1. Ch.3 History of U.S. Education
1.1. 1. While reading chapter 3 I would have to say that the reforms that influenced education the most was the combination of Equality of Opportunity and The cycles of Reform: Progressive and Traditional. I believe both of these to have so much influence because of what they both have to offer. The Equality of Opportunity is similar to the other reforms like women and African-Americans to also have a chance at an education. It also gives opportunities to those students who think differently the freedom to do so. The Progressive and Traditional Reform has influence because not only does this give us a good insight into what our education offers and is today, but we also understand the guidelines for why things are like they are. This is also a reform to not only look at the process of education, but on each students educational goal. This also gives aide to the fact that maybe not all children receive the same education, on a special need basis.
1.2. 2. The Radical-Revisionist School-This form of interpretation focuses more on the elite than the strive for equality. They view equity and excellence as something that, is more or less, impossible to achieve. This interpretation focuses more on the progress and success of the more advanced and does not necessarily see a point in finding a opportunity for the rest.
2. Ch.4 Sociological Perspectives
2.1. Functionalism- This perspective view society as a kind of machine where one part works with another to produce the energy required to make society work. Emile Durkheim was maybe the first sociologist to embrace a functional point of view about the relation of school and society. He believed that moral values were the foundation of society. In a well-functioning society, schools socialize students into the appropriate values, and sort and select students according to their abilities. Educational reform form a functional point of view that create and encourage a social unity.
2.1.1. 1. Knowledge and Attitude- This effect of schooling of individuals is all about what they learn or how they are taught. There have been studies that show if students go to school in summer they are more likely to have greater knowledge than those who don't. That was a study that was conducted by Heyns on sixth and seventh grade students. Other research points to interest in politics and rising self esteem by those who receive more education and spend more time in academic places.
2.1.2. 2. Employment- As students we always hope that graduating will always lead to better and greater job opportunities. We never want our college education to be taken advantage of. The comparison of pay to someone who did not obtain a high education is about $20,000. Not saying that people with jobs cannot do what people with education can, many people have started at jobs and just learned it as they go. However, bigger job opportunites are usually obtained by people with education or levels of training for the higher-up jobs.
2.1.3. 3. Student Peer Groups and Alienation- This individual effect has much to do with the cliques that are formed in high school or social clubs that are developed in colleges. These are a way for students to identify with who they are as a socialists and also a student they aspire to be.
2.1.4. 4. Teacher Behavior- One of the most obvious statements is that teachers have an every day impact on the lives of their students. Day to day teachers have many roles. In one day a teacher can be an instructor, disciplinarian, friend, confidant and many more. Teachers are models that set standards for their students, and have many effects on their self esteem. It is important that teachers do not set lower expectations based of the vicious cycle of labeling the lower-class students as not as capable of doing the work that another student can. Teachers expectations play a major role in encouraging or discouraging a student to work to their full potential.
2.1.5. 5. Gender- This inequality is for people who allow gender to hold them back. Typically girls start out in school academically advanced over boys. This can be due to the developmental advancement that girls have over boys. However in the later part of schooling, like the end of high school, boys are typically more self motivated and more academically advanced. This has a lot to do with self-esteem issue and the saying that men will always make more than women in the job field. To help resolve this inequality, schools should be open to equal opportunities to all students. Men and women can be just as successful if we allow ourselves to perform to the best of our abilities and we do not conform to the ways society tells us we have to be.
2.2. Conflict Theory- The textbook describes the conflict perspective as one similar to social battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administration, and so on. Karl Marx and Max Weber were both socialists that were convinced that power relations between dominant and subordinate groups structured societies. However, Weber believed that people identify their group by what they consume and with whom they socialize. Another socialists, Randall Collins, has maintained that educational expansion is best explained by status group struggle. He argues that educational credentials are primary status symbols rather than indicators of actual achievement. Conflict perspectives show important insights between school and society.
2.3. Interactionalism- This perspective is an insight on how schools operate on an everyday level. Interactional try to make people focus on things that they take for granted in the educational systems. The example given is the processes by which students are labeled gifted or learning disabled. By examining people are less likely to create theories that are logical and eloquent, but without meaningful content. Basil Bernstein argued that the structural aspects of the educational system and the interactional aspects of the system reflect each other and must be viewed wholistically. He has combined a class analysis with an interactional analysis, which links language with educational processes and outcomes.
3. Ch. 2 Politics of Education
3.1. Purposes
3.1.1. 1. Intellectual- using cognitive skills for specific knowledge, also helps students learn to use higher order thinking skills.
3.1.1.1. 2
3.1.2. 2. Political- political order, prepare citizens in political order, diverse groups into common political order, teach basic laws of the society.
3.1.3. 3. Social- solve social problems, ensure social cohesion, socialize children in values of society, and create stability.
3.1.4. 4. Economic-prepare students for their future in schooling and careers.
3.1.5. Liberal Views
3.1.5.1. Believe that the role of school is equality of opportunity, social roles, and participation in an educated democratic society.
3.1.5.2. The liberals believe the explanation of unequal educational performance are due to different life chances and think through policies and programs there should be an equalization for students with disadvantaged backgrounds.
