1. Politics of Education
1.1. The social purposes of schooling are to help solve social problems; to work as one of many institutions, such as the family and the church to ensure social cohesion; and to socialize children into the carious roles, behaviors, and the values of the society.
1.2. The intellectual purpose of school is to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading writing and mathematics; to transmit specific knowledge; and to help students acquire higher-order thinking skills such analysis, evaluation, and syntheses.
1.3. The political purposes of schooling are to inculate allegiance to the existing political order; to prepare citizens who will participate in this political order; to help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order; and to teach children the basic laws of the society.
1.4. The economic purposes of schooling are to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train , and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
1.5. My perspective on education would be that of the conservative beliefs. I agree that capitalism is the best way to ensure fair competition in the marketplace. I also believe individuals should be responsible for their own social problems and the government should not be expected to intervene every time.
1.6. The role of school is concerned with the aims, purposes, and functions of education in a society.
1.7. I agree with the conservatives' opinion of unequal educational performance. They believe 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.
1.8. Traditional visions tend to view the school as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society, such as hard work, family unity, and individual initiative.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Most Influential Era: Equity Era (1945-1980)
2.1.1. 1954 - Brown vs. Board of Education
2.1.1.1. Repealed 1896 Plessy vs. Ferguson
2.1.1.2. The court's ruling desegregated schools
2.1.2. 1972 - Title XI
2.1.2.1. Prohibited discrimination because of gender
2.1.3. 1975 - Disabled students are admitted to public schools
2.2. Conservative Interpratation
2.2.1. Conservatives have analyzed the historical tensions between equity and excellence and have a vision that the evolution of U.S, education has resulted n the dilution of academic excellence.
2.2.2. The Conservative perspective critics pointed out failure to fulfill social goals without sacrificing academic quality.
2.2.3. The Conservative perspective is accused of ignoring the effects of poverty on student achievement.
2.3. More Historical moments
2.3.1. 1821 - First public high school, Boston English, opens
2.3.2. 1855 - First kindergarten class is available in the United States.
2.3.3. 1896 - Plessy vs. Ferguson
2.3.3.1. "Seperate, but equal."
2.3.4. 2002 - No Child Left Behind
2.3.4.1. Standardized Testing
2.3.4.2. Increased Accountability
2.3.4.3. State-wide Assesments
2.3.5. 2015 - Every Student Succeeds Act
2.3.5.1. State Driven
2.3.5.2. College and Career Ready Standards
2.4. Other Notes
2.4.1. The Age of Reform: The rise of the common school, pushed for a free public education
2.4.2. Free public education was led by Horace Mann.
2.4.3. Opposition to public school: Roman Catholics founded their own schools because they opposed the Protestant ethos.
3. Sociology of Education
3.1. Theoretical perspective concerning the relationship between school and society
3.1.1. Functional Theory
3.1.1.1. In a well-functioning society, schools socialize students into the appropriate values, and sort and select students according to their abilities.
3.1.1.2. Emile Durkheim is among the earliest sociologists to embrace the functional point of view.
3.1.1.3. Moral values are the foundation of society.
3.1.2. Conflict Theory
3.1.2.1. The glue of this society is economic, political, cultural, and military power.
3.1.2.2. Karl Marx (1818 - 1883) and Max Weber (1864 - 1920) were two of the earliest sociologists to believe in conflict sociology.
3.1.3. Interactionalism
3.1.3.1. This theory, as it relates to school and society, is primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict theories are very abstract, and emphasize structure and process at a very general level of analysis.
3.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
3.2.1. Knowledge and Attitude
3.2.1.1. The higher the social class the higher achievement level.
3.2.1.2. Schools where students are compelled to take academic subjects and where there is consistent discipline, student achievement levels go up.
