will participate knowing that if they are wrong , it's okay. This type of atmosphere has the greatest impact on students because they learn more because they are participating and are interested. It's a judge free classroom. If a student was in an uptight classroom where they felt uncomfortable giving an answer, that is when all learning stops and never continues. It is key for a student to be comfortable with their atmosphere.
4.5.3.1. http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/news/welcoming-classrooms-better-students/
5. Philosophy of Education
5.1. There are 5 educational philosophies: Essentialism, Perennialism, Progressivism, Social reconstruction, and Existentialism.
5.2. Two of these philosophies are teacher centered. This means that the teacher Is in charge in the classroom.
5.2.1. Essentialism: Focuses on reading, writing and arithmetic. This focuses on going back to the basic foundation of education.
5.2.2. Perennialism: The teacher chooses "Great Books" for the students to reference and teaches from those books. Examples: Bible, Odyssey.
5.2.3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5i5SytZ7kE
5.3. The remaining 3 philosophies revolve around student centered learning. This means that the students make the rules and are in charge of what takes place in school.
5.3.1. Progressivism: Teaches student how to think instead of telling them what to think. This philosophy focuses on group work, critical thinking and the scientific method.
5.3.2. Social Reconstruction: Focuses on global issues like making the world a better place and letting student do activities to make the world a better place.
5.3.3. Existentialism: Deals with personal self understanding. Students are able to decide what and why they learn. It is an open learning environment where what they want goes.
5.3.4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3d9nG3QQUA