Home Schooling (p. 62)

I recently read the pages in the textbook on home schooling, as I didn’t know much prior and actually haven’t thought about it too much. My friend made me start thinking about it when she brought up that she was home-schooled until Grade 9. Unlike the reasons given in the textbook for reasons of home schooling, her parents chose to do this because they were constantly moving. Her dad is a minister at a church and was always going from place to place to help those in need. She has lived in Australia, Philippines, and many other places around the world. When we were talking about being home schooled, she was very disappointed that she was home schooled, and she made that the reasoning why she felt she was so behind when she went to a high school in grade 10. Each to their own though because everyone’s experience as a home-schooled student, as well as in traditional school system, is going to vary a lot.

At the same time my one friend regretted having been home schooled, another friend brought up that she really enjoyed being home schooled. She has gone on in education and actually became a T.A. at a school. It is interesting to see the differing results that home schooling can give. This is what helped me become interested in the aspects of home schooling and allowed me to ask questions about it.

According to the text, it says that there are about 10 000 children who are being home schooled in Canada alone, but also that there may be 30 000 others who are unofficially being schooled at home. How are parents able to do this? And, does their education become recognized if it isn’t official? Unlike my first friend whose family was on the move, so she needed to be home schooled, there are other numerous reasons why parents choose to teach their kids at home. These ranged from reasons such as dissatisfaction with schools, they wanted their children to be able to communicate and not just the teacher and they wanted their curiosity and creativity to grow, both things they felt were not accomplished in traditional schools.

There are two main reasons why skeptics would not agree with home schooling which include the belief that a students social skills would not develop and they would not be able to compete with students who are in “regular” schools. Advocates would disagree and say that they become independent thinkers, and that their grades are equal to or greater than those in traditional schools.

I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with home schooling, but as it does take a lot of dedication and hard work, it is important to put the right amount of effort into it. It also makes me question the amount of time we spend in school. How are we in school for 5 years to become teachers, but still perceived as unqualified. It can be a very controversial issue though.

My Posts...

I was just notified that some of my blogs are difficult to read because of the colours. Sorry to anyone who had to strain their eyes because of my lack of judgement. I didn't even realize that it was a challenge to read some of them. For the most part, in the later part of my blogs, I changed the colours to darker ones so that they are easier to read. Hope it is better! I wish I would have realized earlier. Sorry once again, and let me know if there is anything that is hard to read that I haven't changed. Thanks!

New High-School Math Curriculum

I recently read a new article titled “New high-school math curriculum starting next fall in Alberta: Students get extra year to decide on career prospects.” It a fairly new article that was put in the Calgary Herald on November 30, 2009. At first glance of the title, I knew it would be interesting to see what this new curriculum would be and whether or not it would benefit future students or not. My first thought was that it would be a good thing because how many people honestly know what they want to do by grade 9.

This new curriculum is scheduled to start changing by next fall. Over the next three years, the curriculum will change to help students be better prepared for their careers. Students who are planning to go to college or university will take a class in Grade 10 called Mathematics 10C, and then in Grade 11 and 12, they will take math courses that are more designed towards the post-secondary program that they want to enter into. Again, how many not only don’t know if they want to continue with school, and even more, how many know exactly what program they want to enter? Then the article became clearer and addressed this question. There are two streams: 20-1, 30-1 and 31 will be taken by people who want to pursue careers in math subjects. And then 20-2 and 30-2 will be taken by students who will not need “higher-level math training” in university/college. So, as long as they know that math isn’t their main interest, which they probably will, they will be able to make their decision. I really like the idea of this because how many times have you heard in your own classes as a student or as a teacher, “when will we ever use this?”, or “what is the point of this?” where the teacher tries to desperately come up with an answer. Maybe this more directed approach will help students understand the relevance of what they are learning.

There is also another stream for “teens considering entering the trades.” They will learn specific skills that are required on the job. I find it really interesting that high schools are working with apprenticeship people in order to assist these students. This curriculum is trying to meet the need of students, which is awesome!

The article states “students who aren’t clear on what they wish to pursue after high school, or who change their career goals before graduation, will have the chance to switch streams to ensure they have the math needed to continue their studies.” What about after grad? What does the student have to do then? What are their options? This would be interesting to know.

At the end of the article, it says that the U of C and University of Alberta have been consulted about these changes. What about t U of L or other Universities or colleges that would be affected by it? What are their views?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Abductions...

An issue that I have wanted to discuss since the beginning of writing my blogs is the issue of abductions that take place within the school environment. I haven’t written about it yet because I find I get so upset and angry when I talk about it! It is important to look at it in all situations, but when a student is taken from a school (a place that is designed to be safe), this is something that we as teachers need to look at. Why do things like this happen, and if anything, what can we do to prevent situations like this from happening? We have so many codes in schools that range from fire drills to bombing situations, etc, but do we have anything that can lesser the chances of this happening.

More specifically, I am thinking of a recent abduction that took place in Woodstock, Ontario last school year. For me, I was so entrenched in listening to the news, and reading everything about this little girl (Victoria Stafford) that I drove myself crazy. It completely broke my heart and I find that I am so naïve that things like this actually happen, that people would harm someone who is so incapable of protecting themselves, and that someone could take away the most important thing in a family’s life.

If you do not already know what I’m talking about, let me explain. Victoria Stafford was taken on April 8, 2009 while she was walking home from school. Initially, there was not an amber alert because the police did not think that it was an abduction, but that is a completely other topic. The only evidence that was found was a video of a woman walking Victoria away from the school. Days and days, there were search parties looking for her, then this turned into weeks, and then into a month. Her parents were outside of their houses on a daily basis with the news trying to get the word out that she was missing. It was not until late May that two people were arrested for the murder of Victoria Stafford.

There are so many questions that run through my mind when I think of this poor little girl. How didn’t anyone notice at the school? It also should make us think as teachers that we need to know where our students are, how they are getting home, who they are going home with, etc. My PS1 teacher had a list by the door. She had each child’s name on the list and wrote down each day, how they were going to get home, whether this be walking, taking the bus, or someone coming to get them, and who they were going to be with. These types of precautions are very important, as this can mean saving someone’s life. It’s really sad that we need to do this, that kids are not safe unless we take precautions like this.

Can anyone think of anything that we as teachers, or a school community can do to enhance awareness as well as safety in our schools?

These are just a few websites with an article and videos if you wanted to learn more about the case of Victoria Stafford:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/07/21/stafford-murder021.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxaKx6rlifI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdtt74frwnk

Presentation on the Coorelation between High Post-Secondary Grades and Successful Teachers

On Thursday, the classed watched another presentation. The presenter was Heather Toth. She presented the research that she found while writing her essay. Her topic was asking the question of whether or not high post-secondary grades are a correlation between successful teachers. This is a topic that our classed has covered before because high grades do not necessarily mean that you will be a successful teacher, and it actually can mean the opposite sometimes. If this is the case, then why do universities praise these marks and allow only those with higher marks access to education programs?

Heather went over two studies that she looked at for her research. First, she looked at a study that questioned the practical value of what first year teachers have been taught in college. In other words, do the skills learned in University/College help fully prepare teachers? They found that there were 5 major deficiencies that teachers felt they were not prepared for when they went out into the field. These consisted of:
1. Classroom Management
2. Understanding Changing Families
3. Working with Parents
4. Establishing Rapport with pupils
5. Working in an Organization

For me, I think #2 and #3 are my weakest areas. These are things that we have not really discussed in class, but at the same time, a lot it is a learning experience. I just have not personally dealt with them. My biggest fear as a teacher is working with parents, but at the same time, as we haven’t discussed it much in classes. There could be brainstorming ideas for these deficiencies to help give 1st year teachers ideas to helping students who are going through changes as well as working with parents. Other deficiencies that were not mentioned in the study that the class felt was lacking in the program was using the chalkboard/blackboard and technology. I think especially with technology because it is constantly changing and there is so much to know that this is an important area.

