1. Philosophy of Education Chapter 5
1.1. Pragmatism is viewed as a American philosophy that developed in the nineteenth century. This word comes from the Greek word pragma which means work. Pragmatism are action oriented, experimentally grounded, and will ask many questions. There are many well know people that used this theory. Pragmatism's generic notion was founded on psychology, behaviorism, and the philosophy of pragmatism. This idea originally came from the theory of evolution. This idea helped kids learn both with experiments, and through books. Some key researchers include, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Francis Bacon, and John Dewey. All of these people were advocates for this theory and wanted to help gain more knowledge for it. The goal of education was rooted in books. They believed that philosophy had a responsibility to society. This brought about ideas in school that could be implemented, challenged, and restructured; this helped students learn how to improve social order. The role of the teacher in this theory is that the teacher is not a authoritarian figure, instead the teacher is more of a facilitator. The teachers helps when looking at courses to study. The methods of study are used both individually and in groups. He believed that people should pose questions for what they want to learn. Formal structure was thrown away. Progressive schools today, most of the time follow Dewey's notion of core curriculum. They use subjects and find all different ways to study it. Educators are not fixed to a certain way of teaching it changes as social order changes, and as students interests change.
2. History of US Education Chapter 3
2.1. Reform Movement
2.1.1. I believe that the most influential reform in education is the move for education and African Americans. During the late eighteenth century no women or African Americans could not attend school. Many women wanted this to be changed, before this time their only roles were to take care of their families. A few girls decided to start a movement and helped this reform start. After this many girls started attending private school and female reform schools. This movement is the reason so many of us get to attend school today. African Americans attending school were a lot harder to get to happen. They had to have a court ruling about the situation. The court ruled that the African American community could make their own school but ruled in favor of segregated schools. After the Civil War the government passed a law freeing slaves and allowed them to attend school. Though they got this passed the black community still had many problems. Because of these brave people many women and African Americans can attend school today.
2.2. Historical Interpritation
2.2.1. The Democratic-Liberal School was an education system that was committed to providing education to all people equally. Many conservative people believed that education should only be for the elite. The Democratic movement was the first part in helping everyone have an equal education to everyone. They wanted more students with diverse backgrounds being able to have an education. The Democratic-Liberals have such a different outlook when it comes to education. We all hope that one day they will be able to become closer to one another and help for the greater good.
3. The Sociology Of Education Chapter 4
3.1. Theoretical Perspectives
3.1.1. Functional theories start with a picture of society that shows the interdependence of the social system. It can be viewed like a machine where you have to have all parts to get enough energy required to make society work.
3.1.2. Conflict theories is a theory that believes that economic, political, cultural, and military power is what holds our society together. Not all sociologist believed that society is held together by the same shared values. Conflict theories believe that schools are a constant battlefield of people trying to gain advantages on the other.
3.1.3. Interactional theories is a relationship that primarily deals with critiques and extensions of conflict perspective. It critiques the other theories are very abstract. It believes that these theories do not show what school is like on a daily basis. They examine schools with a micro sociological viewpoint where students will not create theories that are logical and eloquent.
3.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
3.2.1. Education and inequality is something that I believe is very important in effects on individuals. In schools todays kids that have the most money, parents are the most powerful, and kids that have the most pull in a school are treated the best. Social classes are not only different with income but also with education, family practices, occupations, and where you live.
3.2.2. Gender is also something that I believe is a very big issue in education. I know that girls are very self conscience when it comes to everything in school and they can really feel down a lot. For the most part men are paid more in most jobs in the United States and because of this we see many girls in education feel like they are not as important. Girls always start higher than boys education wise when they start school but by the end their self esteem is way lower than the boys.
3.2.3. Inadequate schooling is a big problem in todays world. Many kids will not be prepared to go into the real world when they get out of high school. Minority and poor children fail to get taught in urban education. Students who attend suburban schools and private schools get a way better education. This is something that has to be done to create a better future for education.
3.2.4. Tracking is something that has a serious impact on students mobility. Tracking means where students will get placed in certain programs based on their abilities. Most educators have said that tracking decisions are based because of race or class. Every student should be treated the same based on their education, and how smart they are.
3.2.5. Teacher behavior has a huge impact on students lives. Teachers have to take on many different roles, some have to be father figures, nurse, friends, and many more. When teachers demand more of their students we see that students respond substantially. Teachers can influence children's lives forever. The more they demand of their students the more their students will learn from themselves.
4. Politics of Education Chapter 2
4.1. The Four Purposes of Education
4.1.1. 1. Intellectual-purposes of schooling are to teach basic skills to the students so they will be successful in life; to help them with skills in their life that will help them to be successful and make smart decisions.
4.1.2. 2. Political-the purposes of this are to help put together order, to prepare students to participate in political order, to help them separate ethnic group with political order; and to teach children the laws of order .
4.1.3. 3. Social-the purposes of the schooling are to help with solving social problems, to work as people with different organizations, such as the family and the church to ensure social order; and to help children with their behavior and many other things.
