Argument
In the History of Public Schooling video that we were assigned to watch gave us an idea on how the basis of public school came to be when the system started in the early 1900s. Once this new system was introduced, kids were required to complete elementary school. This was a much different atmosphere in comparison to their homeschooled education, as they were in a public classroom with unfamiliar people. Horrace Mann, who was secretary of the board of education, established that schools should have a "common ground" of education and rules for all students in the schooling system. Mann believed that all students were entitled to education and this new system would help students learn obedience in an industrial age for job placement. The system was described to become a military workforce. The result of this causes students destruction of their imaginations and become complacent with their new places within the industrial workforce after schooling. During the video, there were background voice recordings of how the teachers would speak to their students. The things that were said to the students strongly lacked positive reinforcement. With the developing minds of these young students, continuous negative reinforcements became the building blocks of these students' perspective on life.
Throughout the reading of The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies by Christine Sleeter, she focuses on the lack of diversity in educational teachings. Students of different ethnicities and background can clearly see these types of oppression while white students are generally unaware of this. She conducts interviews with black and white students in grades 5, 8, and 11. Specifically, the black 5th graders she interviewed were starting to get a sense on oppression within their curriculum while the white 5th graders only saw a linear progress of democracy and opportunity for all. Its hard to find justification certain historical events, specifically highlighting certain white men and take all the credit for their "heroic" changes. While on the other hand, black people only get highlighted occasionally due to some sort of oppression such as slavery. With the lack of diversity in most educational studies, some students may have hard times staying focused when the subject is always "based around the white men". Just because people of different backgrounds live in America does not make it right to disregard and shun other cultures that make up our country.
Reflection
Cultural awareness and creativity is important in the classroom. Rather than a cut & dry, cog wheel type of approach to teaching students, we need connect with them as individuals and understand that we all have different backgrounds. Sleeter’s research makes a great case for why ethnic studies should be essential to education. Ethnic study programs are not just about teaching history, they also provide students with the tools to critically engage with the world, foster empathy and understanding across cultures, and take action against injustice.
Your photo brings up an interesting talking point: is diversity in America a good or a bad thing? Without going too in depth, I'll say this: I think it COULD be a good thing. However, given the circumstances and the way that humans are made, it doesn't seem to fit very well right now. From a purely crime standpoint, which is closed minded, countries that have less diversity tend to also have lower crime rates. Take Norway, Finland, Sweden, Or Denmark for example. All have similar laws to the US, but their crime rates are drastically lower. What's the reason for this? Their population is mainly White people. Now I'm not saying that that's a good thing, but it does seem to be working for them quite well. Again, this isn't me saying that White people don't commit crimes or make places better than another race, all I'm saying is that their tends to be a pattern in countries when one looks at the numbers behind the people living there.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that school destroys kids imagination, I talked about this in my blog too. We, as a society, are failing our kids. We are destroying their imaginations, and not teaching them to the best of their abilities. We need more teachers to use different ways of teaching too unsure everyone is learning!
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