1. Politics of Education
1.1. Conservative. From this point of view, individuals and groups must compete in the social environment in order to survive, and human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive. Role of school is to provide the necessary educational training
1.1.1. Traditional vision. Schools should pass on the best of what was and what is
1.1.1.1. Role of school is to provide the necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hard-working individuals receive the tools necessary to maximize economic and social productivity.
1.1.1.1.1. Conservatives argue that individuals or groups of students rise and fall on their own intelligence, hard work, and initiative, and that achievement is based on hard work and sacrifice.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. The Age of Reform: free publicly funded school
2.1.1. Oppostition were people without children, or children who attended private school considered taxation unjust.
2.1.1.1. Horace Mann believed that schools can change the social order and that education can foster social mobility.
2.1.1.1.1. Also, this reform contributed to the education for women and African Americans.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. An understanding of society is essential if teachers are to develop as reflective practitioners.
3.1.1. Sociologists take interest in how schools act as agents of cultural and social transmission. Schools-as well as parents, churches and synagogues, and other groups- shape children's perceptions of the world by process of socialization. That is, values, beliefs, and norms of society are internalized within children so that they come to think and act like other members if society.
3.1.1.1. Knowledge and attitudes, the social background of the student has a big impact on how their behavior and achievement levels are. Differences in schools account for the differences in student achievement.
3.1.1.1.1. Employment. Most research has shown that the amount of education is only weakly related to job performance.
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Plato"s method of doing philosophy was to engage another individual in a dialogue and, through the dialogue, question that individual"s point of view.
4.1.1. Since Plato, St. Augustine added religion to classical idealism; Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel added their particular visions to Platonic idealism.
4.1.1.1. 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. Teachers encourage their students to search for truth as individuals.
4.1.1.1.1. 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.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Senators: Senator Richard Shelby (R), Senator Jeff Sessions (R)
5.1.1. House of Representatives: Congressman Mo Brooks (R)
5.1.1.1. State Superintendent: Dr. Phillip Cleveland (Interim Superintendent)
5.1.1.1.1. State School Board Representative: Mary Scott Hunter
5.2. U.S. Schools compared to Germany
5.2.1. Through examinations, Germany selects and sorts its children at a young age and tracks them into a tripartite system of secondary education.
5.2.1.1. The Hauptschule is designed for those blue collar and lower level service posistions, the Realschule is for lower level white collar and technical postitions, and the Gymnasium is for academic preparation for university and the intellectual and management professions. The Gymnasium would be considered vocational school in the U.S.
5.2.1.1.1. German sysytm is almost opposite because they select students for secondary and higher education. It is based on acedemic achievement and social class background.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. The developmentalist curriculum is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
6.1.1. Teaching is student centered and is concerned with relating the curriculum to the needs and interests of each child at particular developmental stages.
6.1.1.1. There are still remnants of the developmentailist curricum in both private and public sectors. For example, rather than teaching reading and writing through traditional basal readers, it relates literacy instruction to the experiences and developmental stages of the children.
6.1.1.1.1. The transformative tradition believe that the purpose of education is to change the student in some meaningful way.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Educational achievement and attainment of African Americans
7.1.1. Percentage of High School Graduates with substantial credits in academic courses for African Americans went from 4% to 42%
7.1.1.1. Average Reading Scores for a 9 year old went up from 170 to 204 over 30 year period.
7.1.1.1.1. Average Reading score for a 13 year old African American went up from 204 to 247
7.2. Coleman Study
7.2.1. Motivation behind this study was to demonstrate that African American students and white students had fundamentally different schooling expierences.
7.2.1.1. In round three, it describes where an individual goes to school is often related to her race and socioeconomic background, but the racial and socioeconomic composition of a school has a grater effect on student achievement than an individual's race and class. I believe this to be very true! I feel that it matters about the school's primary race and socioeconomic class rather than the individual herself.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Interactionist theory
8.1.1. Believed that one must understnad how people within institutions such as families and schools interact ona daily basis in oder to comprehend the factors explaining academic success an failures.
8.1.1.1. Factors outside of school such as the family, the community, the culture of the group, the peer group, and the individual student to explain inequalities in reace, class, gender, etc.
8.1.1.1.1. Extra-school centered explinations off inequalities is are based on factors within the school, such as teachers and teaching methods, curriculum, ability groouping and curriculum training, school climate, and teacher expectations.
8.2. School Financing, one school-centered explanation
8.2.1. Vast differences between affluent and poor districts
8.2.1.1. Federal Aid to equalize school funding is a controversial issue. Proponents argue that it is the fairest and most progressive system of school financing, as it would guarantee equality of opportunity regardless of residence.
8.2.1.1.1. Unequal school financing affects unequal academic achievement
9. Educational Reform
9.1. Charter Schools (School-based reform)
9.1.1. Paid for with tax dollars and must be open to all students in the school district.
9.1.1.1. Proponents agrue that charter schools provide more effective an efficent alternative for low-income children, especially in urban areas.
9.1.1.1.1. Studies show that students in charter schools had higher achievement than those who remained in the neighboring district schools, even after controlling student background variables.
9.2. Harlem Children's Zone (community reform)
9.2.1. Provides parents with programs before their children are even born in attempt to infuse all knowledge that middle-class parents know they should do for their fetuses and infants in a "sensative way"
9.2.1.1. "Baby College" where instructors of color teach them how to have academic conversations with their children, as well as how to provide them with a healthy home environment and acceptable forms of discipline.
9.2.1.1.1. Knowledge as Power Program explains the evidence of the positive effects of high expectationss and strong discipline on student achievement.