1. Philosophy of Education
1.1. Pragmatism= Problem speculative thought action results Pragmatism is a philosophy that encourages people to find processes that work to achieve their desired outcome. John Locke contributed to this school of thinking because he believed the mind was a blank slate and that one acquires knowledge through their senses. This was important for the later development in the philosophy in education. Dewey believed that schools should balance the needs of society and community on one hand and the individual on the other. Dewey’s vision is his view that the role of the school was to integrate children into a democratic one. For Dewey, the primary role of education was growth, when asked growth toward what, he liked to reply, growth leading to more growth. Dewey’s philosophy of education was central to all subsequent educational theories. Per Dewey the role of the school was to “be a lever of social reform”, that is, to be the central institution for societal and personal improvement by balancing a complex set of processes. In pragmatism, the role of the teacher is no longer the authority figure from which all knowledge flows; rather, the teacher is just the facilitator. Dewey believed that children should start their mode of inquiry by posing questions about what they want to know. Today we refer to the use of this method of instruction as the problem – solving method. Dewey proposed that children could learn both individually and in groups, which resulted in new ways of teaching. Children were now free to learn in groups or on their own. This led to individualized study, problem solving, and the project method. Dewey believed in a core curriculum in which all the academic and vocational disciplines would yield problems in an interconnected way. Dewey believed that the curriculum should be made of a balance between traditional subjects and the needs and interests of the child.
2. Schools of Organizations
2.1. i) State senator: Tim Melson ii) House of Represnetative: Danny Crawford iii) Local school board member: Ronald Christ iv) Local Superintendent: Tom Sisk v) Representative on State Board : Jeffrey Newman vi) State Superintendent: Micheal Sentance
2.2. 1. Changing the culture of schools requires patience, skill, and good will. Research on the effects of school-based management, for instance, indicate that it is not an easy task for teachers, administrators, parents, community members, and students to arrive at a consensus. (I found this on page 231)
2.3. 2. When we speak of school processes, what we are really identifying are the powerful cultural qualities of schools that make them so potent in terms of emotional recall, if not in terms of cognitive outcomes
3. Curriculum and Pedagogy
3.1. The developmentalist curriculum is one that focuses on the needs and interest of the students rather than the needs of the society. The aspects of John Dewey and Piaget derived this curriculum. It strongly emphasizes the teacher and the way things are taught in the classroom and what is taught. It is flexible in what is taught because it is based upon the intellectual capacity of the student. A significant aspect of this type of curriculum is that what is taught can relate to everyday life and helps the classroom to come alive in a meaning matter. The teacher is not just someone who transmits knowledge but someone who guides the students learning.
3.1.1. The mimetic teaching is one that is rooted in transmitting factual and procedural knowledge from one person to another. This kind of teaching usually comes from a book or other forms of text, or a skill and is transmittable. What is being transmitted is not actually being handed over but is being “mirrored” from teacher to student. There is a five-step program that suggest how to use the mimetic way of teaching.
3.1.2. a.) Test: See what the student knows or lacks
3.1.3. b.) Present: The teacher presents the information by modeling or reading or however the teacher sees fit to transmit knowledge.
3.1.4. c.) Evaluate: The student is now repeat what has been shown or taught. This can be tested to see how efficiently the student received the knowledge.
3.1.5. d.) Reward/Fix: If the student gave a correct answer that teacher praises the student for learning. If the student does not give the correct answer than you enter the Remedial Loop. By choosing the appropriate method you can show the student where their error was made and help them correct their mistakes.
3.1.6. e.) Advance: If the student has understood the knowledge and all is well then you know move on to new knowledge that needs to be transmitted and you follow the process again.
3.2. The Transformative tradition is one that’s significance is based on the metamorphosis of the pupil. The changes are of characters, moral and virtue. This type of learning is not looked at as knowledge that is stored into a container, which is what mimetic teaching is, but rather the making of the container. The three key things about this way of teaching are:
3.3. 1. Personal Modeling: The teacher must present in themselves what they hope to bring out in their students. The teacher must believe and live out what they want to see in his or her pupils.
