Talking Points Shor- Education is Politics

“You must arouse children's curiosity, and make them think about school. For example, it's very important to begin the school year with a discussion of why we go to school. Why does the government force us to go to school? This would set a questioning tone and show the children that you trust them and that they are intelligent enough, at their own level, to investigate and come up with answers. A school year that begins with questioning school could be a remarkably democratic and critical learning experiences for students.”

In my opinion this is a very good idea, why not question why we are forced to go to school? If you can discuss this and create hypothetical scenarios like “what would it be like if we weren’t made by law to go to school?” I would ask students what they think would happen if this were so and if they would choose to go to school or not go. Obviously some kids choose not attending, this is where I would have to have these students question themselves, their choice and what they think would happen to them further on in life if they did not have an education. Then have the other students who would opt to go to school explain why they would want to go to school and what will come of their decision. I think this would make for a very good discussion in any classroom.

“If the student’s task is to memorize rules and existing knowledge, without questioning the subject matter or learning process, their potential for critical thought and action will be restricted.”

I strongly agree with this quote, without questioning anything, how do you really learn anything? I’m not saying you don’t learn from just reading and memorizing, you obviously do, but learning that way is kind of being programmed like a robot in a factory, it knows what it’s programmed and then does the task it’s programmed to do. This may be a bit of an extreme analogy, but I remember cramming for tests in high school the night before and then regurgitating the info the next day on the exam, getting a good grade, but if I took a similar or even the same test a month later without preparation I wouldn’t remember most of the information and do poorly on the test. It was like a programmed myself to take that particular test. I always learned better in a discussion type setting asking questions, getting answers and then discussing and elaborating on those answers. The way our class is conducted is much more likely to get me to learn rather than read the book and take the test which was like a class I had last semester and I hardly remember anything from that class and that was only 5 months ago.

“School funding is another political dimension of education, because more money has always been invested in the education of upper-class children and elite collegians than has been spent on students from lower-income homes and in community colleges. Moreover, testing policies, in which women and minorities have traditionally scored lower than men and whites.”

I chose this quote because it really supports the “culture of power” concept and also made me think of the Johnson reading as well as the Anyon and Oakes readings with it referring to the education of upper class children and how they are more advantaged than the lower class by having more opportunities. It’s rather apparent that white privilege gives the upper class and elite much more of an advantage over everyone else where the school system is underfunded. This is too bad because the students without privilege are the ones who need the most help and a student who has great potential my just be left behind due to the fact that they didn’t have an outlet or opportunity to express or use their potential.