Present Post 10: Privatization v. School Choice, what do you believe?
Privatization and school choice has divided the education system since the 1950’s. “Milton Friedman declared public schools monopolies and suggested that competition would break up the monopoly and improve quality” (Spring 217). School choice allows parents to choose their child’s education. Public education funds follow the child to the school they select. This could be a charter school, private school, or any type of educational setting. Supporters of school choice believe that this could be a cheaper alternative to increasing students’ academics, and inducing competition, which will lead to the improvement of schools. On the other hand, many teachers unions and public school districts question these beliefs. They feel threatened by the competition that school choice provides, and believe it violates the first amendment of the constitution. Although both sides provide significant arguments, I believe that school choice is ultimately the better option. As we have talked about in class, many schools have struggled to decrease the achievement gap among different minority groups or those who struggle financially, so if a student feels that they would get a better education some place else then I think they should have the choice to do so. Every child should have the same opportunity for education. If this is not being provided at a child’s current school then they should be able to have the choice to leave. Public schools should not be worried about the competition that school choice brings. Rather they should be worrying about their students’ academic needs. This is the most important factor! As stated previously, teachers unions and public school districts believe that school choice violates the first amendment of the constitution, but as the establishment clause instituted, school choice is allowing the parents to CHOOSE. They are not forcing a child to go to a school that interacted religion into their core curriculum. Overall, I believe that school choice is an initiative to advance equal opportunity in education.
Present Post 8: Debate: Human Capital vs. Seed People
Human Capital vs. Seed People was a subject of contentious debate. In class, I was able to proceed as a judge to evaluate each argument. After assessing both the affirmative and the negative, I came to the conclusion that the Human Capital’s affirmative had ultimately won over the Seed People. For this debate, people were split into groups based upon random selection. If you were placed into the Human Capitalist group your responsibility was to provide reasoning for why human capital arguments provide justification for things like standardized testing. On the other hand, if you were selected to represent the seed people, then you had to defend your case against this proposition. As stated earlier, a select few, like me, were invited to oversee the debate, by taking on the role of a judge. Before the debate had began, I believed that standardized testing was more problematic to the school system than beneficial. So, initially I thought that I would be more biased towards the human capital group, but as it turned out, I actually sided with them. Although my views remain the same, I thought that the human capitalists group supported their case through factual evidence much more than the seed people did. Thus, for many reasons, I believe that the human capitalist group won the argument. From the beginning, both sides presented their viewpoints adequately, but when it came down to the rebuttal portion of the debate, the human capitalists backed up their beliefs through many peer-reviewed articles, and past events. For example, one point that the human capitalists made was that “China’s capital has increased due to economic reform” . This fact really stood out to me because they provided an example of a country that is using the human capitalist’s theory and how successful it is. On the other hand, the seed people were unable to provide specific evidence where standardized testing was eliminated and it ended up benefitting the group as a whole. After the human capitalist group had made this argument, the discussion remained the same for the seed people; they reinstated the opinions of school teachers. They said that ” teachers should teach beyond the test, to cause less stress on individual students”. These points were already stated previously, so I think they should have added some different arguments into their case, so that they could stand against their opposing teammates. Once again, the reason I believe the human capitalist group won the debate is due to factual evidence. Another argument that the human capitalist group made was that “the human capitalist theory was a dream of Horace Mann”. This was another critical point because all of the judges knew about him. he was a very influential leader. On the other hand, the seed people made more arguments such as: “Schools need to focus more on cultural and ethnic backgrounds, rather than teaching to the test”. While this is a very interesting point, it is not backed up by any factual evidence. Once again, this is why I believe that the human capitalist group had won.
Notes during speech:
Human Capital continues:
economic goal is the growth of economy
downsides: end up in jail or low quality of life, or low job, low level income comes with low level of education
you get economic and social benefits, students who stick with schooling have GPD growth have lower crime rates ( no sources) , end up doing better after school,
Seed People:
those who prepare ground and plant for future
children are physically able. no test score should define a students ability, they are considered as objects and teachers care too much, they teach to standardized testing
teacher will often say that there is no enough time to review tests so how are they supposed to learn from what they say?? (proof)
they are supposed to learn who a student is, being disabled, and disadvantages, its about learning about their students and not to teach towards the test, they go into more complex topics, they need to focus more on cultural and ethnic background on kids
National education association tim walker; half of teachers want to leave profession because of standardized testing, it puts stress on teachers and students, they only teach for testing and they’re unable to teach creatively, seed people are important because you’re able to teach to the student’s needs.
