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Chapter 4 - Schools, Choices and Challenges
The main question raised in chapter four is what are the school choice trends available in public education? Chapter 4 addresses the question of why schooling, what are schools for today...are we missing the point of schooling's purpose(s)? In America, schools began with the intent of extending home training: students were sent to small schools usually taking along what learning materials they had in their homes. The schoolmaster or schoolmarm was someone in the comnmunity hired by the community to teach the children basic reading, writing and arithmetic skills, along with the Bible scripture. Usually, the teacher stayed in the home of one of the families.
Transport that scene to today's schools. Perhaps that type of schooling can only be played out in homes today. Parents who want to monitor what their children are learning as in the early days in schools today are probably going to have to home-school their children.
The chapter offers two camps of reasoning for schools today: 1) to transmit the knowledge and values of today's society or 2) to reconstruct the ills of society. Which camp are you in? Perhaps you may find that you may borrow from both lines of reasoning. It is no doubt that schools are reflecting a general upheaval, change in the way society operates.
There is no doubt that whatever goes on in the school will certainly affect society as students turn eighteen, becoming legal participants in what happens. That being the case, we better be transmitting some knowlege on how they should operate in this world, else we are all affected. I certainly don't want to be responsible for churning out students who lack basic skills to navigate communication and the operation of what has become the necessities of our existence in this country: computers, medical equipment, cars, airplanes, military weapons and the likes of such. Perhaps we had better continue to transmit some knowledge.
Of course on the other end of the scale is using schools for the reconstruction of society. Too many people are poor in this country as a developed, leading entity in the world. Too many people are powerless to act against oppressive situations in this country. When these people's children are sent to schools, we better be equipping them, empowering them to take their knowledge and make their communities stronger, their lives better. Educating students in this camp would involve showing them how to take their new knowledge and make it work immediately.
I am reminded of a school in a poor area of Dallas, Texas, where a teacher empowered his students to do research in that community then act on the data they collected. This teacher was tired of coming to teach at this school on Monday mornings, walking over trash, beer bottles and cans left over from drunken purchases from liquor stores in front of the school. He incited his students to walk the community and they discovered that there were an atrocious amount of liquor stores across the street and the surrounding school area. He taught his students to use their math and language skills and collect data, prepare reports which they took up with the city of Dallas. As a result, the city changed the liquor license laws that allowed such stores to exist so close to the school. Some liquor stores were forced to shut down, a victory for such students that will be with them throughout their lives. These are the type of students we want to see representing us as politicians, future leaders.
Where do you stand? Complete the interactive activity on pages 136 - 137 and be prepared to defend your position on the discussion board. If you are teaching, you should be able to say what you think schools should be doing. My stand is that we need to teach both the basic skills and how to address the new issues in society. Students need to be able to get along with others, empathize and help those who have less resources than they do. Poors students need to be shown how they can mobilize to help themselves and their communities improve.
The chapter also addresses the concept of school choice that is on the rise today. Across this country, we now have home schools, magnet schools, open enrollment schools, charter schools, and now a model for voucher schools. You should visit each of these concepts and become familiar with the ideology of each. Should families be allowed to return to deciding who should educate their children and how that will happen? Why or why not?
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Chapter 3 - Culturally Responsive Teaching
According to Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings, there are five components to culturally responsive teaching: 1]knowledge of self and others; 2] the learning community; 3] multicultural curriculum; 4] responsive pedagogy; and 5] teaching for social justice and change agency. Along with reading the chapter on culturally responsive teaching, view the following video capture of Dr. Gloria Ladson-Billings (founder of culturally responsive teaching) and another video that further articulates what CRT is, then return to the MEDG551 Discussion board to post your responses ...