A difficult aspect of this study is that the word “success” is such an vague word, that there is not one clear definition. Some people view success as merely making it through their teaching career, whereas others focus more on what their students get out of their teaching. How can we clearly answer this question without a model of what success actually is?

Overall, Heather’s presentation was really interesting. I think it is very interesting the way the system works to become a teacher. I also think that a lot of what we learn in University needs to be looked over to help us become better teachers, but once again, at the same time, the more hands-on-learning we receive (such as our professional semesters), will help us that much more.

Age 28: Up Series ((John, Andrew and Charles), Tony, and Simon)

We also watched another group of students at the age of 28 on Tuesday. Once again, they showed how the children had evolved into young adults, some with very interesting results. We watched the group of boys (John, Andrew and Charles), Tony and Simon.

First were the group of boys named John, Andrew and Charles. These three were part of the upper class. When they were 7, they made fun of poor people, as they saw them as dirty. Charles knew that he wanted to go to a series of prep schools and then to Trinity Hall and John had a very similar answer. When Andrew was asked, he was able to remember a few schools, but was unable to remember them all. Charles didn’t end up going to Oxford, but was still happy with where he was in life. He broke away from his class. Two of the three refused to do the Up 28 documentary. Andrew decided that he did not what to be a part of it because he created documentaries and he felt that they did not represent people properly. This also says something about the effects of documentaries on people and their representation. He feels guilty that he had advantages in life.

Second was Tony. He was from the inner city and the lower working class. When he was younger, he said that he wanted to be a jockey. He left school at the age of 15 and tried to become a jockey. He had three races, and wasn’t placed, so he decided to give up. Instead, he became a taxi driver. He claims that he felt he was better than anyone on film. His ambitions are completed and he is happy with the way his life turned out.

Last is Simon. He was an orphanage who attended a Charity Boarding School. He thinks that all that rich people do is get those who don’t have money to do things for them. He said that he would just “walk around” when he grew up. He ended up having 5 kids. He claims that he encourages and praises education in his children’s lives.

Compared to the last set of kids that we watched, these kids were less predictable. It wasn’t as obvious what they were doing. It was still very interesting to watch the way that their lives panned out and how there life as a child affected their life as an adult.

Age 28: Up Series (Paul, Suzy and Nicholas)

We had our first day of watching age 28 of the UP series. We watched Paul, Suzy and Nicholas. Even though this section focused on age 28, it showed clips of them when they were 14 and 21. It was very interesting to see how much of there age at 7 determined what they would be when they were older.

First we watched Paul. When Paul was young, he went to a Charity Boarding School and his parents were missionaries. When asked about higher education, he claimed that he didn’t know what University was. He also realized his expectations of his class, as he said he wanted to be a police officer, but knew that it would be too hard. Paul got married and became a brick layer. He stated that he was in the working-class suburbs, but he owns a house and two cars. He said that his only regrets of education were that he was lazy. He thinks that if people have money, they should go to private school. When he was 8, he moved from England to Australia. He was able to become successful because he went towards the contest system. The 7-year old Paul is reflected when he is older, as he was building a house at the park. This is what he decided to do when he was at the park and now he is a brick layer. His aspirations for his kids are for them to go further than him, which is a thought generated from the contest system.

Next was Suzy. Suzy attended a Private Girls Boarding School and was part of the upper class. In the movie, at 7, she stated that she didn’t know anyone of colour, and didn’t want to. When she speaks of her University plans, she doesn’t seem interested in school, as she says her mom has it all planned for her and she can’t remember. She got married at the age of 22. She left school at age 16 and went to Paris and later on got a secretarial job. She claims that she did not like school. She doesn’t want her kids to go into the private sector right away. At 21, she was very rebellious. In terms of comparing Suzy to herself at 7, it is easy to see that she is not interested in school and that she does not want to seek higher education.

The last was Nicholas. He went to a rural one room school. At 7, he said he wanted to learn about the moon. He ended up studying Physics at Oxford. At 28, he was currently a professor in the U.S. as a nuclear Physicist. He got married to a fellow student. As he grew up in England, he was part of the sponsorship system. As he was a gifted child, he was able to become part of the elite, but then he cheats the system and moves to the U.S. His comparison to when he was 7 is that he wanted to learn about that moon and that is exactly what he did.

All three of these students were able to accomplish what they wanted by the time they were 7. It is neat to see how they evolved into what was predicted in the film. One question that I have is: do the researcher effects have any influence on this? It is interesting as well as sad that, so far, with these three students, there life was determined by the time they were 7.

Part 1 of documentary

Last week we began the discussion of the comparison between the US model and UK model of schools. The US model consisted mostly of the contest system where individuals have to work for where they are. The UK model is based more on sponsorship, where your class is what is important. If you do not have money, you will not go to a private school, which in turn will give you fewer opportunities. You were also able to move up a class if you showed your skills in school, but you were then required to resituate yourself away from your original class and become upper class.

The video that we looked at was the first part of the UP series that is trying to determine how much of our future is determined by the time we are seven. Is it possible to know what we will be by the time we hit that age? I was one of the few students in the class who put up their hand when asked if they knew that they wanted to be a teacher by grade 2. It was actually at seven that I realized that this is what I wanted to do and it was confirmed later on in my school years. By me saying this though, I do not necessarily think that our future is determined, but that there may be clear ideas of what you might be. However, people are sometimes able to break away from this. It is actually sad to think that your life is determined by the age of seven, as some of the less wealthy individuals assumed that certain jobs would be too difficult for them, so they immediately disregarded any chances of trying to achieve their goals.

The video is very neat as it documents 13 different students from a variety of classes at the age of seven in Britain. They ask them many questions regarding education and other topics, and from this, they are trying to determine what they will be. I especially enjoy it because the documentary does not stop there. They also follow them at the ages of 14, 21, 28, etc and they are currently making age 56 (I think). This allows educators to see particular results not only if this theory is correct, but also to show the results of the US and UK models.

Anti-Racist Education

I haven’t blogged for a little while now because of this stressful time for school. I always find that within the last 3 weeks of school, I have a breakdown and think that I can’t finish the semester. It happens every semester. My boyfriend finally told me that I do this every semester and I always get everything done. This feeling of stress is definitely something that we as teachers need to remember when we go out into the work world. We need to remember that our students will have other things going on in their lives and hopefully that will make us better teachers. This was really just a side note because I haven’t been able to write for a while.

I wanted to discuss the presentation on Anti-Racist Education. I like the idea that we try to incorporate other cultures into our lessons and schools in order to embrace others that the students might not know much about. I enjoyed the tests that we had to complete. I found it really interesting that when doing the first test, most of us did not experience any issues. It was the second test that was taken from other places/cultures where most of us were confused. It allowed the class to realize that the context of our lessons needs to be respectful of students who are not from the same culture as the majority of the class.

There are two major obstacles with anti-racist education that the presenters mentioned. Firstly, the teachers have to manipulate the curriculum in order to include anti-racist ideas. It is not a central part of the regular curriculum, but more integrated. Secondly, teachers do not see the value of anti-racist education. This is definitely unfortunate because if teachers do not see the value, how can we pass on the importance of anti-racist education.

I thought the presentation was good and the presenters were able to encourage the class to promote anti-racist education. Good job!

