Educational Foundations Chapter 13 Summary

Alison Kong EN 102 The education system in America is broken according to “Lives on the Boundary” by Mike Rose. In this excerpt Mike Rose gives the audience a greater understanding about the decline of the education system. Rose gives examples of how and why education should be equal for everyone. Also, that the importance of great books and a proper curriculum is very significant to our education system. Rose further explains to his audience that these “Great Books” don’t contain real experiences that students could eventually come across during their time at school.

Analysis: Throughout her article, Strauss uses statements from well-appointed people such as the National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García, Madison City Schools Superintendent Robby Parker, and Stephen Mucher. These quoted statements provide a huge boost of ethos that convinces the audience that Strauss is a credible author. This credibility is desperately need because throughout the entire article, Strauss never includes a counter claim or considers the opposing view point. By failing to even mention the opposing viewpoint, Strauss weakens her argument. Regardless of failing to include a counterclaim,

Throughout Kozol’s piece, he makes the reader think about the situation America’s school system is in through his claims, style and supporting evidence.

In Reign of Error, Diane Ravitch covers her opinions on American education in public schools. Along with this, she gives multiple solutions to the issues that started in the education system in the 1980 's by the federal government and are still having a consequence on America today. Ravitch focuses in on the ineffectiveness of educational reforms and legislation put in place for teachers and school districts. For example, she states, "When evidence is lacking, we should not move forward with a sense of urgency. The reformers are putting the nation 's children on a train that is headed for a cliff." (3-4)

The reading I chose to critically analyze was written by Diane Ravitch and is named, “Essentials of a Good Education.” In the article, education activist Diane Ravitch, expresses her opinion about how the public education and schools in the United States are failing society. She indicates that schools are wasting their money and time on preparing students to pass state test instead of teaching them valuable life skills needed to succeed. She provides interesting support for this argument and explains why schools need to stop teaching the importance of test scores and focus on a full liberal arts curriculum, where students have a better chance to obtain an education they can take into the real world. Ms. Ravitch’s argument that the

I participate in a tutoring program for elementary students in Dorchester, an underserved community in Boston. Working with the children has helped me eliminate preconceived ideas that led me to believe schools were bad because the parents did not pay enough attention to their children's educations. I now realize that the problems in education have more to do with the amount of funding that goes into certain schools. Ignorance and distance from reality caused me to believe that struggling neighborhoods inherently produce bad students. I now understand that the problems within the school do not reflect the students’ abilities.

The American education system has, since its inception, been subject to ridicule and disdain on the parts of many. Despite the fact that many scholars believe that the system has flaws, there has been no consensus as to what needs to be changed. Sam Chaltain, the previous National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy and now an active participant in educational reform debates, argues that the system should shift its focus on standardization away from students and instead to teachers and schools. Nikhil Goyal, author of Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice, holds that we should do away with standardization altogether, giving children the opportunity to accomplish what they want with their education and allow them to flourish in a less stifling environment. Peter Gow, the author of a multitude of books about potential changes in school policy, focuses on fourth grade specifically, suggesting that a year in elementary school focused solely on cultivating reading skills would greatly benefit students in the future. Although this is a radical stance, Gow’s point remains valid; teaching

Jonathan Kozol has been an advocate and activist for equal rights in education for over fifty years (Cody, 2011). In his book Savage Inequalities, Kozol presents the struggles and disparities in inner-city schools. Additionally, Dawkins’s meme concept relates to the inequalities in educational funding resources described by Jonathan Kozol in his book Savage Inequalities. The American dream is the idea that every United States citizen will have an equal opportunity at success through hard work and determination. This ideal is an example of a meme. An education is important in a person’s success. Working hard on one’s education can lead to employment opportunities that will ensure success. Kozol points out that due to unequal funding, not every student in the United States has the same opportunity to attain the American dream. Schools that are predominately white and with healthy budgets have a shot at the American dream. “The American dream is not a slogan but a day-to-day reality in schools like these (Kozol, 1991, p. 197).” A central idea of Kozol’s book is that inner-city schools do not have the same educational resources. Students are being denied the opportunity at the American dream. Kozol repeatedly points out the lack of funding leading to inequalities evident at schools such as East St. Louis. Schools that lack basic supplies such as chalk and paper (Kozol, 1991, p. 30). Inner-city school teachers receive salaries below the national average and must pay for supplies out of their own pockets. They bring in their own magazines and VCRs in order to take advantage of other teaching resources (Kozol, 1991, p. 35). Textbooks are a resource that every student should have access to. Many inner-city schools have outdated textbooks, if any at all. At Goudy in Chicago, eight grade students are using fifteen year-old textbooks (Kozol, 1991, p. 77). At the same school, there is a teacher that is a

