My Foundations of Education

1. Schools as Organizations

1.1. Major Stakeholders

1.1.1. 2 Senators: Richard Shelby and Jefferson Sessions Representative for Franklin County: Robert Aderholt State Superintendent: Michael Sentance Representative on the State School Board: Yvette RIchardson Local Superintendent: Greg Hamilton Local School Board Members: Ralton Baker, Terri Welborn, Shannon Oliver, Pat Cochran, and Mike Shewbart

1.2. Elements of Change

1.2.1. The elements of change in culture and school processes are deeply effected by political standings and who has invested into the schools. The teachers that are at the school and who the board members are have a strong impact on the environment of the school. It is also effected by the community of people in the surrounding area. As time moves on, different types of people may join, or leave a community. Their children impact the diversity of culture that is in a school. Studies also show that it is the principal who establishes the goals of a school, but it is up to the school if it will accept that authority figure. All these factors cause change in the school and culture that it produces.

2. Philosophy of Education

2.1. Existentialism

2.1.1. Many argue it is not a particular school of philosophy. Existentialists pose questions as to how their concerns impact on the lives of individuals. They believe that individuals are placed on this earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter. Sartre believed that "existence precedes essence". Individuals are in a constant state of creating chaos and order, and creating good and evil. Sartre rejected the idea of the existence of God, but other existentialist, especially the founder Soren Kierkergaard, were devout Christians. Existentialists believe that education should focus on the needs of individuals, both cognitively, and affectively. Education should stress individuality, and should include discussions of the non-rational as well as the rational world. The role of the teacher is to understand their own "lived worlds" as well as that of their students in order to help their students achieve the best "lived worlds" they can. Existentialists abhor "methods" of instruction as they are currently taught in schools of education. They believe that each child has a different learning style and it is up to the teacher to discover what works for each child. Martin Buber wrote about an I-thou approach, whereby  student and teacher learn cooperatively from each other in a nontraditional, nonthreatening "friendship." Curriculum would be chosen heavily biased toward the humanities. Literature has meaning for them since literature is able to evoke responses in reader that might move them to new levels of awareness.

3. Equality of Opportunities

3.1. Class, Race & Gender

3.1.1. Sociologist Daniel Rossides defined the term social stratification which is the social hierarchial standing of an individual and the chances of success they are born into. It is true that class, race and gender do not always hold someone back that has business training, but more often then not, it does affect them. Rossides showed how America is stratified into classes. He also points out how in the last 30 years the upper class and upper middle class has became increasingly wealthy while the other classes have experienced a decline in terms of economic security. Looking at Persell's model and analyzing the relationship between social class and education, one can see that there is an influence on the selectivity of schools and the authority structures within the school. Despite the attempts of equality, the amount of education an individual receives still highly depends on class, race, and gender.

3.2. Responses to the Coleman Study 1982

3.2.1. Response 1

3.2.1.1. Sociologists continued to reexamine Coleman's work. They did not want to conclude that where a student attended school made a difference. "High School Achievement: Public, Catholic, and Private Schools Compared" caused a lot of controversy because private schools tested better in every subject against public schools.

3.2.2. Response 2

3.2.2.1. A group of minority scholars ran by Ron Edmonds of Harvard University decided to define what characteristics of schools made one better than another. They found that private schools demand more academically and discipline students in a way that encourages student achievement.

4. Politics of Education

4.1. The Four Purposes of Education

4.1.1. Intellectual Purposes

4.1.1.1. Jacques Barzun stated that it is a difficult thing for teachers to to teach well, and to help students acquire the ability to read, write or count, but it is the constant effort of teachers that make this purpose.

4.1.2. Political and Civic Purpose

4.1.2.1. This purpose is to educate people to attempt to prevent tyranny of people in political positions of power.

4.1.3. Economic Purpose

4.1.3.1. The hope that education will make a positive difference, and teachers will be influenced to work harder to achieve a higher level.

4.1.4. Social Purpose

4.1.4.1. According to Emile Durheim, it is up to the state to remind teachers of the currents ideas, and rolls in society. The teachers are supposed to take these reminders to help students find their place in the current day of society.

4.2. The role of school

4.2.1. The role of school is to spread education to newer generations of children that will eventually become adults in society. The goal of this is to help students find a positive path for their lives to follow, while also learning how to interact with other beings in every day situations.

4.3. Explanations of Unequal Performances

4.3.1. Several factors could be a reason or explanation of unequal performances. For example, some students are raised in a home where parents do not think that education is important, or that education is a waste of time. Those children aren't motivated at home to do well in school, and have no desire to succeed in school. Disabilities may play a part in the student's performances. Things such as dyslexia may effect the child's ability to keep up in class. Another factor could be bullies in school. If the student is being bullied, the student may miss classes or skip school altogether to avoid being bullied.