An Interesting Forward

I always seem to get forwards and although I read them, I find very few of them interesting enough to share. I received a forward the other day that I felt needed to be shown, as it pertains to what we were discussing the other day in class. It once again talks about excluding material from the curriculum that can be valuable to our students. Don’t mind any errors. I didn’t personally type this out.

General Eisenhower Warned Us

It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead. He did this because he said in words to this effect: 'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses -because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened' This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it. It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beat, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way! Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets. This e-mail is intended to reach 400 million people! Be a link in the memorial chain and help distribute this around the world. How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center .. 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends some Muslim in the U.S. ???

I think these types of thing should not be excluded from the curriculum, as it is an important point in history. How can we pretend that it never happened? What are we trying to prove by ‘protecting’ people from the truth? I really enjoy the last line that we need to remember events such as 9/11, as this is something that happened in our lifetime. How can we dispose of the truth when so many people were affected by these events? I think this is something we need to think about.

Reponse to Sheri's Blog

I just read a blog by Sheri that make me think of so many things, so instead of commenting on her blog, I decided to write my own. I just have so much to say, so it might make more sense to take a look at her blog on drinking and driving before reading this.

Wow! All of this talk about pretending that students have died is crazy! How did they even think that these students would react to the news, as well as finding out that it was not true? I agree that this is something that would make a lot of students lose trust and a sense of security in the school environment, which is very sad and unfortunate. I think the topic of drinking and driving is a very difficult one to pursue because a lot of students will not take the information seriously, but how far do we need to go to get the message across?

At my high school, we had mock accidents every year. There would be body sketches on the ground with tape and there would be students from each class who were ‘dead’. These individuals had to wear all white and were not allowed to talk for the entire day. They would also set up an “accident” outside at lunch time (what a weird time to do that…) and there would be a wrecked car, blood everywhere, a hearse, and body bags. There were also people who were bloody and “dead”. These accidents looked very real. At the same time though, everyone knew they were fake and it was specifically designed this way. Think of how tragic that would be to not know that it was fake. For me, these types of S.A.D.D events were very interesting. I just wish everyone would take them as seriously. It is sad because, although it probably deterred a few people away from these actions, but there were still many people in my grad class who chose to make this mistake, and unfortunately with some sad results.

Another interesting thing that we had as a S.A.D.D event was a presentation titled “danae’s song”. If anyone had the chance to see this, it was amazing. It consisted of a mother who gave the life story of her daughter, who at the age of 16 was killed in a drunk driving accident. She was in the car with her boyfriend who was intoxicated at the time. Her mother went school to school talking about her daughter’s life, the accident, and the after math. Her mom was joined by the paramedic who was at the scene of the accident. This was a different method to show teenagers the effects of drinking and driving. Her mom also made a website: http://www.danaessong.com/. It is definitely worth checking out. The program also shows videos of her life, and pictures of the car accident, and even explicit photos that show the true results of drinking and driving. Her death was in October of 2000 and her mom is still going school to school to express her feelings on her own worst nightmare.

There are many ways that we can chose to show the results of drinking and driving, but who is to say what will actually work? Everyone will take something different from each presentation. I guess it is just really important to try and affect as many people as possible. Maybe we could think of ways that we could deter students from making these types of choices without us losing their trust.

History of Education..from whose point of view?

To catch up with my readings, I read pages 8-21 in Barakett’s textbook Sociology of Education: An Introductory View from Canada. It was interesting because it started off by discussing the different views of Canada’s history. There are many different stories, but the only ones that are accentuated are the stories of the people who are in power. This is something that seems consistent when looking back at history.

Firstly, most accounts of Canadian history are the stories of the French and the English, and they leave a very important group out. The aboriginal peoples “discovered” Canada years before the French and English even got here, but that always tends to be left out of the story. Depending on whose story is being told, the idea of history is always open for debate. “Schooling has been and remains a system for inculcating the ideology and values of those in power into ‘the people,’ those with little or now power.”

Canada’s education was mainly influenced by John Strachan from Scotland and Egerton Ryerson from the U.S. Strachan established the “common” school. This type of school emphasized ideas from our discussion of hidden curriculum. They taught them to behave by teaching them things such as arriving to class on time, dressing, and daily routines.

The experience of Canada’s first Nations-Peoples is a very different account than what is usually told. The French and English had racist attitudes and tried to assimilate the Natives into their culture. They made the children go to residential schools, which rid the children of their culture, beliefs, language, etc. The attempt to do this eventually failed. “The effects of this history are still seen today in many aboriginal communities, with high rates of alcoholism, suicide, and school dropout,” although their have been major improvements recently. The chapter also discusses how Native teachers are more likely to interact better with Native students compared to Non-Native teachers. It is important to have Native teachers at every school and to use particular curriculum towards these students. In my PS1, I had a good experience with this. There was a Native teacher at the school I was at, and there was also an FNMI room designated for her classes. I am sure her interactions with the students, especially the aboriginals, had good influences on them.

I thought this was a very good quote that I found in the chapter, as it represents our need to work together in order to meet the needs of our students: “Our world is changing. Let us put our minds together. Take the best of both worlds and make a better life for our children.”

I decided to only focus on the section dealing with aboriginals and their history because, as shown, it is something that is often left out.

Presentation: Hidden Curriculum: Process

Karley’s presentation today was a good continuation of the topic of hidden curriculum. She discussed the process of the hidden curriculum to help the class understand the interactions that students engage in that implicitly teaches them how to act. Simple things such that we take for granted on a daily basis such as raising hands, hygiene, conformity, competitiveness, and obedience to authority figures are rules/ideas that teachers convey to their students on a daily basis. She specifically looked at Socialization in Early Elementary Education.

Her presentation was interesting, as once again, I haven’t ever looked at things such as these. Unlike with content, some of these implicit messages that we are passing onto our students are valuable to them and do set them up for life in the ‘real world’. I liked how she not only demonstrated and explained what these implicit rules were, but she also broke it down for us with things that we have previously learned in the semester. She discussed how functionalists, conflict theorists and interactionsists would react to these implicit meanings.

Margaret Mead believed that socializations help children to gain knowledge of the generalized other and help them learn the rules that society has put forward. The transition from home to school is a very difficult one because unlike before, not everything is about them anymore. It was interesting to bring up that Barry Mayall compared the lives of children in schools to the roles that women used to live with, which is actually quite depressing when you think of it that way.

Literature is definitely a way that teachers are able to reproduce dominant values of society. Karley showed use a few books that in my opinion were not that implicit, but that did try to teach students how to act in school, engage with other students, etc.

She also mentioned that Kindergarten classes are slowly transitioning to be more academic. Whether or not this is because they think it will be an easier transition for students from home, I’m not sure. They have included more math, science and literacy, there is more testing, and they are trying to make them into full days instead of half. Could you imagine a 4/5 year old sitting through a whole day of school? That would be very exhausting for them. At the end of class, Robert mentioned that everyone is trying to push these students for early literacy, and yet, studies show that the more you try to push them, the more likely they will fail later on. Let them work at their own pace. This reminds me of something personal in my own life. I have one niece (3 years old in January) and one nephew (18 months old). My niece, probably at about 12 months old, became very interested in books. She always wanted to be read to, and it is her favorite present to receive. I could not leave the house until I read her 50 books. She is still like that to this day. Each time I read her a book, she always asks for “one more”. She knows her abc's, a lot of 15 songs, can count to fifteen, etc. My nephew on the other hand, will occasionally ask for a book, but only if it is right in front of him. And he hasn’t learned that many words yet. They are like night and day. One day, my sister realized this and started freaking out and trying to read him books. She was worried that he was already behind. I guess looking at it from the perspective of them learning at their own pace is something that we need to take into consideration and also that everyone does learn at their in different ways. It is definitely interesting to watch though.

