Week 12 - Folder Readings

MARTIN: What do you make of the district's position that diversity is an important educational goal, and that these are among the steps that are necessary to ensure that diversity is achieved?

Ms. BROSE: Well, first of all, I want to say that we're not against diversity. We like diversity. We're in the public schools. Our argument is that there is lots of diversity in our schools without using the racial tiebreaker and that, you know, diversity means more than skin color and that, you know, the school district was really looking at having a ratio of white versus nonwhite kids. And the way they used the tiebreaker was clearly a form of discrimination. Supreme Court Revisits School Segregation

 

This was an interesting transcript because there is a lot in play. But this was most interesting to me because I think that it speaks to how vastly different these situations need to be handled as per where they are taking place. I have felt that these tiebreaker rules were timed to be phased out, that was until I started education classes. It’s clear that the tiebreaker rule in theory is good, but needs to be retrofitted to the issues of micro racisms today.

 

Ms. BROSE: I think, you know, developing magnate schools, they create a program that parents want, kids will go to it. Parents will send their kids to the school. And, you know, we really want the Seattle School District to say, okay. We're just going to put all our money, all our time, all our efforts into fixing all the schools so every kid has access to a good neighborhood school. Supreme Court Revisits School Segregation

With all we talk about in class about magnet schools, I formed a  pretty negative opnion. I was looking at it though through the lens of testing, and how they do not help. I forgot to think about looking at magnet schools through the lens of a parent. When Ms. Brose said, “they create a program that parents want, kids will go to it. Parents will send their kids to the school” and if we want to change the way of education then this would be a key step to take. Kids already have to choose 1st 2nd 3rd choice why not make available schools that kids want to go to, for other reasons then not wanting to attend a school that is crumbling to the ground.

 

Mr. Parker: The other thing is there were African-Americans who didn't get into their first school of choice, and there are whites and there are Asians. And we think that that's significant, because unlike the discrimination that occurred in the '50s where it was consistently, if you're African-American, you cannot go to this school no matter what, this does not pick out one race and say you will be treated differently from everyone else. It says that depending on whether or not there's a need for the tiebreaker, you may not get into your first school of choice. But, in fact, the way that it operated nearly, 80 percent of the ninth-graders got in to their school of first choice, and most of the other people got in into their second or third choice. Supreme Court Revisits School Segregation

When I started to read this transcript I had mixed positions on the matter but after hearing Mr. Parkers perspective I feel that if properly used it really is fair, he says “if it’s unfair, it’s unfair to everyone equally”. This is a good point; it goes back to an ecojustice perspective we have the ability to make this work but it’s going to take love and caring. This transcript also points out that integrated towns have not problem existing, parents and kids get along just fine. The problems between kids are not racial but simply normal kid problems.

Mr. GARY FEINERMAN (Attorney): The parents did not give Forest Grove School District notice that they were going to do so and did not give the school district an opportunity to evaluate the student for eligibility under the special education law.

ABRAMSON: But yesterday the Supreme Court said the suit can go ahead. In a 6-3 decision the court said parents who move students on their own can sue for private tuition payments. The question now is, will parents rush to place their kids in private schools and then ask public schools to pay? Supreme Court Rules On Special Education Case

This to me is insane, it can be crippling to a school. We live in a sue happy culture and it can be nothing but frustrating and suck up school funds. Money would need to be spent on lawyers and if they lose the case then they need to pay out every month. Things need to be kept in perspective, this started because the parents feel that the services were not good enough…so the solution is to pull money out of the school…this not only affects the child but the rest of the school based on one child…a child that no longer attends the school.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._board

I decided to write about the background because I have yet to fully wrap my head around Brown v. board. The wiki page helped to tie things together, for example I knew about Plessy v. fergurson but I  didn’t understand how it stood against the 14th amendment. When Brown v. board came around it was a whole new war on race. This should be an example of what we can expect in the future if real change is to take place. From separate but equal to eliminating racism and now, fighting micro racisms.

Week 12 - Ecojustice & Indigenous Pegagogies

“While the Western approach to equating the enclosure of the commons with progress has benefited certain classes of people, it has also resulted in many more people becoming increasingly dependent upon an economic system that they have little control over” (C.A. Bowers P.4)

These commons are supposed to be for everyone in the community, but increasingly over time these commons have been taken away (due to privatization and monetization). In some cases the areas in recent years are being set up for profit to be drawn from a common area. Every century we develop more and more and as this happens our development is swallowing up the commons. These commons become less available to lower class people and families and are very accessible to upper class people and families. The tie between development, class, and commons is an obvious one. Due to development low class areas are losing commons / their commons are being monetized. Development only seems to make the lives of upper and middle class better.

“As the lives of people in the West become even less centered on the self-sufficient possibilities of the commons, and more in the industrial culture that is beyond their control, their insecurity becomes more palpable.” (C.A. Bowers P.8)

I would like to see how the upper class would be able to survive if we have a sudden catastrophe that no one could have planned for and all money is worthless. One would have to believe that the poor class would be able to survive longer then the upper classes, right? Or a more real example is if the corporations were to take over and we solely depend on them for everything from apples to socks to technology then if something were to happen most wouldn’t know what to do. But if we lived in a society that was more based on commons the situation would be less dire we would be able to lean on our neighbors as they would lean on us because the purpose is to live day to day. Whereas the purpose of corporations is to make us consume things we don’t need for our day to day, making us less self-suffient because we no longer know what a necessity is and what a luxury is. I think a common setting would make these things clear.

