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Author Archives: Devon
Posts: 17 (archived below)
Comments: 1
Devon Bautista – Teachers’ Unions, (pay, accountability, qualifications, quality)
One of the first things I noticed in this chapter was that the National Association of Manufacturers played a role in purposefully creating a link between democracy and capitalism. I never realized that this was purposeful or planned in such a public manner. I always thought that America just made the two synonymous over time. This leads to the next thing that arose in the chapter. The idea that all things progressive, different, or geared toward an end goal, should be labeled as socialism or communism in schools is ridiculous. The period around 1920-30 involved a lot of turmoil between war and depression, but people held on to their mind state that schools could lead to change and economic stability over time. This however became a “socialist” ideology as soon as war broke loose. In hindsight, it is funny to see how our country response so quickly to crisis by blaming whatever is around them. The same could be said about the flapper or jazz age mentioned in the chapter. Many thought the automobile was the driving force behind this era’s behavior, but it was simply something that may have made it easier—imagine if youth those days were given cell phones, texting, or Facebook. A question I had regarding this is do you think that the period stemming from the war and depression led to a change in roles from teacher’s more toward morality then information based? Could any of the negative effects in youth behavior during the Jazz or flapper age be attributed to schools or teachers directly? Should they be held accountable for leading the way during this time?
Also, the teacher’s struggles from the time period were very similar to today. They discussed how they fought for higher wages, retirement funds/pensions, and an increased social status. I see it as interesting that the same struggles that have lasted so long began as a type of “feminist” movement because it originally was seen as solely a woman’s occupation. Would this have been handled differently if teaching as an occupation began solely with men?
Posted in Chapter 11 - Teach Unions...
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Meritocracy – Devon Bautista
Chapter 10 covered a lot in terms of equal opportunity and the structure of the school system. I found the part about mentally retarded people and the idea of sterilization quite shocking. I suppose I can understand the reasoning behind it, but it is just upsetting that people think that way. I remember from my time in High School there was a mentally retarded kid named Richard in my class. He was not only nice, but also participated more than the average kid. He never disrupted the class either. From my own experience with him I would have to say that the whole concept of sterilization is ridiculous, because he managed school just fine, and even attends community college now. I understand Richard is just one man, but to me he was representative of people like himself, and he was in the back of my mind throughout reading the chapter. I was wondering based on Richard’s story and the chapter: Do you think there should be assistance for kids with mental disabilities in each class, or should there be separate programs for those in need? Should it be up to the parents to choose which course to take, or the schools? Is there any factors that would change you opinion, such as how many students in the class, or location of the school…
Another thing which I thought about while reading this section of the book is our discussion from class we had the other week regarding Mayor Bloomberg appointing some woman, I believe her name was Cathy Black, as the head of New York City school’s. She is basically a symbol for what this chapter talked about in terms of treating schools as businesses to be run and organized. I myself am not opposed to this idea—especially in NYC. The school system is so large that at the top there is bound to be a disconnect between students and organization. This should be handled as such, however I do not think that the students should be treated as objects or pawns, so small in the system that they do not matter. This is where standardized testing places them—which I am not in favor of. Tests such as the SAT and ACT are the fatal flaw in the school system which make for too much control by numbers and disconnected officials. However, Do you think that the business approach would be successful if not for these exams? If it were not for things such as this I think that a business like approach would be doable. These tests and other approaches to make intelligence and performance quantifiable ruin it though.
Posted in Meritocracy, Testing, and Special Education
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Devon Bautista – chapter 9
This chapter was interesting. I also have been intrigued about whether or not people believe that vocational schools or traditional learning centers such as high school really prepare people for work. Does learning high school art, science, or math really translate into many jobs? Especially today when the only jobs that do not require college degrees have very simple requirements with them. Anyway, it was interesting to read about how America evolved with this in mind.
I immediately thought about the power struggle of government getting to large again. I believe a national curriculum could more actively engage classrooms and students in the direction of workplace related studies, however is it in the governments power to do so. I do not know if it was the fact that this discussion was on my mind from last class or it really just seemed like a logical way to keep equality in students and at the same time prepare children for their future roles at the workplace and in society. This debate will definitely come up again in class. One question I would like to ask the class is: is today’s High School system geared toward preparing workers for “human capital.” Obviously it will better society in general, but are we expected to help turn an investment only. If today’s traditional high school classrooms are not viewed this way, are vocational schools. And do vocational school teachers engage or care about their students as much as traditional school teachers? This was just something that the chapter got me thinking about.
Posted in The Classroom and the Workplace (role of education)
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Devon Bautista – Chapt 7
This chapter focused on different cultures and the education system various immigrant American groups. The chapter covered Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, African Americans, Puerto Ricans and Filipinos.
One of the things that stood out to me was regarding the reforms America made in the Puerto Rican public school system. America implemented American holidays, the pledge of allegiance, and even placed our own textbooks and teachers into their schooling system. This attempt to Americanize the people of this land came as a bit of a shock to me for some reason. I know from another class I took in sociology that the people of Puerto Rican over 90% of the time classify themselves in censuses as white, and given all this Americanization I can understand why now.
The same Americanization that I talked about with Puerto Ricans also took place with other races as well. The Native Americans we have talked about in class before, and they come back up in this chapter. The chapter talks about their deculturalization and how “it combines education for democracy and political equality with cultural genocide—the attempt to destroy cultures”
Some questions I had regarding the ideas discussed in this chapter are:
Today, many schools talk about how diverse they are and how they try to be accepting and welcoming to different races and cultures, do you think that schools today actually allow the same opportunities to all races?
