1. Chapter 2 Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. The Political purpose is to allegiance to the existing political order and to prepare citizens who will participate in this political order. It is also to help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order and to teach children the basic laws of society.
1.1.2. The Intellectual purpose of education is to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing and mathematics in order to transmit specific knowledge and to help students acquire higher order thinking skills like analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
1.1.3. The Social Purpose is to help solve social problems and to work as one of many institutions such as family and church to ensure social cohesion. It is also to socialize children into various rules, behaviors, and values of the society. Socialization is the key ingredient to stabilize society.
1.1.4. The economic purpose is to prepare students for their late occupational roles and to select, train and allocate individuals into the division of labor. The degree to which schools directly prepare students for work varies from society to society.
1.2. The Liberal Perspective
1.2.1. The Liberal Perspective for the school role is the belief that there should be equal opportunities as well as stresses that the schools role is to provide the necessary education to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed in society.
1.2.2. The equal performance for liberal perspective believes that individual students or groups of students begins school with different life changes and therefore some groups have significantly more advantages than others. They also believe in order to correct this that society must attempt through policies and programs to equalize the playing field so that students from disadvantages and backgrounds have a better chance.
1.2.3. Education problems are defined as the decline of standards, cultural literacy, values, and or authority. It is also the problem of schools being stifled by bureaucracy and inefficiency.
2. Chapter 4 Sociological Perspectives
2.1. Functional Theories
2.1.1. Functional theories are the interdependence of social systems. Functionalist view society as a kind of machine. One part works with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work. It also focuses on the equilibrium. Society also depends on the structure that it creates. Education helps students find jobs and helps them to connect socially. Everyone depends on each other to help the society and community function.
2.2. Conflict Theories
2.2.1. Society is the competition of few groups of people for scarce resources. Sociologists believes schools are similar to social battle fields, where students struggle against teachers and administrators
2.3. Marx Theories
2.3.1. Marx theorist believe that the class system which separates owners from workers ans workers from the benefits of their own labor, made class struggles inevitable. He also believes that in the end the proletariat would rise up and over throw the capitalist. In doing so they will establish a new society where men and women would no longer be alienated from their labor.
2.4. Interaction Theories
2.4.1. A society that is essentially a set of daily interactions that are guided by symbols based on individual interactions.
2.5. Bernstein
2.5.1. Bernstein argues that the structural aspects of the educational system and interactional aspects of the system reflect each other and must be viewed holistically.
2.6. The Five Effects of Schooling
2.6.1. Teachers have a impact on students learning and behavior. Teachers play many roles. They have to be the parent away from home to the students. The act as a friend, confidant, educator, motivator and role model. Teachers expectation of students plays a major role in students performance.
2.6.2. Student Peer Groups ans Alienation
2.6.2.1. Student's peer groups plays a major role in school. Some students that are left out of the group feel unwanted and alienated. Being in different groups can enhance the development of learning and self esteem. Being in elite groups and involved in different activities such as sports helps students to develop socially.
2.6.3. Education and Inequality
2.6.3.1. Society is broken down in classes. The distribution of income, power and property is uneven. Depending on what class you are in depends on your treatment. The social class also reflects on income, education, family and child rearing practices, occupation, place of residence and political involvement.
2.6.4. Inadequate Schools
2.6.4.1. Where you attend school depends on where you live and where you depends on your economic status. Those living in impoverish areas often attend over crowded underfunded school. Those living in upscale neighborhoods usually attend well funded, adequate schools.
2.6.5. Employment
2.6.5.1. Graduating from college will help students gain employment. Your level of education directly influences your position in society and the type of job you can acquire.
3. Chapter 3 History of U.S. Education
3.1. Education for women
3.1.1. The reform movement that I feel that has has the most influence on education is the movement for women to be educated. This movement started making important inroads by the 1920s. Schools opening up in the Midwest as well as the east coast. In today's society the number of women in the education field has far surpassed that of the men.