4.4. Definition of Educational Problems

4.4.1. Personally, I believe that part of educational problems is because of the split views on education from the political parties. Conservatives believe that educational problems are because the liberal and radical parties demand greater equality in schools which lowered academic standards and reduced educational quality. Liberals believe that schools place too much emphasis on disciplining children which limits their role in helping students develop as individuals. They also feel like the traditional curriculum leaves out the diverse cultures of the groups that comprise the pluralistic society.

5. Curriculum and Pedagogy

5.1. Curriculum Theory

5.1.1. I advocate the humanistic approach to education. The humanistic approach recognizes that there are five principles to follow: 1. Students should be able to choose what they want to learn. This approach views that if students are to be motivated, they must find a subject that they have interest in learning. 2. The main goal must be to help students gain the desire to learn and teach them how to continue to learn. 3. Humanistic educators believe that students can only grow by self-evaluation. If students are graded, they will only work to receive a grade and not for personal satisfaction of learning. 4. Feelings and knowledge are viewed both to be important, so cognitive and affective domains are left together. 5. It is important to provide students with a nonthreatening environment so they feel secure to learn.

5.2. Two Dominant Traits of Teaching

5.2.1. Two dominant traits of teaching is how the teacher sets up the relationship with the students and what style classroom the teacher plans to have. There are two main relationships and classroom settings that dominate most teachers' rooms. One is the teacher is the main authority in the room and the students do not interact or speak unless the teacher speaks to them. The other way is a more relaxed setting where the teacher acts more as a facilitator or guide in the direction of what should be learned in the classroom. Students are able to think freely and discuss their thoughts while the teacher observes the students learning.

6. History of U.S. Education

6.1. Reform Movement

6.1.1. I believe the most influential movement was the movement that allowed women and African-Americans equal education. The influence Jacques Rousseau in Emile on the beliefs of a woman being educated stuck for centuries. There was also the belief that literacy bred both insubordination and revolution therefore, African-Americans were denied education, or severely limited. In 1821, Emma Hart Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York. This was the first all-female seminary that included mathematics, science, history, and geography. Eventually the movement spread to the mid-west, and in 1833, Oberlin Collegiate Institute of Ohio opened its doors to women as well as African-Americans. The University of Iowa was the first state institute to accept women. Another turning point in this reform was the inferior quality and separate schools for African-American students. Benjamin Roberts filed a legal suit against Boston in 1846 over the requirement that his daughter attend a segregated school. Although he lost the case, this opened the doors for African-Americans to start their own schools.

6.2. Historical Interpretation

6.2.1. Different interpretations of U.S. educational history revolves around the tensions between equity and excellence, social and intellectual functions of schooling and over differing responses to the questions Education in whose interest and for whom? The Democratic-Liberal perspective is that education involves progress. Education should be expanded to larger segments or population and that the conservative  view of schools as an elite opportunity should be shut down. Their interpretation portrays the Common School Era as a victory for democratic movements and the first step in opening U.S education to all.

7. Sociology of Education

7.1. Theoretical Perspectives

7.1.1. School and Society

7.1.1.1. Functionalism

7.1.1.1.1. Functional sociologists begin with a picture of society that stresses the interdependence of the social system. Functionalist see society as a machine, where one part works with another to produce the energy required to make society work.

7.1.1.2. Conflict Theories

7.1.1.2.1. Some sociologists do not believe that society functions on one main group. They believe that there is a dominant group that imposes their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation,and manipulation. This view shows the glue of society being political, economic, cultural, and military power. This theory states that power is created to cause an imbalance to enhance certain positions in society. Conflict Theorist see the the relation between school and society as problematic. Schools are considered social battlefields where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators, and so on.

7.1.1.3. Interactionalism

7.1.1.3.1. This theory is based off critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives. They emphasize abstract structure and process at a very general level of analysis. This theory helps promote understanding education as a general term. Speech patterns are analyzed and processed to see how it may reflect a student's social background and how students from working-class backgrounds are at a disadvantage in the school setting.

7.2. 5 effects of schooling

7.2.1. Employment

7.2.1.1. Studies have found that most white-collar jobs require some type of further education, although education is weakly related to job performances. For example, maintenance workers, line workers, store clerks and bank tellers may have some type of degree not related to their job, but because they have the degree, they are more likely to obtain a job position. This shows that school may act as a gate keeper to potential job opportunities.

7.2.2. Teacher Behavior

7.2.2.1. Teachers must sometimes carry multiple roles on their shoulders. They find that they are expected to be instructor, disciplinarian, bureaucrat, employer, friend, confidant, educator and so on. This sometimes is impossible to do at once which can lead to role strain. Teachers are models for students and are set standards for students to be influenced. The labels that teachers "apply" to students can influence how the teacher helps that teacher to achieve things. Teachers' expectations playa major role in encouraging or discouraging students to work to their full potential.

7.2.3. Inadequate Schools

7.2.3.1. One of the the things that can effect students from schools are inadequate schools. Differences between schools and school systems can effect the teachers that are employed and what they choose to emphasize on teaching. Urban schools in particular have failed to educate minority students and poor children. The difference in schools can be seen between elite private schools and urban schools. Private schools tend to offer substantial educational benefits, both in terms of their actual educational experience and the social value of their diplomas whereas urban schools do not have the funds to offer the same adequate experiences.