Human :
human capital educating for economic growth, they have justified their schools for human capital theory , for reducing poverty ,
it will improve quality of workers. Standardized testing.
strengths:
economic training social benefits,
policy makers can develop dual enrollments and increases likelihood of getting into college
concern it doesn’t teach soft skills, what is it?? states source. Even though the argument is that it doesn’t teach soft skills it does happen in preschools and it should happen with the family. main article “human capital in chinas future” china’s capital has increased due to economic reform. chinas dramatic growth economic development
Seed people: article (didn’t state what) we should be teaching beyond test, and no to have them as stressed, we should be able to hold the students all accountable at the same level, clear instruction, more thoughtful involvement
__________________________________________________
Seed:
Michelle:
perry preschool project had a super small size, only 58 students showed that preschool had economic value, it also put heavy input on standardized testing
found peer reviewed tests: teachers when they are teaching to test only assess part of curriculum, neglect high order thinking, reducing depth of instruction, time during school day is taken away from music and drama that actually sparks their interest in learning, another danger is that teaching as a profession would be less enjoyable, having to teach to the test puts a lot of pressure on the teacher. it quoted a teacher “ the most pathetic thing i counseled people to become a teacher, but now emphasizing standardized teaching i on get the same advice” teachers don’t have the passion for teaching anymore
Marvin:
was said to provide more up to date books: How does school get money for books? are they looking to raise taxes? If schools are not teaching soft schools how are they able to provide especially from single person households. How can u reply on parent itself to provided soft skills. Kids are at school for 8 hours of the day.
Human Capital
Cj: dream of Horace Mann
you say in times of testing, testing holds people accountable especially with teachers, you might have to go in a future job where tests are required so testing needs to be in place for accountability, having a scripture form allows teachers not to become creative, it will take less stress on teachers because they have a plan, they can still be creative with their teaching they should be able to
they said it discriminates against disability — not found in literature
soft skills- perseverance, and motivation
single parent can teach integrity by just watching their teachers
you must be engaging to these kids, and you should realize that you must be creative
soft skills will be taught by family members, clubs, anything, you must be able to adapt to the places that
Seed People
closing
Ally:
seed people focuses on quality not quantity
it pushes people into the work force, but we are allowing to see people as what they contribute not just as a worker, refers to the stock of knowledge, through seed people it focuses on the breathe of knowledge, how much each student can contribute, we focus on teaching soft skills which we should continue teaching past schools, which needs to be taught even after preschool. When we teach to a test, the kids will not remember the information. They will be like thank goodness it is over and they won’t remember it. This is supposed to be for accountability, but it does help us learn any differently, we want to fight foolishness and if we are just teaching to the test we don’t have time to go into all of this great information they could actually be learning.
Human capital
closing
Chloe: talks about economic growths. They need to have a universal measuring for gpa. A friend who moved to Australia, he had a 1.0 grading scale, the only thing we had to back him up was his standardized test scores, how are colleges supposed to break down GPA scales.