“Whether they can be reformed in ways that contribute to revitalizing the commons, and thus to nurturing both the Earth’s ecosystem and cultural diversity, is one of the major challenges we face today.” (C.A. Bowers P.15)

A major problem standing in our way is corporations, our government needs to step in and start to control some of the obscene actions of these corporations. For example no Corp. should be allowed to own anything that has to do with life, for example seeds. These two things, the government not protecting the people from corporations and what they are allowed to patent. This puts must to much power in the hands of corporations and as long as this power stays with them we will never get back the commons. When corporations own everything, then there is automatically a price attached to it, when this happens it automatically eliminates the availability to all classes.

“The teachers need to mediate in a way that helps the student understand the positive contributions of science and technology, as well as the aspects of the commons they undermine.” 

(C.A. Bowers P.116)

 It doesn’t have to be one or the other, commons or science and technology; we can still use the science and technology that has helped us get to where we as a people are today. With that said it has a lot to do with a lot of the problems we now face (global warming for example). It’s important to understand how we can integrate science and technology into the commons and the tradeoffs that will be necessary. Also to bring back sustainable traditions form different cultures. If we can achieve this as teachers we are on our way to addressing eco-justice issues in our classes.

“The challenge for the teachers is to help students identify the intergenerational knowledge and practices that have been marginalized by the attention being given to the traditions of modern, industrial culture that expand by undermining the non-monetized traditions of the commons.” 

(C.A. Bowers P.117)

I agree, I think there is a personal challenge for a teacher from my generation. I believe that most of use grew up in the corporation world and was influenced by it. So the additional challenge is for us teachers to figure out the intergenerational knowledge before we begin to present. This must be even harder for the students to begin to grasp because the idea of commons and traditions based on those commons is now lost / marginalized. There will come a point where this knowledge is lost forever so it’s important to start to bring back these concepts now and do a compare and contrast against our current traditions. 

Week 11 - Kozol Ch. 8

“Despite these changes, the extent of segregation in the city’s schools was greater in 1963 than it had been in 1958” (Kozol P. 190)

I though the reason we learn history was so that we don’t repeat it…but then how can we put something in place that may have words that talk about desegregation but the truth is it created classism. More affluent families moved out of these areas and schools were left will more black or Hispanic population then before. Was “desegregating schools” a big smoke screen for the bigger agenda? What is the bigger agenda then? For the white rich to get richer and power powerful? Why can’t our government get their nose out of the air put egos down and do what is best for each individual in America, not do what’s best for a small group of people, I had a history professor call this small group O.R.W.M  or Old Rich White Men. We should kick out every senator and congress person and start over. 

“Yet, realism combined with working memory, invites the feeling that a familiar performance is about to be repeated….it is a performance that has been repeated many, many, times over the decades since” (Anthology P.193)

Once again I will bring up history, we should LEARN from our MISTAKES not do them over and over again….what’s the definition of insanity…doing the same exact thing over and over again expecting a different result. Well then it looks like the government’s attempt to fix education is pure insanity! I think that it is time for the government to simply be the money source in our attempt to fix the education system and let the educators figure out what’s best for the students. We need to work cooperatively with the government and they need to trust the educators of America will produce critical citizens. If schools can create critical citizens, then the government, I believe will be able to benefit from it and lucratively.

“Joesph Fernandez former superintendent of the Miami schools, ‘New Chancellor, New Hope for Schools’ ‘It’s a thrill to hear Joseph Fernandez talk about his plans…’.”   “ ‘Arrogant, abrasive or aloof’ ‘he made to many enemies’ ‘His greatest strength –a sometimes imperious distaste for compromise –became his fatal flaw’.” (Kozol P. 196 & 197)

This was a serious of quote and headlines from newspapers. It’s amazing that we just keep looking to the next person to come in and save the school systems….but the system doesn’t need saving it needs total reform! How can anyone expect to take on such a task when media is breathing down your neck and ready to turn on you in a moment? Like seriously how can you be excited for someone who has a “imperious distaste for compromise” and then rag on him down the road when that tactic didn’t work. We are ready to endorse but we are equally if not more ready to hang someone when it doesn’t work. Does media have the answers to how we can save our schooling system…obviously not….does government…obviously not….so who is left….teachers and educators….I think it’s time we let them do their jobs. Media should step aside or simply support the effort and government should work cooperatively with schools but more for finical backing.