3.2. The Democratic Liberal Interpretation
3.2.1. The Democratic Liberal Interpretation is that all schools should be equal and everyone should have an equal opportunity to receive a descent education. It is the belief that the U.S Education system must continue to move closer to each other, without sacrificing one or the other too dramatically.
4. Chapter 5 Philosophy of Education
4.1. Pragmatism
4.1.1. Pragmatism is action oriented, experimentally grounded and will generally pose questions such as; what will work to achieve my desired end?
4.1.2. Plato distrusted the world of matter. He believed that it was in a constant state of flux. He believed that the senses were not to be trusted as they continually deceive us. The only constant is the field of mathematics. Plato uses an approach called dialectic to move individuals from the world of matter to the world of ideas. Plato believes that ideas matter most above all. He thought that education was an important tool to move individuals collectively toward achieving good. He also believed that the state should play an active role in education and brighten students to follow a curriculum that was more concerned with ideas rather than concrete matters. Plato's concept of pragmatism is gender free. He believed that people who function on a more abstract level should rule. People still believe evil comes through ignorance, and that if only the leaders are educated then evil will be obliterated. Modern history has yet to validate this view.
4.2. The education goals of pragmatism is to search for the truth through ideas rather than through examination of the false shallowly world of matter. Teachers encourage students to search for the truth. Responsibility comes along with the truth by enlightening others. Education is a transformation. Ideas can change lives.
5. Chapter 6 Schools as Organizations
5.1. Major Stakeholders
5.1.1. Senator-Paul Bussman
5.1.2. House of Representative-Ken Johnson
5.1.3. State Superintendent- Michael Sentance
5.1.4. Local Superintendent-Johnny Yates
5.1.5. Representative on State Board- Jeff Newman
5.1.6. Local School Board
5.1.6.1. District 1 - Christine Garner
5.1.6.2. District - Gary Bradford
5.1.6.3. District 3 Dr. Brett Vinson
5.1.6.4. District 4- Jackie Burch
5.1.6.5. District 5- Reta Waldrep
5.2. Elements of Change
5.2.1. 1. Conflict is a necessary part of change. Schools do not create conflict in the system but they for allow issues and disagreements to surface.
5.2.2. 2. New Behaviors mist be learned. Change requires new relationships and behaviors. The process must include building communication, collaboration and conflict resolution.
5.2.3. 3. Team building must extend to the entire school. Decision making must be shared and bust consciously work out and give on-going attention to relationships with in the staff. Issues of exclusiveness and imagined elitism may surface. The resistance to change will persist.
5.2.4. 4. Process and content are interrelated. The process a team uses in going about its work is as important as the content of the educational change it attempts. Trust and openness between the teams and school is important. Visibility of change helps influence culture and the relationships between the staff and others involved.
6. Chapter 7 Curriculum, Pedegogy
6.1. I believe that education should be related to the students needs and interest, instead of society. The developmentalist curriculum is based on the need and interest of the students. The curriculum is developed to accommodate each child's needs, interest and developmental stage. It is flexible in how it is taught and the content in which is taught with the development of each individual in mind. This method relates school to each child's experience. The teach facilitates the students growth.
6.1.1. Employee
6.1.2. Employee
6.1.3. Class, race and gender can have various effects on education outcomes. When it comes to class, education can often be very expensive. The longer you stay in school. The more debt you are likely to collect. For those who comes from wealthy backgrounds there is no financial burden when it comes to education. There is also a difference in the quality of education between the different classes. Those who can afford to attend better schools do, while those who can not must attend schools in which they can afford. The race of an individual has a direct impact on how much education an individual may achieve. The drop out rate among African-Americans and Hispanic students tend to be higher than that of white students. The minorities have lower scores and do not receive the same educational opportunities as their white counterparts. In today's society gender is not as much of a contributing factor to educational outcomes as it use to be. However, females are less likely to drop out of school than males while males are more like to have a higher level of reading proficiency, Males are most likely to score higher on their SATs than females. Their are more women attending port secondary institutions than males.