3.4. 2. “Soft” suasion: Instead of the “telling or Showing” ways that are used in the mimetic way of teaching, this way uses a milder form of authority.
3.5. 3. Use of narrative: In the stories that are used in this practice come in all different varieties such as parables, myths, and plays. These all have a common element that is moral nature. These are used to teach virtues, character, interest, attitudes, and values that all fit in the “right” way of life.
4. Equality Of Opportunity
4.1. Class related impacts
4.2. a. Cost of school, needs financial support from parents
4.3. b. Upper and middle class have higher expectations on finishing school
4.4. c. Studies show that the number of books in a home is related to academic achievement
4.5. d. Upper and middle class children are more likely to use “standard English”
4.6. Race Related impacts
4.7. Race Drop out rates vs.Level of reading proficiency
4.8. White 5.2% 89%
4.9. African American 9.3% 66%
4.10. Hispanic-American 17.6% 70%
4.11. In new research, it has shown that gender equality in education is leveling out. In the past women were less likely to receive the same education. The one area that men outperform women on is mathematics.
4.12. Response 1 is that Coleman and his colleagues state that private and/or Catholic schools provide a much better education and prepare students for their live ahead, better than public school.
4.13. Response 2 argues that where an individual goes to school has a greater effect on student achievement. Race and socio economic background also plays a role where students go to school and contributes to their level of education
5. Educational Inequality
5.1. Cultural deprivation theory suggests that working class and non-white families often lack the cultural resources such as books and other educational stimuli and therefore arrive at school with a significant disadvantage.
5.2. One theory says that the poor has a deprived culture one that lacks the value system of middle class culture, according to this perspective middle class culture values hard work and initiative the delay of immediate gratification for future reward and the importance of schooling as the means to future success.
5.2.1. The other theory says the culture of poverty eschews delayed gratification for immediate reward, rejects hard work and initiative as a means for success, and does not view school as the means for social mobility.
5.3. 1.) School financing – Public school are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state and federal sources. However, most funds come from state and local taxes, with local property taxes a significant source.
5.4. 2.) Effective School research- Differences in school resources and quality do not adequately explain between-school differences in academic achievement was viewed by teachers as a mixed blessing. On one hand, if student’s differences are more important than school differences, then teachers cannot be blamed for the lower academic performance of nonwhite and working0class students. On the other hand, if school; effects are not significant, then schools and, more specifically, teachers can do little to make positive difference.
5.4.1. 3.) Within-school differences: Curriculum Ability grouping: There are also significant educational differences with schools. Different groups of students in the same schools can perform very differently. This that there may be school characteristics affecting these outcomes. Ability grouping and curriculum grouping are important organizational components.
5.4.2. 4.) Gender and Schooling: Feminist agree that schooling often limits the educational opportunities and life chances of women in a number in many ways. Boys and girls are socialized differently through a variety of school processes. Curriculum materials portray men’s and women’s roles in a stereotypical and traditional ways.
6. Politics of Education
6.1. Purposes of education
6.1.1. intellectual- are to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics, to transmit specific knowledge (in literature, history, and the sciences) and to help students acquire higher order thinking such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis
6.1.2. political-to inculcate allegiance to the existing political order (patriotism), to prepare citizens that 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 society
6.1.3. social- help solve social problems to work as many institutions such as the family and the church to ensure social cohesion and to socialize children into various roles, behaviors, and values of the society
6.1.4. economic-to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
6.2. The role of the school- conservative perspective -providing the necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hardworking individuals receive the tools necessary to maximize economic and social productivity. -socialize children into adult roles for maintaining social order -transmitting the cultural traditions through what is taught
6.3. Explanations of unequal performance -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
6.4. Definition of Education Problems- conservative perspective- -Decline of standards -Decline of cultural literacy -Decline of values or of civilization -decline of authority.
