Category Archives: Multiculturalism, Nationalism, and the Role(s) of Education

Chapter 3 was discussed how the American educational system was put in to place in part to teach immigrants about the new American Government. Teachers would push upon these immigrants a sense of nationalism and now since the immigrants were here they had to join the army, fight and possible die like American was their homeland. Now in a way, new immigrants were being “brainwashed”? but is that ok, I mean I know today America is seen as a tolerable and accepting place for the most part but back then it was a lot different. Is it ever ok to force someone to accept something that is not theirs?

I would like to see how it would be if Webster’s idea of teaching morality in school. Morals are usually left to be taught in the home because morals are to me at least are seen as a tradition because usually each family’s personal morals tend to differ from the next. Some parents fail to relay the message to their kids of what is right and wrong. Maybe in school at an early age children will learn a general idea of what is right and wrong and then over the years to go a little more in depth morality. But would we be a more united society if everyone was taught the same morals? Could this stop some pointless fights, arguments and even deaths in the long run?

According to Chapter 3, my understanding is that a variety of topics are touched; from multiculturalism, to nationalism, to the role of education. Chapter 3 explains multiculturalism as how the educational system was developed to teach immigrants about the American culture. I consider this part of education to be very important. This is significant since immigrants are attending school in a different country and need to learn things such as language, customs and American tradition in order to be a part of the society that they now live in.

Nationalism was another part of Chapter 3, Webster focused on patriotism at schools. He also created the uniformed version of the American language through spelling books and the dictionary which formed the English speaking and Anglo American culture that we have today at our schools. Webster focused on patriotic lifestyles through teaching in a systematic way after the Revolutionary War. He hoped for a uniformity that was so defined that every American baby’s first word was to be “Washington.” On the other hand, Jefferson who believed in freedom and exercise of reason wanted schools to teach moral value in addition to what students learned at home. In Jefferson’s plans, students would be able to think and criticize freely in unique and individual ways.

Another very important and interesting point in this chapter was the topic of charity schools. Rich people decided to aid poor children who were out in the street by putting them in charity schools. In my opinion, these schools were very important for the children. This provided the underprivileged with a way that they could at least have an opportunity of learning and improving their lives and statuses, since most schools in this period were private. In my opinion, another benefit of the charity schools is that they could improve the overall economy since there would be more educated people and less misery out on the streets.

What is American culture? How can immigrants who are not in school and older can learn about the American culture?

First of all, in the passage on “The Problem of Cultural Diversity,” I find it to not be a coincidence that the U.S. census is brought to attention. Through the evolution of the census I believe that we can also kind of see the change evolution of cultural diversity. In that time period, (presented by table 3.1) they showed only the different English-speaking groups, and the only ones really considered white were the of English ancestry. They also didn’t care about the diversity of different regions that their slaves came from they only wanted to know how many slaves were there. But we can see that in today’s U.S. census that in the survey, there is a broad range of questions to figure exactly everyone’s ancestry and cultural backgrounds.

Another passage I found interesting was that after the American Revolution, the idea of a “protected childhood” arose. This was the belief that “children were born innocent, these families considered childhood as something to be enjoyed and prolonged.. childhood was a stage of life where character could be shaped to make the virtuous adult.” And then because of this, schools were then seen as “logical institutions for the extension of childhood that would protect and mold children.” This was interesting to me because this belief is definitely still present in the U.S. today.

Questions:
1. Why did the census or survey’s back then considered a problem of cultural diversity?
2. Is there any cons to patriotism?
3. How has the belief of the protected childhood from back them evolved to this day?

Chapter 3 mentions, “Jeffersons opinion on education in the new republic were quite different from those of his contemporaries…”I agree with the logic of Thomas Jefferson.As the text states, “he believed education should provide the average citizen with the tools of reading and writing and the political beliefs would be formed through the exercise  of reason.” It later states, “political education should be provided to students from newspapers and history.”We are all familiar with this form of learning.However, “heroification” in history can affect many students way of thinking.Heroification is “the act of turning someone into a hero through one’s own perception, and not for any heroic deeds they might have done(Wiki.answers).”For instance, the numerous stories of Christopher Columbus.If Jefferson believed it was best for students to intake information  at a younger age, would heroification affect them in the long run?If students must focus on historical information and it is inaccurate, how would the future society be free, if we lack information,which may alter our perspective?

The Lancasterian System was a very brilliant form of teaching.It is similar to Lev Vygotsky’s Scaffolding Theory.Although the system was used in 1822,  it may be useful in classrooms setting today.Classroom management plays key role in the type of education any student receives.

If the Lancasterian System was practiced in more United States classrooms, I feel the quality of education will differ.In addition to a better education, this system would help students develop interpersonal skills (the interactions with professor/teachers in the classroom setting) and build moral character.

I think it’s interesting that the educational system was developed to teach the new immigrants about the new American government. I feel like, at least in my experience, the government and its functions aren’t really explained and elaborated on. I also thing it’s interesting that the goal was to educate (or brainwash?) these immigrants into thinking that their new country of residence is great and to convince them to join its military and die for it.

