Great Educator

Dewey’s argument that social influences are the “great educator” and that schools are only a secondary agency has implications in all neighborhoods and families.  The neighborhoods and families students are raised in from birth to kindergarten will greatly influence a student’s experiences before they enter public school.  The experiences can be excellent to marginal in different neighborhoods as well as different families.  For example, a student in an affluent community might not have a cohesive family because of the values a family has.  They may be affluent, but the student is not being raised in a caring, supportive environment.  Another example, could be a child being raised in a low socioeconomic community, but the child has the caring and support for the student to be successful.   The teachers of the two students that I have used as examples can make the difference for the child and for the family. 

In each example, the teacher could intervene to offer support to the child from the affluent home, but is not being shown the care and support he/she needs to be successful academically as well as socially at school.  The teacher could also intervene when working with students in low socioeconomic communities to give families resources of local support agencies that can help the family manage through the difficult economic times.  We know from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid that if a child’s basic needs of physiological, safety, and belonging are not met, it will be hard for a student to master basic skills at school.

Dewey was right, schools are secondary while social influences are primary.  However, knowing that as an educator will help teachers to meet the needs of all students.

Hidden Curriculum and the Role of Schools in Cultural Hegemony

        One of the most intriguing questions asked in this week’s readings was, “Why do we look to schools to fix what is wrong in our Contemporary Society?  Sociologist Philip Jackson uses the term ‘Hidden Curriculum’ to describe, “what is taught in schools is more than the sum total of the curriculum.  He thinks that school should be understood as a socialization process where students pick up messages through the experiences of being in school, not just from the thing that they are explicitly taught.”   Steven Tozer states that hegemony is a term used to describe the “power relationships between two or more cultures, ideologies, socioeconomic groups, and so on.”  Hidden Curriculum can conflict with the hegemony in school settings.  An example of Hidden Curriculum and hegemony conflicting with each other can take place at a school campus’s Hidden Curriculum that differs from the hegemony of a community.  The role of schools in cultural hegemony is to be aware of the relationships in the community so that the teachers and staff have an understanding of the relationships to build trust with parents and students.  The ‘Hidden Curriculum’ should not devalue the hegemony in the community.  An administrator needs to be aware of the ‘Hidden Curriculum’ as well as the cultural hegemony of the campus and community.  The administrator can work to provide staff members the knowledge to create an environment of trust and respect within the community.

            Cultural hegemony affects what happens in classrooms because parents and community members want to make sure schools understand what they value.  Think about conflict in schools, it is usually the result of a simple misunderstanding or miscommunication.  The conflict can become very volatile if a parent believes a staff member discriminated against their child because of cultural hegemony.  It is necessary to be aware of the power relationships, strong ideologies, and socioeconomics to communicate an understanding and common goal of providing the best education for the children of a community. 

            Education can create an atmosphere of understanding cultural pluralism and assimilation and to foster understanding of diverse groups.  Administrators should, “demand a conception of cultural pluralism that respects diversity among peoples and among students’ different ways of encountering the school culture.  Such a conception may not come “naturally” to a profession that is white and socialized by the dominant culture’s value and practices.”  In contemporary society educators need to be aware of the values and practices of all cultures within a school.  The awareness provides insight to not marginalize a group based on the educator’s background. 

            “The debate about education for its own sake versus education for a particular role in society continues” in the community where I live at all levels.  This especially prevalent in the Hispanic community and received a lot of media attention when a neighboring school district did not meet the AYP requirements for No Child Left Behind.  When the news stations reported on the story of the district, it was broadcasted that the district did not meet AYP because of the dropout rate of Hispanic males.  When Texas State Accountability ratings are released to the media, there are news stories about school districts’ ratings and how the different races performed on the assessment.  I think it is helpful to disaggregate the data, but in small districts one student’s performance can impact the district’s rating that is released to the public and reported on by media.

