At the birth of the education system, women were the consummate educators of their time. This status shift from at first pushing women away from the workplace, toward incorporating them in the teaching profession placed men in higher positions in the educational hierarchy (officials, principals, superintendents). The Pestallozian method explains that the maternal love for the pupils was a necessary component of the in-class learning experience. That only with this nurturing and could the pupils be taught the moral code necessary in American society. I do believe that this can be helpful, but I also believe that home is a place for maternal care and affection, not school. School should be more academically focused. However, when the education system became more of an up and down hierarchy, the legislation will make less sense to the teachers and affect the children that much more. When there was no connection between the top and the bottom and when school officials stopped being educators and turned into enforcers, I think children stopped enjoying the school days and they just looked forward to learning less so than they used to. It is simply a ripple effect. If there are men at the top who have never even taught in the classroom, how are they making decisions regarding the classroom structure? There is no logic in this.
I do agree with the notion that teachers and students should engage in healthy dialogues for the purpose of fostering a wholesome relationship and work together early and often. Students should also collaborate with one another to improve their communication and teamwork skills. This clearly made for a more cohesive and compatible learning environment during that time period when the whole world was taking pointers from America. With a lot of dialogue, it was shown that students were more engaged and learned more as a result. The large lecture halls clearly posed a difficulty in teaching all the students. However, I think that children thought of school as a privilege back then as opposed to recent years where adolescents cannot stand being penalized and ordered around by parental-like superiors. For students to look at schooling positively they should not have to be afforded the opportunity, school institutions have to make their experience attractive and open to change in order for the kids to truly learn. Home is the place where discipline should be implemented and even though school is an extension of the home for most, its sole purpose should not be to discipline the children. Discipline won’t be need if students are interested in their studies. School must be a place where learning happens, not where it is supposed to happen.
