1. Schools as Organizations
1.1. State Senators: Richard Shelby, House of Representatives: Kerry Rich & Will Ainsworth, State Superintendent: Michael Sentance, Representative Of State School Board: Cynthia Sanders McCarthy, PH.D. Local Superintendent: Dr. Ric Ayer, Local School Board: Bobby Stewart, Sandy Elkins, Lee Fleming, Rory Colvin, Mike Price
1.2. In this it talks about how Waller viewed the school and how it was setup. He talks about the school has to have authority. Schools are political organizations in which there are numerous competing interests. This part really talks about how schools are deeply political and principals establish the goals of the school. To make a school more learner centered requires time, effort, intelligence, and good will.
2. History of U.S Education
2.1. The reform movement that I found to be informational was the Civil Rights movement. This was a big deal for African Americans because they was to be treated like everyone else. They wanted the same schooling that white people had. Booker T. Washington was a big supporter and in Tuskegee, Alabama he gave his 'Atlanta Compromise Speech". Which basically talked about African Americans having the right for proper schooling so they could make a good living for themselves.
2.2. With the Democratic-Liberal view, they believe that the US history of education started with the progressive evolution. Then there's the Radical- Revisionist that believed the US education was the story of expanded success. They also believed it expanded to meet the needs of economic efficiency and productivity. Which helped the elite in society to control the working class and immigrants. With each era that happened it led to increasing establishment with the education system, working class, poor, and minority students getting the short end of the stick. Last there is the Conservative perspective. They argued that students knew very little and that the school systems were just okay, nothing really special. They believed that the historical pursuit of social and political objectives resulted in significant harm to the academic goals of schooling.
3. Philosophy of Education
3.1. Existentialism: Generic Notions-existentialists believe that individuals are placed on this earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter. Goal of Education- it believes that education should focus on the needs of individuals, both cognitively and effectively. Role of the Teacher- it is a very important role because it enables students to become in touch with their worlds and o act on their choices. Methods of Instruction- that each child has a different learning style, and it is up to the the teacher to figure out which one works best for them. Curriculum-literature is what they lean the most to because it has meaning behind it. They also think that exposing students at an early age to problems and possibilities, and to the horror as well as accomplishments that people are capable of producing.
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. One would be the working-class and nonwhite families often lack the cultural resources, such as books and other educational stimuli, and thus arrive at school at a significant disadvantage. Then there is the difference between working-class and nonwhite students, and white middle-class students. Working-class and nonwhite students may indeed arrive at school with different cultural dispositions and without the skills and attitudes required by the schools. School-Centered Explanations would be School Financing, Effective School Research, Gender and Schooling, and Curriculum and Ability Grouping.
5. Educational Reform
5.1. School-Business Partnerships started during the 1980's. There have been several founded since then and have helped our education system advance really well. One such example is the $100 million contributed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to improve education in Newark, New Jersey. The last one would be privatization. From the 1990s, the traditional distinction between public and private education become blurred, with private education companies increasingly become increasing becoming involved in public education in a variety of ways. With the societal, it states that as of 2000, 38 states had some form of rewards of sanctions in place: 8 states rewarded school districts, 20 rewarded schools, 29 imposed sanctions on school districts, and 32 imposed sanctions on schools. Then we have community. Full service schools focus on meeting students' and their families educational, physical, psychological, and social needs in a coordinated and collaborative fashion between school and community services.
6. Politics of Education:
6.1. Four Purposes of Education: They are intellectual, political, social, and economic. Intellectual is to teach basic cognitive skills like reading, writing, and math. Political is to inculcate allegiance to the existing political order, to prepare citizens who will participate in this political order, to help assimilate diverse cultural groups into common political order, and to teach children the basic laws of society. Social is the belief that schools should educate citizens to fit into that society; those who disagree with its goals believe that schools should educate citizens to change the society. Economics prepares the students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor. The role of the school. If it's coming from a conservative stand point then they want the school to be providing the necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hard-working students receive the tools necessary to be productive once they leave the school setting. Then there is the liberal view. They stress the in providing the necessary education to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed in society. Radicals believe that schools should reduce inequality of education results and provide upward social mobility.
6.2. Explanations of Unequal Education Performance: Conservatives argue that groups of students rise and fall on their own intelligence, hard work, and initiative, and that achievements are based on hard work and sacrifice. Then there's the liberal view, that argues that students begin school with different life chances and therefore some groups have significantly more advantages than others. Last there is the radicals view. Which says that they believe that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds begin school with unequal opportunities.
6.3. Definition of Education Problems: The view point that are first stated is the ones from the liberals. They say that schools limit the life chances of poor and minority children. They also say that schools put to much emphasis on discipline and authority and this limits the role in helping students develop as individuals. The radicals argue that the school systems have failed the poor, minorities, and women though classist
7. Sociological Perspectives
7.1. Teacher behavior-Teacher play a big role in a students like. They can be a friend, role model, confidant, etc. While you have some teachers that don't set high standards for their students and these students don't succeed as well as those that have a demanding teacher who sets high expectations for their students to succeed. Students peer group and Alienation-in today's school systems there is a lot of violence going around, and some of it seems to be excepted. It's been estimated that by a child is 12 they will have been exposed to 18,000 TV murders. Student cultures play an important role in shaping a students educational experiences. Inadequate Schools-Urban education has failed to educate minority and poor children. Some say that children that go to private schools get a better education. Tracking- this refers to how the students are tracked while they are in school. Meaning, that they keep a track of their progress as they are in school. Track placement directly effects cognitive development. Gender- Girls start school cognitively and socially ahead of boys, but when they get into high school girls tend to have lower self-esteem and lower aspiration. Schools should not be held accountable for gender discrimination.
7.1.1. Functional Theories: There were several people who came up with this theory. There was Emile Durkheim, who pretty much invented sociology of education in the 19th and early 20th centuries. He believed that education was important in societies. Conflict Theories:Karl Marx is the creator of the conflict school in the sociology of education. What made him think of this was the social condition in Europe in the 19th century. He believed that the poor people would rise up and overthrow the capitalist, and that would start a new society where men and women wouldn't be alienated from their labor. There were several people that looked into Marx's theory and got out different things then what Marx's thought. Some thought it had to do with being powerful, then some thought it had to do class potions. The Weberian approach has developed a compelling and informative tradition of sociological research. Interactional Theories: this is about the relation of school and society.