Overall though, I found Karley’s presentation very interesting. She did a good job presenting (especially since she was all alone). She also incorporated different things such as movie clips, and a game!

Hidden Curriculum (content) presentation

Yesterday in class we had a presentation that I thought was very interesting! I have actually only completed my PS1 so far, so the discussion of hidden curriculum was something that I had never heard of besides in passing. And I am sure I will learn a lot more about the topic from a process point of view tomorrow. The presenters looked at the content that is present in hidden curriculum.

Firstly, I thought this topic was interesting because it related to my last post on Bill 44, which I had just learnt about that night. Their ideas combined with what I read the night before helped me to piece the ideas together and understand it better. I do believe that parents/guardians should know and understand what their children are learning, but this does not give them the right to exclude their children from something that might be beneficial to their learning. Alberta is definitely taking a step back in education and supporting the idea of hindering the knowledge of students. We are keeping these students ignorant to ideas, and thus making them more close-minded. As teachers, we are not necessarily trying to instil ideas and beliefs into the students or brainwash them, but trying to help them learn how to think critically. Giving them two ideas such as creationism and evolution allows them to critically upon each idea. It will allow them to look beyond the basic ideas and find downfalls and beneficial points of each. Could you imagine finding out that you have had opportunities or ideas not given to you? And, what about what the student wants? Does this not matter? Do they not have a say in the content that they want to listen to? Would it be the same way around if they were the ones who did not want to learn about these things but their parents did? I enjoyed the video that we watched that showed a class in Florida where the class was split in half in terms of beliefs. Half of them believed in creationism and the others believed in evolution. Their teacher was able to guide them in ways to support what they believed and allowed them to put their ideas forward in a non-judgmental environment. I am sure that the teaching of evolution and religion can be a difficult subject, as it can be touchy, but there are many ways to help with this. It is important to respect all answers, support their commitment to their beliefs, and finally to understand that their will be disagreements.

The content in hidden curriculum are messages that are unintentionally portrayed by the teacher, administrators, textbooks, etc. They can focus on many societal issues such as race, gender, disability and religion. It was interesting to see that the hidden curriculum is present in not only things that are taught, but also in things that are not mentioned. Their case studies of looking at the textbook clearly show that we must look at what is in the textbook, but also what is excluded. When looking at the pictures, they noted that it is important not only to look at who is in the pictures, but also how the individuals are being represented. Sadly, the textbooks that we use in classrooms are made in the U.S. and do not show a clear representation of OUR population.

Overall, the presentation was really interesting and it helped me to realize that there are always implicit messages in what we do or say. These messages may be passed onto our colleagues, the parents, or the students and we need to understand this in order to eliminate confusion.

Exclusion of Topics in Education

When trying to decide what to write about, I thought that looking at the news articles on-line would be beneficial. This information is definitely up to date and deals with issues that are currently taking place. I came across an article that was posted on April 30th, 2009, but is new information to me. It is titled “Evolution classes optional under proposed Alberta law”, which caught my interest right away. The ideas that are put forth are very controversial and have been hotly debated for many years, not only in Alberta, but throughout the world.

The bill gives the right to parents to take their children out of classes that discuss topics containing information about evolution and homosexuality. “The new rules, which would require schools to notify parents in advance of ‘“subject-matter that deals explicitly with religion, sexuality or sexual orientation,”’ is buried in a bill that extends human rights to homosexuals. Parents can ask for their child to be excluded from the discussion.” Edcuation Minsister, Dave Hancock believes that it will not be a substantial change, as parents have always had the right to not include their children in anything that deals with values, religion, sex education, but now homosexuality has been added to this list. Many people believe that it will be difficult to completely exclude the idea of evolution in some classes and that schools should not start excluding topics based on religious preferences. “The proposed legislation has touched off a debate about just what kind of image Alberta's government is trying to create around the world.”

Personally, I find this ridiculous. How can we start excluding ares of the curriculum in order to meet everyone’s individual needs? By doing this, we are not allowing the students to make their own educated decisions about what to believe. In terms of homosexuality, how will our society ever properly handle the idea of homosexuality when we are constantly creating a heteronoramative society? How can we embrace these ideas when they are constantly being put down? The future generations have an opportunity to create a society that has less conflict, but we are eager to let this not happen.

** The following information was retrieved from a news article on CBC.

Cutbacks

Since we have been discussing cutbacks in education a lot, I thought it would be a good topic to research and to understand a little bit more. All of this talk is quite depressing, as cutbacks are not only something that happened in the past, but is also presently taking place. It is difficult to understand why education seems to endure such harsh cutbacks. I would like to look back throughout the years in Alberta to see what cutbacks have taken place thus far and then look deeper into the current situation that is taking place.

When schooling first started to come around in 1905 when Alberta became a province, citizens were hopeful supporters of education. They agreed to pay taxes in order to support public schooling, which they believed, in turn, would benefit society as a whole. In the 1930s, due to the economic depression, there were too many qualified teachers and not enough jobs. The 1940s found it difficult to find teachers because of the males who were off to fight in World War II. The province created a faculty of education in 1945 and normal schools were permanently shut down. The 1950s was a time to rebuild the economy and province and there was a need for expansion in education. Because of oil that was discovered in Leduc in 1945, the province was booming. They placed post-secondary education as a top priority. This increased even more in 1960’s. “Educational visionaries of the time seriously believed that education, properly conceived and humanely implemented, could radically improve society.” Teachers were finally required to have a degree in order to teach. “Concerned that provincial spending was out of control, the government imposed a series of severe cutbacks to public education in 1994.” Teachers fought to get the required support, but by the end of the decade, Albertans no longer had the belief that education was important and beneficial to individuals and society.

**Information retrieved from ATA website

Throughout the years of schooling in Alberta, many changes took place. At times, society believed that education was top priority, as we are supporting individuals and contributing to the larger society. But sometimes, people did not think it had any value at all.

Currently, the government has just made $80 million worth of cutbacks, and foresee bigger reductions for next year. Many teachers are worried about the cutbacks, as they are unsure where the money is being taken from. Carol Henderson, who is the president of the ATA, believes that the first place this cost will concern is the new teachers. She is fearful of this and says, "We want our young teachers, they revive the profession, they're going to be there when we have a lot of teachers retiring. "So it would be unhealthy for the teaching profession to lose a lot of beginning teachers." Not only are teachers curious about where this money is actually coming from, but they are also concerned about their raises for the year. They were promised a 4.99% increase, but are only receiving 4.82%.

From my point of view, although I believe that teachers do deserve more money, if it is only that little of an amount, it is better there than other places. It is just sad to see that something that is so valulable to society, individuals, and the economy to be taken for granted and not given the support that is needed.

**Information retrieved from CBC news story

Discussion of Hutterite Education

The other day in class, we were discussing the history and politics that Alberta has gone through. We learnt about geography, parental resistance and curricular issues. A topic that stemmed off of the idea of parental resistance of education was the way that hutterites are educated. We talked about how hutterite students only complete so many grades and then they are encouraged to quit and assist on the colony. Some of these students, similar to traditional schools, are seen as ‘gifted’, but are not likely to be encouraged to complete a couple more grades to become teachers or nurses. (Although there is a small percentage of them that do) Some of the questions that we were considering were: Should we allow these parents to hinder their children from being more intellectual? In addition, what influence do teachers have on their students?