6.2. The two dominate traditions are Mimetic tradition and transformative tradition. Mimetic tradition is based on the view point that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students by the teacher, This is done by relying on the lecture or presentation as the main form of communication which is called the diadactic method. This stresses on the importance of rational sequencing in the teaching process and assessment of the learning process. The measurable goals and objectives had become a central component for teacher education programs along with attempted to create a science of teaching often viewed as the key to improving educational achievement. Transformative tradition believes that the purpose of education is to change the student in some meaningful way including intellectually, creatively, spiritually and emotionally, Transformative educators do not see the transmission if knowledge as the only component of education. It provides a ore multidimensional theory of teaching.
6.2.1. Employee
6.2.2. Employee
7. Chapter 8 Equality of Opportunity
7.1. The Coleman Study of 1982 argues that private schools were more effective learning environments than public schools because they place more emphasis on academic activities and because they enforce discipline. Others argued that while a difference does exist between public and private schools in how discipline is handled the differences in learning are negligible, Other studies that compound public and private school have found that private schools are more effective for low income students. Geoffrey Borman and Maritza Dowling confirmed Coleman's data. Coleman states that where an individual goes to school is often related to there race and socioeconomic background,Borman and Dowling argued that schools dont matter but school segregation on race and socioeconomic status and within schools interaction are dominated by middle class values is the cause of gaps in student achievement.
8. Chapter 9 Educational Inequality
8.1. Two Types of Cultural Deprivation Theory
8.1.1. School difference and Resources- The working class and nonwhite families often lack the resources such as books and other educational stimuli. Therefore they arrive to school at a significant disadvantage. The poor have a deprived culture that lacks the value system of the middle class culture. Students at a educational disadvantage who achieve poorly because they haven't been raised in to acquire the skills and dispositions required for satisfactory academic achievement.
8.2. The Four School-Centered explanations for educational inequality are individual differences in intelligence and initiative, differences in student knowledge prior to entering school, vast differences between funding in affluent and poor districts, and cultural differences. .School processes are essential to understanding unequal educational performances which is the source of unequal academic achievement.
9. Chapter 10 Educational Reform
9.1. In the 1980s businesses were concerned about schools not producing graduates that were capable of helping the economy. A partnership between schools and businesses was formed. The most well known partnership was the Boston Compact. Some businesses pledged to provide management assistance and training to restructure and implement a site based management plan only if the schools raised the test scores or their graduates and improved graduation rates. Some partnerships provided scholarships to the students to attend college and programs. There were also programs where businesses adopted schools.
9.1.1. in the 1900s school business partner ships were incorporated into school to work programs. It was designed to help none college bound student to learn a trade in order to help them become employed and to focus on the work based learning. This act was passed in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. It was called the School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994. This provided seed money to state and local businesses, labor, government, education and community organizations to develop school to work systems. States and their partners were allowed to put together and prepare youth to be able to obtain high wages and high skilled careers for the future. The U.S requires each student to have school based learning, work based learning and connecting activities.
9.2. Takeover is an ultimate accountability measure. States have enacted statues authorizing there state education agencies to take control of school districts from local authorities. Takeover is in appropriate cases a necessary expression of a state's constitution responsibility for public education. Properly done take over can provided an good opportunity for state and local decision makers to combine resources and knowledge to combine children's learning.
9.2.1. Another type of reform implemented over the past decade is Mayoral Control of urban districts. Similar to takeover Mayoral Control has been a favored neo-liberal reform, with urban mayors and business leaders arguing that centralizing governance into the mayor's office is more effective and efficient than traditional elected school boards. Proponents argue that mayoral control eliminates corruption. leads to effective and efficient management and budget. increase student achievement and reduce the political battles endemic to elect school boards.