“Joe Clark…where he was photographed holding his baseball bat in both hands and looking as if he would not hesitate to use it…called his school ‘a Mecca of education’ after Clark threw out 300 students who were often late for class or had high absence rates, whom he described as ‘parasites’ and ‘leeches’(Kozol P. 199) 

Really, kicking 300 students out of a school gets the label of “Mecca of education” This is ridicules…as educators we should be educating these 300 kids the best we can so they have a chance to survive. The reality is most of those kids are not going to have much success in their lives. In my opinion that’s no one’s fault but Clarks. What educator in their right mind gets rid of 300 kids…I can see kicking out a handful of kids…maybe gang members of some sort…anything that is a threat to your students and teacher safety then have at it, throw out those kids…but being late and skipping class not that I condone it, but is a pretty natural thing for an adolescent to do…bring guns, knives and drugs to school…that can and should get you kicked out of school. As a student, why would you want to learn from someone who teaches behind a freakin baseball bat?

“And indeed, before the president left office, many of his goals had more or less dissolved into thin air, and very few people that I knew could still remember what they were. Some of the goals that Mr. Bush (George H. W. Bush) were anything but new or “revolutionary” as the president proclaimed” (Kozol P. 202)

Once again, why does the government have to come up with the “ideas” of how to fix education or what direction it should be going in. This chapter shows you that every president who attempted to help essentially did that same thing as the presidents before them and the quote above speaks to that. A clear example of this in present day is NCLB followed by RTTT…if one pile of crap didn’t work then why add to it? Education is under piles and piles of it, a total reform is necessary the original picture is to blurry now and it seems that government can’t see what education should be anymore. Like I have said all throughout these quotes government should hand over the IDEA part to the teachers and work cooperatively with them from a finical perspective.

“Nationwide, only once percent of eligible children transferred from a failing school to a higher-performing school under the provisions of the federal law. If the president had used his leadership to advocate for transfers not only within school districts, but between them, the transfer option might have had real meaning and, indeed, if earnestly enforced, it might have opened up the possibilities of mighty expanded racial integration in suburban schools surrounding our core cities.” (Kozol P. 205)

1% that’s it, that’s that master plan the government, came up with to help with our “de-segregated” schools. And then to not enforce the transfer of student both ways. I always wondered why we would just redraw district lines, its apparent now there are still people in positions of power that are racists it’s just discrete racism. It exists in laws and bills but are hidden to the common folk. This piece of legislation is a wonderful idea, but its half complete (students should be sent the other way too) why wasn’t that enforced? No one is going to ask that question because they are kind of getting what they want (they – the people) It looked good on paper but its practice failed. 

Week 10 - Anthology Ch 21, 22 & 23

“That teacher training programs in the United States have long been dominated by a behavioristic orientation and emphasis on mastering subject areas and methods of teaching is well documented.” (Anthology P. 199)

I think that if someone wants to be a teacher they should want to open up students mind and help them expand. To take a behaviorism approach is essentially demanding that the student do what you ask without question. I can remember this ideal very clearly from my elementary days, and I hated every last one of those teachers. In my elementary experience I disliked most of my teachers except for two of them. The reasons I liked them is clear now, they were the only ones that took a power-with approach (unless of course we got WAY out of line) and it I wanted to learn. I hope to be a teacher that has a power-with approach.

“The notion that students come from different histories and embody different experiences, linguistic practices, cultures and talents is strategically ignored within the logic of accountability of management pedagogy theory” (Anthology P. 201)

HELLO, we can’t ignore who the student is before we teach them….we need to learn about them, see what they know, see what unique perspectives each student brings to the table. Not everyone grew up in America, not everyone grew up the way the teacher, or principle for that matter. Who’s to say that a bunch of experts should dictate what needs to be learned. I believe that the learning should be specific to the area in which the school is located, then us surrounding areas as a point of reference so that students become well rounded, and not brought back to basics.

“They must work to create the conditions that give students the opportunity to become citizens who have the knowledge and courage to struggle in order to make despair unconvincing and hope practical” (Anthology P. 204)

 Teachers are currently in an interesting position; the powers above are dictating what they teach, how they teach, and why they teach it. This point of power needs to be shifted to the teachers, to the ones who know best, to the ones who have many years of schooling so that they can make a difference. I believe that teachers know what needs to be done, but their hands are always tied by money and other incentives. Teachers need a more wide open approach, a more transformative approach. If we want the students to become participating citizens who are educated to help make a difference then we (school systems) can’t keep jamming the students with useless data.

“Any kid of teaching requires toughness. You have to have firm convictions about a whole lot of stuff that you are not, in fact, always sure about.” (Anthology P. 205)

Back in the day I considered teaching before I chose not to and to get a degree in computers…then I chose to ultimately become a teacher. The point of me telling you that is because what I feared I lacked the most was the ability to “have firm convictions”. This was also my fear when I started my first coaching experience but I soon realized that it falls on the relationship that you have between you and your class (or team in this case). It was interesting because the kids had many questions and I didn’t have many answerers (all their questions were legit questions that I had too) but I promised I would find out and we were able to move on. I think what had a lot to do with that is I never took a top-down approach with my team always approached it eye-to-eye (power-with) and I think that’s where I got a lot of slack for not knowing. So to get back to the word tough, you need to have a thick skin because the answer will not always be right there for you. This especially in tech ed, I am sure that I will have plenty of questions from students that I can’t answer off the top of my head instead of freaking out and feeling like I failed my class, I would simply take a little extra time to find that student or class the answer and we can use it as a teaching/learning moment.

