Foundations of Education

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Foundations of Education by Mind Map: Foundations of Education

1. Schools as Organizations

1.1. The state senator for my district is Paul Bussman.

1.2. The HOR member for my district is Ed Henry

1.3. The state superintendent of the Alabama Board of Education was Dr. Bice but he has since resigned. The superintendent of Cullman County schools at the current moment is Dr. Payne.

1.4. Japan has a stricter school system compared to that of the United States. They have longer days and terms.

1.5. Japan has produced some of the most educated people in the world.

1.6. Yet due to the long school days and not having as many breaks through out the year. Japan does have one of the highest suicide rates among teenagers.

2. Educational Inequallly

2.1. The sociological theory I went with was the Functionalist Theory. They believe in a fair system of picking out the best and brightest.

2.2. The functionalist understand that there could be unequal results but they believe the individual student not an entire group will have an unequal shot in education. It's been proved that no matter how smart or lack of a person is, the one thing that makes people successful is hard work and ambition.

2.3. The functionalist believe that unequal educational outcomes are a direct result from unequal educational opportunity.

2.4. One of the school centered differences is between school. Meaning what areas the schools are in. Inner city versus rural and things of that sort.

2.5. Most of the time the rural schools do not have the luxury of newer technology such as laptops and smart boards.

2.6. On the other side of that the inner city schools are often over crowed and have a variety of people when compared to rural areas where every one attending the school are roughly the same class race and religion. Another factor is how funding each school is getting. Normally the city schools get more than the rural areas.

3. Politics of Education

3.1. Conservative Perspective

3.1.1. The popular theory of the 18th century based in Charles Darwin discoveries. The man who developed this concept is William Graham Summer.

3.1.2. The belief in the free market. A strong mind set that an individual will make the most of the opportunities given to him or her.

3.1.3. This policy was followed by Reagan. During his tenure in office he stopped the cold war. He improved the U.S. economy. Reagan is viewed as one of the best Presidents in our history.

3.2. Traditional

3.2.1. The main idea behind the traditional view of schooling is to prepare students to follow the traditional values of the U.S. society.

3.2.2. The schools will teach students the best of what was and what is.

3.2.3. This view stresses the importance of teaching students to be hard working and those who are talented will have every tool to become successful.

3.3. Extent

3.3.1. Included

3.3.2. Included

3.3.3. Excluded

4. Curriculum and Pedagorgy

4.1. The Humanist Curriculum- Reflects the liberal arts as the corner stone of an educated citizen

4.2. Diane Ravtich is a chief supporter of this curriculum.

4.3. I fully support the Humanist Curriculum as I believe it is important to have an understanding of our past and of basic skills or subjects.

4.4. The Sociological Curriculum- Functionalists

4.5. The ideal that schools are used to help students fit into society. This curriculum helps them to understand the cultural heritage of the society.

4.6. The general functionalists theory is driven by the work of Emile Durkheim.

5. Equality of oppurturity

5.1. Between the years of 1973 and 1986 the gap in reading and math between African Americans, Hispanics and White had narrowed however from 86 to 99 it increased.

5.2. Several factors have lead to the gap in achievement between Whites and African Americans. One of them being the schools they attend, normally white students go to better schools meaning that the school system is not understaffed nor under resourced. Another factor leading to the increasing gap is the cocaine outbreak in the 80's this impacted minorities and poor whites the most causing many babies that were born in the 90's to be addicted to the substance.

5.3. To try and decrease the gap between these groups congress passed two major acts in the 90's and early 2000's the first being Goals 2000 under President Clinton in the 90's then to replace Goals 2000 was No Child Left Behind under President Bush in 2000 both of these had some success yet a few would argue that NCLB was twisted around so much that it did not accomplish what it set to do.

5.4. I found the resopnse to Colemans study labeled round two the most interesting cause its still under debate.

5.5. Coleman in 82 did and study to see which educational environment provided the better students public or private schools.

5.6. Coleman said the private schools were better because they expected more from their students. This is still under heavy debate on whether his theory is true or not. While this can be debatable it does seem as if the public schools are more laid back and the teachers don't expect a whole lot from their students.