School Reform

School reform should involve the voices of students, teachers, community members, and local school board members.  If any one voice has too much power then there is the risk of moral ramifications of one voice being overpowered by another.  If a school board has too much power then there is a risk of corruption which may impact the community, teacher, and student trust in the school board. The philosophical view of the board may result in school board members’ agendas becoming more important than what is the best for the students that are being educated.  The social ramifications of having a school board that exerts too much power is that the relationship of the school board with the community members could deteriorate to the point of causing conflict in the community as well as the school district.  This is especially prevalent in smaller school districts where the school is the center of the community.  The opposite can happen if a community exerts more power than the school board.  The community’s overpowering voice can cause problems in the school district with administrators, teachers and students.  There needs to be a balance of the voices that are involved in school reform. 

State or Federal Powers are often too far removed from the specific needs of the community to make decisions that are in the best interests of all the students in a state or in the United States.  An example is how the state of Texas changed the assessment to STAAR.  I do not believe this was in the best interest of all students and all districts.  I feel like the state decided to reform accountability because the legislators felt that the assessments needed more rigor based on information from some constituents.  Instead of doing statewide accountability reform, the legislators could have researched to find districts that exhibited "best practices" and then made minor changes based on the research.  

Another example is No Child Left Behind because most states already had accountability testing in place.  Some of the state accountability conflicted with the federal requirements of No Child Left Behind.  How much money has been wasted on assessment development that could have been used to improve education for students?

At the David’s School, the students are more involved in their education by discussing their goals and aspirations with teachers as well as the principal.  This is done by having individual meetings with students and having an IEP for each student.  The principal made home visits to visit families to keep the lines of communication open between school and home.  The students and families were not intimidated by the education system, they were equal partners. 

Gender Equity

As a former 1^st and 2^nd grade teacher, I do not feel that the problem of gender bias has been overblown because even young students in my classroom would have specific biases about the role of women and men in the home.  I observe the opportunities for math and science in our school district, and I see more male representation than female representation in our Investigative Math classes as well as science teams.  Is this because boys are receiving more encouragement that girls to participate in the math and science teams?  In my district, I believe my role as the curriculum director is to make sure there are equitable choices for boys and girls in all curriculum areas.  Professional development and resources need to be available for teachers to  attend as well as have resources to help teach gender equality. 

This becomes harder as students grow up.  It is much easier to establish gender equality in the younger grades, but many times student’s views can be shaped by their home life.  Teachers in the younger grades should encourage and find reading materials that appeal to the interests of boys because girls tend to do better in reading at the younger ages.   Teachers can do this by locating high interest reading materials for boys.  As students mature, girls and boys can be pressured by peers to conform to roles that they see in their family or that they see portrayed in the media.  Educators need to have knowledge about gender equality and have tools to help promote it in the classroom.   

     I agree with this statement from the link provided with these week’s lesson.  “The myth that the schools shortchange girls is dangerously wrong because it has diverted policy attention from the group at genuine educational risk---African-American boys. This is the group that scores lowest on virtually every educational measure. This is the group where an enormous gap does exist between males and females. But the African American gender gap favors females, who are pulling far ahead of males in college graduation rates and in obtaining professional degrees”  (http://www.menweb.org/kleinful.html).  Along with gender biases, educators need to make sure that their own ethnic biases do not create an inequality in their classroom environment.

Gender bias in the Country Boys was not an issue because the story is told from the point of view of Chris and Cody.  However, I believe if the documentary included struggles of girls growing up in Appalachia the focus would be on teen pregnancy and how the girls took care of their families.  The documentary would not focus on girls graduating or going to college.  Is that right or wrong?  I think too many times girls facing the same struggles as Chris and Cody are expected to take care of their family and are often depended on to provide child care for younger brothers and sisters. 

Not only are there gender biases in classrooms, but what about the gender biases that exist for female administrators in a school district?  How can an administrator find tools to help her deal with the gender biases in a district that have former coaches as administrators?  Yes, gender biases still exist in classrooms and they still exist in educational administration. 

Rita

Rita's social justice philosophy is right in line with the David's School.  Rita's experience may be better utilized at the David's School because she will not face the opposition of her peers as she would have faced at Wilson Middle School.  Rita's philosophy and Mitzi's philosophy are very much alike.   Rita's role as principal may be more rewarding at David's School becuase she will not have to work as closely with the staff to change the staff perceptions of the student population they teach.  However, if Rita were to remain at Wilson Middle School, she may find it extremely rewarding if the end result for students was positive and changed for the better.