Present Post 7
New York Times
Present Post 6
In class, I was assigned to research the Lau v. Nichols case. This case was a class-action suit brought for non-English- speaking Chinese students in the San Francisco school district. This court case aimed to help students, who did not speak English, transition into school. They believed that there was a “lack of special instruction to help non-English- speaking students learn Standard English. This in turn provided unequal educational opportunities, and therefore violated the fourteenth amendment” (Spring 165). Although the lower court disagreed with this statement, the Supreme Court decided that since there was no specialized education for these students, it deprived those students of an opportunity to participate in the public education program. After this court case, people were able to attain their deserved rights. It has been very hard for foreigners to attain their deserved rights in the United States. So, this case was very respected because they were able to equalize education (something we are still struggling with). In addition, after this court case, people of different cultures were able to feel more comfortable going to a school that has English as their first language. I think this will bring more diversity to schools. However, one problem with this court case was that the court did not give exact remedies to help this situation. I think this is a major fallback of this case because many schools are still facing these same issues today. For example, in 2015 there was an article written how U.S. Schools are failing immigrant children. The article states, “For the Lau case, the San Francisco Unified School District was ordered to create a master plan that would accommodate its Chinese, Latino, and Filipino student”(Mock 1). Many people were coming from different countries that Palm Beach County school district did not know how to accommodate them all. We are STILL facing the same problems today. In order to fix this problem, the “consent decree formed by Lau for the San Francisco Unified School District some 40 years ago has required updating”(Mock 1). Moreover, the case had to revise the ruling. Some of the new things that was added was that schools now had to make sure that these students who didn’t speak English as their first language were identified and that they would provide families with specific service options. Other things were added as well. Another court case that was similar to Lau et al. v. Nichols et al. was the Bilingual Education Act of 1968. This was the first time the Federal government addressed the needs of students with limited English. Teachers were able to start working with other children that did not know English as well. At this time, immigration was restricted, but in 1965 immigration was permitted. The guidelines of the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 were not specific and they were considered voluntary. Lau V. Nichols case made it a law that these students must receive equal education. Once again, I think that one major down fall of this court case was that there was no exact remedy. Although this court case has helped people realize this problem, it just isn’t enough. This is why we are still facing problems today. There is no solution to helping schools impact this specialized education, and I think that is crucial. Some schools may not provide the same “specialized education” as other schools. They are not able to receive the same education, which is segregating schools! Once again school segregation still exists! All schools should take this matter more seriously, and try to implement a specific plan to address these issues.
Sources:
“Beyond Brown Pursuing the Promise.” Summary of Lau v. Nichols 1974. N.p., n.d. Web.
Brentin Mock @brentinmock Feed Brentin Mock Is a Staff Writer at CityLab. He Was Previously the Justice Editor at Grist. “How Schools Continue to Deny Civil Rights Protections for Immigrant Students.” CityLab. N.p., 01 July 2015. Web. 06 Oct. 2017.
Spring, Joel (2016) American Education. 6 Student Diversity (144-173)
Stewner-Manzanares, Dr. Gloria. “The Bilingual Education Act: Twenty Years Later.” The National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education (1988): n. pag. Print.
Present Post 5
The one approach to multicultural education that I had learned in class was ethnocentric education. Ethnocentric education is taught through the perspective of a particular culture. This is what public schools have always done, but the curriculum of public schools is organized around the cultural frame of reference of European Americans. These newer ethnocentric schools are focused more on the cultural frame of reference of African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics. These types of schools were created to overcome the resistance to schooling that some kids of dominated cultures have, and to preserve the cultural traditions of each culture (Spring 95). This is similar to critical pedagogy. This type of approach to multicultural education tries to empower oppressed people by integrating the history and culture of dominant groups into public school curriculum and textbooks (Spring 185). They want to do this to reduce prejudice, eliminate sexism, and equalize educational opportunities. These are almost the same exact goals as ethnocentric education. They both want to empower different cultures. One distinct difference between them is that critical pedagogy actually focuses on many different cultures while ethnocentric education only focuses on one culture. Personally, I think critical pedagogy is a much better approach to multicultural education than ethnocentric education. I believe that because ethnocentric education focuses only on one culture it starts to separate people according to their culture. We have faced and are currently facing problems with segregation in our schools today, so I think this would only make it worse. I feel as if we focused more on incorporating everybody’s culture into today’s education people would not have as many prejudices on different cultures. We should all have the opportunity to learn about everybody’s culture. Our education should not be focused on only one culture. The goals of ethnocentric education are very important, but I think they could achieve the same goals through critical pedagogy. Overall, they both have good intentions in trying to involve different cultures into our education, but I think critical pedagogy is particularly a better approach in trying to unite everybody equally.
