In a broad sense, the field of social foundations of education entails beliefs and values in school and society, the political economy in schools and society, and the culture of the school. There are a magnitude of social forces that affect educational policies on a daily basis such as; government, religion, family and the economy. Each of these social structures influences one another which results in many conflicts in regards to a “democratic education.” The social foundations of education do not meet the criteria of a democratic education because of certain laws or rules that are established. For example, the delegation of funds in schools is solely based on the property taxes of a specific community. Therefore, the schools in poor communities receive less funding than the schools in wealthy areas. When young people have no say in the regulations that they are bound by, then they cannot be said to live in a democratic environment or understand what it truly means to be “democratically educated.”
Henry Giroux, however, believes in a “transformative education.” “Transformative intellectuals are aware of their own theoretical convictions and are skilled in strategies for translating them into practice (Giroux, 1991).” In other words, Giroux believes that all teachers need to hold an “active role in shaping the curriculum” and be able to exercise their power or beliefs in teaching (Giroux, 1991). Likewise, Giroux discusses transformative education as a form of pedagogy which is always associated with power (Giroux, 1991). Giroux believes that critical pedagogy plays a role in transformative education. Giroux’s interpretation of critical pedagogy was shaped from the philosopher Paula Freire whose focus was on the student’s abili...
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...s towards developing critical thinking skills and the tools to strive for justice in a democracy.
As stated in this essay, critical pedagogy in urban education is a useful way to create change in our educational system. Dewy and Friere may have had different thoughts on education as a democracy verses liberated, but both believed in the role of the teacher and an open society. In conclusion, in order to create a democratic education where power is shared freely and equally, one must examine the social forces that are impacting urban schools and strive to create solutions to these issues.
Works Cited
Dewey, John. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed. School Journals,54. 77-80
Freire, Paulo. (2000). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York. Continuum
Giroux, Henry. (1991). The Hope of Radical Education. Cultural Workers and the Politics of Education. New York. Routledge.
Labaree discusses how the United State’s education is in a school syndrome, as people in America want schools to teach society’s ideals as well as let people express their individuality. These two demands are polar opposites that cannot be achieved. As the focus goes towards balancing these in hopes of improving society as a whole, the bettering of actual student learning is put on pause. Labaree talks about the beginning of education reform, in the 19th century, being the most successful in developing society; however, as education reform continued throughout time, its effectiveness wore off. He then addresses how the desire for education reform is more about improving society than it is about learning. He finishes his argument by providing possible solutions to fixing this problem, but states that fixing this problem will never happen because no one is willing to give up both demands. Overall, Labaree goes in wonderful detail explaining the problems of education reform. What made me choose this article was that he addressed the desire that people have on school systems in promoting both society normality and individuality. This correlates well with my topic in whether public school systems promote conformist ideals or individuality.
The assumptions that everyone can learn, and that schools have the potential to transform a country with a tradition of hatred and an unequal distribution of wealth, extend from the vision of education as a democratic practice where there is "a struggle for both change and the freedom to change" (Irwin, p. 51, 1991). The change is about transforming an exclusive, often oppressive and disempowering system into a more inclusive, equal, and equitable one that is accessible to children from ...
In Imagining the Urban: Politics of Race, Class and Schooling the urban jungle is described as, “Black, Brown and Yellow bodies, which are poor and dirty, criminals and dangerous, violence and drugs tied with the images of majority of urban people.” Leonardo (2007) This perception of urban fails to look outside of one’s own stereotypes and attributes some character perceptions to describe a group as a whole. The media also plays a big role in our depiction of the urban, men and women who live in urban walls are seen as villains. An example of this is in the 2015 movie Fast and Furious described by IMDb as a “Crime film/Thriller.” Here we see an increasing majority of the character’s to be men of color and the themes of the movie were fast cars, vulgar language, violence and gang affiliations. The media constantly shows in the news that the response to manage the villain living in the urban is jail or death. The end result for most teachers who see urban in this way believe teaching students in these various demographics as a “waste and hopeless.” This perception held by policy makers and teachers has attributed to what Brenzel and Kantor (1945-1990) have described as a “crisis” that needs to be fixed, “urban schools receive insufficient funding, and have out dated facilities leaving them far below the achievement gap and increasing their dropout rates.” That was the case in the 90’s and is still the case today 25 years later. So in conclusion our perception as educators has a true impact on all students, the way we see them early on and relate to their urban can save them from prison and/ or death. It is challenging to be fully invested and truly help children if you do not trust them, as future and existing teachers we owe it to our students to think beyond the media, and our own
Urban schools in New York City have been criticized for many failures in the last past years. Failures such as low achievement, disconnection between students and teachers, poor teaching methods, inappropriate conduct, lack of security, and lack of motivation from students as well as from teachers. To improve these issues, few changes have been implemented such as the metal detectors. The effectiveness of these changes is been questioned. But the best way to see the effectiveness, it’s by looking at the school’s progress. Most schools are still failing, which clearly means that the new methods are not working out. These unsuccessful adjustments lead to a possibility for a reform in the school system. The reform would have to consider changes not only from the system itself, but also the areas that surround the school. Therefore, it is not reasonable to expect that urban schools can be reformed without changing the political economy of urban areas. The reasons why it cannot be reformed is because the political economy determines the amount of resources available, generate a lot of violence, and creates teenagers who will be pursued to the “code of the streets”. When it comes to change, it always works better starting from the outside to the
Noguera, P. A. (2003). City Schools and the American Dream. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Retrieved June 5, 2010, Web.
