Foundations of Education

1. Sociological Perspectives

1.1. Define the theoretical perspective concerning the relationship between school and society: Functionalism: stresses the interdependence of the social system. Emile Durkheim believed education creates moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony. Believe consensus is the normal state of things. Conflict theory: Social order is based on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups. Interactionalism: focuses on actual interactions between teachers and students and how students are tested and sorted and respond. A more accurate look than the classification systems above.

1.2. Teacher Behavior – the expectations that teachers have of their students and the way that they react to them has a large impact on students. When they are capable, they will often perform according to the desire they have to please the teacher. Student Peer Groups and Alienation – very often peer pressure will determine whether a student is willing to learn or if they will go along with their peer group in rebellion to the learning environment. Inadequate schools – Urban vs. Suburban schools perpetuate these Student Peer groups above. The culture of the school becomes one large peer group in which teachers are not welcome. The support structure of these schools (PTA, Corporate Sponsorship) as well as the desire of teachers to be there both negatively impact the schooling. Tracking – when done appropriately, students who desire to learn and respond to authority can be placed in accelerated classes where the disruptions are minimized, and schooling is maximized. Those who choose otherwise are not forced to learn what they believe to be irrelevant work. De Facto Segregation – when schools are integrated, the culture can be raised to the higher expectation. When they are segregated because of the concentration of where populations live, this lends itself to Inadequate schools. People move out of neighborhoods where they feel their children’s education would be negatively impacted.

2. Philosophy of Education

2.1. Existentialism is an individualistic philosophy. They focus on how their concerns impact the lives of individuals. They believe we must create our own meaning through choices we make in our lives. Key researchers include the Bible, Soren Kierkengaard, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Paul Sartre and Maxine Greene. The goal of education should focus on the needs of individuals, including discussion of the non-rational as well as the rational world, and that the tensions of living in the world should be addressed. The teacher is intensely personal, helping students achieve the best “lived worlds” they can using introspection both for themselves and their students, empowering them to choose. To instruct, the teacher constantly rediscovers knowledge together with the student to come to an understanding of past, present and future ripe with possibility, and working together. Curriculum is biased heavily toward humanities, especially literature which evokes response moving them to new levels of awareness

3. Schools as Organizations

3.1. US Senators: Richard Shelby, Luther Strange; US HOR Mo Brooks; AL HOR Speaker Mac McCutcheon; AL Senate neighbor Bill Holtzclaw; State Superintendent Micahel Sentance; Rep on State School Board Mary Scott Hunter; local Superintendent Robby Parker; local School Board Renae Bartlett, Connie Spears, Tim Holtcamp, David Hergenroeder ,Luis Javier Ferrer.

3.2. Elements of change within school processes and school culture include 1)Conflict which is a necessary part of change in any structure. This conflict must be anticipated and managed. 2) New behaviors learned. In order to make a positive change, new behaviors must be incorporated. 3) Team Building. A team environment which creates the necessary buy-in from participants is developed. 4) Process and content interrelated. Understanding that the methodology of implementing the change is as immportant as the content of the change.

4. Equality of Opportunity

4.1. The class of a student affects their education mainly based on the expectations placed on them by both their family and their peers, which are usually of the same class. There is a shared experience and role model choice that affects their attitudes on learning. Though difficult to distinguish from class sometimes, race still has the same affect on students. There is racial bias that plays into how a student is treated, and then the expectations of the culture affect the students' response to learning.Finally, gender affects students based on the established societal gender bias, as well as attitudes of the students themselves. You will still have female students whose aspiration is to be a mom, but not many male students whose aspiration is sufficient at becoming a dad. Though college attendance is more level than ever, the level of difficulty and the attitudes of society still play into the different approaches to the education of the differing genders.

4.2. The 1982 Coleman Study had two major responses. One was that the private schools do seem to organize better and have a better method of education, but that the actual educational outcome was not significant. The second response was that where there may be a better education, it was more related to the makeup of the school than the education system itself.

