Category Archives: The Classroom and the Workplace (role of education)

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos067.htm

http://www.jstor.org/pss/747527

The Difference Between Work & School

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_percentage_of_US_college_students_change_their_major

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.

The concept of after school activities is an overall good idea for students, but they often get over looked. Many students love to go to clubs after school or play on sports teams, but when the educational system is in a financial stipend, the after school activities are the first things that are cut. Extracurricular activities were created to bring students together and to also keep students off the street and out of trouble. It is not fair that these are the things that get cut when there is a money shortage. Now a days not many students like school, but the one thing that gets then through the day is looking forward to what they will be participating in after. Do you think they will ever find a way to keep the extracurricular activities in the event of a financial crisis?

Another interesting concept that this chapter mentioned the concept of equal opportunity. This chapter talked about the promotion of equals rights between all students, but as idealistic as this sounds, it is just not going to be completely equal. Yes, over the years things have started to balance out between men and women, Caucasians and Latinos or African Americans, or Asians, but it is still not equal. Will there ever be a time when every person is offered the same opportunities?

I think it is very interesting to see how the high schools were modeled after the coporate world. At this point in history there were many people who just finished high school and were able to find a job. The idea that high school should prepare the students to come in to the working world is a very good one for that point in history but as for the present it takes a lot more than high school to be ready for work. I am a fan of the high schools that geared towards certain careers as they add an appeal to school for the students. Looking at the website for the Department of Education they describe the different types of High Schools that can be found in New York City. The schools which lead to specific pathways are referred to as Career and Technical Education Schools which can be found in many high schools throughout the city. I think giving students the opportunity to go to a school like this would motivate them to work harder in school but it also works as an easy way out. High school has really developed along side the age grade which makes people feel that they should be done by a certain age, this puts a lot of pressure on the students. In my high school we were relatively new so there were very few opportunities for extra curricular activites. There were some clubs and very few sports teams but it did allow us to have a little bit of fun. The extra curricular activities gave us students responsbilities that were not just educational which relates to the workplace. Of course students had to maintain good grades to be a part of these activites. I agree with Anna’s post in saying that I do not understand how something so important like extra curricular activities is usually the first thing to be cut at school. When the studetns cannot participate in these activities they tend to lose interest and focus in school. Public schools need a reform, I can’t really say what it is that they need but the times are changing and schools need to change as well.

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 19^th 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?

I think America put the wrong emphasis on education. For example, the text states that “the emphasis on education to serve economic goals shaped the development of the modern high school” (237). Going to school by means of having a leg up when you apply for jobs is not the way it should be. The reason we have such low literacy and academic rates is because some people do not value work as much as other countries. Going to school does make getting a job easier, but people should be learning for the betterment of themselves, not because it will act as a leverage for future career opportunities. I think America is setting up a bad example for children because 1) schools started out as means of teaching morals, not so much educating on academics, 2) schools were created to get children off the streets and to lower crime rates, and 3) higher education is used as a tool for jobs in the future. The purpose of school is for education, but it seems that now, people only see education as a phase in life they have to get through in order to be at a certain level in society. Ranking students and people according to their educational level is wrong and does not show anything. The correspondence of education and economic wealth shows that our society only values education because of money.

Also, I feel that the implementation of extracurricular activities was a great idea but now that schools are being underfunded, those are the first programs to be eliminated. “The other organizations making up extracurricular activities were justified as contributing to the unification of the school and the preparation of the students for participation in a cooperative democracy” (243). Non-academic activities actually help students do better in school, and like the quote says, it provides unity. When students get time to know each other away from the learning environment, such as the classroom, it gives them time to build bonds, thus building connections. And in my opinion, networking is more important that academics. Even in college, there are so many clubs and organizations for students to join, because in the end, the people you know are the ones who can help you achieve in the future. Academics is important, but so is creating a network. How can we help find a balance between work and play to help ensure the best results for students? and how can the government help change the value of education for children so that we can appreciate education?

The creation of vocational schools and different curricula geared towards individual interests was the smartest thing that the educational system could have implemented in my opinion. Though the junior high I attended was more general and did provide me with counselors to help me narrow down my interests, my high school was geared towards Math and Science. I agreed with the concept of making Junior high school a place for socialization in which there were clubs, in-school activities and after school activities. I think extra-curricular activities promote a well rounded individual instead of only heavy emphasis on grades. The promotion of team work and cooperation are important networking tools as simple as they may seem and are very necessary in work settings.

The shift from education to save the “poor” from themselves and “Americanize” immigrant cultures to the creation of an equal education in which students could each chose their own area of study was a positive advancement. The psychological factor presented in “Adolescence” which stated that “adolescent interests be harnessed and directed to some socially useful function,” was an interesting approach. Even presently I think it starts as early as kindergarten where even classroom playtime is geared towards conditioning children to “act-out” their dream careers. The creation of all the social events both on college campuses and at junior/highschools prove the concepts created in this chapter about students forming habits to benefit the greater of society. Creation of the lesson plan as introduced in the chapter I think was  a good idea for teachers because I think it lessened the pressure of them having to develop their own curriculum but it was also a way to control teachers and schools, I agree with this view in the chapter. In contemporary times choosing a high school is just as hard as choosing the right college. Schools and the educational system should be geared towards individual interests and should offer a wide range of possibility to students, especially those who know what they want to study from early on in their education.

