In last class the question was raise, does the government have too much control in the school system today? In reading this Chapter I came across William McAndrew who was at one time the superintended of the New York City public schools. He express in writing a on a proposed student government plan, he stated that delegating any of the executive power s of that officer (principal)to those so irresponsible as students would be unwise. Its seem very much in the past that influential people who study the education system believe that, if school were left to be run by students or irresponsible principals the school will be failing and no productive. Therefore Government had to step in and have some kind of control in the educational system.
Thorndike views about teaching as a science concerned with the control of human behavior caught my attention also. He said that the power of the teacher was in his or her control of the stimuli. Thorndike divided stimuli into two categories which were under direct control and under indirect control. He said the direct control dealt more with love and tact, it is shown by gestures, facial expressions and speech and that indirect control are physical conditions of the school classroom. My question at this point is: How does Thorndike views of indirect and direct control works in a classroom today?
In education 1101 we learn that Piaget had underestimated the mind of how children learn and their ability to think cognitively. In reading this chapter when it comes to developing the human brain and how it learns William James was a firm believer in exercise and drill in order to get one to learn. I think that Thorndike has a point as to teaching as a science. I agree that teaching is a science and that teachers need to explore the world of teaching and see how to incorporate different method of teaching that would be effective to everyone and not just to the ones who are better at school than other. I believe there is a way to reach every student. Just like in of episode of everybody hates Chris. In this episode Chris was have problem understand algebra and so his mother was tutoring him but he still could not understand the subject, so he went to his grandmother for help and with his grandmother method Chris was able to acquire complete knowledge of the subject. But it was due to his grandmother realizing the he was good a keep score of baseball and how he analyzes the game. So she uses the same method to teach Chris by incorporating the game of baseball in help Chris understand algebra.
