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Author Archives: Victor Rodriguez
Posts: 18 (archived below)
Comments: 6
Chapter 10
Based on the chapter, I agreed with the push for meritocracy in the school system. I think it is extremely important for individuals, especially for school administrators, to be assigned responsibilities based upon their merits, skills and qualifications. I think this should apply for all occupations. Individuals should be able to progress and move up in any occupation based on what they bring to the table and the particular skills they possess. I agree that schools should be kept out of politics and in the hands of experts. It is a terrible thing to see the educational future and well being of our children being used as a political tool and suffer from the hostile political environment. However, public education will always play a role in politics, as important issues such as funding are dealt with through public policy and political discourse. This is often why the public education system suffers through changes in the political environment.
When it comes to the issue of relinquishing public control of schools, I am still a bit uncertain. I understand the concerns of having businesspeople taking up positions as school administrators and as school board members. However, I am not completely opposed to this. I think that many of the skills and qualifications that allow for these individuals to be successful in the business world would also allow for success in the school system. An example of this would be the current NYC school chancellor Cathy Black. Many people argue that she is not qualified to be in charge of the school system as she has no prior experience in education. While she may not have that particular experience, she does possess the most important skill that is needed of a chancellor of the school system, which is leadership. She has had the leadership experience in the business/private sector and she was quite successful. To claim that someone of her intelligence and success could not manage or be a good leader in a particular position based only on experience is quite unfair in my opinion. I also believe that the application of many business practices will help solve many of the bureaucratic inefficiencies that currently plague our school system.
Will/do public schools, particularly in NYC, benefit from incorporating business practices in their operations? Is this a good way of correcting/changing the current bureaucracy of our school system?
Posted in Meritocracy, Testing, and Special Education
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Chapter 9
I thought it made perfect sense that as the United States became more industrialized and modernized, high schools and junior high schools shifted their focus towards preparing students for work through vocational training and specialization. It does bother me some that today’s schools, especially at the college level, are really just an extension of Corporate America. Education today is not valued simply for allowing an individual to gain knowledge or establish an intellectual understanding of the world, but to learn a particular skill that will be useful in a certain job or career. Of course, this change in the value of education resulted from the changes in our society. As was discussed in the chapter, there was a battle between the older academic concepts of high school and the new doctrines of social efficiency. I agreed with the social efficiency doctrines which stressed the importance of specialization. As many of us may have noticed, there has been a significant increase in the number of vocational schools and programs throughout the country, which I see as a good thing. Students often lose interest in school because they are forced to learn subjects they have no interest in and which will not be useful for them in the future careers they hope to pursue. In my opinion, these specialized schools and programs afford many students the ability to engage in learning that will not only benefit them in the classroom but in the workplace as well. I understand the need for young individuals to have a well rounded education, but it is more important to keep these individuals interested in school and providing them with a clearer and earlier path to their future careers.
The major problem that arises from the emergence and progression of human capital education is the relationship between the corporations and the schools. The major debate that arose in the late 19th century was whether or not human capital education was geared towards the public good or towards benefiting corporations. Personally I would say it’s the latter. It’s no secret that corporations have great influence over our education system, from the materials, goods, and supplies being bought and sold in schools, to the food being served, to the recruitment of students on campus at the college level. As schools continue to become more specialized and more focused on job training, it only makes sense that the corporations that will eventually hire these students would want to have some say and influence on what they learn and how they learn it. Corporations would want to make sure that these future “investments” are well prepared to follow orders and become good corporate “soldiers”. With that said, are there any major benefits to the education system or schools in general from partnering with or having any relationship with corporations? Should school curriculums continue to become more specialized by teaching valuable job skills or stay committed to providing students with a good well rounded education in various subjects and topics?
Posted in The Classroom and the Workplace (role of education)
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Chapter 8
From reading the chapter, I still have conflicting views about the expanding roles of schools as social agencies. I thought it made some sense that the Kindergarten movement was considered “a primary educational method of dealing with poverty”. Poverty during the 1880’s and 90’s was rampant throughout urban cities and neighborhoods and I thought that providing kindergarten to young children was a great way of providing an early safe haven and a place where they could have an escape from the harsh environments they grew up in. I believe some of this holds true even today. I think it is very important to get children into school at an early age, especially as they are in the critical early learning stages of their life. I think it does help in preparing them for school.
What are the pros and cons of children entering school at such an early age? Is Kindergarten really beneficial to young children?
