Where to begin? The story on Gatto’s site of the little girl Bianca who was put in her place by the assistant principal, but who grew up large, mean, and veangeful caught my attention and I feel compelled to respond. I’ve never actually heard a teacher or another school official tell a student to “Shut-Up” or call them an animal, but then again, I’ve lived a pretty sheltered life. It’s been 10 years since I graduated from high school and since I’ve really been in a public K-12 classroom setting so when I’m asked to select an innovator and a “maker” that I feel truly influenced public education, I am forced to think back to 10-15 years ago and use my student experience as my perception of “education as we know it today.”
So what is education as we know it today? Many of you reading my blog are already teaching in a public school system and have a much better grasp on this than me so bare with me please. Obviously there are great things and not so great things in our public schools systems. To bring me to the innovator I chose for this blog, I’d like to focus on one of the problems I can see. This is the lack of parental involvement in the later years of their children’s education. At first, parents and students, too, are so excited about entering kindergarten. I’ve heard from several teachers, “You don’t want to teach kindergarten or 1st grade. The parents won’t leave you alone.” They go on to say once kids reach 3rd grade most of the overzealous parents have fizzled out and you only have a handful that are always knocking at your door. But why should parents fizzle out like that? I can see why some teachers see parents being too involved as a distraction and they probably view parents as the boss always looking over your shoulder. But I believe schools should encourage parental involvement all the way through high school and give parents a voice in their child’s schooling. Gatto’s prologue on his site asks parents why they are compelled to surrender their children to a “government agent called a schoolteacher” when they know very little about that persons background or family. And, a light bulb went off in my head. This is so true. Parents do not get to choose their children’s teachers so why don’t they spend more time trying to at least know who is teaching their children. My choice innovator, Deborah Meier, promotes a family-oriented school system. Her commitment truly inspired me…“What I wanted was to create thoughtful citizens — people who believed they could live interesting lives and be productive and socially useful. So I tried to create a community of children and adults where the adults shared and respected the children’s lives.”
Now the difference in the innovators and the “makers” seems to be that while the innovators intended to reform education as we know it, the “makers” unintentionally impacted the education system or impacted in indirectly. My blog is getting lengthly so I will introduce the “maker” that I feel truly influenced public education, Henry Ford. Henry Ford opened many educational facilities including a trade school specializing in training for industrial careers. I personally believe we need more of this training in our public school system. Way to go Ford! Most of our high school graduates these days don’t have any specialized skills. If they are not going on to college, they are not prepared to enter the workforce.
While the PBS site was very much from a positive prospective of the school system, the Gatto site had a much more cynical view of our public schools. It claims the “makers” have created a 4th purpose of schooling which is to train in consumerism. My initial thought was, “That’s ludicrous,” but after reading on, I think he might have something here.
Other sources used:
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1621.html
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Great read!
ReplyDeleteWe picked the same innovator - I think the 5 Habits of Mind from the Meier's Mission Hill School are superb. We differ, though, on parent involvement. I know there is not enough of it in many schools, but my experience with parents at the high school level has been just the opposite -- involvement that was too great, because they would not let their children perform less than perfectly; those kids had to get into a great college or their lives would be for naught! They would not let their kids experience failure.
I don't give public schools credit for creating consumerism; I give that credit to radio and TV and their commercials, especially those aimed at children. Magazines, too. And to parents who hadn out money too easily; in the good old days, kids like me had to earn the money for a car. ;-) Branding? Gap or some other big store started it, so all the more reason for schools to fight consumerisn and provide an equalizer by having a school dress code or uniforms so that kids don't worry about that sort of thing!