Tuesday, December 06, 2005
The Last Part of the Semester
The last few weeks of class have flown by, but we really haven't covered a whole lot of territory for reasons. First, after the previously mentioned discussion about Intelligent Design, we spent another day talking about other religious issues in school – specifically, the interesting collision between private religious schools and public university admission standards. Second, the semester is coming to a rather abrupt halt. Thinking about it now, the discussion about religion seems like it took place in an entirely different time of year.
That was the Monday before Thanksgiving. Since then, we were given a day to work in small groups on mini-lessons to be delivered in class. Our group is going tomorrow, but more on that in a minute. In the meantime, here's a quick overview of the other groups and their topics.
Home schooling – An interesting phenomenon. Mostly this has an effect on public education because families who choose to home school sometimes also expect services from public schools to be available. I thought the history of home schooling was pretty interesting, since the modern home school movement (all education was pretty much home schooling in this country's early years) it apparently started as a leftist reaction to "traditional" education methods. It has since evolved into a fairly well organized movement, often associated with religious fundamentalists. Big surprise.
Zero Tolerance Policies – I'll admit that these policies originally made sense, but the presentation really made me think about how effective ZT policies really are or aren't. Long story short, I think that ZT policies can and should be used for certain offenses, but the result of those offenses should not always result in expulsion. Rather, I think schools should establish which particular offenses should be covered under ZT policies and then establish a procedure which guarantees the student has a chance to explain his or her actions. I think kids who point chicken tenders at other kids should probably not get sent home. This all hinges on the idea of local districts maintaining authority over their own ZT policies with perhaps some federal guidelines for what must be covered, like sex offenses, etc.
Moving Beyond Tolerance – This one was pretty straightforward. The group mostly outlined a few strategies for confronting racism in schools, and then had us write our thoughts on some posters.
Class Size – Just thinking about this one on my own, it makes intuitive sense that class sizes should be as small as possible, although our instructor did provide some interesting evidence to suggest that there is such a thing as a class that's too small. As with so many other issues in education, this one comes down to money – the largest chunk of school funding is teacher salaries.
Meanwhile, our group presents tomorrow on charter schools. Tonight I'm bringing all of our notes together for a handout and quiz, and also compiling everyone's citations. I'll be leading a brief discussion of the pros and cons of charter schools, and hopefully I'll have enough time to get into the propaganda on both sides in the debate. Charter schools are fine in theory and perhaps even on a grand, revolutionary scale that would scare some charter school proponents to death. But curriculum control is a big issue, especially when there are so many forces aligned against multicultural issues in education. I think charter schools may be the next battlefront in the culture wars. In the meantime, I have a ton of work yet to do tonight in this class alone – don't get me started on the amount of work for my other classes. ¶ 7:35 PM
That was the Monday before Thanksgiving. Since then, we were given a day to work in small groups on mini-lessons to be delivered in class. Our group is going tomorrow, but more on that in a minute. In the meantime, here's a quick overview of the other groups and their topics.
Home schooling – An interesting phenomenon. Mostly this has an effect on public education because families who choose to home school sometimes also expect services from public schools to be available. I thought the history of home schooling was pretty interesting, since the modern home school movement (all education was pretty much home schooling in this country's early years) it apparently started as a leftist reaction to "traditional" education methods. It has since evolved into a fairly well organized movement, often associated with religious fundamentalists. Big surprise.
Zero Tolerance Policies – I'll admit that these policies originally made sense, but the presentation really made me think about how effective ZT policies really are or aren't. Long story short, I think that ZT policies can and should be used for certain offenses, but the result of those offenses should not always result in expulsion. Rather, I think schools should establish which particular offenses should be covered under ZT policies and then establish a procedure which guarantees the student has a chance to explain his or her actions. I think kids who point chicken tenders at other kids should probably not get sent home. This all hinges on the idea of local districts maintaining authority over their own ZT policies with perhaps some federal guidelines for what must be covered, like sex offenses, etc.
Moving Beyond Tolerance – This one was pretty straightforward. The group mostly outlined a few strategies for confronting racism in schools, and then had us write our thoughts on some posters.
Class Size – Just thinking about this one on my own, it makes intuitive sense that class sizes should be as small as possible, although our instructor did provide some interesting evidence to suggest that there is such a thing as a class that's too small. As with so many other issues in education, this one comes down to money – the largest chunk of school funding is teacher salaries.
Meanwhile, our group presents tomorrow on charter schools. Tonight I'm bringing all of our notes together for a handout and quiz, and also compiling everyone's citations. I'll be leading a brief discussion of the pros and cons of charter schools, and hopefully I'll have enough time to get into the propaganda on both sides in the debate. Charter schools are fine in theory and perhaps even on a grand, revolutionary scale that would scare some charter school proponents to death. But curriculum control is a big issue, especially when there are so many forces aligned against multicultural issues in education. I think charter schools may be the next battlefront in the culture wars. In the meantime, I have a ton of work yet to do tonight in this class alone – don't get me started on the amount of work for my other classes. ¶ 7:35 PM