I think the idea of us evaluating their lifestyles, traditions and education is a very difficult task as we are such outsiders to their way of living. Who are we to judge what they do? So far, in class we have been discussing different issues in the education system and we have found that these results are often very depressing. Much of education has very oppressing affects on students. With these facts, how can we say that not allowing these children to move on is in some way hindering or holding back on their quality of life?

It is difficult for me to say that these students should not be living up to their full potential because as a prospective teacher, I hope that all of my students can do just that. However, if anyone has the choice of what is best for these children, I believe that it is the parents. When I have children one day, I believe that everything I will do for them is because I think it is the best thing possible. In addition, who is to say that this is not what these children want for themselves? Why don’t we look at what they want before trying to say that what they are doing is wrong?

Political Economy of Schooling

As we discussed in class yesterday, education has gone through four main transitions throughout the years, some good, but many that are hard to understand because of the complete lack of reasoning.

The enlightenment model was the dominant model until the 1950’s. Its purpose was solely on learning for the sake of learning. People believed of education as an expense.

Next, was the human capital model, which was dominant after the 1950’s. The main purpose of this was for economic development. People had changed their minds about education only being an expense that was necessary, but to an investment that after enough years, they would get their money back in other ways. For example, if someone decides to go through University and get a degree and possibly their masters, they are destined to be in school for many years. The functionalists say that with a human capital model that by going to school, although they are making major investments currently, one day they will soon make that money back with their good paying jobs. The question is, does this really add up? In addition, with the knowledge that you are acquiring, will there be jobs suitable? They had beliefs that educations would fix individual social problems such as racism, sexism and class because education would give these individuals skills in order to be successful. They actually found that racism was the problem; that even with the proper skills, these people would not be able to get the jobs anyways, so why try? Because of the recession in the 1980’s and the fact that everyone had become educated, there were no jobs. Instead of solving problems, it intensified them and people were unable to get jobs anyways. The government, in this time, spent a lot of money because they believed that all of it would go back to the government through taxes, so there was a massive expansion. It is unbelievable to think that the government spent so much on each schools, teachers, and classrooms and allowed every teacher to get a sum of money to buy what they needed for the classroom. Something like this would never happen again. It is sad to see how much money teachers have to spend of their own to have the things that they require in their classroom. Are there any possible solutions to this?

The manpower model was a refined version of the human capital model. It was a more directed economic development. The government, unlike before, only wanted to put money into certain types of education that was an investment into economy. This is also very sad, as something has to be making money for the economy in order for it to be seen as important enough to support financially.

Lastly is the idea of a Consumerism Model, which is also current, as is the manpower model. It is the idea that state funding will be given to things that will have some kind of economic return, but anything else is privatized, which means you have to pay for it yourself.

It is evident that everything that education is based on throughout each of these models has to do with money and the development of the economy.

On a side note, we also talked about the 5-year program that teachers now need to take. This was mostly because there were too many people who wanted to be teachers and there were not enough jobs for everyone, so in order to cut back, they increased the amount of years to five. I find this extreme, as we are reacting towards the way that economy was then, and not the way it might be later on. I hope that from these few extra years we are able to be better teachers. However, have there actually been any changes because of the years of the program?

A Question on Education

Today I would like to blog about something that I heard yesterday that I wasn’t sure was true or not. Beware that this may have a few different subjects and might just turn into a personal rant about my beliefs in education. It is also more or less a story about a conversation that I had yesterday. A girl about the same age as me that I work with was taking education at the U of L, but became scared about rumors that she was going to be forced to teach in a high school class. I found this crazy that she has now dropped out and has started to take another type of program at the college. It actually turned out that she is now regretting this choice. Besides this fact, another girl and I were discussing this girl and how she is not satisfied with the program that she is in now. This other girl started to say that she also did not know what she wanted to do or go to school for and that at one point in her life, she did want to become a teacher. She grew away from the dream of becoming a teacher because of the way that the school systems work. She then started to talk about how students are colour coded by the way that they behave. I don’t know the actual colours, but for example: If a child has attention problems, behavioral issues, a learning disability, etc, they are given a colour that all the teachers are aware of. First of all, this is something that I have never heard of before. I do, however, realize that teachers do know of these difficulties/issues, but do they make a point of colour coding these children? If this is something that teachers are doing, won’t these “codes” follow these students with them throughout their education career and in turn place barriers on their learning? Does anyone else know anything about this, or what the truth actually is? If so, that would be great!

The Challenges of Teaching

The next chapter that I read in my book titled "Teaching from the Inside Out" is called “The Challenges of Teaching”. I thought that this would also be a good chapter, as we have been focusing on the challenges in schools and teaching alike.

Larry and Jim say “Here is the truth about teaching. Your life as a teacher will be up and down, repeatedly. Teaching is sometimes wonderful, sometimes joyful, and sometimes uplifting. Sometimes you will tear your hair out. Sometimes you will cry. Sometimes students, at any age, are so precious that you can’t help treasuring the experiences you share with them. Sometimes, just when you think they couldn’t care less, they prove they can.” I really enjoyed this quote as it emphasizes the word SOMETIMES. The way that you can interpret these situations and the way you act upon them will determine the outcome.

This chapter discusses five challenges that they find are the most common and important.

Challenge One: Teacher Satisfaction

The most satisfied teachers are the ones who want desperately to be teachers. “The finding suggests that a person would almost have to be foolish to stumble into teaching as a last resort and expect to be satisfied.” I completely agree with this statement as it is not something that everyone is able to do with success. In order to be satisfied as a teacher, it is important to realize that there will inevitably be issues in every aspect of teaching, but just realizing this will help prepare teachers. “Rather than trust a series of experts, we think that teachers must grown towards their own expertise.” Just as there are no students that are alike, they are no teachers that are the same. We all work in different ways and we need to be able to grow towards something that is going to work for us as an individual.

Challenge Two: Becoming Self Aware

How do we ever really know how our teaching affects our students? Teachers need to be able to self-monitor and achieve a sense of self awareness. The authors suggest that in order to help with this, it is important to find a critical friend who will be able to tell you the truth about how you are doing. If not, how will you ever know? And worst of all, what if you find out after it is too late?

Challenge Three: Discipline

“Since most students you will teach are kids, it probably would be wise to expect them to act like kids.” They are acting this way simply because they are kids. It is also important to note though that although they are kids, we still want to encourage kids to grow into adults. Many teachers try to make examples out of kids in order to set up their rules in the classroom. They purposely wait for a student to act out and then discipline them for all of the other students to watch. As we want to encourage maturation, doesn’t it make more sense to make an example of those who are doing what they are asked to do? For example, if a student is sitting still when asked to, encourage this behavior by letting them know they are doing a good job. I know that this was not always the case in my education experiences.

Challenge Four: Struggling to Compensate for a Troubled Society

As we all know, there is more to a child’s life than school, so it is important for us to help them with their daily problems as well as their academics. This is a challenge that the authors say is something that most books do not deal with. 58% of students say that their teachers influence them, yet only 9 % of teachers in their education career have made an impact on their lives. “More than 9 teachers out of 10 (91%) were not memorable.” That is very sad, and yet I think I can only remember two teachers in all of my education who made any type of impact on me.

Challenge Five: Burnout

Although this is a hotly debated issue within education, the authors suggest that this is something that rarely occurs. It is more likely to happen to an older teacher than a younger and most teachers who have gained enough experience are usually able to avoid it. It is mainly important to avoid stress and this can lessen the chances of burnout. Otherwise, it is not as big of an issue that everyone says. Overall though, I believe that everyone deals with things differently.

