Disillusionment

Pgs 170-246

This was the section on disillusionment. A lot of the entries were about teachers who struggled to get through each day, with some quitting at the end. The first entry that I will discuss was about testing. Today classrooms are full of standardized testing and also full a lot of students who struggle with it. I remember my teachers telling me that the tests didn’t count for our grade in class so a lot of my peers just messed up the answers on purpose. Now I think that maybe those students couldn’t understand or were too frustrated to try to do the test. What answers do we give our students about the necessity of standardized testing if even we as teachers are disenchanted with it?

The story about the teacher that taught in what I think is a detention center for students who have been in trouble with the law definitely caught my attention. On this particular day one of the 16 year old boys, Mario, found out his parents have been taken by the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) because they are here illegally. Mario was the oldest of 5 children who are now left to fend for themselves. There is nothing this teacher can do, for Mario, his parents, his younger siblings, or even offer reassurance about the future. I think helpless does not even begin to describe how this teacher felt.

Pgs 104-169

Entry 56 caught my attention for several reasons. First I come from a background that believes very strongly that homosexuality is a sin and those that participate in those activities should be harshly punished. Secondly, I have since come to grips with the beliefs of my parents and don’t feel the same way. I do know that some students will come from a similar background that I did. As I read what Natasha said that she thinks gay people are disgusting and should all be killed, I had flashback. I used to say that all the gay people should be rounded up and sent to live in a space station in outer space or on a different planet. I now know that is a very prejudice thing to say. I wondered what the teacher would do. The teacher used public humiliation to prove the point that students should think for themselves instead of repeating what they hear others say. I’m still not sure if this was the best way to deal with it. I’m still thinking about it. Entry 67 talked about the teachers union and in this instance how she received a 1% raise. Obviously I know that teachers don’t make a lot of money. I do understand how this amount of a raise would feel like a slap in the face for all the hard work the teacher does throughout the year. The entry was about why the teacher taught. In the entry is a story about a boy named Marcus and in the end the teacher teaches for Marcus.

1950-1980

Abstract:
This era of history in schools is one of major reform. It starts out with the preparing the baby boomers for nuclear attacks, giving them vaccines, and gearing their education toward a technologically advanced future. About half of high school graduates were now college bound and society viewed a high school diploma as a necessity. Of course these are all facts depicting the situation for white Americans. Segregation was perfectly legal according to the Plessey v Ferguson case that stated it was legal as long as the facilities were equal. This was the precedent until Linda Brown, her parents, Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP, and twelve other families brought a case to the Supreme Court. In the Brown v Board of Education of Topeka Kansas the decision was that in education segregation is inherently unequal. The way our government works is the judicial branch decides the legality of a situation but it is the executive branch that enforces those rules. School administrators and state governments could just ignore a court order. Lyndon Johnson was the president that gave the court decision some teeth when he signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964. This stated that schools who were not segregated would not receive federal funding. Soon other groups started demanding equal rights. Title 9 was passed which prohibited school programs that discriminated against women. An example would be in extracurricular activities. In 1976 IDEA was passed, which is Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. So by the end of this era schools looked very different than they did in 1950.

Reflection:
I think it is amazing how in the span of 30 short years how much change and how many different people are now allowed in public schools. In the grand scheme of things this country is less than 250 years old. In the reading even children whose parents are illegal aliens are allowed to go to school. Basically this country now believes that every child of school age is allowed and should go to public school.

1900-1950

Abstract: This movie covered the movements of the purpose of education in public schools. The years covered in this section were from 1900-1950. In the beginning public schools in the cities were terrible places to be; overcrowded, dark, cold, and full of sickness. A lot of children worked in factories instead of going to school. Five hundred children were asked whether they would rather work in a factory or go to school. Eighty percent replied they would rather work in a factory. Physical conditions soon improved. Academic subjects were the focus and students were forced to sit in desk bolted to the floor in 1 room schools for hours. This was the case until John Dewey came up with the Gary plan. He is considered the father of progressive education. His ideas about education were that children learn by doing. Children should exercise their minds and their bodies. Students were outside a lot of the day and moved from class to class. This school had classes such as art, mechanics, and working with animals. Students that left these schools were prepared for the work force. Throughout this time span there were movements from progressive education to more traditional education depending on the administration and current political movement. In a decade or two the pendulum would swing in favor of progressive education. Then two inventions were created that are still in effect today: the I.Q. / S.A.T. and tracking. When it was determined by scientists that a person was born with a certain I.Q. and that it stays relatively constant throughout life educators began testing children as early as five. Using those results the administration would place the child in the appropriated track for the rest of the student’s educational career. This has many flaws some are the following: the tests are culturally western European, always in English which might not be a student’s first language, some students are behind in reading at the beginning of school but can catch up later, and students with test anxiety will have results will not accurately reflect their ability. For these reasons many poor students, immigrants, and blacks were disproportionately represented in the lower tracks. Usually students who scored high on the I.Q. test were put into college bound tracking. The low tracks or industrial track were for Mexicans and blacks. Domestic science was for girls. Native Americans were sent to boarding schools to not only separate them from their language but also their culture. Even now many schools have an English only school. There also has been since the birth of this country a movement that will gather steam and die depending on current events. That movement is to make English the official language of this country. This might be why foreign language is not taught since kindergarten and so many students who graduate high school are not fluent in any other language besides English despite a few years of classes in another language.

Reflection: I think the main question to be asked is what is the purpose of education? Is it to be a good citizen? Or is it to cure social evils? Perhaps its purpose is to prepare students for the workforce? Or is school to be used for opportunities, advancement, and upward social mobility? Schools and the movement of education is a reflection of the society as a whole. What is society’s expectation of its youth and future employees? The swing between progressive and traditional education movements reflects this idea. Even now tracking still exists in our schools. I.Q. tests have been replaced with the S.A.T. to measure students’ abilities and whether they can attend a certain college. Society still places value on these measurements of intelligence to ascertain the abilities of students. So the purpose of education is determined by society.

