Author Archives: aorrico

In chapter’s 3 and 4 Meier gives his opinion on why larger school are not always better then the smaller ones. Although bigger school do tend to have more things to offer the students, in a smaller setting students do not have the ability to band together as much and the classes are much more together and in sync. I do agree with this because for high school I went to a small school where my senior class was only about 135 students. It was a much more personal feeling that was offered and everyone knew who everyone was. It was a lot easier to communicate to teachers even if it wasn’t your own because it was to get a hold of a teacher in the same subject. Even though it was a smaller school it was more geared toward a college preparatory so to me that was a specialization and I feel like I came out very well prepared for college.

Another thing that was discussed was how the yearly progress is measured mainly on the results of the standardized testing. This system of measuring on these tests is very isolating because if a school refuses to use this format they risk the possibility of being closed. Also if they want to receive the federal funds that the other schools are receiving they have to follow the format. Again just like I mentioned in chapter 15 about the standardized testing, it is unfair to make an assessment based on a test. Each student and school is unique in their own ways and some students have different strengths. Some students are good test takers while others might be better at writing papers or participation/ in class work. If schools are graded on how well their students do on these tests, then the schools put a much great stress on these tests because they know their funding depends on it. Students should be assessed on an individual basis. The teachers know their students best and know which students put their best foot forward everyday. Just because a student might have a bad day and do poorly on a test or just may not be a good test taker, it should not be the only factor in labeling that student. But I think this comes out of the laziness of the education system. It is much easier to grade a set test then for a teacher to make 25-35 in depth individual assessments on their class. But this isn’t just about the teachers and the schools, it is primarily about the students and their success so they can lead a good life.

Jonathan Kozol is a Harvard University graduate and also a Rhodes scholar who wrote on his investigations on schools all over America. Savage Inequalities goes into depth of Kozol’s experiences of the inequalities he observed between the race and class. Hr came up with drop out rates, school funding, SAT scores, frequent absence’s among students and teachers, reading and math levels, and also the physical well being of the schools. All of his observations led him to the same conclusion, racism still exists, and he feels that the biggest object causing the separation is money.

While reading Savage Inequalities, some of the things Kozol was saying felt like it was just repetition because o how we have basically already talked about the many ways our education system is failing. Basically Kozol blows the lid off of two school in the same district but one is in a wealthier neighborhood then the other, how the one in the wealthier neighborhood gets more funding, even though both schools are public. I thought it was interesting reading about Kozol’s first teaching experience. Even though it was almost 50 years ago, the effects of an over populated school are still the same. He did not even have a classroom for his 4^th grade class. He realized that after the first test he gave how below par his students were. In such a populated setting it is hard to stay focused on every student and it is very easy to let things like this get through.

Although he really doesn’t talk about a way to fix it and only highlights the negative’s in the education system, I do feel that there is a solution for all of this. I don’t know why when money is needed it gets cut from the school first. Funding should not be cut from our school system because it builds our leaders and thinkers for tomorrow. There is plenty of money in other places and our young generation should not have to be the ones to suffer every time.

Chapter 14 discussed the civil rights movement, in particular with martin Luther King Jr. These civil rights movements as we have all learned about was for equality among everyone. He wanted the segregation to end everywhere, including the school systems. He pushed for equal learning rights for all students and when schools became integrated and the barrier was broken a battle was won. But that was only the beginning. African American students were still treated differently and in some cases they still are today. The most obvious cases of it are the zoning laws for the public schools. I remember of hearing about a case in Texas where the districts were drawn all different ways and blatantly showed that the lines were drawn around the communities that were more African American then others. Is it ok to deny anyone the right to go to a school because of where they live? Is it ok to change the zoning lines to keep people separated?

It is interesting to see that some institutions say from the beginning that they do not guarantee equal treatment from the beginning if they do not speak English. I have to say I agree and I disagree with this. I do agree with it because I feel that if you are in this country then you should learn to speak the language. But aid should be offered to people to learn how to speak English. But I feel that if they are making a conscious effort to learn English then they should be offered the help. But there are some other immigrants that refuse to learn the language and make it so much more difficult. I work in an Italian bakery and I deal with a lot of customers. Some of the customers are Italian, Albanian and Spanish. I find it very insulting that when I try to wait on the customers and they do not speak English for them to get mad at me. I do not understand why they would get mad at me. I am more then willing to help but because I don’t speak their language it does not give them the right to yell at me.

Chapter 15 tells us about the education system started to change once Nixon came into the white house. Nixon’s administration put much more of an emphasis on getting an education to get a job, they come up with the slogan “go to school to get a job.” This was Nixon’s way to ultimately try and give the economy a bit of a push in in the right direction. One thing that stood out to be that had to do with economy was that now franchises and companies were now educating their employees which ultimately became training ground for future consumers. Courses’ like home economics were now more geared to making the students more aware of advertisings and using the feed back of the students to make the advertising. Fast food chains like McDonalds would promote themselves by saying their stores are good places to gain “work experience”.

Also chapter 15 talked about standardized testing. Standardized testing is topic that can become very heated because it is an unperfected way of measuring students. As we discussed in class there is a big emphasis put on standardized tests and students are more often judged on how they do on these tests instead of assessing the student as a whole. Leon Lessinger who preached that accountability is necessary for being able to work and function in the workforce. This started in the 1970’s and scores on these standardized tests were mad public. Students were now taking more and more of these tests to meet the criteria to possible work in the workforce. These tests become aptitude tests and now students were more limited in what they were able to do. Once they found out what jobs and areas were more suitable for them, they were pushed in that direction instead of being able to make the choice, study and succeed on their own like today.