The Complexity of Teaching

As we haven’t had any discussion classes for a week, I decided to look for another type of reading to blog about. I quickly remembered a book called Teaching from the Inside Out by Larry Beauchamp (Dean of Faculty of Education) and Jim Parsons. This book was the first book that ever introduced me to concepts of teaching. I had to read it in my Intro to Ed. Class in Medicine Hat and I remember always thinking that it was a very interesting book. The two authors of the book are professors at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I especially enjoy this book because it gives you the truth about teaching. It does not constantly talk about the wonderful joys of teaching, but also the faults, issues and things that need to be dealt with. It shows a sense of reality. They both believe that “learning to teach means more than learning a list of skills and techniques. Schools are more than factories for churning out products” and I think that this is very important. There are a couple of interesting chapters that deal with issues in Education, but the first one that I wanted to discuss was titled “The Complexity of Schools and Classrooms.”

It starts out the chapter by saying: “If you had a nickel for everyone who asked if you became a teacher to ‘get summer vacation,’ you’d be rich. Get used to it. It’s a ‘crack’ you’ll hear repeatedly from now until your teaching career is finished.” I completely agree with what they said, as I have already experienced this saying and I have not even started yet. It is not just about summer vacations but also Christmas holidays, Easter, and of course weekends. Teachers do not get the respect that they deserve from many people. Teaching is always seen as a career that is easy. The question that the authors are trying to answer in this chapter is “What does the job of teaching look like from the other side of the teacher’s desk” with the first answer being complex.

WHY IS TEACHING SO COMPLEX?

We are working with people

As a teacher, we are constantly on the move and sometimes we do not have the time to think about what we need to do before we do it. This can be complicated because everything that we do and all of the interactions that we have with the students are important and can be life changing. Although you are in a building with many other teachers, there is little time for exchanging of thoughts or having someone watch you teach, so it is difficult to know exactly how you are doing as a teacher.

A lonely job

Although you truly enjoy all of the students that surround you, it is sometimes difficult when all you want to do is speak with another adult. This is not only within the schools, but also at home. The authors say that it is very difficult to live with a teacher because “it’s more than a job; it’s a life.” We cannot leave work at work. It always comes home with us. With someone at home to talk to, this can help, but the authors say that although they may listen at first, they will eventually not want to talk or listen to anything about teaching.


Schools are complex

This part of the chapter discusses each move that a school makes and therefore interacts with a student can affect them in many ways. The ways that schools separate students by ability can make a statement to a child that is very powerful. “Sometimes the voices of school tell kids that they are losers; sometimes it works the other way around. What a child learns in school is not always bad, but it is not always good either.” When I first read this book three years ago, I thought no way at all is this true and I did not want to believe that teachers/schools/administrators had this type of negative influence on students. Now, since we have discussed how depressing schools can actually be, I can see where these authors are coming from. I will still never fully understand until I am there. We as teachers have the lives of people’s children in our hands. Before schooling was thought to be necessary, parents strived to send their children to schools because they had envisioned a future of education for their children. “Consider how important school is to parents before you become a teacher.” This was a very powerful quote and is truly something that all hopeful teachers should question of themselves. Schools are also complex because they are all different. They all encompass different rules, teachers, and students and therefore all have very different personalities.

Students are complex people

As the saying goes, no two students are alike. If this is true, then why are students placed within schools that treat them this way. “They use the same textbooks, take the same notes, are treated the same way, take the same tests, listen to the same teacher who teaches in the same way.” This is the case as it allows teachers to teach. We as teachers have to remember that there is more to life than school for these students. Remember that when they do not do their homework, are not motivated in class that there may be another reason for you to consider besides them simply not wanting to.

The curriculum is complex

There are two types of curriculum: Overt and hidden. Overt is the rules that we follow that are written down by the government. You will see hidden “expressed in the local and unspoken, but very powerful, ideas about how students act within the school. This type of curriculum has to do with society and has a powerful impact on many students. Some students are set out to fail under these circumstances. Their advice was to remember how lucky we are and all those who are not as lucky as you are.

This chapter had many good ideas about what it means to be a teacher and how we as teachers can affect the lives of many students. What we should be aiming for is a positive change in these circumstances. In addition, always remember to think about the impression you are giving students.

Interactionist Theories

As a continuation to my last blog about functionalism and conflict theories, I would now like to discuss a differing theory called Interactionist theories. There are five sections in this type of theory. These sections consist of symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnography, ethnomethodolgy, and Hermeneutics. I will be discussing each of these sections separately while at the same time give examples to help clarify.

Symbolic Interactionists
Herbert Blumer (1900-1987) was a symbolic interactionist. People such as Herbert believed that we live in a world of meaning and that we react to the sometimes false meaning more than we do to reality.

Examples: Meanings from each person is different and we are able to create new meanings depending on the way that we interact with people. (The meaning that you take away from a book is due to the interaction with other people.)

These types of people do not believe in ‘reality’, they think that what they believe is actuality. (People believed that banks were going to fail. In turn, everyone would take their money out, which created a bank failure.

“You have nothing to fear but fear itself”: This is a perfect quote that describes this section, as people built up a fear in things only to make them become reality.

Phenomenology
Alfred Schutz was a believer of phenomenology. It was a combination of Max Weber’s sociology with Edmund Husserl’s methodology. In this section, everything is about what you see. They believed that the less you know, the better. If you knew anything ahead of time, it would give you a bias/corrupt view. Everything that exists is actually in your head.

Example: The Social Construction of Reality (1966)

Ethnography
The goal was to make things readable and to see things from more than one point of view. This section emerged in the Chicago School. Paul Willis who wrote Learning to Labour in 1977 was a major part of ethnography.

Examples: They might ask questions such as what does it mean to be Japanese? (They would go to Japan and report back once they thought that they were able to get their own view and they felt that they had truly lived the life of a Japanese individual)

An aspect that helped shaped the sociology of education was looking at working class kids and asking why they did not succeed in schools.

Ethnomethodology
Harold Garfinkel (1914- ) is a person who is involved in this section. He is famous for questioning basic assumptions. Many of the things that we do daily are very implicit that there is no need to articulate on why we are doing them. He was seen as very annoying as he always questioned the underlying assumptions.

Example: He would go into a store and take items out of people’s carts and put them into his own. It is implicit that once something is in your cart, you are planning to purchase that item. He went to the next level by stating that it is not your property yet, so he is able to take it.

Hermeneutics
This can be seen in someway connected to interactionist theories, but there is not as much to be said. Basically, Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900-2002) was involved in this and was known for the deconstruction of texts.


To put this theory into context with the other two types of theories: Functionalism and Conflict theories, we were shown an example of a place/space and what types of questions would be asked if each of these theorists entered it. This also helped me to put into perspective the types of beliefs that each of them had in a comparative view.

A BAR

Functionalists
- How does this pub serve the society and make it work?
- How does it reduce tension?
- How does it help the local economy?
(They are wondering how things are managed throughout the bar from a society’s point of view, as they are very interested in society.)

Conflict Theorists
- Whose interest does this serve?
- How do bars exploit female servers?
- How do bars help to blind workers to their oppression?
(The conflict theorists are asking questions that place blame on society and show that everything happens through conflict.)

Interactionists
- What does it mean?
- Why do people sit in the same spot?
- What are the social distinctions between “regulars” and “newcomers” (They are asking questions about interactions that people make with each other.)

That pretty much wraps up all of the theories that we have learned thus far.