“To be able to think critically or analytically does not mean to criticize. It means to look at messages and materials through different lenses and from many perspectives; it means to be able to recognize propaganda regardless of its origin; it means to be able to ‘detect crap’ It means to pull apart materials, sort them, question them, reorganize them mentally, and then synthesize the pieces into coherent understanding and whole.” (Anthology P.211)

I picked this quote but I wish I didn’t have to respond to it….it does a really good job of describing what critical anything is. I specifically like the “look at messages and material through different lenses” this is referring to the diversity and how we as future teachers need to recognize that. We need to put on the lens that our students see through every day. I had a teacher all use the term “hats” when he was talking about it he was referring to the “hat” a parent wears compared to that “hat” that you wear. It speaks to the same thing, we can’t ignore where the student came from, we need to embrace and understand it. By doing this, applying lenses we can open up many doors into the students. 

Week 9 - Anthology Ch. 9 & 11

“The teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence” (Anthology P.92)

This quote is referring to the banking method of teaching; in this ideology knowledge is considered to be a gift to the student. This is a very top down approach and bothers me quite a bit because I know from experience no one like to be talked down to, immediately just based on the style a large portion of the class will not be paying attention. This method of teaching undermines the student’s ability to be an active participant in their education instead of a “bucket” for knowledge, effectively making them non thinkers.

“Translated into practice, this concept is well suited for the purpose of the oppressors, whose tranquility rests on how people fit the world the oppressors have created and how little they question it.” (Anthology P.95)

The banking method in schools helps the oppressors set up the student to be an active part of the oppressor’s world instead of their own. The method promotes non-questioning, which to me is one of the essential parts of being human. Isn’t it our natural ability to wonder that allowed us to develop to where we are today? And shouldn’t we be afraid that a group of people are effectively taking that away from our future, I feel that our generation is barley involved with politics as it is to think that generations to come won’t even have the ability to question is scary.

“The revolutionary society which practices banking education is either misguided or mistrusted of the people. In either event, it is threatened by the specter of reaction” (Anthology P.97)

This statement helps to supports what I said above, it may have taken a few generations but finally America is dumb. No one ever wanted the public to be informed, who could be now a days? The monster is so big and the young Americans can’t read and don’t care.  Even when you think of it like this, there is a part of me that thinks that it injustice like this can’t possibly run this deep…but it’s equally as possible.

“They must abandon the educational goal of deposit-making and replace it with the posing problems of human beings in their relationship with the world. “Problem-Posing” education”(Anthology P.97)

It was interesting to see it put this way, “Problem-Posing” education the kids grow up learning based on what is relevant in their lives. There is nothing more relevant then the problems we face and will face as a society. In that there is schooling built in, math, science, English, technology, history, the arts, it’s all relevant and useful. I believe that a method like this would create excitement about education among the students because it would be an active education, they feel invested and they understand why they are learning what they are learning.

“So while I have heard a lot over thirty years about teaching competency and merit pay. I have yet to hear a sincere effort to acknowledge what is the essence of great teaching” (Anthology P.113)

I’m not even a teacher yet and I know exactly what he is talking about, teaching is a combination of an art and a science. With that combination it becomes difficult to quantify a way to “assess” the teacher merit based pay sounds nice, but this is a sport where you can follow stats or be able to watch every performance and determine ones “worth”. With so many teachers and the rapid pass of the year there is no way to be able to sit in enough to determine something like if the test scores actually reflects the teachers doing, not to mention all the other factors that should be considered about test scores. 

“No standardized test for students can ever inform us of the teacher’s enthusiasm, caring, or belief that students can be successful-three factors that have an enormous effect on student achievement and self-esteem” (Anthology P114)

Jackpot! Exactly how I feel it’s like in coaching your team can be 1 – 15 but that doesn’t mean the season is a lose, no no no a lot was learned, if the kids had fun, learned, and got better then the season was a success. A test score doesn’t say much about how far a group has come, everyone moves at their own pace. Education shouldn’t be using these big tests to measure anything. We all have special talents and it should be a teacher or coach’s job to bring that out, to bring out the best that any individual student has to offer!

Week 8 Folder: Diamond & Miner

“Our ideas of how to teach come mostly from a five-week summer training institute that promises to give new recruits the tools they will need to be successful teachers.”

(Diamond P.1)

This to me is laughable and I’m not a teacher yet, I can only imagine what a certified veteran teacher thinks of this statement. It takes four years of college to get state certified plus a masters and at least five years of teaching before becoming a master teacher. TFA is not a solution for failing schools in poor areas, to me it seems like they are using the misfortune to profit in terms of their career and wallets.  

“These sessions seemed designed to prepare a mostly privileged and 70 percent white group of teachers for communities that are starkly different from their own experience. (According to the TFA website, 90 percent of the students of TFA teachers are low income African Americans and Latinos.)” (Diamond P.5)

This to me is so bad, how is ANYONE supposed to make a difference in two years when they don’t know anything about the community and student body. After two years I would imagine that a teacher would only begin to understand these things and then be able to alter their teaching style accordingly. Two years is just enough time to do nothing, accept make some money in a bad market and a great résumé builder.