Present Post 4 & Service Post 3
When I was reading chapter three of American Education, I found many interesting statements about the equality of opportunity in education today. For example, they state, “Wealth inequality has widened along racial, ethnic lines since end of Great Recession” (Spring 79). They go on to talk about how in white households there was a much greater median wealth than of black households in 2013. This quote is significant because well-educated and highly skilled workers are receiving increasing wages while there are declining wages for poorly educated or low skilled workers, and because of this happening the wealth inequality among different races have increased. A couple years ago I visited a low-income school in Cleveland in which I saw many kids on their phones during class. They did not seem to care about the class itself because they thought it was too easy. The kids who thought the math class was easy were unable to move up because the school did not offer any advanced or college level courses due to financial reasons. This made me very sad because at my school if kids were doing very well they were able to move up into higher courses. Because our school had the money, kids were able to get this opportunity. Money should not be a reason kids are receiving a better education. All kids should be offered the same education. This makes it hard for people that are poor to move up into the work force because they are not receiving the same education as people whose schools receive a lot of funding. Moreover, the rich just keep becoming richer and the poor keep getting poorer. We must keep in mind these significant statistics because education equality is not a thing of the past. It still exists and people must start doing something to fix the problem.
Another topic I found interesting was the fact that people want their kids to go to a very good school, but in order to do so they must try to find a house they can afford in the area. In chapter three of American Education it states, “Often the housing in these districts, which may vary I large cities, is beyond the purchasing power of low-income families” (Spring 79). Not only are kids not receiving the same education in schools, but if people want their children to go to a better school district it is nearly impossible because the school districts that are ranked very high are normally in communities that have a lot of money. Low-income families are not able to go to a good school district because they do not have enough money to get a house near the school. One of my best friend’s parents had gotten a divorce in seventh grade and so money got very tight for them. She had gone to my school from preschool to the beginning of seventh grade, but since she was just going to be living with her mother she ended up having to change schools because her mother was unable to afford the house they once had. She ended up moving into a poor school district due to the fact that the houses in that area were the only ones her mother could afford at the time. She would call me all the time about how different school was because classes were so easy for her and she felt like she was not pushing herself to her full potential. She ended up moving back after her mother had found a stable job due to her degrees from college, but her experience was quite hard to hear. She should not of had to move to an entirely different school district because of money. She received two completely different types of education and the only reason of this was because of her family income. No matter how much family income one receives, we should all receive the same education. People who have more money are able to compete competitively in the job market because they have received higher education. People who have not received the same education are unable to compete because they do not earn enough money. How are we supposed to help the poor when we do not have equal education? Everybody should be able to compete competitively in the job market after receiving equal education. Once again, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. This point must be addressed because this is a huge problem with our education system, and if we keep this up then it will stay like this forever. Fortunately, my friend’s mother already had a bachelor degree from college, but if she had not had that to fall back on then my friend would have remained at the poor school district that had not challenged her enough. We have people smart enough to rule the country but they won’t have a chance to prove themselves because of their family’s income. The poor will stay poor.
Lastly, another topic I found very intriguing was the ideas that “poverty is high on the list of factors that put students at risk” (Spring 82). They discussed how students that are in poverty are “at risk” which is an indication that this student may have academic problems. As I stated earlier, I visited a poorly funded school in Cleveland that had faced many problems with offering their students higher-level courses. While I was there, I met students who would fit the “at risk” characteristic because they were very poor. Most of these students that I met who were “at risk” faced academic problems. The reason that I think poverty is a huge indicator that students may be facing academic challenges is because of the two ideas above: poor students are unable to attend schools that offer advanced courses, and highly ranked school districts are placed in communities of high income. This ties together all of the reasons why the first two ideas mentioned in the reading should be addressed immediately. Many students are struggling due to their financials and it just is not fair. People do not realize the situation the education system is currently in. There are many problems that the educations system is facing and nobody is trying to fix it. There should never be a correlation between family income and academics. Everybody should be equal. Some of my cousins are actually facing this problem of finding enough money to put their kids in good schools. Of course my family helps out as much as they can, but just because parents are unable to earn enough money to obtain a house in a community with a good school district that does not mean that their children should suffer from not being able to earn a good education because of it. If we do not fix this issue then innocent kids will be facing the consequences of their parents.