5. Educational Reform

5.1. Teacher education is a complicated reform that is still ongoing. One of the components of the reform has resulted in more rigor and standards for teachers, while another component allows teachers not taught 'education' to teach through the TFA (Teach for America) program. There is a need to reward teachers on their commitment and ability to teach, but no clear program to make that happen. Privatization has been introduced in some schools, where for-profit companies are stepping into the multi-billion dollar education industry to try to introduce business practices into schools, using learning companies and contracts for portions of education. The results of this program has been mixed.

5.2. School finance reforms include several court cases which have attempted to equalize funding between low and higher income districts. Taxes have been implemented and funding affected to attempt to change the disparity, but since they are not addressing the community issues as a whole, they are not making a significant impact on the education of the students themselves. On the other hand,, full service and community schools are attempting to address deficits both in schooling and expectations as well as in the home culture environment. Geoffrey Canada (Tough, 2008) implemented a program modeling for parents how to encourage, read to, and have different expectations for their children which would better prepare them for school. In addition, within the school, they are offering tutoring and extended school days which function as safe areas. This has in fact paid off in improved testing and success for the students involved.

6. Politics of Education

6.1. The for purposes of eduacation are (1) Intellectual - teaching basic cognitive skills, (2) political - instilling allegiance to the existing political order, (3) social - helping to solve problems, socializing children to the values of society and (4) economic - preparing students for future occupational roles, allocating the division of labor

6.2. Liberals believe that (1) the role of the school is to ensure all students have equal opportunity to success, (2) that inequality of performance can be explained by the backgrounds of students - that some groups have more advantages than others and (3)the definition of educational problems is limiting the poor & minority children, too much authority and not enough nurturing, the climate of urban vs. suburban schools and the curriculum leaving out diverse cultures

7. History of US Edcuation

7.1. Because so many reforms are still in flux and decisions being made about what the purpose of education is, I believe the one which had the most (permanent) influence was that of the Common school. Horace Mann of Massachusetts lobbied the effort for free, publicly funded elementary schools for all children. This changed the landscape of education only being available to the wealthy. It also created a method of socializing immigrants who came to the country with no knowledge of the social norms of the United States.

7.2. Conservative interpretation of U.S. Education is rather negative. In particular, Diane Ravitch wrote a series of essays and books arguing that the focus on social reforms and equality in education has been placed at higher importance at the detriment of higher learning and traditional curriculum. Students are not able to develop their intelligence, but have apt opportunity to socialize.

8. Curriculum and Pedagogy

8.1. The humanist curriculum model reflects students as humans and part of the United States education. It teaches a common body of knowledge that all US Citizens would be taught; a common understanding that everyone would be exposed to the same body of knowledge and taught to learn. This basic education can be built upon in many ways, but if a core body of knowledge is taught, then the potential is the same for every student to excel from that point.

8.2. The two dominant philosophies of teaching are memetic and transformative. The memetic philosophy is derived from more of a memorization - a piece of information that is held by the teacher will be transferred to the memory of the student. The transformative philosophy is almost more of a sp;iritual experience where the teacher and student are both influenced in the learning process, with the teacher encouraging the student's intellectual, emotional, spiritual and creative growth.

9. Educational Inequality

9.1. The cultural deprivation theory states that the family culture of lower class students does not adequately prepare the student for a productive learning environment. The values and actions modeled do not lend the students to a successful education careers. The cultural difference theory agrees in practice that lower class students are not set up for success based on their backgrounds, but places the blame on societies' expectations of the student as part of a lower class, rather than on the family background itself..

9.2. (1)School financing is the most obvious explanation for school-centered inequality. Because schools receive local financing, lower socio-economic schools receive less money per student, and that monetary investment affects the outcome of education, not just because of the money, but because of the attitudes that go along with the lack of money. (2) Being an effective school makes a difference in the education. There were several factors which identified a school as being effective, but it boils down to good structure and high expectations. A failing school knows that it is, teachers are not drawn to teach there, and students are not encouraged to learn. (3) Curriculum and pedagogic practices are similar to effective schools. Because of the makeup of the schools, teachers take a different attitude towards their students and teach with different philosophies than they might with students that culturally have a different attitude towards learning. (4) Curriculum and ability grouping, meaning that these students are judged and placed in learning tracks generally where the teachers feel that they can better manage their learning abilities rather than where the student may choose to excel.