“As TFA founder Kopp writes in her memoir, from the very beginning she was “baffled” at the idea that “teachers, just like doctors and lawyers, needed to be trained in campus-based graduate programs before entering the classroom. . . . How could Teach for America do anything but raise teaching standards? We were talking about recruiting the most talented graduates in the country to teach. Where was the conflict?” (Miner P.4)

This just makes me made as I said earlier in this blog “It takes four years of college to get state certified plus a masters and at least five years of teaching before becoming a master teacher.” And I really believe that, teachers need ever expanding education just like doctors and lawyers its silly to think otherwise. There is an art / science to teaching, just because someone is good at something or even masters it, does NOT mean they can teach it. In my experience it’s the exact opposite.

“At the same time, some union members worry that administrators are using TFA to hand-pick staff and get rid of teachers they may not like, especially higher paid teachers with seniority.” (Miner P.5)

This is what I fear most, TFA isn’t really governed and there is no talk of a union so how do educated certified teachers avoid the sexy appeal of cheap, young, energetic new teachers. Teachers that do not ask questions and just do what they are told is exactly what is needed so that people in power can force their values and opinions.

“Nor does it ask hard questions about the relationship between the achievement gap and problems of segregation, poverty, and an unemployment rate among African American men that hovers around 50 percent in some urban communities.” (Miner P.12)

This is a huge issue in education, arguably the footing for all the major issues in education. To not address these issues is to not be a contributing part of the growth of education. TFA is simply a stepping stone in a career path and it simply uses the misfortune of others. To put people with now knowledge or background of the way their students grow up is not fair to the students. I know that there are many times that teachers don’t grow up in the same setting where these poor schools are, a real teacher doesn’t have to leave after two years he/she can grow with the community and really understand the student body.

The 990 also broke down the $523,475 that TFA spent on political lobbying in

2008, within the allowable limit for a 501(c)3. (Miner P.15)

Lobbying in my opinion should have no spot in government; there is now one with deep pockets lobbying for the average person. For the same reason there should not be lobbying that effect education because it simply makes it an unfair fight. There are many well educated educators with plenty to say about the topics and issues in education today but politicians what to fix everything and assign people with no connection to education to decision making education boards. 

Week 7 - Anthology Ch. 10 19&20

“The mass media like to scoff that current certification requirements would keep Albert Einstein from teaching in the public school...A Nobel Prize does not guarantee excellence in the classroom” (Anthology P.104)

This concept seems to also exist in the politicians minds as well, forcing teaching to the test methods effectively striping away the teacher’s ability to use their education. Time has proven that the politicians and media alike don’t know which way is the right way and keep appointing friends to high education positions. How is it that the people in the profession have close to no say in how education should be done? Dr. Love uses the example of medical and how they follow what is the best in order to do the best job, they go to school for this. Educators also go to many years of school yet teachers don’t seem to have the ability to make decisions or have any say in how it should be done.

“There is no instant, stir-and-serve recipe for running a classroom” (Anthology P.105)

Teachers need to be able to adapt to the students, if it isn’t interesting to them, then it isn’t interesting. This concept means that each year a teacher will need to slightly or dramatically change their approach; you can’t have a template on how to teach there are too many factors to consider. A teacher in a suburb and a teacher an inner city school cannot approach lessons in the same manor you need to consider how the students grew up, values and many others.

“Some schools succeed brilliantly while others stumble and fall. Clearly something more is at work here. (Anthology P.184)

It’s odd how we want to “Race to the top” and be number one but not take into consideration the reality of the situations of the schools that “stumble and fall”. It’s not the teachers, it’s not the parents, it’s not the students but it’s when students are put at such a disadvantage due to circumstances that are not their fault that they slip and fall. Walk a mile in their schools don’t make decisions behind a desk in a suit.

“ We should all work to raise expectations for our children, to reform and restructure schools to prepare all students for a hopeful and powerful future, to drive resources to the neediest communities, to demand successful and wondrous learning environments for everyone, to involve teachers, parents, and communities – the public in public schools – in the discussion of what’s important for kids to know and experience. “ (Anthology P.186)

I think that the a big part of the transformation is first admitting there is a problem, then I believe the next step is to directly involved the community with the school. If we try to put the school at the center of the communities’ activates then the school can start to better understand who their community really is. This information and connection with the community will allow for a deep long term relationship. With this new relationship you can start to reform and restructure and over time a new path will be found. I believe that this must be allowed to happen per community, and is the opposite of national standards.

“Over time, I became aware of students who did poorly on tests but who showed other evidence of learning.” (Anthology P.188)

Yet another reason why standardized testing is a joke. If we have acknowledged different learning styles then why aren’t there different assessment styles? After reading this part I found it very interesting that we don’t do this. I think that this is naturally present in technology education due to the amount of hands on work that is done. It really isn’t about the final product but about the path taken to get there, a lot is learned through the process. It’s also like giving partial credit on math tests; you shouldn’t get the whole problem wrong if the whole process is right with a fudged number.