What troubled me was the sense of stereotyping and generalizations made of parents in these poor urban settings. The individuals who advocated and were behind the kindergarten movement did not believe that parents were able to properly raise and care for their children while living in these “slums”. Maybe this was true in some cases but definitely not in all cases. It would have made more sense for these individuals to figure out how to improve the social and economic conditions of these areas, thus preventing many of these issues with family structure and negative social influences. The play movement and even summer school were also seen as critical in helping alleviate the issues the children faced outside of school and in making up for the deteriorating home life. Although the school reformers mentioned some of the educational and physical benefits of the two, the main reason for their establishment was to keep children off the streets and provide children with the family structure they supposedly did not have at home. But to me, this appeared to be just an attempt to avoid dealing with the actual causes of these problems. Too much blame was being put on families and the home and not enough attention was given to the more severe issues in society.
I still feel this way about many social issues today. Many social advocates, elected officials and policymakers only seem to push for quick fix solutions rather than trying to get rid of the root causes of the problems. Can this be attributed to some of the problems that continue to persist in schools today?
Posted in Welfare Function
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Chapter 7
The immense levels of discrimination faced by Mexican, Chinese, and Puerto Rican immigrants throughout our country’s history have often been overlooked. It has been well documented that African and Native Americans dealt with discrimination, segregation, and hate throughout the history of our country. However, the chapter brought to light some of the other immigrant groups who were targeted and treated unfairly and suffered greatly from many of America’s discriminatory and exclusionary laws which ensured that these groups of individuals were not granted full rights and a fair path to citizenship. The denial of education to these groups was seen as a way to keep these people from acquiring the knowledge to be able to advance in society, both socially and economically. I found this to be one of the most egregious and disgusting aspects of America’s discrimination towards immigrants. Legislation such as the Naturalization Act of 1790 and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act were passed in order to make sure Mexicans and Chinese weren’t classified as “white” and were not able to gain citizenship. As for the Puerto Ricans, what I found disturbing was the passage of the Jones Act in 1917 by Woodrow Wilson which granted them citizenship and required them to serve in the military but denied them the right to vote in national elections. So they were able to sacrifice their lives for the United States but were not able to have a voice or any form of representation in our government.
The disdain towards bilingual education was also something I found very interesting. Bilingual education is one of the most important aspects of our education system today given the diversity of our society. It would be unthinkable to imagine Bilingual education being eliminated from schools altogether. I absolutely agree that immigrants should learn the English language to the best of their ability. I think it is an important way for them to become a more active and knowledgeable participant within our democracy. However, learning a new language is very difficult and often takes many years. I believe young immigrant students should continue to be given the right to a bilingual education and to ESL courses as they slowly become more Americanized and more familiar and comfortable with the American culture.
My questions for discussion are: Is there enough emphasis placed on the importance of bilingual and foreign language education in our modern education system? Are there any other significant cultural barriers to education (besides language) that immigrant’s face today?
Posted in Immigration and the Challenge of “School for All”
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Chapter 6
The whole history of women entering the profession of teaching is very interesting. What I found particularly interesting were the reasons women were allowed to become teachers. The first reason, “Women are better teachers of young children because of their natural child rearing talents”, I wouldn’t argue too much against. While a women’s natural maternal instinct does not translate to her being a good teacher, I think it does help them in terms of handling and connecting with young children. The second reason, “Women minds are less distracted by worldly forces……..they can more easily concentrate on teaching”, reflected the inequalities and lack of opportunities women faced at the time. Women in those times were not all fully educated, and those that were did not have many opportunities outside of teaching. The perception that women were only suited to be teachers was very prevalent. Of course much of the acceptance of female teachers was the fact that women were paid much less and were very inexpensive to hire. The third reason, “They are also of purer morals”, is completely bogus. There is no empirical evidence or any logic behind this claim. Do any of these reasons help explain any disparity (if there are any at all) among male and female school teachers today (especially at the elementary levels)?
The evolution of bureaucracy in schools began the process of preparing students to enter the workforce. As schools became more bureaucratic, there was more emphasis placed on disciplining students and getting them accustomed to taking and following orders and a strict schedule and set of rules. The rationale behind this was that these were important “values to be taught to schoolchildren in preparing them to function in society” (p.152). I’m sure we all have experienced how this still occurs in all schools today, public and private. This idea that we all must follow a strict set of rules and give in to authority figures is prevalent in modern schools and education systems. In my opinion, this will always be a part of our school system given the fact that so much emphasis on education today revolves around preparing students to enter the workforce and helping the United States compete in the global market. Such Bureaucracy will unfortunately continue to be a major aspect of our schools. Are there any trends or signs of change that proves otherwise?