“The average net gain of nearly one million pupils a year during the next ten years will over burden our school systems” (Woolley and Peters). They are trying to make the school system better then it is now. “At present salary levels, the classroom cannot compete”(Woolley and Peters). They are saying that they have too many kids in the class rooms. “In financial ten percent of the funds allocated to be used to help meet the unique problems of each states “areas of special educational need” (Woolley and Peters). Saying that they need to help the kids in need at

Both authors had purposes to each written material, and after reading them I can identify them. In the 3rd and 4th chapters of The American School it talked a lot about how the government and state policies should be taught in schools. The author’s ideas fit with my understanding and beliefs because I think that this is important to teach children, because they should know how the United States works. I have learned a lot about the government and how it works in school, and without learning it in school I wouldn’t know how the country works. The author of The Idea of Summerhill had a purpose for his/her chapter as well. The purpose of this reading is to introduce the new idea of a school that is more relaxed. I found this very interesting because I had never heard of this type of school before. There are some things that I agree with, however, there are some concepts that I don’t think would always be beneficial in my future classroom. My beliefs are that you should have rules in your classroom, but the children should help develop them. There should be some rules that are enforced by the teacher

Today’s educational system faces a questionable success in relation to the advancement of society. Bob Herbert, an op-ed columnist for the New York times, created the educational essay titled, “Our Schools Must Do Better” He began working there in 1993 and spent his career writing mainly about issues facing race as well as poverty in the U.S.. Two men, Arne Duncan and John Chubb wrote articles that mirror ideas discussed by Herbert. Duncan, who wrote “U.S. Education Reform: ‘This Truly Is a Moon Shoot’”, is the former United States Secretary of Education and often linked a student’s academic performance to their teachers and school. Similarly, Chubb researched education topics and eventually became the president of the National Association of Independent Schools(NAIS). His article,“Our Schools Our Future Are We Still At Risk” expresses problems that today’s educational systems present. Herbert, Duncan, and Chubb conclude that changes or reforms in educational systems as well as teacher quality must be done in order to ensure future academic success to students.

Thus far the discussions of how race, culture, and socioeconomic status plays a role in education has been a very enlightened one. Up until now I really have never thought about how many things play a part in the education a child receives and how a teacher’s career is also impacted. Like many others I assume, education is something that we all receive and never think about it in great detail. For me going to school each day was just a routine and the end goal was to graduate high school and go onto college, always thinking that it was that easy for all others. Not until now have I discovered that it is not that easy and that there are many obstacles in the way of a good education.

While it is not until his final chapter “Young People: Improving the Odds” that we read Edelman’s thoughts on American education at length, I argue that the theme of education is one that motivates Edelman’s writing.

Chapter 3 was a very long and in my opinion wordy chapter. This chapter discuses the ideological frameworks of many topics that include, political and economy of the schools. Chapters 3 describe how schools were once a place for higher education but not have turned into a business, big business at that. During this time schools weren’t diverse. The European children went to one school that separated girls from boys and the other races went to separate schools if they were able to event get a piece of education.

From this assignment on Nichols vs Lau, I learned that most of the advances we have seen in education in the past 100 years has gone through its fair share of challenges. Education has grown tremendously within the past 100 years and is still growing every day. In learning about the case, I learned how significant it truly is and how it actually affected the school district in which I grew up in. This court case gave students who didn’t speak English the opportunity to fully master the language so they could have the same educational opportunity as someone who has mastered the english language. This case led too many programs that are funded by the government to teach students the language beyond the additional school hours. In my middle and