Bottom Line

Throughout 1980 – 2000, schools in America were becoming more well developed. In some cities, many schools were controlled by business leaders in which they use it as a way to advertise their products, while some of them invest things like computers and other class materials.
While reading the passage I’ve agreed with two things. The first one was: “Parents have far more choices among schools than they did a quarter-century ago” p.180. I agree with it because if look back a quarter-century ago, school’s education systems didn’t have that much growth. Especially to the eyes of many African American parents and students, which didn’t have that many choices in choosing a school that would best fit them. But now, if looking past that time, they can choose any top school that will benefit them in the future.

I also agree with the “Nation at risk” act which wanted school’s year to be longer, more test, increased high school graduation requirements and also asked American students to rank first on international tests in Math and science” P.177. I agreed because if look back a couple of years ago the education system wasn’t challenging enough, in other words not well structured to help America’s future. That’s the main reason why they passed this act, to help America regain control of their economy which was hurt by student’s who didn’t get a good education. This the main reason why I choose this activity because it will help the country grow and it's economy.

I also disagree with the act because I believe that if the students are required to be ranked first, in math and science. It could mean that many students won’t be able to enjoy their education, because not everyone can perform best when there’s pressure. This can lead to a nation being at risk.
Another disagreement I have is the” voucher program” P.192. I disagreed with it because it will jeopardize the schools, it comes to the point where another loss is another school gains. And also if most students from that school use the vouchers to go to private school, it can lead to the school shutting down and a lot of unemployed teachers.
Two parts of the text I wanted to act upon is when Annette Polly Williams said “I’m not in this battle on education to save any institution but I am here to save the lives of children by any means necessary” P.193.  While her goal is to save children live is a good thing, but I think her choosing that kind of way will eventually hurt the lives of those children. Because what if those children parents work for an institution and they lost their job due to the voucher, it will be hard for them to support their kids. Another part from the text I wanted to act upon is “Many schools in Baltimore were overcrowded and underfunded” P.200. One I believe the school in Baltimore could have prevented this is by only allowing certain amounts of students, which could force the city or the government to build a new school. We can see that even though school systems were evolving but they were facing some major setbacks.

Blog 4

Throughout the 1950s till the 1980s inequality plays a major role in American society. Till today I still think inequality seems to play a role in this modern world. As I was reading a passage from the book one part that caught my attention is that, many people from various communities had to risk their lives and future for equal educational opportunities. Their lives weren’t the same no more as they were facing many death threats, violence, etc…

The question I asked myself was, why were the white people afraid of equality? What’s the reason? If you look on page 134 in the book, where an elementary school named Topeka in Kansas had eighteen public schools for white children and four for African Americans. Then I asked myself, what were the four schools like, how was the atmosphere and what kind of teachers did those children had?
I think those schools had less qualified teachers and books that won’t teach them anything serious or things that could benefit them in the future. The school also had separate proms, sports teams, cheerleading squad and student government. The book informs us of the inequality that was happening in Topeka, but they failed to provide us with more details about the school. For example, what were differences between the sports teams, like equipment quality and locker room and also what were the proms like the budget, etc. from my perspective inequality wasn’t only about quantity but quality.

I remember when I use to work for ups on my senior year of high school, where I use to get paid $10.50 per hour. But with that hourly wage, I used to do a lot of hard work, more than I should. I use to do work like loading, unloading, Air sort, etc. But then I find out that the people that were before me are getting paid more and doing less work, while they had me slaving myself. When I look back at it now, I see that they were using me because I was new, that’s the same thing many businesses use to do to new incoming immigrants, they had them doing the back-breaking work for low wages and it still going on today as many of them hires undocumented immigrant for very low wages.

Similarly, to the “Black student movement in the Boston public schools” where black students couldn’t do anything that portrays their African culture, such as their hairstyle, clothing, etc. basically, it seems to me like the school was trying to turn those students white. The dress code at English High seems to only favour the white students because they were able to do anything the blacks couldn’t, not only that I remember at the beginning of the article where a black student raises his hand to ask the teacher a question, but the teacher ignored him. To me, this shows that the African American students were locked in a cage, because they couldn’t learn from the teacher, nor have the ability to explore to have a clearer vision. As I said above the quantity of school didn’t matter but the quality of education did.

