HW 51

The education system in the United States works in a way that constricts and limits people. It seems almost inescapable since the education is a major part of the foundation of our society and is a requirement of our society. We are required to undergo mental domination and murder of any sense of individuality we may have. We are subconsciously turned into puppets and supporters of a system that exploits, uses, and throws us away. We are tricked into believing education is for our own greater good when in fact education is for the greater good of the people in control of our society. Our education system limits us through racial inequality, deprivation of individuality, and societal pressure. Through the the usage of these three methods the education system manages to conform us into robots trained to fill the status quo of our society with out truly questioning the situations we live in.

Racial inequality is a big problem in the education system and for many years debates on how to get rid of the gaps between the academic skills of white students and minority students have taken place. Affirmative action is a favored solution by many liberals but has not proved to significantly change the inequalities of our education system. The root of this issue lies much deeper in our society and there are non-academic factors that play a role one of the most significant being culture. A fix to racial issues can not come from within one institution but rather a collective effort from many institutions causing an overall change in society and mentality. However, a change of this magnitude is extremely unlikely in the current society we live in, due tot he fact that racial inequalities help our society function in the way that it does. Racial inequality whether it be academically or some other form is and essential part of our larger system which is capitalism. Racial inequality allows exploitation and corruption to take place with out much question and in more extreme ways then if we were all truly equal in our society.

It is a very common thought amongst people in our society that education is for our greater good. We accept the idea of education and the education system of our society without much questioning. We assume it helps us and we work hard to succeed by the standards of our schools. We hardly think about what are schools are truly teaching us. We don't stop to think whether our education is helping us individually or someone/something else. We are not taught to think critically in schools and for this reason we don't question the education system itself. In fact, we are taught in schools to conform, to not question, and to simply do what we are told without much struggle or rebellion. In John Taylor Gatto's article "six lessons" he lists six different lessons in which schools teach us. He explains that his job as a teacher is not necessarily to educate students but more so to conform them into efficient members of society. Instead of educating and enlightening students the education system traps and turns them into workers and tools of the larger system. He lists six different ways in which he as a teacher is supposed to do this. Overall much of what a teachers job to do is to strip the students of any individuality they have and keep them from forming any true individual identity. This is one of the most significant things schools do to students. They have teachers control almost every aspect of their education and the "good students" are the ones who can adapt and conform the fastest and the best. Those who don't question and defy the teacher are praised. We are taught to simply listen and follow rather than think and create and formulate ideas of our own. Schools strip us of our individuality so that we can be efficient members of society without causing problems for the people we will work for in the future.

Society is set up in a way where many of the paths we take and decisions we make are set up before hand. Not necessarily that we are forced to choose certain paths but a societal map which we referred to in an earlier unit is set up for us. To stray from this map is extremely hard and we have freedom in our lives with in certain limitations if we want to be socially accepted at all. Our school system is no different from social pressures we have with our friends in our social life in fact the two go hand in hand. We have expectations all around us and we are expected to act certain ways. The lessons the school teach us that I referred to in the last paragraph are socially acceptable ways to act. Not only are they socially acceptable but they are social norms and expectations. Therefore through social pressure school often succeeds in conforming us into the workers they want us to be. This of course means limiting our intellectual progress and striping us of individuality.

The school system is very controversial however the controversy is usually in which ways should schools go about educating the students but hardly do these discussions explore the true implications and objectives of the education system. The main issue of the education lies in its objective. To truly educate someone their best interests have to be the first priority and this is something our school system fails to do. Until intellectual development is the top priority of our education system our education system will remain lackluster.

HW 50

Pedagogy of the oppressed, Paulo Freire

This article deals with the oppression caused by the "banking" model of education. Friere explains the banking model as the form of education in which students are simply fed information and forced to memorize with out truly exploring it or understanding it. The banking system obviously being the system used by almost every school in the United States. He goes onto to conclude that not only does this system of education keep us stupid but it keeps us oppressed and it intentionally keeps us oppressed. It what disrupt the flow of the system if most people did not go through this form of education. He also explains the problem posing style of education which is more like the kind of education we receive in SOF. In this form the teacher and student are more equals and learn from each other rather than the teacher deciding the students education and the students simply following instructions given by the teacher.