3.2.1.3. More years of schooling leads to greater knowledge and social participation.
3.2.2. Employment
3.2.2.1. Graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities
3.2.2.2. The amount of education is weakly related to job performance.
3.2.2.3. Possession of a college degree is significantly related to higher income.
3.2.3. Education and Mobility
3.2.3.1. Private school diplomas are considered a mobility escalator because of the educational route.
3.2.4. Teacher Behavior
3.2.4.1. Teachers' behavior directly impacts the behavior of the student.
3.2.4.2. Labels that teachers apply to students can greatly influence performance.
3.2.4.3. Teachers must be able to wear many different occupational hats and not let the stress affect their demeanor.
3.2.5. Inadequate Schools
3.2.5.1. Inadequate schools is a major reason for the education gap.
3.2.5.2. Urban education has failed to educate minority and poor children.
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Philosophy
4.1.1. Progressivism
4.1.1.1. Key Researchers
4.1.1.1.1. John Dewey (1859 - 1952)
4.1.1.1.2. Sanders Pierce (1839 - 1914)
4.1.1.1.3. William James (1842 - 1910)
4.1.1.1.4. William Kirkpatrick (1838 - 1921)
4.1.1.1.5. Francis Parker (1837 - 1902)
4.1.1.1.6. Frances Bacon (1561 - 1626)
4.1.1.1.7. John Locke (1632 - 1704)
4.1.1.1.8. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778)
4.1.1.2. Generic Notions
4.1.1.2.1. Progressives pose the question how to think, not what to think.
4.1.1.2.2. The attainment of a better society is through education.
4.1.1.2.3. Children learn skills through school, from books, and experimenting which will help the be able to work cooperatively in society.
4.1.1.3. Goal of Education
4.1.1.3.1. School is a place where ideas can be implemented, challenged, and restructured, with the goal of providing students with the knowledge of how to improve the social order.
4.1.1.3.2. School is actual preparation for life itself.
4.1.1.3.3. Schools should balance the needs of society and community on one hand and the needs of the individual on the other.
4.1.1.4. Role of Teacher
4.1.1.4.1. The teacher is not the traditional authoritative figure of the past.
4.1.1.4.2. The teachers role is that of a facilitator, coach, and encourager.
4.1.1.4.3. Teachers also offer suggestions, questions, and help plan and implement the course of study.
4.1.1.5. Method of Instruction
4.1.1.5.1. Children learn both individually and in groups.
4.1.1.5.2. Children should start the learning process by posing questions about what they want to know.
4.1.1.6. Curriculum
4.1.1.6.1. Integrated curriculum consisting of the core elements of learning such as: Math, Science, HIstory, Reading, Writing, Music, and Art.
4.1.1.6.2. Progressive educators are not wedded to a fixed curriculum.
4.1.1.6.3. Start with contemporary problems and work from the known to the unknown.
4.1.2. Pragmatism
4.1.2.1. Curriculum
4.1.2.1.1. Follow Dewey's core curriculum
4.1.2.1.2. Curriculum changes when social order changes and as student's needs and interests change.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Federal Legislators
5.1.1. US Senators: Richard Shelby and Luther Strange
5.1.2. US Representative: Mo Brooks
5.2. State Legislators
5.2.1. Governor: Kay Ivey
5.2.2. State Senator: Time Melson
5.2.3. State Representative: Danny Crawford
5.2.4. State School Board Representative: Mary Scott Hunter
5.3. Local School Systems
5.3.1. Athens City Schools
5.3.1.1. Superintendent: Trey Holladay
5.3.1.2. School Board President: Russel Johnson
5.3.1.3. School Board Vice President: Beverly Malone
5.3.1.4. Members: Chris Paysinger, Jennifer Manvilee, James Lucas, Scott Henry, Time Green.
5.3.2. Limestone County Schools
5.3.2.1. Superintendent: Tom Sisk
5.3.2.2. School Board Chair: Earl Glaze
5.3.2.3. Members: Marty Adams, Bret McGill, Charles Shoulders, Edward Winter.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Heavily focused on the humanities to help evoke responses to move to new levels of awareness.
6.2. Expose students at a young age to problems, possibilities, horrors, and accomplishments that humankind is capable of producing.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Educational achievement of one marginalized population:
7.1.1. Hispanic Average NAEP Reading and Math scores from 1973-2008 have gradually increased with bumps in the road on the way there. Ranging from age 9 to 17.
7.1.2. Low Parent/School involvement in the Hispanic community, especially in high poverty areas. Page 362
7.2. Response to the Coleman Study:
7.2.1. Geoffery Borman and Maritza Dowling publish the third and final response to date to the Coleman Study of 1966 in 2010.
7.2.2. They found that where students go to school is usually related to face and socioeconomic status. Page 369
7.2.3. They found that racial and socioeconomic population in schools has a greater effect on student achievement that a students race and class. Page 369
7.2.4. Biggest take-back: eliminate high-level segregation in schools.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Sociological explanation of unequal achievement: Cultural Deprivation Page 423
8.1.1. States that working-class and nonwhite families often lack cultural resources, such as books and other educational stimuli, and arrive at school at a disadvantage.
8.1.2. Oscar Lewis (1966) theorized that the poor had a deprived culture that lacked the value system of the middle-class.
8.1.3. The cultural differences theory emerged from the failure of the genetic differences theory and the cultural deprivation theory.