Posted in Role and Perception of Teachers, Teacher-student relationship, Teachers and Pedagogy
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Chapter 5
This chapter definitely made me more aware of the exclusionary practices of the common school movement during its early inception. Much of the common school movement was driven by the fear of the growing multicultural society in early America as there was a significant increase in immigration, most notably among the Irish and Germans. The particular hostility and hatred towards the Irish immigrants from the Protestants was particularly disturbing. Of course it didn’t surprise me that the common school did not do much to ease this tension as they were dominated by Protestant religious values. The religious tension in New York City in the 1830’s and 40’s between the Catholics and Protestants was very interesting because it was the start of the “great debate” which revolved around the idea or belief of using state education funds for religious use, in this case it was for the Catholics to operate their own schools. Although I am completely against the use of Public school funds being used for any religious purposes, in this case I believe it was appropriate given the dominance the Protestants had of public schools. It would have been unfair and unjust for Catholics to be subjected to Protestants beliefs and ideas.
The trail of tears was definitely one of the most infamous moments in American History. It was unfortunate that early settlers of this country had such a misunderstanding of Native American culture. The Native Americans were viewed as savages and barbarians who needed to be civilized and were targeted for their land. I find it very ironic that the early founders and settlers of this country came here to escape the monarchical rule and oppression in England yet treated the Native Americans in the same manner. Much of this occurred because of the lack of exposure to other cultures and groups of people at the time. This seems to be the major reason why common schools never appeared to be “common to all children”. Do modern public schools do an adequate job of promoting tolerance among different cultures, races and ethnicities? Is there still in existence, any form of a particular religious or cultural influence in public schools today?
Posted in Common School and Power, Native American Education
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Chapter 4
I think that the distinctive features by which the common school movement was established were important in helping maintain some form of social order and providing equal opportunity. I agree with the notion that educating all young children, regardless of religious or cultural background, was important in making sure that these individuals stayed away from a life of crime and poverty and also maintaining stability. Yes, it may have been the case that the upper classes were only interested in educating these individuals to make life more pleasing for themselves, but it was still important for all young children to be educated. Even in today’s society there seems to be is a correlation between high levels of crime and poverty and low levels of attained education. I’m sure that everyone in today’s world would agree that everyone should have equal access to education. I would also agree with the belief that educating children in common, regardless of ethnic, cultural, or social differences would promote tolerance and reduce hostility.
However, from reading through the chapter, I found myself continuously disagreeing with the belief that the schools should be in charge of teaching children proper morals. Of course children should learn right from wrong, but as it was mentioned in the book, the major problem that arises from teachings morals is exactly whose morals should be taught? What may be considered good and just morals for one group of individuals may not be considered good for another group, and by group I mean religious groups because religion was the main motivation for this push towards teaching morality. Horace Mann’s belief, as described in the Twelfth Annual Report, was that the teachings of the Bible and of Christianity should be integrated into the school curriculum, and I believe that is a serious problem and a major flaw in the argument for moral teachings. It is nearly impossible to distinguish morality from religion as much of the arguments, such as Mann’s, stem from religious beliefs. I would even say that many of the individuals, who have argued in favor of moral teachings in schools, are only hiding their true desire to integrate religious teachings into schools which would go against the principles of the separation between church and state.
I believe teachings of morality should be left to parents and families. It would be a mistake to allow for other members of a society to instill their beliefs and ideas on one’s child. As Jefferson argued, the main purpose of school and education is to teach young individuals to think freely and develop their own views and ideas of the world around them. With that being said, will education reformers and policymakers today continue making a push for moral teachings? Will it be possible to incorporate moral teachings without any religious influence?
Posted in Religion, Values, Separation Church & State
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Multiculturalism, Nationalism, and the Role(s) of Education
Noah Webster’s belief that the main purpose of American schools is to impose moral and political values as well as stir up feelings of patriotism among students aren’t exactly farfetched when considering the system of American education many of us have been a part of for most of our young lives. As children, we were constantly required to pledge allegiance to the United States. We were also constantly reminded of the importance of being properly educated in order to be proud, active, and successful members of our country and society. Of course there are major problems with Webster’s views on education, mainly his allusion to American cultural superiority and dominance. But one shouldn’t fault him for that, as I believe that had to do with the historical significance of his time period.
Thomas Jefferson’s views, on the other hand, are more in line with my own personal beliefs on the purpose of education and schooling in America. It was Jefferson’s belief that individuals should be able to form their own opinions based on “the tools of reading and writing and political beliefs would be formed through the exercise of reason” (pg.55). This belief stems from the principles on which this country was founded upon, including the freedom to form and express one’s own opinions and the freedom to believe what one wishes to believe. As the state of education continues to evolve, it is important that schools continue to operate under these sound principles and continue to mold students into individuals who are able to think critically and freely. However, as was the case with Webster, these ideas and principles are viewed differently and take on different meaning depending on changes in political and cultural environments.
As the political landscape of this country continuously shifts and changes, will this debate, of the role and purpose of education gain momentum and become more relevant? If so, how will that affect the ability for our educational system to progress and improve, if at all?