Freire in favor of the problem posing method of education and is very critical of the banking model of education. He makes very valid points in showing the ways the banking model of education throws people in to an never ending cycle of oppression. If one is never taught to think critically then it becomes natural for one to accept their oppression as part of life. I agree that the banking model constricts us from being able to think for ourselves and therefore is a tool and essential necessity of the greater system.

Gatto - Six Lessons

Gatto explains what is expected of him as a teacher by authorities. He breaks down the role of a typical teacher into six different things. He explains them as six different lessons that his students are supposed to learn. All the lessons have to do with discipline, sorting, and lack of individuality. He shows how the system of teaching in which the student controls all of the students education and basically speaks to the students while they sit there and listen doesn't educate students it turns them into robots or puppets to fit in to society later on with out causing a problem.

The biggest lessons that schools teach us are not for our benefit but more so for the benefit of the ones who run our society. It is more useful and very easy for an oppressor to have a worker who does not complain and simply goes through the motion rather than have a person who thinks critically about their situation and the ways they are being exploited. We are in school for all of our lives as children and throughout those years we are molded to fit into society and these six lessons that Gatto talks about are the exact lessons that turn us into the robots that follow and do what we are told. Those are the same six lessons that teach us to accept everything around us and not question it. This relates directly to what Freire speaks of, these are the six lessons that help the oppressors keep us oppressed.

Lisa Delpit

She argues that the reason so any minority students fail to receive a proper education is because they are not part of the culture of power. She believes it is necessary to learnt he culture of power to truly become educated in this education system. Although she says that it is not necessary to adopt this culture fully one needs to know it and be a part of it.

I disagree strongly with her opinion. Her solution to racial inequalities of the education system in United States is to essentially have people of other cultures to conform to the culture of power which means the white culture. Although she justifies her statement by saying ones culture does not need to be discarded she is still telling people to conform to white culture to become educated. This kind of solution is simply putting a band-aid on the problem. If we were all to learn one culture and that was the culture that led to success than it would in fact be a cultural genocide or it would be a fake sense of education because students would be learning in ways that are true to a culture that is not theirs and therefore what they are learning would have no significance to them.

Hw 49

A. My role in the movie was to play a "goon" or follower of the main trouble maker of the class. My part did not require me to say much and I think the reason my part was included was to somewhat mock the "bad" kids and also a tough kid looks much tougher when he has followers. I spend most of the film on my ipod and not paying attention to whats going on in the class. The only other thing I do is say "yeah" after what Evan, who played the main bad kid, says. This was simply a mockery of the films we watched in which the bad kids were portrayed as these very serious characters instead we were more realistic and basically detached from the rest of the class and any interaction was an argument or a way to get attention.

B. The message of our film is that the teacher cant always save the students and sometimes the teachers cant even save themselves. This goes deeper into the question of who we leave to educate our students. It is not common that there is teacher who can truly get through to a student and interest them in the topic. Although it is also uncommon for a teacher to spiral out of control in the way our film showed all the other super teacher films were extreme cases. Our film showed the other extreme. It shows the stress and the affect that the system both teachers and students work and live under has on people.

C. As i said in the previous paragraphs all the super teacher films we watched showed cases of extreme "success" in getting through to students. Our film was the complete opposite and it shows that the reality is that not all teachers are good. One could argue most are shitty. However the reality is that teachers are not exempt from the stress of the education system and the stress that students feel can just as easily break a teacher.

D.Many people become teachers to make a difference to feel as though they are doing something good with their lives. A teacher has the power to truly change the view points of a student however whether or not a teacher is changing the students perspective on life for the worse or the better is a different question. When you step back and take a look at it, ti seems pretty absurd that there are a few people that we give the power to educate our "future" a teacher can just as easily ruin a students mindset as they can change it for the better.