Functionalists and Conflict Theorists

For these first few weeks of classes, I found it very difficult to think of what I wanted to blog about. I always find it much easier to discuss something that I am truly passionate about, as I am sure most people do. I noticed that a lot of what we have been learning was the basic background information of where sociology has started and how it has progressed over the years and more importantly, how it interacts with the Education system. All this aside, I know that everything that we have learned thus far will help us to connect it to what is happening in schools today and that it was necessary to learn. I started to wonder if this is what the class was going to be like all semester, but last week was the last class of background knowledge and we are now going to begin the lessons that will help us deal with issues/concerns with the schools.

To date, we have discussed three theories that exist in sociology. They are functionalism, conflict theorists and interactionist theorists. I would like to summarize the first two, so that we not only see them separately, but how they also compare to each other. When we were first discussing them, I was always getting confused about who thought what, but after we summarized them last class, it helped me to separate them easier. In my next blog, I would then like to discuss the ideas of Interactionist theorists and how it fits compared to these two.

Overall, no matter what the problem is, functionalists always try to find the positive. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the conflict theorists are suspicious of everything. I find that both of these theories are on opposite ends in their beliefs and I do not fully agree with one or the other, but rather see truth in certain points from each.

School Bullying Awareness

As I was thinking for a while now about what I wanted to blog about next, I found myself searching social issues in education hoping to find interesting current issues. I looked through a few scholarly journals and a few other websites and finally came to a website that supported the motto: “everyone has the right to be respected and the responsibility to respect others". This is the saying that caught my eye. The following is a web site that supports the idea of spreading the awareness of bullying in hopes of eliminating it in society. This web site is a great resource for parents, students and educators alike. http://www.bullying.org/

Although this is not something that I have personally experienced in my life as a child, nor was it something that I was forced to witness while doing any of my practicum, I am not naïve to the fact that it does occur in schools around the world. I do not think that this is a specific topic that we will be discussing in class, but I am sure that it will come up as it is a very important issue that needs to be addressed. At the beginning of our Education and Society class, we were warned about some of the depressing factors in Education, and I feel like this is one that everyone can associate with at least on some level.

One of the main reasons that I am interested in this topic is because I believe that all children have the right to a safe learning environment. Bullying can take many forms such as verbal, physical, social and extortion. Not only is there bullying that is directly face-to-face between students, but with the increase in technology, cyber bullying takes place. According to Bullying.org, “bullying happens to someone in Canada every 7 minutes on the playground.” And “other kids are watching 85% of the time when one kid bullies another kid. Adults like teachers or parents hardly ever see a bully being mean to someone else.” This is important to me firstly as I want to be a teacher and secondly because I have a niece and nephew who will be entering the school systems about the same time I will be. Although I cannot yet think of it in terms of a parental perspective, I can empathize with those who have dealt with such issues.

The idea that this takes place and that no students around do not take notice or care is not the truth. An example that I have heard of previously which took place in Sept 2007 in Nova Scotia where a grade 9 boy wore a pink shirt on the first day back to school. Many of the students harassed the boy, but there were two grade 12 students (David Shepherd and Travis Price) who not only did the opposite, but decided that they needed to take action. After school, they bought 50 pink t-shirts and e-mailed their classmates to get them on their side. Dozens of students the next day came to school dressed in pink. Their campaign did not go unnoticed and made it onto the Ellen DeGeneres show.

This is a group of students wearing pink to support the cause. The next pink day will be April 14, 2010 and is an annual event.

Here are some other websites that I have found to be very informing:

http://www.bullyingcanada.ca/
http://www.safecanada.ca/
http://www.bullyonline.org/
http://www.cyberbullying.ca/

Canadian Paradigms

As a continuation from classes in our second week, we discussed many of the functionalist theorists. We were also briefly introduced to three Canadian paradigms of functionalism. Unfortunately like many other Canadian aspects, theorists and ideologies, they are often pushed away and not given any proper recognition. With a class of about 30-40 people, some of whom had taken previous sociology classes, only 2-3 people had heard of these theorists. We discussed Harold Adams Innis, Marshal McLuhan, and George Grant. These were three professors (George Grant was a student of the first two) who never got the students that they deserved simply because they were Canadian. Anyone who was seen as a good theorist of functionalism was taken to schools such as Harvard. As these Canadians have been put aside, I would like to write a bit about each of them to show the work that they created.

Firstly, Harold Adams Innis (1894-1952) was a Canadian professor at the University of Toronto and was the author of many works on media and economic history. He was originally influenced by James Ten Broeke, a philosopher at McMaster University. Harold was enlisted in the war where he was sent to France in 1916 to fight in the First World War. As his interests widened, he wrote a novel called The Fur Trade in Canada: An Introduction to Canadian Economic History. The book discusses the trade in beaver fur. He believed that the fur trade largely determined Canada's boundaries. He noted that it was not because of Geography that made Canada; rather he interpreted the importance of the fur trade.

Second, Marshal McLuhan was a Canadian English professor. He was known for being very enticed to the study of media theory. His most important piece of writing was published in 1951 titled The Mechanical Bride. He discusses the persuasions that come along with popular culture and how people are influenced by it. In the fifties, he also predicted and explained his theory about the internet. His saying was always that “the medium is the message” when he was trying to explain the internet.

Lastly, George Grant (1918-1988) was a Canadian philosopher, and teacher. He is considered one of Canada’s most original thinkers. The amount of information on George was the least out of the three, which shows more how much these individuals were not properly appreciated. He is the student of both of the teachers above. Similar to Marshal McLuhan, he was also interested in the media. The most notable thing that he was known for is the Red Toryism.

I am sure that I could go on forever about all of the things that each of them accomplished, but that would take forever, as I would probably end up writing a whole book. Looking through all of the novels that they wrote and their life stories about growing up, education, etc, they definitely did accomplish a lot. It is sad to see that a lot of their stuff was not produced or recognized because they were Canadian.

It really bothers me that people do not appreciate some of the work that is accomplished by Canadians. There are even some Canadians who feel ashamed when they find out that something is Canadian. For example, movies, authors, etc. One thing that really bothers me at the moment is that I am in a class right now that is taught by an American professor. Whenever she brings up statistics, facts, etc, it always is related to the U.S.

(Much of the information that was given here was off of Wikipedia. Check out their pages on Wikipedia to find out even more interesting information.)

Structure and Governance of Education

Just as other readings and class discussions so far, going back to chapter one was still very eye-opening. This part of the chapter discusses the structure and governance of Canada’s system of education and it shows other countries in comparison. Although at a national level, Canada’s education system is highly decentralized, within each province, it is centralized.

The first thing that I learned that I did not know before was that “most elementary schools contain kindergartens, although these are not legally mandated, and attendance is not compulsory.” This was something that I had not heard before. After reading this sentence, I could not help but ask question after question. Isn’t that a starting point for all children for formal education? Won’t they be behind from the students who did take it? Are there many students who do this, and what is the outcome of it? This is something that I will need to research further in order to fully understand.

Another thing that shocked me was the grade level that students are allowed to legally dropout of school. Although I knew that it was a young age, I did not think it was as low as grade 9. Is this without the consent of a parent/guardian?

The chapter also discusses the circumstances of other countries that do not require children to attend school at all. “Parents everywhere want their children educated; however, when faced with economic constraints, they tend to educate their sons longer than their daughters.” Is this because they think the males are more likely to succeed and use their education later on? Think of how much money Alberta has compared to some of these places and yet education is one of the first things that they take money from when others would give anything to be educated. On another side note, something that I truly hope works is projects such as World Vision where we can help those in need. This is something that I have personally contributed to and I find it very rewarding.