On the other hand, in class we have recently discussed service learning. Service learning opportunities link experience with particular concepts that students are learning in class. While this seems like a very positive experience for the students, people actually believe that people who are coming in with prior biases, service learning is making it even worse. People’s biases have become stronger after service learning because they are unable to get over the bias that they had about the people they are trying to help. After reading part of the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, it made me realize that this is actually sometimes the case. In the study it stated that this graduate student Jamie had participated in planning and hosting a “Peace Fair” in a neighborhood that frequently disturbed by violence, (Kenney 40). She wondered how these kids could be happy because based on how they were dressed, and where they lived, and how they looked it did not seem possible to her (Kenney 42). The journal then goes on to say that she was distressed because the conflicts that arose among the children. Instead of playing toss with the water balloons, the children threw them at each other. She stated, “I know that a water balloon fight is fun to have but it was like these children were out for blood” (Kenney 42). I could not believe that Jamie who wanted to be an early education teacher was unable to see past her bias of these children. These kids were just trying to have fun! Let kids be kids. If this had been a wealthy community I think that Jamie would not think that these kids were bad. The fact that she says that these children are “out for blood” is ridiculous. The only reason she thinks this is because of her prejudices on the poor community. It is sad to see that even somebody who is going to be a future teacher would think in this way. It makes me think about the educational system today. If teachers have these biases on children, then who knows how these students are actually being treated in the classroom. This service-learning component of this class only made Jamie’s bias worse. I think service learning can be very beneficial but it also has a very big downside to those who have biases before their service even begins.
Present Post 3
After looking at Ohio’s School Report Cards For the following districts: East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights, Beachwood, and Olmsted Falls, I have concluded that segregation still exists today. As you can see from the fourth graph below, East Cleveland is composed of mostly all black students and all of the students are academically disadvantaged. Their entire school is economically disadvantaged and most students that attend this school test below state standards. If you look at the third graph below, you can see that most of their students are only testing proficient on these state tests. Similarly, Cleveland Heights has the same characteristics as East Cleveland, so to cause less confusion, East Cleveland’s report card graphs are listed below to represent characteristics of both East Cleveland and Cleveland Heights. On the other hand, Beachwood city schools are made up of primarily all white students. The second graph below proves this point and that only a small percent of these students are economically disadvantaged. According to their report card, most students’ test scores are actually well above state standards. If you take a look at the first graph below all of the students are testing well above proficient on their state test scores. Similarly, Olmsted Falls has the same components as Beachwood. Once again, to make it easier, Beachwood’s graphs are shown below to represent both Olmsted Falls and Beachwood’s characteristics due to their similarities. They are made up of mostly white students and their school is not very economically disadvantaged. Personally, I went to Olmsted Falls high school and it is so sad to see the lack of diversity we have at our school. People have become so uneducated to the real world. Diversity in the real world is all around us, but we are unable to experience the real world in our own schools. Diversity allows us to gain more empathy towards others and even learn how to help others in need. Before this assignment I had never really thought of the causes to this problem, but after seeing these results it is necessary to address it. In all of these schools, the majority of their students are the same race, whether it is a minority or not. In addition, they share the same economic circumstances as the majority race. As you can see from the graphs below, the minorities that are economically disadvantaged do not perform well. On the other hand, the schools that are consisted of mostly white people who are not economically disadvantaged actually do better academically. Schools that are placed in areas that do not receive enough money are unable to provide higher academic classes for their students. Schools that have more money are able to hire teachers that have earned a higher education degree and thus provide higher academic classes. You can see from this data that this is segregating school districts today. People who are economically disadvantaged are attending the same school district, and the rest who are not economically disadvantaged attend other schools. The poor minorities are still unable to attain the same education as someone who may live in a community with more school funding. This ends up separating not only the rich from the poor but also the minorities from white people. From history, we learn that although Brown v. Board of Education has helped minorities gain more rights. We are currently facing the same barriers schools were facing in the past. It has been very hard to close the performance gap among white people and minorities. Schools that are economically disadvantaged are not able to get as much money and thus provide an equal education for all. This is why segregation still exists today, and we must do something to fix it. If you go to a public school you have to live in the city or suburb surrounding it to attend school so that the school can provide transportation. I think this rule should be changed. People that live in different communities should be able to attend schools that are in better economic standings. I think that every school should start providing transportation within a certain range so that each community whether poor or rich have the option to attend schools that offer the same curriculum.
