Week 4

This week in class, we discussed the purpose of education. In the three hour period, I do not think that we came to an answer. It clearly shows that many of us have different ideas on what the purpose of education is. For those of us who are considered to be from affluent schools, our idea is that we need education to get the best job possible. The only way to achieve our goals is to continue our education as far as we can take it. For others, it was a very different idea. TO be perfectly honest, I do not understand what their point is. Many people complained that they were not told to think outside of the box. I found this to be an interesting statement because I do not think I was ever told to do this either. Here, my point is that people are not necessarily told what the purpose of education is, rather we must take education into our own hands otherwise you will be left behind.

The other part of the class that I found interesting was the topic of parents involvement in their child's education. I believe that parent involvement in education DOES play a role in the achievement of their children. I think the more a parent is involved, the better of the child is. "The research overwhelmingly demonstrates that parent involvement in children's learning is positively related to achievement." This statement is the taken from the following website showing that parents positively influence their children. On this note, it is important to look at schools both affluent and inner-city. It has been shown that children are more likely to have both parents in their life coming from affluent areas as opposed to inner-city areas. This also shows that parents have a direct influence on their child's education. Since this is a problem, would it not be smart to attack this issue at hand? To educate parents that they really do hold their child's success in their hands.

http://www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/3/cu6.html

Week 3

It is not new that some schools have more advantages than other schools. As mentioned last week, some schools have two sets of textbooks while others do not have any. Sometimes, schools get these advantages due to private donations, especially from parents. These donations have gotten new teachers, helped save special programs, and even had air conditioning installed in some schools. In Kozol's book, "The Same of the Nation," he even explains that these private donations give huge advantages to the schools that are receiving them. Many people believe this to be unfair to those schools whose parents cannot afford to give private donations. The schools that truly need the donations are the schools that are not getting the money that they need to give a proper education to their students. In a recent article from The New York Times called "Schools' Deep-Pocketed Parents," it discussed this issue of schools receiving private donations. One solution they found was that donations that were received went to the whole district as opposed to one specific school. I think this is the right way to address this issue. Parents, especially those that can afford it, are never going to stop giving donations to the schools that their children attend. If their donations are spread out among all of the schools this can encourage more people to donate and make it more fair. Now, you might be thinking, "Well what about the areas were poverty exists and how does this help them?" Well, the article gives an example of an area where poverty was high and they were still able to raise money for their schools.

The following is the link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/03Rschool.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=education&adxnnlx=1190425946-853RFyxSIqxt64x6v2YVdA

Week 2

As a background to understanding education, we looked at a historical timeline of education. From the first point, which was in 1635, to the last (2007), there were many ideas that repeated. The one point that I found most interesting was the 1635 point. This bullet stated that the first schools were designed for social classes. Now, isn't that interesting? To this day, we are still having that problem. I can even see this from there area that I grew up in. First we have private schools, which are always nice. They always have brand new textbooks and state of the art facilities. Following private schools comes public schools. However, there are different levels. The "better" public schools are in the areas where the parents will up their taxes so that the school can put in a field or rebuild the school (I know this from experience because this is just what happened in my high school). Then there are the schools in between that are nice but can use improvements. Follows are the public schools that are in need of fixing. Can you guess which schools belong where? My question is why has the government not done something to equalize education? Is it fair that johnny gets extra textbooks and free tutors while jane gets neither? Even though these schools maybe desegregated, it is still considered segregation. For some reason, people of the same race and ethnicity tend to live in the same area. Many of the areas where I am from are either white Italian or white Jewish. There areas where they are not the front runners of the town, those are the areas that need to be improved.

Week 1

This week in class we watched a film called Hardscrabble childhood. It was based on lower income children who went to "normal" public schools. One thing that I found interesting was that they always seemed to stand out. The children had various claims from their peers as well as their teachers making them markers in their classrooms. From their peers, they were made fun of for their clothing and the things that make them stand out from the other children. As for their teachers, they wanted them to shower and they also told them they would never amount to anything. This is what i find the most striking. Teachers are there to HELP children, not put them down. This is where I think our responsibility lies. Many of the people who are in the class are going to be in some field that deals with children. From social work to actually being a teacher, we are the ones who have to encourage the children, not "disencourage" them, coming directly from one of the children from the film. I also think that school uniforms do serve a purpose. Although kids always complain about it, it puts everyone on an equal playing field. Although this sounds like perfect, of course there is a problem. What about the children that cannot afford to buy their uniforms? Well to resolve this, I believe that schools should push to put school uniforms in the budget. Schools push for new playing fields for their athletes. Why not push for uniforms for the underprivileged?

The other area that I found intersting was the weight of many of the children in the film. A lot of them are what is considered overweight. What is the reason for this? Well it is mostly because unhealthy food is much more affordable than healthy food. I think that schools should also push for healthier lunch plans and provide them for those would cannot provide for themselves.