1. Schools as Organizations
1.1. House of Representatives
1.1.1. Mo Brooks
1.2. State Superintendent
1.2.1. Michael Sentance
1.3. Local Superintendent
1.3.1. Dr. Ban Brighman
1.4. Local School Board
1.4.1. Decatur City Schools
1.5. School Processes and School Cultures
1.5.1. Schools have a definite poputation
1.5.2. They have a clearly defined political structure, arising from the mode of social interaction characteristics of the school, and influenced by numerous minor processes of interaction.
1.5.3. They represent the nexus of compact network of social relationships.
1.5.4. They are pervaded by a "we feeling."
1.5.5. They have a culture that is definitely their own.
1.5.5.1. Schools develop cultures that are conflictual an even stagnant. Changing the cultures of schools require patience, skill and good will (pg. 231).
2. Curriculum and Pedagogy
2.1. Developmentalist curriculum: is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society (pg.284). It is a student center curriculum that relates the curriculum to the needs and interest of each students.
2.2. Two Dominant Traditions of Teaching:
2.2.1. Mimetic: is based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students (pg. 296).
2.2.2. Transformative: it rests on a different set of assumptions about the teaching and learning process (pg. 297).
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Class: Middle and upper class children are more likely to speak "standard" English, while working class and underclass children do not speak middle class English (pg. 342). Children from working class and under class are more likely to drop out
3.2. Race: 5.2% of white students drop out of school, while 9.3% of African- American students drop out, and 17.6% of Hispanic-American drop out. Minorities do not receive the same education opportunities as the whites. Their rewards for educational attainment are significantly less (pg. 343).
3.3. Gender: Conservatives argue that the decline of male achievement and attainment is a result of the "feminizing" of the classroom (pg. 343).
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. Cultural Deprivation Therories
4.1.1. It suggests that working-class and nonwhite families often lack the cultural resources, like books and other educational stimuli, and this is a disadvantage at school.
4.1.2. The culture of poverty results in educationally disadvantaged because they have not been raised to acquire the skills and dispositions required for satisfactory academic achievement (pg. 423
5. Educational Reform
5.1. School-to-Work Programs
5.1.1. Every state and locally created school-to-work system had to contain three core elements: 1. school-based learning, 2. work-based learning, 3. connecting activities (pg. 527).
5.2. School- Business Partnerships
5.2.1. Business leaders became concerned that the schools were not producing the graduates necessary for the economy. So several school-business partnership were formed. Some school-business partnerships include scholarships for poor students to attend college.
6. Politics of Education
6.1. Intellectual
6.1.1. It teaches basic cognitive skills for example: reading, writing, and mathematics.
6.2. Political
6.2.1. On page 22 it says it is to inculcate allegiance to the existing political order (patriotism). It prepares the citizens that will be participating in this political order.
6.3. Social
6.3.1. Is the purpose to help solve social problems, to ensure social cohesion. It helps children to socialize with society.
6.4. Economic
6.4.1. The book mentions the purpose it to prepare the students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
6.5. The Role of the Shcool
6.5.1. Conservative Perspective sees the role of the school as providing the necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hard-working individuals receive the tools necessary to maximize economic and social productivity (pg. 27).
6.6. Explanation of Unequal Performance
6.6.1. The liberal perspective argues that individual students or groups of students begin school with different life chances and therefore some groups have significantly more advantages than others (pg. 28)
6.7. Definition of educational problems
6.7.1. Radical perspective argues that the educational system has failed the poor, minorities, racist, sexist, and homophobic policies. In general, the educational system promotes inequality of both opportunity and results (pg. 30).
7. History of U.S Education
7.1. 1. The reform movement that I think had the most influenced on education is Educational Reaction and Reform and the Standards Era: 1980s-2012. The National Commission on Excellence that was founded by Secretary of Education, Terrel Bell. The committee stated five recommendations: 1. all students graduating high school complete the "new basics" - four years of English, three years of mathematics, three years of science, three years of social studies, and a half year of computer. 2. that schools at all level expect higher achievement from their students and that four-year colleges and universities raise their admissions requirements. 3. more time should be devoted to teaching new basics. 4. teaching should be more respected and rewarding profession. 5. that citizens require their elected representatives to support and fund these reforms (pg.81).
7.2. 2. Democratic-liberals involves the progressive evolution, albeit flawed, of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all (pg.83).
8. Sociological Perspectives
8.1. 1. Theoretical Perspectives: the book on page 117 it says it is an integration of all know principles, laws, and information pertaining to a specific area of study.
8.1.1. Functional Theories begin with a picture of society that stresses the interdependence of the social system (pg. 117). The book examples that functionalist view society as a machine of some sort, where one part articulates with another to produce energy required to make society work. Durkheim recognized that education had taken different forms at different times and place, he believed that education, in virtually all societies, was of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony (pg. 118).
8.1.2. Conflict theory: Karl Marx claims that society is in a state of conflict due to competition for limited resources. It holds that social order is maintained by domination and power. The book mentions that there is a direct correspondence between the organization of schools and the organization of society, and, until society is fundamentally changed, there is little hope of real school reform (pg. 119).
8.1.3. Interactional theories about the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives (pg. 120). An example is when a student goes through the process of getting with a learning disability or gifted. Basil Bernstein mentions on page 120 that he examined how speech patterns reflect students' social class backgrounds and how students from working-class backgrounds are at a disadvantage in the school setting because schools are essentially middle-class organizations.
8.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
8.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes- students that go to summer school read more and gained more knowledge than the other students that don't go to summer school and do not study.
8.2.2. Teacher Behavior- Persell on page 124 said, "When teachers demanded more from their students and praised them more, students learned more and felt better about themselves".
8.2.3. Employment- most students believe that if they graduated from college it will give them a big opportunity in finding a job.
8.2.4. Education and Mobility- on page 122 of the book it says private and public school students may receive the same amount of education, but private schools diploma may act as a "mobility escalator" because it represents a more prestigious educational route.
8.2.5. Inadequate Schools- A student may have better educational experience in a private school than in a public school.
9. Philosophy of Education
9.1. Pragmatism-in the book on page 186 it says that it is a philosophy that encourages people to find processes that work in order to achieve their desired ends.
9.1.1. Generic Notations- On page 188 Dewey proposed to educators to start with the needs and interests of the children in the classroom, allow the children to participate in planning his or her plan of study.
9.1.2. Goals of Education-John Dewey believed that the importance of the school as a place where ideas can be implemented, challenged, and restricted, with the goal of providing students with the knowledge of how to improve the social order(pg. 188).
9.1.3. Role of the Teacher- the teacher is not a authority figure. She is just there to encourage, give suggestions, answer questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.
9.1.4. Method of Instructions-Dewey encourages for students to learn both, individually and in groups. Dewey believed that the students should start posing questions about what they want to learn.
9.1.5. Curriculum- Progressive educators support the children should start working from the known material to the unknown, and that they are not wedded to a fixed curriculum either, because it changes as the social order changes and as children's needs and interest change.