3.1.5.3. Schools place too much emphasis on discipline and authority, limit the life chances of poor and minority children, the escalated differences of urban and suburban schools, and traditional curriculum leaves out diverse cultures
3.2. Ch.10 Educational Reform
3.2.1. School-Business Partnership is one form of school-based reform. This partnership is in place for new entrpeneurs to invest in the educations of those who are business minded and potential business leaders. Over the years groups of foundations and entrepeneurs have contributed significantly to educational reform efforts. An example of this is The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to enrich teaching effectiveness.
3.2.1.1. School Finance Reform- This is a reform to give an adequate education to all. Living in poverty should not be a probable reason for a child not to have the same education rights as the next child. Not only does this focus on the educational needs inside of the school, but the economical factors that happen outside of school that makes the whole education process successful. This includes stable and affordable housing and school-community clinics (providing healthcare and counseling).
3.2.1.2. Full Service and Community Schools reform is a way to highlight the inequity of education and examine and plan to educate not only the child, but the whole community.
3.2.2. School-to-Work Programs is the second form of school-based reform I will discuss. This is a type of vocational school for students who already have an idea of a career choice and want to further their knowledge in said career path. I believe this to be a good idea so that students can experience what it is like in the career they have chosen and to ensure that it is really something they want to do with the rest of their lives. This will enhance their knowledge and skills to be able to carry out the task with ease and to make the work place as successful as it needs to be.
4. Ch.5 Philosophy of Education
4.1. Existentialism- This is the belief that people were placed on the earth alone and must make some sense of the chaos we all go through. Like Sartre believed, people must not only make sense of who they are, but what their purpose is. In existentialism education focuses on the needs of the student, individually. They believe that the fairness and unfairness of the world should be taught so there is not such a shock when graduating from school and going into the rea world. It is important to existentialist that students understand the darkness of reality and the anxiety that can come from conflict. Some that have researched and studied this philosophy include Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Paul Sartre, and Maxine Greene. They believe in giving an easy transaction from education to reality. The role of the teacher is one that is taken very seriously in this belief. Teachers must connect with their students and help them live their lives to fullest. Teachers are to expose themselves and students to risks and to make them as aware as possible and give them an understanding of making choices and to make actions and goals based on their choices. Their methods of instruction include working together to figure out how each student learn and make them successful. They view an education as highly personal. They believe that a student teacher friendship is the best way for a child to learn fully. Their curriculum is based on humanities. Literature is important to them, since it gives people the sense of being awake to each reader. They believe in exposing students to problems, possibilities, horrors, and accomplishments that humans are capable of producing at an early age.
5. Ch.6 Schools as Organizations
5.1. 1.School process- School process relates to the emotional process that school has. When you go to a Friday night football game or walk into the cafeteria at a school for a function, most people automatically link these places with a emotional reaction of some sort. The school process is closely related to the powerful cultural qualities. There is a process that each student goes through when attending school. These can be negative emotions and positive emotions. A negative example would be the office. If a child shows up to the office and is reprimanded, they will probably always relate the office to a negative experience.
5.2. 2. School Cultures- Changing the culture of schools require patience, skill, and cooperating ideas and feelings. It is not always an easy task for all teachers, administrators, and parents to come to one relatable understanding. It takes a lot of compromise and arguments to reach a decision. School cultures are also politically based. There are political compromises that make the school able to work properly.
6. Ch.7 Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Social Meliorist Curriculum- This philosophy is based on the development of education. George Counts and Harold Rugg are two professors from Teachers College that supported Dewey's philosophy. Dewey says that education should change society or help to solve the fundamental problems on curriculum. These meliorist propose that school curriculum should teach students to think and help solve social issues or change society itself.
6.2. Two dominant traditions of teaching involve mimetic and transformative traditions. The mimetic tradition is one that gives education of moral and character through teaching traditional methods. The transformative tradition is one that looks more to the attitude and character to the education for an individual. This teaching style is more modern day and is for students to open up about what their interests are for their futures and success.
7. Ch. 8 Equality of Opportunity
7.1. I believe that race, gender, and class effect educational outcomes by how we teach and what we teach as educators. With the world changing and situations becoming so controversial, it becomes a challenge to adapt and to not offend the students and parents that we educate and are involved with the whole educational process. We have to consider cultures, backgrounds, poverty situations before we can fully take on the responsibility of educating one's child.
7.1.1. The two responses of the Coleman Study of 1982 were about the differences in the types of schooling. The first response talks about how private schools are superior to public schooling and are typically more successful. However there is evidence to support both sides of the argument. The second argument discusses the topic of race and socioeconomic background has an effect where students choose to go to school. This response also discusses that education reform must focus on eliminating the biases that favor white and middle-class students and be open to all background and social statuses.
8. Ch.9 Educational Inequality
8.1. One theory of cultural differences is the one discussed by Richard Rothstein. He argues that poor people suffer from significant health problems, including high rates of asthma, exposure to lead paint, smoking and alcohol use, poor vision and nutrition, lower birth weight, and inadequate health care. He states that these poverty-related health problems can have effects on academic achievements. The second cultural difference discussed is Stanton Salazar's research on immigrant students. His research states that Mexican-American students supports the importance of social capital for immigrant students. It is important that we dismiss the emotional and political arguments on cultural differences being an issue in the education realm.
8.1.1. Four school-centered educational inequalities include: School financing, Effective school research, Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices, and Curriculum and Ability Grouping. These are all factors that can cause schooling inequalities for schools and things that are argued and discusses regularly by teacher, principals, and administrators to make their schools better.