Sunday, April 25, 2010

Talking Point #10

1. "The most important thing children learn is not the three R's."

This is an interesting statement. As a young child people are told throughout their schooling career that the three R's are the most important factor to a foundation in educational success. It is funny, I was looking for a link to the three R's song but it appears that in this "Going Green" era there are a new set of Three R's.

2. "They might visit neighborhoods to study the vegetation growing outdoors, which would lead to the question of why wealthy areas often have more trees and shrubs than do poorer sections."

The context of this statement was Shor pondering about a problem solving science curriculum. However as I was reading this I realized Shor was implying social class segregation. I realized Shor is right and I wonder why that is? Could it be wealthy people just care more or is it because wealthy families just pay to have their areas look like that or is it something else?

3. "Those conditions cannot be changed by a lone critical syllabus."

This is how I feel towards school. Schooling is important but it is not the only factor to a successful life. All parents need to understand this and need to help their children in all aspects of life. They cannot leave all the responsibility to school because school cannot do everything.

"Education is Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment" by Ira Shor was very boring. Not only was it long but it was confusing and hard to get through. I see her point that particapation is important but I feel curriculums as they are are pretty good and there is no need for drastic change. Shor may have been boring to read but I also disliked the Anyon article but once we discussed it in class, I understood it better and liked it better. Hopefully that will happen with this article.

5 comments:

  1. well mike, in response to that second quote, im pretty sure its just because wealthy people are able to afford to take care of their things more and can usually hire the help to make their area more lush and beautiful

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  2. I liked your link to the new 3 R's, but I was still kind of disappointed they weren't the ones we grew up with.

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  3. I'm with you Cassie and I was surprised to see this. That is why I linked that video.

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  4. I liked all your quotes and I also liked your link.

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  5. I appreciate your comment to your third quote and how I have felt through this whole class - per this article - of course students learn socialization through school - they are learning it all day long through all their interactions - but I'm their teacher for 6 hrs a day - who is with them the rest of the day and what are they teaching them before they come to my classroom?

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