Blog Three

"Children learning by doing, exercising their bodies as well as their minds, and venturing out of the classroom to explore the world of work and the wonders of nature." (77)

 In my opinion, I believe that the term "learning by doing" to be an effective way to learn faster. Because you get to engage in the activity that's presented. I believe that everything we do in this world or in life, in general, is from experience, whether it's a job, riding a bike, a new language, etc…

 For example, let's say that I wanted to learn how to build my own computer, I can easily go on YouTube and watched all the videos there is and still won't know how to build one, I will be able to learn some components but not enough to help build the computer. The reason is that I'm only watching without having the physical components in front of me if I had done that I would have been able to learn more and recall most of the stuff.

 I also believe that learning is an experiment, you will never learn until you try, for example building an aeroplane, science project, Rocket launcher etc. When I think of the term "learning", I think about how did mankind were able to build an aeroplane and make it fly or how were the Russians were able to launch the sputnik. All these things require a lot of experiments and learning from failures.

John Dewey was against of how students were being educated and schools in general. The reason might be because students were being taught things that would barely benefit them in the future. If you look back at the early 1900s where kids would have to go to school and work to help support their family.  At school students were in cold classroom with a bad atmosphere. This makes learning very challenging because the children are uncomfortable, and they have to sit in a cold classroom for long hours. The students were definitely wasn't able to focus in class because their brain is focusing on finding warmth. That's why the majority of student's during that time period would rather work than going to school. Because school doesn't benefit them in terms of getting a better job, even though their workplace might have the same atmosphere as their school, but it benefited them in helping out their families. I know you guys might think how does "learning by doing" falls in that category, well because if all the students were being thought that way they wouldn't choose to work instead of going to school because the school would have been fun and benefited them more. Because students will get to interact with their environment to adapt and learn.

Education

Education: SWEDEN VS U.S.A

“Thomas Jefferson said in a democracy people vote and choose their rulers and that means you have to learn to read and write, you have to learn enough of the foundation of education to be a citizen”.

    In both readings, education plays a key role, from a country like the United States and Sweden. But what set them apart is how far they have come to their development in education. In America school was very different compared to Sweden. In America an individual needed to be educated to be considered a citizen, the reason is because when it comes to choosing a leader, for example, a president or a mayor, etc.. that person would be able to understand the role that leader is intended to apply or changes they are intended to do, this would allow those individuals to have a better understanding, or in other words a stronger point of view, not only that, it will allow the country to have a better future.
America wanted to have a brighter future so they created free public schools where your education is depended on your social status. Public Schools was only benefiting the whites, while the blacks and the Native Americans were struggling to get a proper education.

      From Thomas Jefferson Perspective, education was only to be offered to white males, while only three years for female but none to the slaves. In my opinion, I think Jefferson didn’t want women to have the same amount of education as men because he doesn’t want them to feel or be more superior to men. He wants them to be at a point where they can be controlled. The slaves on the other hand which wasn't proposed to get educated because he feared of them becoming smarter, brighter, powerful and also part of society. “Knowledge is power”, so without knowledge, the slaves will be weak in the mind and always relying on their masters for guidance. But with education, the slaves could have gain confidence and breaks down barriers to opportunity. Education would have open the door for a better life, a better future.

       While America is trying to tackle all of these conflicts at once, Sweden, on the other hand, is vastly creating more schools. Sweden main focus was to have has many schools as possible so every citizen can be educated. This allows the country to evolve not only in education but in the country as a whole.

       Jefferson opinion about having educated individuals was a very good idea but I disagreed with his decision where he specified who get to be educated. Education in Sweden was developing more rapidly than America’s because they didn’t have to worry about a large number of immigrants coming to their country. If they had faced the same conflicts as America, the education system or structure could have been different.