Extra Credit

The movie "the class" deals with the conflict created between the needs of the students and the system set in place. The movie shows a kid who is not taking school seriously and ends causing distractions in class. When the teachers are deciding whether or not expell souleymane the question of whether or not to take his personal life into account. The question of whether or not the fault is the moral or systematic comes into play here. The consequences of the teachers decision will affect the students life in very severe ways outside of school. However it is not the fault of teachers that they made the decision they made. Although I didn't agree with their decision to expell souleymane the strict system of punishment set in place gave them little choice.

The education system as well as the greater societal systems put teachers in situations in which they have little room to bend rules for students while still maintaining an enviornment in which students can learn in. The education system does not effectively support the different levels that students are at academically. The greater system puts kids at disadvantages therefore the two systems make it harder for kids with lower skills and less rescoursew to succeed.

The education system obviously has it's flaws but changing one single institution will not solve the greater problem that a student like souleymane faces. The quickest fix you be for the teachers to bend the rules for each students case but that would anger other students and more problems would arise. A systematic change is in need to both the education system and the greater system. I am not sure what kind of change that would entail but the goal in mind ideally would be to help every student succeed and give them the guidance that applies to them personally. As well as closing the gap in academic levels of students at the same time.

HW 48

The super teacher John(since i could come up with a cool name yet) is seen walking to his new school on the first day of class. He is excited about the first day of class at his new school. He walks into the school and goes to the elevator. As he waits for the elevator numerous teachers pass by as they make small remarks about his supposedly bad class. He is a bit nervous but decides to ignore the teachers comments. He gets in to the elevator.

He walks down the hall goes in to his room and starts to set up his room for the first day of class. The bell rings and the teacher is excited to meet his new class. As the students walk in he greets them one by one. They gave him a look as if he was crazy and walk in to class. They all find seats and are busy talking to each other about their summers. He calls for all the students attention and they all look up annoyed. He introduces himself to the whole class and begins to talk about the curriculum for the year. Slowly the students start talking again until the whole class is talking and no one is paying attention to him. He starts to get frustrated but keeps himself under control. He goes through the rest of the class trying to go through the curriculum but the students show no interest. The class ends. He is now shown leaving the school after work walking home. He has a disappointed look on his face.

As he walks a flash back cuts to a problem in his life (relationship problems, alcoholism? something bad) and we learn about the struggles he has go through in his life. He spends the rest of the night at home thinking about what to do with his class.

He is shown the next day in class and has decided that the best way to get the students interest is to show them he is similar to them. They all struggle through problems. All though he is a teacher he similar to them. blah blah blah and stuff like that...

HW 47

1. The teacher has been teaching for many years but was fired from his last job and now is in a new school.

2. The teacher is given a normal class where the students are not exceptionally "bad" however the don't care much about what he has to teach.

3. The teacher has personal problems which affect him in class.

4. The students see his problems and start to relate to him more. They view him less as a teacher and more as an equal.

5. The teacher uses this new relationship with students to get them more interested in is lessons and changes around his curriculum alot.

HW 46

"The night is dark and I am far from home" is a book by Jonathan Kozol discussing the inequalities of the education system in the United States. He focuses in on the racial inequalities and the reasons that they exist. He argues that system in itself is racist and meant to serve the state and produce efficient workers. He shows that the education system is not meant to help the poor but simply turn them in to workers. He argues that the kind of education we have now will not truly educate most of the minority students and he calls for an immanent form of education rather than the traditional transendence method.

This book connects directly to my topic. I am exploring the reasons that racial inequalities exist in our school, and what it would take to get rid of them. The entire book is on this topic.

I think that Kozol makes many valid points throughout the book yet his solution is not one that could realistically succeed in removing the racial inequalities of the education system. One of his major points which is that the system is not meant to help educate minority students but simply turn them in to workers is very true. To eliminate the racial inequalities changes would have to happen in many different institutions and in the system as a whole.