Similiar to the nature/nurture debate presented in the chapter, in your educational experience which do you think has prevailed the most and why? Do you think that creation of the common lesson plan was a great advancement or not. If not describe a situation where the common lesson plan has deceived students?

When children are young, they do not have worries about life and their future because pressure is not often placed on them. However, with our economy, as the child gets older, he or she begins to see the obstacles they are going to face when they enter the work force. Therefore, education is highly emphasized. As mentioned in the book, a child who enters High School is obligated to be trained for the job market. I stand by this because aside from education being important, gaining the knowledge of how the economy works will definitely enable the students to be ahead of the game. Kids nowadays who are young can easily use a computer or text with a phone, this shows that children who are exposed to these things are capable of learning at a young age. Also I feel that in today’s society, it is constantly changing, therefore by teaching students at a young age will allow them to learn to adjust to the changes. Most importantly, being new to young adulthood, it would be a great way to let them experience the different side of the world where stress is introduced. However, does it sound unfair that children at such a young age are being exposed to such stress?

I think extracurricular activities are a great way for students to bond and release some stress. As most students will agree, being in school for eight hours straight where they have to sit in desks and listen to teachers’ lesson plans are not very enjoyable. However, providing things to do where students will enjoy will create a balance for a student. When I was in High School, teachers did not make lessons enjoyable because I felt like they were only trying to get the information across. Often times, I would fall asleep and just hope the weekends came sooner. However, I then joined the volley ball club which allowed me to relief some stress and look forward to go to school. Although we did not have sport teams in our school, we had math team and chess team. Therefore, students became drawn to these clubs because they were allow to compete with other schools, which creates incentives. However students often time get too focused on these activities where they are falling behind on their school work. Should there be certain limitations on these extracurricular activities where students can ensure that they keep a balance between the two?

In chapter 9 we begin to see the progress that the American school had over the course of many years. JHS andHS  begin to shape the meaning of education, beyond the basic idea of teaching morality and proper American ways. What I find most interesting, is the idea that higher education( jhs and hs) is now being taken as an important step into adulthood and becoming active member of society. It is important to note how education is affected as psychology delves into adolescent development and learning-teaching methods.

As high schools begin to spread across the country, the debate over purpose and curricula ensues. Curiously, most opinions are guided by industrialization and the main goal of the United States as a whole. Although many adolescents were provided with high school education, their studies were uneven. The Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education established a common goal for all high schools, but never established a curriculum. One could imagine that kids who were on a path to college would be taught very differently from those whose next step would be finding a job; as much as the “sense of unity” (p 245) was instilled within the school.Also,the idea of “finding your purpose within society” was fueled by the need of working people. As scientific management became the standard method of workplace dynamics, the assembly line grew and those destined to end their education after high school needed to find jobs.  This in turn greatly influenced how kids were taught. Although I would like to think that the Psychologists of the time were solely interested in understanding human learning, I believe their ideas were products of their time. The belief that students learn based on stimulus response, repetition and reinforcements is somewhat rigid. Although there was a push for truly understanding adolescent development and learning, other influences were detrimental to effective teaching. Also the idea that students were born with a set intelligence marginalized those who came from poor families and became a self fulfilling prophecy of not continuing their education. Ideally, high school education should not only provide concise and extensive academic knowledge but also be a gateway for the student to find their identity and future ideals. Teachers and administrators should be very aware of the developmental stage of their pupils so that their teaching techniques are effective and unbiased.

This chapter mentioned very interesting things, the idea about the pressure on high schools to serve, as a place for job training is very different from what we consider a high school today. I found it very interesting that there was so much debate about what a high school should be and what the aim of it are.

Today high schools still offer different things and still use the idea presented in the book of a general curriculum such as the one presented by the Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. Yet there are also vocational schools or in large high schools some students are geared towards a college bound track while others are geared towards a vocation. I wonder if this idea may be overly archaic or if there is a way to change modern day high schools and help prepare students better.

Something that this chapter prompted me to think about AP classes and that not all schools offer them. Should AP classes be offered in a stand-alone school where students from every high school can take the classes if their high school does not offer them? Or is it somehow fair and just that students in schools that are zoned to neighborhoods with a high SES just wind up more prepared for college.

This chapter also focused on was the need for schools to have extra curricular activities yet these are the first things that are cut from schools when there are budget cuts. It seems very strange that something that so many believe is very important for students is being cut.

It struck me as crazy that all the things we believe are just part of a normal school day were actually created to be a training ground for work and that classroom management was part of preparing students to take direction in a factory.

Public school education is something that might need to be changed and really altered for a new day and age. Most students are better at the Internet than their computer teachers and some schools still teach students a typing class. It might be time to change the curriculum as well as general classroom decorum and layout to provide modern day students with a modern day school.