The concept of the Lancasterian system is a much more accurate representation of the modern school system. I think that any schooling before the age of 5 or 6 caters more to the socialization of the child rather than any intellectual benefit. Once literacy is attained, the child really begins to learn and make decisions based on what s/he is taught. Socialization, however, is still a process that is very important in becoming a functioning and moral human being so in a sense, it is like learning, too.

According to this reading, education was first used as a tool to brainwash immigrants; is it still used the same way? Education was also used to try to amalgamate the multiple cultures into one, unified one but by doing so, isn’t it just creating subsets of the already existing cultures?

I found it interesting to see the effects of Noah Websters’ work on the nationalism created in school systems. His creation of American language and spelling books helped form a dominant English-speaking, Protestant, Anglo-American culture we have today through our school systems. His work focused mostly on patriotism rather than children’s own beliefs. I find it interesting how this was evident in our past education where we would perform the pledge of allegiance and other activities.

With the work of Webster which is still evident in our school systems today i wonder how we are such an individualistic nation as opposed to a collectivist one.

Jefferson’s educational plan comprised of two ideas which was preparing the citizen and the preparing the political leader. He thought of the two, preparing the citizen was most important. I agree with jefferson’s take on allowing children to form their own opinions.

I would like to know what do how do contemporary schools choose what is the most important criteria to include in preparing individuals. Is it based on preparing young to be competitive among nations ?

This reading was very interesting, the concepts that most stood out to me were the discussions on charity schools and juvenile delinquent centers and the concepts of conditioning patriotism in the minds of youth. I thought it was very interesting that Webster thought that he could actually influence what these children would think if he brainwashed them in a sense with patriotism concepts. Websters tactics reminded me of Hitler in the sense that he felt that the Anglo-American culture was the best and he wanted to impose his views on the minds of others, I found him to be a little fanatic. The concept of charity schools in my understanding were created as a way for the elite to socially impose their views on the society. In my opinion they seemed to think that only poor people without family structure were criminals and if they gave them a little education they would still be poor in reality but atleast they wouldn’t become criminals, I found that frame of thinking a little disturbing.

 Do present institutions like Juve and local detention centers hold true to their roots of “the House of Refuge for Juve Delinquents” or are contemporary practices in these centers birthing criminals themselves? Has the educational system succeeded in its orignal efforts to create perfectly moral human beings? If so how does this concept of education affect the individual being molded? In terms of the concepts of childhood or lack thereof, what do you think has been or could be (if any) a trickle down effect of the broken family structure especially amongst African Americans?/ and is it plausible to say that the A. American family structure hass been cursed due to its history of broken family structure?

I must agree that Jefferson’s ideas were far different from the others of his period but I feel like Webster’s ideas had a much larger impact. I think that morality is something that should be taught in schools. It would be interesting to see the effect it would have on society if everyone was taught to have the same standards and morals. In modern days education took Jefferson’s path, morality has become more of an at home issue. There are parents who fail to teach their kids good morals and that makes them inefficient in society. I think that schools could teach kids generally what it is right and what it is wrong, for the most part there are parents who don’t always agree when something is wrong. I think the key is just teaching the basic values, once people become more educated they will be able to make their own decisions.

Webster believed strongly that children are to learn moral values through education. Most importantly, to start and continue to be loyal to their country. However, I disagree with his way of thinking. The one important reason as to why Webster’s belief would not work in the 21th century is because we are living in a democratic society. Therefore, opinions matter. I do not think that one should learn moral values through education. I believe that moral values ought to be taught by parents. When a child is born before entering school, parents would often teach their children what is correct and what is not depending on what parents themselves believe. However, once a child enters school, teachers are there to prepare them and to ensure that students are ready to be independent. However, would it be beneficial for a child to learn moral values through school instead of from his or her parents in society today?

Jefferson believed that education should be a tool and knowledge for improving a person’s sense of morality. Also, education helps a person grow. One example would be by learning how to read and write, one can express his or her feelings freely and provides a foundation for future leaders. I also agree with Jefferson that every person should have the right to reason. I do not think that powerful leaders are people who were forced to think a certain way, they are the people who reasoned, expressed how they felt and did not changed their minds because others thought differently. However, could learning moral values from parents be the reason that caused crime rates to go up or why our economy is the way it is?

Thomas Jefferson’s ideas on education greatly contrast to those of his time. He emphasizes on the importance of not putting too much concentration on authoritarianism and believed that it should not impose political values or mold the virtuous republican citizen (pg 55). He believed that education should provide each person with the necessary tools so that the student will be able to make educated decisions on obtaining information and furthermore doing something with that information. I completely agree with this innovative way of  introducing education to the masses. Students shouldn’t be molded to become a particular kind of citizen. With a proper education and common moral upbringings one should be able to decide for themselves the type of person they want to be.

As we go through our scholastic lives we might ask ourselves, how does our government establish what the proper basic curriculum is at, both, an elementary and collegial level? How do they establish what subjects are more important without leaving out things that may be important to some or most individuals?