Generations

Abstract
This article described how there are four generations in the work force currently and that they are very different from each other. Each has its own communication style, motivation, and views about how to best accomplish a task. This can cause problems if individuals in the different generations have to work together on the same project. As a person in a leadership position, the best way to get everyone to work together is to meet each person on their level. An example would be an employer has 2 employees, a baby boomer and a gen Y. The employer would call the baby boomer at home or whenever to discuss work and he would email or leave a voicemail for the gen Y employee. The article simply said that being aware of the differences and acting accordingly is the best solution.

Reflection
This article specifically talks about a business type work place but this is relevant to my profession. I will be dealing with multiple generations as I teach students in my generation but talk to parents and grandparents in older generations. It is good to be aware of the fact that they communicate differently and to be aware and flexible to find the method that best suits them. It might be easiest for me to send out a quick email reminding parents of an activity the students are participating in but if a student is being raised by their grandparents their grandparents might be expecting a written letter home. I should be aware of this and try to make the necessary accommodations when possible. That is what I got out of the article.

Challenges

Pgs 45-103

This section of the book was less happy and glowing than the first part. I should’ve expected this because the section is called challenges. I found this section incredibly sad that there were so many students in desperate situations. Story number 27 was hard for me to deal with on a lot of levels. First I just want to say that although I have strong opinions about a lot of issues I do not usually try to influence other people in any way to adopt my beliefs. I am very much against abortion and I almost got physically sick when that teacher said that she almost had a 3rd abortion by the time she was 17. I understand that sharing her story with the student will help that student tell her mom or make a decision about what to do with the baby. I also did not like that woman from the story that told the teacher that god and his angels would help her through the difficult times. That is the worst thing anyone could ever say. People have to figure out how to go through difficulties on their own, it is impractical to sit around and stare at the sky for a solution to problems. All in all, this story made me sick and angry. Story number 44 was the other story I wanted to mention. This was about a 27 year old teacher giving the eulogy for his sixteen year old student who had died in a car crash. This story I could relate to more than the stories about gang violence killing students because this happens in Maine. I had a couple friends crash their cars during snow storms in high school. Most were uninjured but my friend Megan messed up her back so bad she couldn’t play any sports for almost a year. They were lucky but I could have a student someday who isn’t so lucky and that is why this story struck home for me.

Culture Shield

Diversity, Learning Style, and Culture

This article was basically about the disparity between the literature and knowledge that educators read and possess about the way students learn and the reality that is seen in the classroom. There are books and books that flood the market and line the home libraries of educators and administrators across the country and yet an observer would be hard pressed to find much difference between the classroom of 50 years ago and today. It is not because the teachers are indifferent to the needs of the students, lazy, or ineffectual. There is a choice and a compromise that has to be made between diversity and uniformity. Diversity is a well known fact; every student is different and learns differently. No one would argue with that. However, the problem stems from the need for uniformity and organization necessary in a system expected to educate the entirety of America’s youth. This system is for the most part effective. The majority graduate and can meet the demands of life. Most educators do believe that the majority isn’t enough though. This article suggests how that diversity can be used to help rather that separate the student from majority.

I thought two interesting points the article made were about information gather and use about cultures and how students deal with their surroundings as an individual. Implementing knowledge gained by studying other cultures can be tricky. Just because a majority of people believe a certain way that does not mean that the entirety of that group of people believes that. That would be stereotyping, which is dangerous and hurtful. An educator not only has to have the back ground knowledge that this is a widely held belief by a particular set of people but in that set of people there are individuals that are different and the educator can not lose sight of that. The other interesting point that the article made was that a student will succeed when the student’s internal beliefs about themselves and their world, match up with the culture and beliefs of their parents, and both of these match up with the culture and beliefs held by the school and subsequently mainstream America. Students struggle when the three areas are not in align. A few examples might be the culture of the home and that of the school is in direct conflict, or if the student’s internal beliefs or personality are not mainstream, or any combination of the three. Teachers could and should be sensitive to this in order to ease the conflict and friction of the situation for the student.

Anticipation

pg 1-44

The first section of this book was about different stories of passion, triumph, and learned lessons that some teachers shared with small stories. I picked two of the stories that particularly hit home for me.

The first story was about a teacher who changed careers from an attorney to become a teacher. This individual clearly had the capacity for a high end career and money that could come from it. This teacher also received criticism from friends and family for the choice. This teacher also understood what it meant to follow his or her passion and heart. I connected to this particular story not because I had wanted to have a different career than the path I’m currently on but because I have had to answer the money question from many adults along the way. I even had a family member joke that I better find a rich husband. I know that there are many other careers that I could have chosen that I could be quite good at and make more money. I also know that it would not be as fulfilling for me as well. The more I study in this program at UMF the more I am certain I made the right choice. That it is not true what they say about teachers, that those who can do and those that can’t teach. What is true is that those that teach can make a difference, even if its just in the life of one student.

The second story I chose was the story of the teacher whose school experienced the suicides of 4 students in one school year. 4 students. My senior year we had one of our students commit suicide and I remember the aftermath of that. I did not know the student personally. I knew the student’s brother that was in my grade. Even now I know that his brother is affected by that. What got to me was the that the teacher in the story kept forgetting what number of students he had in his class and the empty chair would always be there in the back of the room, at least for the remainder of the year. But that empty chair will always be there at the dinner table at the Higgins house back in my hometown. I know there isn’t anything that can be done that wasn’t already done. The story just hit me I guess.