7. History of U.S. Education
7.1. Education for All: The Emergence of the Public High School is the reform movement that I think had the most influence on education. I chose this period because it was the period that school laws for students 16 and under to go to school. With the new attendance policies, structure had to be put in place and debates had to be resolved regarding the purpose of secondary education. The first thing to be debated on was the subjects such as Latin and Greek to the modern subjects such as science, and English literature. The second issue was the problem of meeting college entrance requirements since different colleges required different courses of study. The third involved educators who believed that students should study subjects that would prepare them for life as opposed to traditional academic subjects. The fourth which is linked to the other three, was if students should pursue the same course of study or whether the interest and abilities of the students should determine the course of study. To clarify the purpose of a high school education a Committee of Ten was formed and headed by Harvard university president Charles Eliot. The committee gave its report in 1893 stating that the purpose of secondary education was to prepare students for “the duties of life”. Furthermore, the committee granted that modern subjects be awarded the same stature as traditional ones. It proposed a five-subject curriculum including classical and modern languages, English, math, history, and science. Finally, the committee recommended that all students should be taught in the same manner, and was suspiciously quiet about vocational education. Which in my opinion is where they made a mistake and has ultimately led to “sameness” in our educational system. Later, the Cardinal Principles were created and opened the door to a curriculum less academically demanding and more practical for the students that were not going to college (which at this point was well over majority). The final curriculum reform during this era was the “Education for Life Adjustment”. Prosser proposed the changes for the curriculum to address the practical concerns of daily living. With this reform students who once studied chemistry might study “the testing of detergents; not physics, but how to drive and service a car; not history, but the operation of the local gas works.”
7.2. Conservative Interpretation I. The school is an agency to for transmitting cultural heritage and values to the next generation. II. The curriculum transmits the general culture to all and provides appropriate education to all. III. The curriculum promotes loyalty to community, state and nation. IV. It teaches cultural values and traditional norms, and character development. V. Conservatives also believe that the individual is responsible for his/her own success or failure. http://homepages.wmich.edu/~nbarnes/Document2.pdf
8. Sociological Perspectives
8.1. Sociology of Education 1. Definition of theoretical perspective relationship between school and society -Schools, along with parents and churches, shape childrens’ perspectives of the world through socialization. These are the values, beliefs, norms of society. It teaches children about the society. - Sociology of education is a contentious field and socialist ask complex and fundamental questions about society. -Theory is ones best conceptual guide to understanding the relationship between school and society.
8.2. Functional theories, -functionalism; These socialist stress the interdependence of the social system. They examine how well the parts are integrated with each other. Certain parts of society work together. Conflict theory, -These sociologists do not necessarily believe that all society is held together by shared values alone. This view on sociology says that certain groups dominate smaller, weaker groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation. Ideologies are created by powerful politics, economics, and even a powerful military. Their view is to enhance their position by somewhat forcing inequality, and the forcing of an in balance of cultural views and goods. -These ways are somewhat hidden. It is meant to show the authority and power of a school that achieves higher learning, in and out of the classroom.
8.2.1. Interactionalism, -interactionalism- The relation of school and society are analyzed of the functional and conflict perspectives. -These theories try to make ordinary interactions between students and teachers in a micro sociological way. By doing this, people are less likely to create theories that are without meaningful content.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. 1. School-Business partnerships-Business leaders became increasingly concerned that the nation’s schools where not producing the kinds of graduates necessary for a revitalization of The economy. This formed several school-business partnerships. There is little evidence that they have significantly improved schools. This program was started to help students succeed later in life. Businesses helped schools by funding money and resources so that the students would one day be involved in a business, maybe their own.
9.1.1. 1. One reform is the school finance reform. It follows a court case which was Rodriquez vs. San Antonio. It states that there is no constitutional right to an equal education. School finance and adequacy equity were litigated at the state level.
9.1.2. 2. Another way to examine and attack education inequity is to plan to educate not only the whole child, but also the whole community. This is called Full Service and Community schools. These school focus on meeting student’s’ and their families educational, physical, psychological, and social needs in a coordinated and collaborative fashion between school and community services. In this model, schools service as a community center within neighborhoods that are open extended hours to provide a multitude of services such as adult education, health clinics, recreation facilities, after school programs, mental health services, drug and alcohol programs, job placement and training programs, and tutoring services. This was specifically designed to target and improve at risk neighborhoods. These full service schools were created to prevent problems.