4.1.4. 4. Economic- the purposes of this schooling are to prepare students for what they will be doing later in their lives and to be able to work no matter what field they are in.
4.2. The Conservative Role of the School
4.2.1. 1. The role of the school is to provide necessary education to the students so that the ones that are the smartest are able to get out and be successful.
4.2.2. 2. The explanation of unequal performance is a students reward for hard work and dedication.
4.2.3. 3. The definition in educational problems is the decline in standards of the students and the decline of value and authority.
5. Schools as Organizations Chapter 6
5.1. Major Stakeholders in My District
5.1.1. The Federal Alabama Senators are Richard Shelby and Luther Strange. The House of Representatives for my region is Marcel Black. For my area where I live my state senator and house of representative is Larry Stutts. Alabama's state superintendent is Michael Sentence but this will change because he just stepped down from office. Our representative on the state school board is Jeff Newman. My local superintendent is Daryl Aikerson. The member of the school board are, Buddy Whitlock, Dr. Troy Youngblood, Betty Belue, Fred Williams, Mark Macawain, and Steve Finch.
5.2. The change within schools have been very rapid lately. Different policies, elements, and many different ways of teaching. One thing that has changed a lot is school processes. School processing is when someone recalls the school in an emotional way. School culture is something that the world have a different view on. Teachers are seeing this first hand. Budget cuts, teacher salaries, are some of the things that teachers deal with every day.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy The Transmission of Knowledge Chapter 7
6.1. Curriculum Theory
6.1.1. The curriculum theory that I advocate would be the developmentalist theory. This theory believes that you relate things to students with their needs instead of society's needs. It emphasizes teaching and its content. Teachers are able to teach based on the child's ability to learn. The teacher is someone that helps the child grow into a bright young student. With this, teachers are able to do more than just teach they are able to give each student a experimental learning.
6.2. In teaching they have decided that education has two dominant traditions of teaching. The mimetic and transformative teaching traditions. The mimetic tradition is that the purpose of this viewpoint is to help students understand knowledge. The main form of education is through lectures and communications. The transformative defines education more broadly and debatable. The purpose of this is the change the student and make them a better person. The relationship of the teacher and student are linked in this theory.
7. Equality of Opportunity Chapter 8
7.1. Class, race, and gender all impact educational outcomes. In class, people in different social classes have different kinds of educational experiences. Education is expensive, the more money you have the better education you are going to have. In race, a person is impacted greatly depending on the color of their skin. Race dictates how much education people will receive. 89% of white students will have some sort of higher education where minorities percentage is a lot lower. Gender is also a major factor that affects educational learning. Even though women are considered to be smarter than men, they are not able to attend higher education that men do. Males are considered to be smarter in school so teachers help them more than they help the females.
7.2. The Coleman Study form 1982 states many different facts. One of these facts were difference among schools do make a difference. They argued that private schools were more effective learning places than public schools. The other argument is that a highly segregated African American school is a major affect on a student. Students attend schools depending on there socioeconomic status. The study proved that the socioeconomic status does not affect the school but the composition of the school has a greater affect.
8. Educational Inequality Chapter 9
8.1. Cultural Differences Theory
8.1.1. Anthropologist John Ogbu says that African American children do less in school because they adapt to their oppressed life in class. He argues that minorities have harder time getting a job because they are considered to not have as good of skills as whites do.
8.1.2. Another theory is that the working class and non white students are resisting the dominant culture of the school. These students reject the middle class and embrace a different one. These people do not embrace the working class but they do it in another way. They ensure the value of schooling and embrace school.
8.2. School Centered Explanations
8.2.1. School financing is the first problem. Public schools do not make as much money as private schools do so the differences in the school are tremendous.
8.2.2. Gender and schooling is another. Females have been at the bottom of the pile in school for a long time. Even though females are considered smarter than men they are taught differently. Society rewards men for male behavior and diminishes women for female behavior.
8.2.3. Inequality is a problem in education always. The relationship between families and school are instrumental. Students in lower income families cannot interact with the schools because there are more problems they are dealing with.
8.2.4. Effective school research is another student centered explanation. The differences in school resources and quality are a factor. A societal change to improve schools may have made teachers feel less directly responsible for problems that were out of their control. They need to improve schooling from inside the school to have more successful teaching
9. Educational Reform Chapter 10
9.1. School Based Reforms
9.1.1. School Business Partnerships: Many Businesses became concerned with schools and there graduation rates for the US Economy to increase. Different organizations would adopt a school and help them have better education for the students.
9.1.2. School to Work Programs: purpose was to end what had been a vocational emphasis to non college bond students with skills and needed for successful employment. They stress the importance of work based learning.
9.2. Reforms that impact education
9.2.1. Harlem's Children Zone is an example of a community based reform that focuses on students and their families educational, physical, psychological and social needs in a organized fashion.
9.2.2. School Finance Reforms: Such as Rodrigues v. San Antonio where they declared there is no constitutional right to an equal education. School advocates at the state level help also.