“That, in turn, helped me develop a conviction that each student In my classes brought strengths to our work and that it was my job to bring those strengths to our work and that it was my job to bring those to the surface so that all of us could benefit.” (Anthology P.193)

I also believe in this, I can speak from coaching experience that you can always use strengths of players to help teach a concept. It also gives students who may feel like they can’t contribute much the ability to just that. When you start to make learning a collaborative effort amongst the class it can create a total class investment in learning, a situation where each student is actively involved in learning. 

Kozol: Chapter 7

“You have to sit down in the little chairs in first and second grade, or on the reading rug with kindergarten kids, and listen to the things they actually say to one another and the dialogue between them and their teachers.” (Kozol P.163)

This paragraph talks about the students overall happiness in school, and how something like that can’t be gauged by achievement levels and scientific methods. I couldn’t agree more, we can’t look at statistics and determine if a student enjoys coming to school. Like Kozol says you need to inject yourself in their day to day and observe these things and I feel that it is more than necessary.  A second pair of eyes could make all the difference in some cases.

“The school received a private grant of $27,000 yearly from a petrochemical corporation know as Kerr-McGee, which amounted to approximately $36 yearly for each pupil. An official of the corporation served as chairman of the governing council of the school, a not uncommon arrangement in low-income schools” (Kozol P.164)

I think that if corporations want to help with school by giving grants and such then great, but I do not think that a member of the corporation should serve as a chairman on the governing school council. Just because someone gave money makes then a professional in education, I don’t think so. Also there is too much influence especially from a petrochemical company; it would be too easy to put nasty chemical factories in these areas, much like the medical waste burner. The problem with corporations is that they are only worried about the bottom dollar, but with that said we have people like Bill Gates out there.

“A psychologist at Harvard University emphasized the interrelationship of art and science with arithmetic and reading and other elements of school instruction” (Kozol P.168)

I’ve said this a few times now but with no real back up, we can’t strip away stuff from the school day and only teach to a test. The students need to experience an array of different things to find out where they stand in this world. I did chorus, played drums and the violin in elementary school, none of which I do today but the point is I had the chance to experience them all. What if I didn’t get to experience a wide array of activities and events in elementary school? I would have had false dreams and perceptions about who I am and what I like.

“I was very scared” wrote a child in the class named Ashley whose friends reported seeing one of the live rats climbing on her chair. “It was hard for me to breath, I asked the teachers to send me to the nurse. “Ashley got sick because” of dead rats wrote another child. (Kozol P.172)

Pretty much this tells me that our restaurants have higher requirements of operation then our schools. This is ridicules, rats really? If I had to deal with all the trials that these kids deal with in and out of school I think rats would be the last straw for me. Why would I want to come to a place dirtier then Chuckey Cheeses? Once again I feel that environment dictates the end result of the student. Put yourself in their shoes, if you had to sit on a book shelf while take being drilled for a standardized test and watching rats crawl into your friends backpacks would you continue to go?

“You can imagine what it does to students when they have no food to eat for an entire day. The school day here at Fremount is eight hours long” (Kozol P.176)

Overcrowded schools mean that classes are taught in storage areas, auditoriums, and trailers. Schools that are under the knife with testing take away recess and other “extras”. Yes these things are obstacles and big ones at that but to not be able to feed a student over the course of a day is absolutely not fair and unacceptable. What if the student wasn’t provided breakfast in the morning at home? Do we expect the kid to perform in the classroom, or to even care about what is being taught when they have no fuel. We didn’t forget that children need to eat right? We didn’t forget that food is a person’s source of fuel did we? Maybe next we should take away sleep, school 24 hours a day.

“I don’t want to take hairdressing. I did not need sewing either. I knew to sew. My mother is a seamstress in a factory. I’m trying to go to college. I don’t need to sew to go to college. My mother sews. I hoped for something else.”

This should sum up exactly why schools need reform, earlier in this chapter Kozol talked about how a principle asked to be demoted because she was physical getting sick from all the stress. Now the environment and track that students get on is clear, and the students see it as a dead end. This student had aspirations of college and the school squashed them. Overcrowded – in my opinion she was looked over and no one tool personal care in her life and her goals, nope just take sewing it’s a requirement. 

Educational Foundations Ch. 5&6, Kozol Ch. 6

“This bureaucratic culture foresters the pervasive assumption that when students misbehave or achieve poorly, they must be “fixed” because the problem inheres in the students of families, not in the social ecology of the school, grade, or classroom.” (Anthology P.64)

No student needs to be fixed. What is the definition of fixed and through whose eyes? It’s a silly concept when you can look at another person and talk about what needs to be “fixed”. Each student is their own and comes from their own life with their own background, culture, family life, social surroundings, etc.  The job of a teacher is not to go around “fixing” students it should be about educating and brooding horizons.