Also, the chapter went into some detail about the old segregation practices and the ways in which different cultural groups were viewed. For instance, Robert Lee mentioned five major type of Asians on page 173: “the coolie, the deviant, the yellow peril, the model minority and the gook.” Each type of group had different reason for their name, such as threatening American jobs and wages. Do you think that sub-groups of stereotypes still exist in America, or do institutions like public education use less direct methods of stereotypes or prejudice?
Posted in Immigration and the Challenge of “School for All”
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Devon Bautista – Chapter 6
Chapter 6 focused on a few main issues in education. The main ideas involved the role of men and women as both teachers and students, the division of students in to grades, and the type of education that should be administered to children. The chapter goes as far back as 1821 when Emma Willard opened up what can be considered the first teacher training program. (141) The focus at the time was to provide the tools women needed to be mothers in society. This was largely the role of women in education for sometime after this as well. One of the things I found most interesting in this chapter was that People who advanced woman’s position in society in the long run such as Emma Willard held a patriarchal view in the beginning. Also, the job offered to women (teacher) was not desirable at the time, and in many instances could only be obtained through receiving ones own education on credit and teaching to work it off. This is something I did not expect of the time.
Another thing that grabbed my attention in the chapter was that I had never heard of Pestalozzi’s methods of teaching. Given what Finkelstein said on page 147: “teachers during this period were of two major types: “the ‘intellectual overseer,’ who stressed memorization and punished failures in assignments, and the ‘drillmaster,’ who had the students repeat material in unison.” I thought with divisions like this teachers would take logical approaches to balancing the two duties, like many do today, and not go so far as to have youth grades learn one way (Pestalozzi’s way) and then introduce the idea of books and learning. But, given Pestalozzi’s method raised a question to me, do you think that “‘maternal love'” is the first agent in education,” (148) or that it is religion or some other agent that we have not discussed yet?
Another question I had was regarding the last line of the conclusion of the chapter. “Women continued to toil in the factories of education.” I was wondering, given all the bureaucracy involved in the new standardized schooling system, is that what education became, an “education factory.” Do the ideals and morals shared by a female’s motherly teachings help to make this system more friendly and effective at all, or does sex no longer play a role in today’s society when it comes to teaching?
Posted in Role and Perception of Teachers, Teacher-student relationship, Teachers and Pedagogy
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Devon Bautista – Common School and Power, Native American Education
This chapter showed a lot about the origins of the school system in America. I was not surprised by much of the views on Native Americans or Irish immigrants, because I have read and discussed these topics often in other classes. What did strike me from this chapter was the fact that the Anglo-Saxon views that dominated the culture of the time was not originally forced upon people with laws such as segregation. I always assumed that our country began its school system with segregation as a plan, but from the reading I found out that this is not the case. All were welcome (by law) to attend any school they wish, but most people who did not fit the typical Anglo-Saxon profile would avoid schooling to either work or just to save themselves from the rejection and potential danger of attending class. On top of this I found it interesting that to resolve this problem people of color actually asked for a separate school for themselves, and out of this “solution” rose segregation as a legal problem.
Regarding the forceful moving of the Native Americans and the trail of tears I thought the most surprising thing was Thomas Jefferson’s view that it was acceptable to do this, because it civilizes them is very self-centered. It is funny to think that people who founded and established a country of immigrants built on the ideals of freedom could be so one-track minded.
Some things I would like to ask about the reading are, do you think that if different groups did not request their own segregated schools they would have ever been able to adapt to the already established public school system?
Also, Do you think it is possible to preach religious morals and beliefs without preaching the religion itself? Is this a conflict of interest for the teachers to try to instill morals of their own or others beliefs, while at the same time not favoring either.
Posted in Common School and Power, Native American Education
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Devon Bautista
The reading was definitely interesting. The chapter had passages on many of the main influences of early education—specifically the “common school.” I particularly liked the views of the workingmen’s role in education, because I find it interesting that the workingmen of the day even cared about education of themselves or others during the time period. It is easy to see why the upper echelon of society would be interested in schooling, but new immigrants and already settled in trade workers to do not have obvious motives. For me it took some thinking to understand that the workers believed it would even the playing field between them in government and class in general. I like that the chapter took the time to show their standpoint in contrast to other groups. It is also notable to mention that the chapter tells how people with similar views can have opposing interests or motives. Though both groups wanted schooling they both had different vested interests, and this is something you wouldn’t know by just looking into numbers and laws from the era, there needs to be a back-story to understand situations like that. Another thing I thought was interesting was the political viewpoints of the days. I find it interesting how the Democratic viewpoint in early history was much like the Republican view of today, and suggested that government not intervene too much in sectors such as education (or provide any funding). It is interesting to see the change in beliefs in an entire party’s view over time. Some questions I had about the reading were: How strongly did prohibition affect the countries feelings about a common school—specifically with religious morals incorporated? Another question I had was regarding the workingmen’s idea of sending all children to one uniform boarding school to ensure all students get the exact same education. Do you think they were honestly suggesting such extreme measures or simply using this as a bargaining strategy in which they could ultimately meet somewhere in the middle? Is there any ideal compromise to ensure equal opportunity in spite of the social stratification?
Posted in The Governments’ Role in Education
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