6. History of U.S. education

6.1. Progressive Movement

6.1.1. It has the most influence. the effects of this movement can be seen in our laws politics and education.

6.1.2. The Progressive movement helped improve our schools.

6.1.3. The main point behind it is taking what is already in place improving it and giving the people something more useful to put in practice.

6.2. Democratic Liberal

6.2.1. This belief is centered in the progressive evolution.

6.2.2. Its main goal is to improve education for all individuals.

6.2.3. The democratic liberal interpretation is always working to fix the flawed system. This is something that will take time not an aspect that would take a couple years to fix.

7. Sociological Perpectives

7.1. Conflict Theory

7.1.1. The theory that the classes are always at war.

7.1.2. Karl Marx is the founder of this theory

7.1.3. This theory suggests that those who are wealthy will be better off than those who come from poor back ground. There is an example of this on page 120 saying that an individual from a prep school has more of an advantage than someone from a public school.

7.2. Effects of schooling on individuals-Empolyment

7.2.1. I believe Employment has the most impact as nearly everyone goes to college so they can get a high paying job or jump straight into a factory.

7.2.2. It states on page 121 that in 1986 about 56% of college graduates entered the work force.

7.2.3. In recent studies large organizations require high levels for white collar jobs and stuff of that sort.

8. Philosophy of Education

8.1. Existentialism

8.1.1. Generic Notions- Existentialism is a rather new philosophy. Some argue that it is not a school of philosophy at all. The main belief is we as individuals are placed on the earth alone and must make sense of all the craziness that surrounds us.

8.1.2. Goals of Education- The belief of the focus being on the individual. They stress the aspect of individuality. That both sides of the world should be discussed. As it says in the book on page 191. They view the world as being rational and non- rational. My take from this is they are trying and encouraging critical thinking and also to look at the world in a logical way not running solely on one's emotions.

8.1.3. Role of the Teacher- Teachers must be able to understand their own lived world as well as their students lived world. What I get from this is a teacher must know their own beliefs and way of life while realizing their students may have a different belief and background. The main goal of the teacher in Existentialism is to help students be engaging and also help them become the best that they can or as Maxine Green puts it "Wide Awake"

8.1.4. Methods Of Instruction- Existentialists believe learning is very personal. There's a strong belief that each child will learn differently. A strong dislike in a one fit all system. Which I personally am against. I agree with the Existentialists that a one size fits all is a terrible idea, children do live in a variety of ways therefore we need to find what works best for each student. They believe a teacher should have some type of friendship with each of their students to better understand them and help them succeed.

8.1.5. Curriculum- An over all exposure to the horror, possibilities and the accomplishments of the human race. They have a large focus on the humanities and literature. This is the only area where I am not fully on board with their view.

8.1.6. Key Researchers- Maxine Green is an Existentialist. We read one of her articles a couple weeks ago. In my opinion her article is the best one that we have read all semester. It is the only one that I really enjoyed reading from start to finish. I'm looking forward to reading even works by her.

9. Educational Reform

9.1. One of the education reforms is letting the schools is letting the schools have a little freedom with what they teach.

9.2. Due to the lack of what public schools are expecting out of their students more people are turning private or charter schools cause tend to offer more one on one sessions with students.

9.3. Another aspect to the school centered reform is Vouchers. This started in the 90's and had several cases taken to the Supreme Court. The issue was if the Vouchers were violating the separation of church and state. The court would rule that the States who had the Voucher system was not in violation of the first amendment clause. Voucher advocates argue that the system would give low income families the same shot as the middle and upper class. Another impact would be higher student achievement.

9.4. The economic reform for schools is what I'll focus on. Cause if schools are under funded then they will become under resourced, leading to students having insufficient education.

9.5. One of the major events in the economic reform was a Supreme Court Case in 73 Rodiriguez v. San Antonio where they ruled there is no constitutional right to an equal education. this would be challenged later on.

9.6. Funding for schools has been an issue for years and it still a major problem today with states playing the system. New Jersey was caught doing this when they were over funding one district and not giving enough funding to a district that really needed it.