“For example, could the definition of “hyperactivity” that their schools take for granted have something to do with today’s decreased opportunities for physical activity and rest during the school day?” (Anthology P.66)

Forcing students to strict schedules plus the taking away of activity and rest in the school day, makes it feel more like prison. This is just another wall between the school and the student as well this does not help the child obesity rates in the nation, have we thrown health out the window? Is the theory we will educate them about education but do nothing to implement it in their day? This to me is over the top

“Changing the class ecology brought out the creativity and leadership of Veronica’s most troublesome student, Tyrone…using a remarkably effective tool, which he called the Helping Hand” (Anthology P.69)

This quote shows that the student isn’t what needs fixing; it’s the system we use. We need to change our ways to engage and excite the students. What worked for one set of students may not work for the next; you need to do your best to understand your students and not just force feed them your content assuming that it works. Teachers need to morph to help student learning.

“When we acknowledge that there is nothing “wrong” with the urban students or their families or their communities, we must ask if the problem has been in the type of school we have been providing for them.” (Anthology P.162)

Exactly, the system needs to look in on itself and ask if it needs fixing. I think we need to allow districts to make decisions on how education should be run based on the community and populace of the school with no finical or test score pressure. This may take time to develop and I’m sure there are other answers, maybe mine is invalid in all. The point is I think there needs to be a major shift in how schools do school.

“These complex, layered contests influence each other in bi-directional ways. Urban schools are embedded in a much larger context, one that requires multiple sectors of the community acting in concert.” (Anthology P. 162)

This is the hardest obstacle to get around as far as changing the style of schools. There is so much going on in urban communities I couldn’t think of a way to coordinate something like that. I’m sure people want change but where do you start, shuttling kids out off to other districts isn’t the point; It feels like the dismantling of a community. Maybe a good start is to make the school the focus of the town.

“Built to hold 1,800 kids, the school held 3,400. More than 95 percent of the students were black or Hispanic; 1.5 percent was white.” (Kozol P.145)

I could only imagine what a day in a school like this is, it must affect the mid of the learners. An environment like this promotes students to do what they want when they want. Schools should be promoting just the opposite; do you bring a child to a crowded NYC subway for play time? No, because that’s an environment that isn’t fun and engaging. Schools can expect a positive response from the students until they are in a positive setting. 

Kozol Ch. 5 & 6

“It is a different story in too many inner-city schools where deviations from a charted road set off alarm bells for the supervisory officials” (Kozol P.110)

These are elementary school kids, isn’t part of their job to get off track, to be creative, to be excited about something ANYTHING in school, to find out what makes themselves tick for that matter. It’s a little crass to have to determine what is important to a child based off of state standards and not observations of the teacher. As a teacher you need to be able to learn and understand your student, one can’t follow guide lines or strict standards. Each student is not the same, each of them is interested in different things and each of them learns differently. Teachers need to be allowed to teach and teach in a way that makes the students think. Thinking leads to learning, regurgitating something that was state mandated does not.

“During the three months prior to all-important state exam, fifth grade teachers ha to set aside all other lessons from 8:40 to 11:00, and from 1:45 to 3:00 to drill children for their tests.” (Kozol 113)

Earlier in the text Kozol says “approximately a week of testing” I know from when I was a kid that there would be no way by the end of all these long testing sessions that I would not be trying any more, that I would have been burnt out. It’s unbelievable what they are putting these kids through, three months of drilling for tests, how in any way does this help the child? In my onion I don’t see how it does, you are taking away what it is to be a child, there are other important developments going on in their lives they need to be engaged and exposed to many different stimuli not bubble sheets.

“The rational for giving test like these to children in their elementary years is that the test results will help show their teachers where the children’s weakness may lie, to that they can redirect the focus…this is not the way things generally work, because of the long lapse in time between the taking of these test and the receipt of scores” (Kozol P.115)

First off, if we are in the computer age then why is there no system that teachers can access to get immediate and sorted data on each student. This is unreal, if they make such a big deal about the test then there should be big support as well. Second, if the reason for the test is to gauge where each student is at then maybe an idea would be to give them at the end of the year, with no threat of being held back (unless of course the teacher feels it is necessary or any other reason talked about by professionals and not determined by a test score) this will allow sufficient time to gather information and use it effectively.

“In Atlanta, recess has been systematically abandoned to secure more time for test-related programs…in 80 percent of Chicago schools, recess has been abolished also.” (Kozol P.120)

Ooo I get it, the goal of our education system is to create overweight non critical thinkers. If that’s the case then the system works. Obviously this is not what we as teachers want. America is facing major childhood obesity issues right now, taking away recess will only make them more tired and lazy in the classroom. To me this is as bad as it could get, this really relates to prison, to not allow the students any activity during the day is the most backwards idea yet. We were all kids once, how is it possible to not remember how important it was to have a little time to go run in circles, in my opinion it helps the students refocus.

“Education involves the heart as well as the mind…Learning entails play and risk-taking as well as ordered study…we don’t have time for these things anymore.” (Kozol P.132)

This really sums up how I feel after reading this chapter, too much has been stripped out of what goes into the education a young child.

“I don’t have the least idea of where my life is heading, and these questions that you’re asking make me scared.” (Kozol P.147)

This is the reality that these kids face, something that overcrowded, un-segregated, testing schools create. Testing and drilling students for these tests won’t change anything. Sooner or later most will give up when they understand their individual reality and with no support they will give up. These environments don’t give support. A school built for 1,800 kids held 3,400 kids this is not an environment that is effective for students of teachers. Many get lost and in turn they have no idea of what the future can bring instead they think life is supposed to be what it is like at school.