Parent involvement is to the single most influential role in a child’s life, let alone in their education. As a child grows they obtain a sense of tradition and then express them in their own ways. Children often mimic their parents growing up because most of the time the child wants to be just like mommy and daddy. But when it comes to education, parents play an even larger role. It is very important for the parents or parents to be supportive of the child’s education and to take an active role in what goes on in the classroom. Studies have shown that there is a positive correlation between the involvement of parents in the child’s education and how well the child does. Even though now it is hard for parents to be fully active because in this economy both parents are often working parents, just going to a PTA meeting or checking their child’s homework and making sure it is completely and handed in on time helps. Now children are often left with the responsibility of organizing their work on their own, and more often then not they do fall behind because they do not have the proper time management skills. Children are not ready to do this on their own and need the guidance of a parental figure to guide them in the right direction. If not they procrastinate and watch tv and play on the computer and do not do what they have to do.

The idea of parental involvement is for the schools and parents to come together to make sure the child reaches their potential. Often times parents and teachers do not see eye to eye on the methods of teaching because they both see the child/student in different ways. Many times if the parents does not agree with the method the teacher is using the parent will either stay away from the work and now help the student, or try to teach their child in a different way. This just winds up hurting the child overall because they are not getting the consistency needed to absorb and grasp the information fully. Parents and teachers need to be able to communicate if there are any issues because they have to remember the child/students wellbeing is comes first, not their own.

I also found it very interesting that Caucasian students were often more well prepared then a student from any other ethnicity. Also students that did not come from a broken home and had both parents were also more well prepared. I can see that because the probability of a parent helping the child has doubled with having two parents. But the fact of the matter is, whether a child has one or two parents, and whether they are white or black or of any other ethnicity, parents need to become more involved in their child’s education.

This chapter goes into depth about the no child left behind act. There are two big issues with the no child left behind act; privatization and teaching to the test. Privatization was the idea with a goal of making students performance and grades much better. It didn’t exactly accomplish this goal. The idea of privatization brings in the burden of bias because companies would put more money into the schools that they would benefit the most. So even after all this, schools would not be under the same control really because just like now certain schools would receive more donations and monies according to their own standards. The idea of privatization could work and is a possible solution to the problem but many were looking for a quick fix which this was not. None of the problems in the education system can be fixed in one day.

This idea of privatization brought about excessive testing in elementary and middle school, mainly in grades 3-8. They have not come up with a solid plan that can accurately assess a students abilities and progress. This idea of teaching to the test has taken the control out of the teachers hands and put it all in the curriculum. Teachers are now forced to teach their students the contents of a mandated test instead of other topics. A lot of information is left out and students are just taught how to get to the answer instead of having a full understanding of the material. These tests should not be the only deciding factor in whether a student has fully succeeded or not. The teacher should have a large portion of the say because they are the only consistent figure in a students life for that year and can monitor and track the real progress of the student. Although the no child left behind act has raised graduation rates, it has also shown that many students do not have a full understanding of the material thrown their way. Do you think that teachers should have a louder voice in the assessment of students or should it be left up to a mandatory test?

Tatum defines racism as a system of disadvantage based on race. This definition is a little different then others by saying that acts of racism are on a wider spectrum that cover social and governmental areas. One is not born being racist, but it is acquired over time. She later then says that black children should not be made to feel that they are flawed because of their skin color. But this idea needs to be put into effect in the Childs home they are more likely to be aware of their race around their family and friends. She says it should be later reinforced during school where teachers should make it feel like a judgment free zone so all students feel equal. Although it is harder to address this issue with younger children, this issue should really be opened to students in middle and high school.

Tatum also sheds light on how teachers may omit information in the classroom and how it can even be omitted in society and the impact it has on people. This is similar to the story of the education system in Texas where they only taught about the wins and refused to discuss any loses in an attempt to promote patriotism. Young students do not pick up on the fact that they are being lied to through omission, but when more information is available to them say in high school, college or graduate school, most will become aware of what was done. It does puts a void in the trust and respect the student had. They will often feel betrayed and wonder if anything was true.

She also mention this idea of “communal identify” which was the original idea behind the creation of schools. It created this big hypocritical idea in all reality. In America, individuality is said the stressed and accepted but if you are too much of an individual then it is not tolerated. In certain instances, scholarships are based on what race or ethnicity a person is, instead of being merit based regardless of skin color.

Chapter 13 goes into detail about some more recent issues in the education system over the past decades. One topic that caught my eye was the No Child Left Behind Act. This act was put into place under the bush administration. This act sounds like it is very ideal and would help our students but in all reality it did not work out that way. But this idea of no child being left behind is actually just moving children from grade to grade even if they didn’t complete the requirements after the allotted time. This just creates further problems for the student and because they cannot master the next step if they did not complete the previous. A well planned education is what every child deserves but will every student receive it?

Another topic I thought was interesting was the creation of the national science foundation. The NSF was created during the cold war in order to try and promote advancements in science. Although there was this giant push for science, the United States still is not up to par in science or math for that matter. The United States government is always trying to find ways to better itself and to me that is a problem in our education system. Do you think if their intentions were more for the children, would our statistics be higher?