When comparing Canada to other countries, Canada has a lot fewer days spent in school compared to a country like china. 185 (Canada) vs. 251 (China). Yet, research shows that “other factors such as teaching strategies are more important.” “It appears that achievement is more closely tied to the subtleties of how things are done in the classroom, rather than how much time is spent there.” This is very true, as an organized teacher will be better with time management and things such as transitions from class to class.

Overall, this chapter gave an insight into how our education system works from province to province, nationally, and even in other countries.

First Week of Classes

For our first real week of classes, we went over the basic concepts of sociology. We were able to understand why a class such as Society and Education will be able to help us in our careers as teachers. After being told that many teachers do not find this information helpful information until about their fifth year of teaching, it made me want to learn about it even more. Maybe with this extra knowledge, we as teachers can help fix many of the existing problems.

There are four main advantages of sociology. The first advantage is that it allows us to see the bigger picture and not just look for an immediate solution. We talked about a theft issue that was taking place in a school. Many students were bullying and harassing other students in order to get their lunches. An immediate solution to this problem is to punish the children who are causing these problems, but this presents even more issues to deal with. Maybe the real issue is that these kids are hungry and are not being fed, so the school in turn needs to start some kind of lunch program. Overall, the issue was with the “neighbourhood” and not the school. I definitely need work in trying to see the bigger picture instead of thinking that I know the answer right away. This is not to say that I would assume the students are causing problems for no reason, but I would not quickly jump to the solution of the kids being hungry.

The second advantage is that it counter-acts ideology. This is saying that it takes the sole blame off individuals. An example that was brought up in class is the education program at the university. Why is it that there are only 220 places open to education? It has been proved that the best teachers are not necessarily the ones who had the highest GPA. I have a personal experience in this situation, as I am sure many others have as well. I have wanted to be a teacher for I do not even know how long now, but I am going to say around grade two. Once I graduated from high school, I took a year off to work and then returned a year later. I did my first year of school at the Medicine Hat College and then transferred to the U of L so that I would be able to complete a music minor (something not offered at the college). My second year went well, but obviously not as well as I had hoped. I initially did not make it in and it made me so angry because I knew that I would make an amazing teacher despite my grades that year. Once I got a callback that someone had dropped out, I was very happy to find out that I now had a place in the program. I had also talked to about three other people that had the same thing happen to them. These are people that you can just tell that they will be amazing in their careers later on. Sociology is able to break away from the idea that the individual is to blame and instead look at the patterns.

Thirdly, sociology helps us question ‘reforms’. This allows us as teaches to help see beyond decisions. The issue with more Math and Science classes was initially trying to help Alberta ‘make-up’ compared to other provinces. Although they possibly lessened one problem, they created about ten new ones. 1. Students were now missing classes in the arts as this was always the first thing to go. 2. Schools downplayed how important fine arts were (not everyone can afford outside of school time). 3. There will be less consumerism (culture crash). 4. The province thought that there were more dropouts when students were actually spending four years in high school instead of three. This is just to name a few, but with the solution to one problem, it created many more. Sociology is meant to help make decisions so that these things will not happen.

Lastly, it helps teachers to be proactive. It allows us to anticipate problems and formulate responses before the issue comes into the classroom. A good example of a problem that was not fixed is the $80 million dollar budget cuts. One main reason they decided to do this is that in comparison to other provinces that were spending less money, we did not compare or show substantial increases in grades. How are they actually comparing the provinces? Did they look further beyond to see the students later in their lives? How can they justify giving away money without good reason, and then take away from a system that is a defining factor in someone’s life? It is very upsetting to hear that we used to have the highest budget and now we are the second lowest. It is hard for me to understand fully, as I am not in the system yet, but I have talked to many people who work in schools who are upset over it.

Overall, looking at education from a sociological perspective allows us to predict and foresee problems/issues and to see the larger picture. When I first thought about writing a blog, I assumed that I would be struggling to come up with things to say, but I find myself to be very passionate about what I am discussing which really helps. I can tell that this class will be very informing.

Theories of Sociology and Education

The second chapter of the book goes deeper into how sociology actually connects with education. The authors introduce the beginnings of sociology of education and present the major theories that the world has gone through. The chapter discusses theorists such as Karl Marx, Max Weber and Emile Durkheim. Although these individuals were not experts in the field of education, their ideologies influenced many of the theories that are connected to education. I have never realized or thought about the ways that ideologies evolve through society.

The chapter mentions one theorist by the name of Charles H. Cooley who illustrates where people get their sense of self. He coined the term looking glass effect, which means that “through interaction with parents, peers, and teachers, [individuals] come to see themselves as they imagine others see them.” I thought this point was interesting, as I believe that people do this. From my understanding of this concept though, I believe that it is important though to remember who you actually are and not just be someone others hope you are.

In the 1950’s, theorists believed that organized and formal schooling lead to success in a students life. Although this has some truth in it, as organization helps with time management, etc, children also need to develop a sense of self-learning. They need to speak out and express their opinions in order to learn. In terms of a more formal and organized education, teachers did not teach towards equality, but rather to suit the needs of society. They were teaching towards an advancing technological society in order to further the economy. I truly hope that these sorts of views have completely passed. I believe that certain students are going to shine in one area/skill where others will be great in others areas/skills. This sort of view allows us to teach equally and does not force us to teach towards society’s needs, as these things should happen naturally. Higher education can help solve these types of problems as well.

A lot of this chapter as well as the previous dealt with issues such as class. Students have been separated into public/private schools depending on their class. How do we get out of the cyclical theory when the poor are treated as lesser individuals? How does this encourage them to succeed? This type of social stratification convinces these students that they are not as worthy of the education nor capable of achieving it.
Most of the chapter I felt was very disheartening, as it discusses our previous theories about education. The anti-racist theory was the first thing I truly felt to have a positive perspective. Many of the theories that were addressed are very out-dated. I also believe that the theories should continually change (hopefully for the better) because we cannot continue to refer to older ones as society constantly goes through many changes itself.

An Intro to my understanding of Sociology and Education

I would first like to start by saying that I do not have very much experience in sociology and how it connects into different aspects of the education system. I would appreciate any feedback and comments from those who either agree or disagree with my opinions and beliefs. I feel that these comments can help us all learn a little bit more about the sociological elements of education.

Reading the first chapter of Sociology of Education: An Introductory View from Canada, (J. Barakett, A. Cleghorn) provided me with a basic insight of sociology in general. I find the idea of social stratification to be astonishing. People generate ideas about someone and put them on a hierarchal scale according to different aspects of their lives. Everyone is given a status based on their access and possession of what is most valued. To me, it makes me wonder who creates these statuses and comes up with a consensus about what is worthy enough to be valued.

One quote that I noticed in the first chapter states that “there is no biological or genetic reason why one group or another should be overrepresented among either those who succeed or those who fail in school”. This is basically saying that no single group of people should be categorized as not being able to do something. For example, not all girls do poorly in math. If this isn’t the case, then why have I read so many articles stating the high scores for males in math and science. Have people actually found valid proof that this is true? I think a lot of it has to do with the negative connotations and stereotypes that people give certain groups of people. For example, if a group of aboriginal peoples were all doing poorly in a particular subject, it is most likely due to the teacher being overcome with the negative sterotypes and ideologies that are brought with the group of people. If a teacher believes these stereotypes, they are more likely to teach in way that does not provide the same education for these individuals.

The sociological aspect of education can be depressing at times. One of the main reasons that I am becoming a teacher is to make a difference in the lives of the students that I teach. I think at this point in my life, I am still very naïve to the depressing aspects of education. It is not that I do not know or realize that these things happen, I just don’t understand why or how these things occur. I hope that with the education of these sociology, we, as a society and teachers can make positive responses towards the problems.