Today, the way the educational system works in the U.S. concerns a large number of people in this country. "Only 25% of adults have a great deal of confidence in the people running education, according to the General Social Survey, down from 49% in 1974" (Russel 4). A lot of discussions have been held to find the best ways to improve teaching methods. At the same time, people recognize that a very valuable solution to increase the level of education in the United States is to look at some problems that cause difficulties and hamper the enhancement of the quality of education. The first step is to define these problems. As in every country, the U.S. wants to develop its national standards in education and wants them to be high. This has always been a government function. Being democratic, the government is trying to fit the qualities of democracy into the way to set these standards. Of course, this is not an easy task since this country has a very diverse population. To please everybody has always been an almost impossible task. Despite this impossibility, national standards have already been set. "If a visitor from another nation was dropped into an American public school classroom without knowing the state or the region, he or she would be likely to see the same lesson taught in the same way to children of the same age" (Ravitch 9). Everything seems right except the fact that the abilities of children are different. Not everybody is able to study at a college; not everybody wants to continue being educated. It is obvious that every country wants to produce as many educated people as possible. But, at the same time, every country needs workers because, regardless of the fast development of technology, there is still a great necessity for human labor. To satisfy all the necessities of the country, the government should provide different kinds of education. This does not mean that we need to eliminate all of the standards; they could be set in each field of education. Although standards are set, there is still a very big difference in teaching methods in different schools. Perhaps, the most serious problem starts in high schools: some schools provide a higher level of education than others. Students from most city schools graduate with the confidence in their knowledge; their level of educati...
The gap between the nation’s best and worst public schools continues to grow. Our country is based on freedom and equality for all, yet in practice and in the spectrum of education this is rarely the case. We do not even have to step further than our own city and its public school system, which many media outlets have labeled “dysfunctional” and “in shambles.” At the same time, Montgomery County, located just northwest of the District in suburban Maryland, stands as one of the top school systems in the country. Within each of these systems, there are schools that excel and there are schools that consistently measure below average. Money alone can not erase this gap. While increased spending may help, the real problem is often rooted in the complex issues of social, cultural, and economic differences. When combined with factors involving the school itself and the institution that supports it, we arrive at what has been widely known as the divide between the suburban and urban schools. Can anything actually be done to reverse this apparent trend of inequality or are the outside factors too powerful to change?
Education is an integral part of society, school helps children learn social norms as well as teach them how to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. These schools have lower test scores and high dropout rates. In Trenton Central High School West, there was an 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often from low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial reasons to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and further teacher education, urban schools can be transformed and be better equipped to prepare their students for the global stage.
Marples, R. (2010). What should go on the curriculum? In Bailey, R. (Ed.), The philosophy of education: An introduction (pp 33-47). London: Bloomsbury
In any academic, political, social, or ethical situation there is always a complex way of coming up with solutions to problems. When children are old enough to solve problems for themselves, society aids in creating and developing critical thinking capabilities; this way, every individual is able to work through and solve their own problems on their own. In Woodhouse’s words, he defines critical thinking as “purposeful, goal-directed thinking that follows a principled, reasoned track” (42). Woodhouse also explains that thinking critically means challenging your own beliefs and thinking outside of the box; to turn the spotlight not on the issues, but on yourself and your own assumptions and arguments (42). There must be a willingness, a feeling more than enjoyment or worthiness,
Darder, A., Baltodano, M., & Torres, R. (2009). Critical pedagogy: An introduction. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano & R. Torres (Eds.), The Critical Pedagogy Reader (pp. 2-23). New York: Routledge.
This book, Dare The School Build a New Social Order by George Counts, is an examination of teachers, the Progressive Education Movement, democracy and his idea on how to reform the American economy. The book is divided into 5 different sections. The first section is all about the Progressive Education Movement. Through this, George Counts points out many downsides and weaknesses of this ideal. He also talks about how he wants teachers to lead society instead of following it. In the second section, he examines 10 widespread fallacies. These fallacies were that man is born free, that children are born free, they live in a separate world of their own, education remains unchanged, education should have no bias, the object of education is to produce professors, school is an all-powerful educational agency, ignorance rather than knowledge is the way of wisdom, and education is made to prepare an individual for social change.
Freire states “Freedom is acquired by conquest, not by gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly” (Freire, 2000, p. 47). Therefore; students must be aware of their oppression and fight for their freedom and autonomy in the school system. Freire also suggests a method of education that will help solve this issue: problem-posing education. The dynamic concept of problem-posing education integrates both teachers and students role’s to create a unified teaching process in which the teacher teaches the student, and the student teaches the teacher. This process “reinvents” knowledge, and teaches the student critical thinking. Instead of knowledge being deposited to students, problem-posing education presents information to students but allows them to draw their own conclusions and form their own, unique
Social institutions are an important element in the structure of human societies. They provide a structure for behavior in a particular part of social life. The five major social institutions in large societies are family, education, religion, politics, and economics. While each institution does deal with a different aspect of life, they are interrelated and intersect often in the course of daily life. For example, for schools to be able to exist they rely on funding from the government. This is an intersection between politics and education. Social institutions affect individual lives through other aspects of society such as culture, socialization, social stratification, and deviance. This paper will focus on the social institution of education, and how it affects individual lives through socialization, deviance, and social stratification.
... is a lot more that can be said about this subject matter for both the problems and the solutions. For example, the role that each state and local government has in the education system. Unfortunately, the page limit for this paper would get in the way so the end shall go like this. The education that is in place now was put together in a different time and era. The time of the assembly line education is long gone; it is now the era for pushing children into advanced thinking and critical learning that the twenty-first century calls for. But the only thing that has been done with the education system is layer upon layer being added to nonworking, broken, old rules and higher standards for that system to work towards. The education system has not yet been brought into the modern world. It is a great feat that needs to be accomplished but it is not an impossible one.