Journal CI 8904: March 26th, 2013

Reading for this Reflection:

Blau, J. R. (2003). Race in the Schools: Perpetuating White Dominance?. Lynne Rienner Pub. Chapter 5. p. 97-132

Early and Advanced Capitalism and Schools

What happened in schools as capitalism developed from early mercantile stages to advanced industrial and post-industrial stages?

The biggest time of effect for capitalism in the school was during the post WW II dominance of US technology and the Space Race.  As more and more men returned from war and drowned the job market, and women returned to the home, there was a push in the schools for advanced science and technology, which would help keep America in control of world technology, and ultimately, world economy. The competition among businesses, new and old to produce new ideas to make live "easier" and more "advanced" pushed schools into preparing their students to be advanced thinkers, engineers, and literally, rocket scientists.

 What are the relationships between these occurrences in schools and capitalism?

However, when I say "students" above...I mean, only the male, white students.  Segregation was still in play, which meant that this space-aged, scientific and engineering curriculum was not one offered in the same way to African-American children, and in the same vein, girls were not needed to replace the fighting men in absence and were also not viewed as being in need of the same goals of overall student achievement in this brave, new curriculum world. Therefore, as the students afforded these opportunities, overall, gained those high tech and engineering positions, and in fact, did wonderfully contribute to the rise of this nation as a superpower, while at the same time,  the economic gap between the genders grew and poverty of minority races increased.

 What implications have these developments had for families, youth, and communities? 

According to the text, "Diveristy, consolidated inequality, and poverty together have powerful effects on the overall levels of community levels of adolescent deviance and on the likelihood that adolescents from different racial and ethnic backgrounds will engage in deviant practices" (121) or in other words,  drop out of school and "get into trouble" (121).

This reading talked a lot about how the dominant discourses of the status quo in education and in media, continued to perpetuate stereotypes for women and minorities and the perceptions the dominant culture had of them, which in turn also affected the perceptions they had of themselves. This would continue until the civil rights movement of the 60's, the feminist movement of the 70's and the gay rights movement of the 90's to the present.  

It is in these contexts that we need to understand the generations of messages and historical complications that weave into the present experiences of the families, youth, and communities we work with.  It is through this understanding, that we may be able to work with people as individuals instead of perceptions of people or stereotypes of groups, and therefore strive for equity in our current practices.

Journal CI 8904: March 12, 2013

For this Week's Class, I was asked to lead a discussion surrounding the issue of State Sponsorship and School.  Each class member was asked to read one item from the list provided (see below) and then I led them through a series of subquestions which led to a bigger conceptual discussion.

Our Agenda:

Class 5 Overview and Discussion

1.     Introduce Schedule for the Discussion

2.     Ask who read what text, record names.

3.     Ask each person to summarize the text they read in 1 minute.

4.     Ask them then to share any insights that they had while reading, or share what they have written in their journal

5.     Ask the questions for the week through the lens of what these texts have to offer on the subject

6.     What is missing?  Anything to add?

7.     Why should we, in the FYC track, need to know about state sponsorship and schools?

8.     Anything to add?

Session 5:

State sponsorship and schools

Assignment:

Why do states support schools?

What values and priorities, what interests are reflected in state-sponsored schools?

1.  Choose at least one reading from the following list.  Be prepared to orally report your findings and to share your insights regarding it in class.

2.  Write in your journal

Belt-Beyan, P. M. (2004). The emergence of African American literacy traditions: Family and community efforts in the nineteenth century. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Chapter 3.

Cooper, J. (1996). The child in Jewish history. Northvale, NJ: J. Aronson.  Chapter 3 & 5.

Getz, L. M. (1997). Schools of their own: The education of Hispanos in New Mexico, 1850-1940 (1st Ed.). Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press.

MacDougall, P. (2004). The Penobscot dance of resistance: Tradition in the history of a people. Durham, NH.:  University of New Hampshire Press, Pgs. 125-149.

Sarangapani, P. (2003). Constructing school knowledge: An ethnography of learning in an Indian village. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks. CA: Sage Publications.

Thogersen, S. (2002). A county of culture: Twentieth-century China seen from the village schools of Zouping, Shandong. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Chapters 3-8.

In the end, the discussion rallied around a theme of control.  The group concluded that states (or other governments) sponsor schools as a form of control over money, curriculum, the cultural status quo, and policy making.  It was a very administrative and policy-maker oriented perspective, where students are not the focus, but rather control of said students is.

I agreed with some of the things that were discussed, and bristled some at others.  Although I agree that ultimately metrics and policy determine dollars and flow in public education these days, I am also aware of movements both within and outside of the k-12 system that are trying hard to bring focus back to today's student, and how they learn, what they expect from themselves and their educational opportunities, and where their place is in the community.  This is the focus of my personal research, and so I look forward to our further discussions on the subject of public education and sponsorshop.

Journal CI 8904: March 5, 2013

Reflections on:

Smith, W. Anton. (1955). Ancient education. New York: Philosophical Library.

Chapters 2-3.

I am glad I am familiar with Ancient Civilizations, as this text was a lot like reading an ancient history textbook.  It told me a lot about what happened educationally with the Sumerians, Hyksos, Egyptians, Aryans, Indians, and others, and gave some background as to why the forms of education that arose, did so.

What I found interesting, is in almost every case, education was one of two things: functional and practical for the learning of skills, and often a privilege for a particular group and gender of the civilization. These groups were often males that were members of royalty or religious orders.

So it seems that the concept of education being for particular sub group within a society has been long in standard, and many would say, is true even today in American Education…meaning: education in the US is equally available to all, but does it equally educate all?   Does the system, methods and curriculum denote privilege to particular groups?  The answer is, “yes”.

The roots then of privilege in education are deep and longstanding.  As I reflect on this piece however,  I note the biggest difference between ancient education and American education is not a question of equity.  Ancient peoples weren’t aware or interested in that concept.  However, we as American educators are, and more importantly, interested in justice as well.  Equality is not the same as justice.