7.2.4. Education and Mobility

7.2.4.1. The belief that occupational and social mobility begin at the schoolhouse door is a critical component of the American ethos. Education is considered a great equalizer in the status of race. Most Americans also believe that social status and economic  mobility begins with education, but some still debate if it makes a difference in lower class students.

7.2.5. Knowledge and Attitudes

7.2.5.1. The amount of educational facts that a student obtains is partially dependent on the student's attitude to learning. If a student has no desire to expand his or her knowledge, he or she will not be open to trying to learn anything while in school. Another view is that a child's attitude is developed while in school depending on the experience he or she has. Also, the amount of education a child receives determines their outlook on education as an adult. Students that received more education were more likely to read newspapers, books or magazines, and take part in politics and public affairs. More highly educated people are also more likely to be liberal in their political and social attitudes.

8. Educational Inequalities

8.1. Cultural Deprivation Theory

8.1.1. This theory was formed in the thought that working-class and nonwhite students had unequal performance because they lacked the supplies to help them learn. According to this theory, middle-class culture values hard work and initiative, the delay of immediate gratification for future reward and the importance of school for success. The culture of poverty eschews delayed gratification for immediate rewards, rejects hard work and does not view education as a means to social mobility. According to Deutsch, this deprivation leads to educationally disadvantaged students who achieve poorly because they were not raised to believe that success in education is important. This belief led to changes being focused towards the educational system and programs such as Project Head Start were introduced for families that were not able to prepare their children for school academically.

8.2. Four School-Centered Explanations of Inequality

8.2.1. School Financing

8.2.1.1. Jonathan Kozul documented the differences in funding from suburb public schools to inner city schools and found that inner city schools receive a lot less in funding. Funding comes from different taxes which can affect the school just from location. Communities that are flourishing in revenue and money will bring in more tax dollars to be supplied for school needs. Affluent communities are able to provide more per-pupil spending than poorer districts, because of property value and incomes.

8.2.2. Gender & Schooling

8.2.2.1. In October of 1991, the Supreme Court Justice nominee Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma, charged that Judge Thomas sexually harassed her when he was her supervisor at the Department of Education and later at the EEOC. The all-male jury voted to pass the nomination and not investigate, women all over the United States were outraged. Often times, women are treated to be inferior to men and that can effect students in a classroom.

8.2.3. Effective School Research

8.2.3.1. Research found that within-school differences are as or more significant than between school differences. Societal change was necessary to improve schools but have made teachers feel less directly responsible for problems that were often beyond their control. The empirical task is to untangle the ways in which school processes affect student learning. Continuing the research for ways to improve and control the differences help the educational statuses of students grow.

8.2.4. Between School Differences

8.2.4.1. School research points to differences in school climates affect academic performance. Research of inner city schools in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods and what differences a better education can make were evaluated. The type of curriculum and pedagogic practice taking place often times depends on the area the school is located and that can affect how the students learn. Bernstein found that working-class schools in England are fare more likely to have authoritarian and teacher - directed pedagogic practices and to have a vocationally or social effeiciency curriculum at the secondary level.

9. Educational Reform

9.1. Two School-Based Reforms

9.1.1. Intrasectional school choice policies basically gave the choice of where a student would go to school to the parent and did not rely on what district a child lived in so long as the school allowed it and the school had room for another student. Giving this selection gave parents a choice on what type of curriculum their child would learn from and gave them controlled choice. Controlled choice gave students a choice to list schools they were interested in attending, but the schools also had a say in if the student would be allowed to attend there. This helped prevent racial upset in certain schools while also letting the student have a choice. School to work Programs also became incorporated into schools. Their intent was to extend what had been a vocational emphasis to non-college-bound students regarding skills necessary for successful employment and to stress the importance of work-based learning. President Bill Clinton signed the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 which provided seed money to states and local partnerships of business, labor, government, education, and community organizations to develop school-to-work systems.

9.2. Two Other Reforms

9.2.1. The types of reforms, including state intervention cost money, and low-income, high-minority schools often have significantly less money to spend, despite the availability of federal Title 1 funds. One popular reform is the mayoral control of urban districts. It is similar to a state takeover and has been favored by neo-liberal reform because it centralizes school decisions and power to the mayor's office. Evidence is mixed, but some has found a modest improvement in schools under mayoral reform. School Finance Reform came after the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Rodriguez v. San Antonio, which declared there is no constitutional right to an equal education. Discrimination had been cited previous to this case as well. After several court cases, in 1990, the court ruled that more funding was needed in poorer school districts. State then was required to implement a package of supplemental programs such as preschool and a plan to renovate urban school facilities. This later brough full day kindergarten, preschool for all 3 and 4 year olds, a plan to eliminate overcrowding, and to provide adequate space for all educational programs.