“There were 1,275 ninth graders in the fall of 1999… but only 400 of these students were enrolled in twelfth grade…of these survivors…only 188…met the requirements for graduation” (Kozol P.150)

This to me supports my idea that students get lost in these big systems where they over populate the schools. Once a student feels like no one cares for them plus their hate for school due to factors like insignificant class and unfair high-stakes tests then why would a student continue to come back? Even those that made it to twelfth grade less than 50% graduated this is not what education should be about. The environment and the material need to be engaging and interesting to the student, not something they hate and fear.  

Kozol: Chapter 4

“I was introduced to a “Time Manager” who was assigned to hold the timer to be sure the teacher didn’t wonder from her schedule and that everyone adhered to the prescribed number of minutes that had been assigned to every classroom task” (Kozol P.91)

Earlier in this chapter Kozol talks about all the manager jobs available to the students. One of them was a time manager. Although I do not feel that these jobs are a good idea (at least in the format that was talked about in this chapter) I feel that “time manager” is one of the worst. It has to do more with “adhered to the prescribed number of minutes that had been assigned to every classroom task” we as teachers can assign X amount of minutes on a topic and achieve mastery! Mastery comes from hard and continuous work until the knowledge is achieved. To be that strict on the time spent is a silly practice for teachers.

 “The Classroom Bank presented an enticing sample of real currency one-dollar bills, five-dollar bills, ten-dollar bills in order to make a clear nexus between cash reward and writing proper sentences.”

Oh man if this is the case IM RICH! There is just one thing; this IS NOT the case in the real world. There is no connection between writing proper sentences and bash rewards. This process essentially sets up the children to fail and to make them feel like they have been lied to; sooner or later they will figure out how this does not apply in the real world. All in all, when I read this became angry with such ignorant logic. (Kozol P.91)

“We want every child to be working as a manger while he or she is in this school”, the principal explained. “We want to make them understand that, in this country, companies will give you opportunities to work, to prove yourself, no matter what you’ve done” &  “even if you have a felony arrest, we want you to understand that you can be a manager some day.” (P.93)

No matter what you have done, even if you have a felony arrest. This is how the principal and teachers of this school looks at the student body. Negative mind sets like that come through in the curriculum. So this means the everyday teachers and principals are just waiting for the children to mess up, not expecting them to succeed, but expecting them to be felons, but that expectation is negative, and bleeds through in ones teaching. Like I said last blog students are smarter then we think. If we categorized them, they will know and become resistant.

“Sometimes the educated child is referred to as “the product” too.” (Kozol P.94) & “Did you even stop to think that these robots will never burglarize your home? He asked, will never snatch your pocket books…these robots are going to be producing takes…” (Kozol P.97-98)

I put these two quotes together as one because this just makes me mad. Seriously people, we should NOT be viewing the child as a product or as something (robots) who won’t steal. Each and every child is a human, and each one of them comes from a different ethnic, cultural, economical, and social backgrounds. We as teachers need to recognize that and try out best to make real, human connections to our students and their outside of school world. Products, Robots…we aren’t business people, we are educators, and our goal is not to create products/robots but to create well rounded, educated, productive members of society. How the student does so, should be up to them.

“practices that vulgarize the intellects of children and take from their education far too man of its opportunities for cultural and critical reflectiveness without which citizens become receptacles for other people’s ideologies and ways of looking at the world but lack the independent spirits to create their own.  (Kozol P.98)

Going along with the theme of this chapter, I was angry when I read this. We should not be taking away cultural and critical reflectiveness opportunities from the children. If we never relate material to the real world then we are filling the children’s heads with a lot of nothing. If the material has no bearing on their day to day lives, then we are providing them useless knowledge. It’s one thing to learn something; it’s another to be able to apply something. Me personally, material doesn’t sink in until I have  done it. Also in this quote it speaks to being a “receptacles to other people’s ideologies” When I was growing up in JHS and HS I tried my best to be my own person, to figure out thing for my own, with my opinions and ideologies It was the worst when a teacher tried to push theirs onto you. This is not what education is about, we should teach a concept and left it grow. Not teach a concept and tell the student exactly how it will always be because you learned it here. THINKING is a vital part of education, not passively listening to what someone tells you.

“A student could select a college education as a “career path” but this option wasn’t marketed to many of the students at the school as forcefully as were the job-related programs”

Once again this angered me, why wouldn’t we as teachers be urging our students to going to post-secondary education. This model of education I feel completely misses the mark and what we should be doing. By using this style you are taking away opportunities. Granted college is not for everyone, and that is fine. But you can’t disallow a whole school population that opportunity. College should be the goal of all schools. “shot for the sun, and if you fall short you will be amongst the stars” this is the idea we should be teaching to. We as educators should be teaching so that the students can either, peruse post-secondary education or enter the work force. Like I said earlier college isn’t for everyone but not even making it an option is unacceptable.