Service Post 2
Throughout high school I was given the opportunity to work with special needs students during my lunch period. Every day we would work on various things with the students. Some days we would help them complete their chores, and other days we would do various activities that helped them with their daily lives. These type of activities included: working as a cashier (this taught them how to count money and give back appropriate change), completing all of their homework (this gave them responsibility), and etiquette (this helped them develop their social skills). We were also able to go on field trips with the students. I was able to participate in three different field trips when I volunteered. On my first field trip we rode the bus and taught the students how to pay for the bus and how to get on and off the bus when we reached our destination. On my second field trip, we took the students to a restaurant. Here, we taught the students how to pay for their food and leave a tip. Finally, my last field trip with these students we went Christmas shopping. We taught the students how to pick out gifts that their family would enjoy. They learned how to give to others.
During these field trips I was able to meet people with characteristics that I have never encountered before. After being with these students everyday I learned that most of these students were not only kind, but did not understand hatred. Someone could say hateful words towards them and they would respond to them saying that they liked their shoes or that the individual that had said these hateful words had been his/ her best friend and absolutely loved them. Everything they said came from their hearts. I felt as if I was dealing with individuals who had come from a different world. Hatred did not exist in their world. I felt as if I was with angels sent from heaven. I strived to be like them.
Not only did I teach them things everyday, but they taught me things everyday. I learned to be a kinder person, and to appreciate the little things in life. Some of these students were not able to walk, which is something we take for granted everyday. I would see them struggle to get out of a seat or even walk to the bathroom when they needed. They dealt with these difficulties every single day, yet I never once heard them complaining or upset about how their life has been thus far. Almost every day I hear people complain about how hard their school work may be, or how they’re unhappy because their parents were unable to buy them something at the store. These kids never would complain about things such as that. They taught me that even if you’re dealing with difficulties that interfere with your everyday life you should still be grateful for what you have! I learned to appreciate the fact that I am able to walk, talk to others, and do as I please. These are some of the luckiest things that God has granted me, and I will live on without complaints or displeasure.
Moreover, as a result of this experience my dispositions have been shifted. Before this experience I would complain about too much homework, or having to go to a family party that I was not very interested in going to. Now, after this experience I was able to become more empathetic towards others. I had the ability to understand how they feel each and every day, which made me change the way I look at life. If they are dealing with all of these interferences everyday, then I should be able to surpass completing small tasks that I may think are annoying. I should appreciate life as I have it. I’ll do my homework because I know that I am lucky enough to be given a great education. I will go to a family party just to simply make my mother happy. I will appreciate the life that I have and be kinder towards other. I did not think that this experience would change me, but I was wrong. I truly have become better person because of it and hope to experience more volunteer work similar to this.
Present Post 2
According to American Education by Joel Spring, Horace Mann was often called the father of public schools. He started off as a lawyer but decided to change careers because he thought schooling had a bigger impact on creating a good society than law would. He served as the secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education and in this position he began to develop his reputation as a leader of education. He wanted schools to start incorporating politics into their education so that they would be able to maintain a republican form of government and even have the desire to vote (13). Furthermore, the most important thing Horace Mann wanted was to have “ all children in society attend the same type of school” (13). This is a very important principle in education today. The reason being that public schools allow all children to attend no matter their background. On the other hand, a lot of private schools require families to pay for their children to attend the school. This goes against Mann’s principal of “all children in society to attend the same type of school.” We are still facing issues with trying to have people of all social classes and ethnic backgrounds attend the same school. In my opinion, people of the same social class usually live in the same community. Everybody in the community usually go to the same public school. This is why it is still hard today to find a diverse socioeconomic school because most students are around the same social class.
Kala Marshall 