1. Politics of Education
1.1. Conservative Perspective:
1.2. This view 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.
1.2.1. Sumner looks at social evolution as a process that enables the strongest individuals and groups to survive, and looks at human and social evolution as adaptation to changes in the environment.
1.2.1.1. The conservative perspective was developed by William Graham Sumner.
1.2.1.2. Because of this point of few individuals and groups must compete in the social environment in order to survive, and human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive.
1.3. Traditional View of Education:
1.4. Traditional visions tend to view schools as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society such as hard work, family unity, individual initiative, etc.
1.4.1. The belief is that schools should pass on the best of what was and what is. Therefor there should not be much change.
1.4.1.1. The views used in the traditional view of education are both liberal and conservative.
2. Philosophy of Education
2.1. Existentialism and Phenomenology
2.2. Generic Notions: Believes individuals are placed on this earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter. People must create themselves and their own meaning. This is done through choices people make in their lives.
2.2.1. Goal of education: Education should focus on the needs of the individual. It should include discussion of the non-rational and rational world. Possibility is a big part too. Education is seen as liberating the individual from a chaotic, absurd world.
2.2.1.1. Role of the Teacher: Teachers should understand themselves first. Teachers should also have a good understanding of their students backgrounds. Teachers should take risks. Examples of this are exposing themselves to resistant students and work constantly to enable their students to become "wide awake." Teachers should encourage students to choose and act on their choices.
2.2.1.1.1. Methods of Instruction: Learning is viewed as personal. Each child has a different learning style and teachers should discover what works for each student. Teachers constantly discover knowledge and so do students, together they come to an understanding of past, present, and future. Teachers help students understand the world by posing questions, generating activities, and working together.
3. History of U.S. Education
3.1. Reform movement: Education for Women and African Americans:
3.2. Historical Reform: The Democratic-Liberal School
3.3. Education for women was once viewed as biologically harmful or too stressful.
3.3.1. Starting in the 1820's the movement for education for women was making important steps to success.
3.3.1.1. Emma Hart Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in New York. The goal of this school was to teach math, science, history, and geography which would deliver a similar education that males got.
3.3.1.1.1. After the civil war women's education was expanding but education for African Americans was extremely limited.
3.4. The democratic-liberal belief believe in providing equality and opportunity for all.
3.4.1. Historians believe that each period of expansion involved the attempts of liberal reformers to expand educational opportunities to larger segments of the population and to reject the conservative view of schools as elite institutions for the meritorious.
3.4.1.1. The democratic-liberals viewed educational history as optimistic but the evolution of schools was very flawed.
4. Sociological Perspectives
4.1. Effects of Schooling
4.2. The more education the more educated and more likely you are to read newspapers, books, magazines, and to take part in politics and public affairs. I find this very important to be up to date on current events.
4.2.1. The kind of school students attend determines a lot. A school that is mainly focused on just academics and is very strict usually has a higher rate of learning.
4.2.1.1. Students that graduate from college have a higher success rate with employment. Though this does not mean people with college education works harder it just means they are more likely to be hired. I believe that a college education is very important and will help students go further in life and have many opportunities.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. State Senator for Jackson County
5.2. Steve Livingston
5.3. House of Representative for Jackson County
5.4. Ritchie Whorton
5.5. Alabama Superintendent
5.6. Tommy Bice
5.7. Representative on State School Board
5.8. Mary Scott Hunter
5.9. Scottsboro City Schools Superintendent
5.10. Sandra Spivey
5.11. Scottsboro City Schools Board Members
5.12. Daryl Eustace,Hollie Thompson, Julie Gentry, John Esslinger, and Judy McCrary.
5.13. Educational System in Japan
5.13.1. First system was established in the 1880s.
5.13.1.1. It is highly competitive and to get admitted to prestigious university students are required to pass exams that are extremely competitive.
5.13.1.1.1. 95% of students graduate from high school.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Social Efficiency Curriculum:
6.2. Developed in early twentieth centurty in response to development of mass public education.
6.2.1. Standardized testing is done on students to place them into ability groups and curriculum tracks.
6.2.1.1. Believes that different types of students with different types of needs should recieve different types of schooling.
6.2.1.1.1. Dewey belives that this type of curriculum stemmed from his progressivism vision.
6.3. Modern Functionalist Theory:
6.4. Stressed the role of the schools in preparing students for the increasingly complex roles required in a modern society.
6.4.1. School curriculum is designed to enable students to function within society.
6.4.1.1. Schools began to move away from memorization of facts and started teaching students how to make it in a technocratic society.
6.4.1.1.1. History and language were no longer important.
6.5. Interactional Theories:
6.5.1. These theories are critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
6.5.1.1. Interactional theories are based on what schools are like on an everyday level.
6.5.1.1.1. Interactional theories attempt to make the commonplace strange by turning on their everyday taken-for-granted behaviors and interactions between students and students and students and teachers.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Education of all Handicapped Children Law
7.2. There are 6 basic principles:
7.3. 1. The right of access to to public education programs.
7.3.1. 2. The individualization of services.
7.3.1.1. 3. The principle of "least restrictive environment."
7.3.1.1.1. 4. The scope of broadened services to be provided by the schools and a set of procedures for determining them.
7.4. Response to Coleman Round One
7.5. Despite the nation's best intentions, differences among schools are not powerful predictors of differences in student outcomes.
7.5.1. In the 1970s research was done on magnet schools trying to prove that schools that were student centered learning centered, and mission driven could make a difference.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Student Centered Explanations
8.2. Why do students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds do less in school?
8.2.1. It became aware that these students attended inferior schools.
8.2.1.1. Schools that spent less money on students and learning sources, extracurricular activities, and inferior teachers.
8.2.1.1.1. Research proved that it wasn't the schools it was the specific groups of students that influenced performance.
8.3. Curriculum and Ability Group
8.3.1. Different groups of students within the same school all perform very differently showing there might be school characteristics affects these outcomes.
8.3.1.1. Ability and curriculum grouping is one of the most important factor in U.S. schools.
8.3.1.1.1. Students are grouped based on their standardized test scores, reading scores, race, etc.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. Privatization
9.2. Starting in the 1990s public education and private edication companies became blurred.
9.2.1. Private education became more involved with public education.
9.3. School Finance Reforms
9.4. In 1990 the court ruled that more funding was needed to serve in poorer school districts
9.4.1. In 1998 the state was required to include supplemental packages to schools such as preschool, and renovation plans.
9.4.1.1. Social services, increased security, alternative education, school-to-work, after-school, and summer programs were incorporated.