Empowering Education-“Education is Politics” Ira Shor Argument: So, after reading Ira Shor's first few chapters in "Empowering Education" I've summed it up as a pretty decent way to end our reading selection for the semester. There are so many voices, opinions, and ideas that pop into my mind from the pieces we have covered this semester about what we must begin shaping our education system to be in order to keep our students engaged! Shor suggests that schooling is a prominently social experience for children this mostly means that although children are learning about history, English, science and math, they are most intently learning about the society they live in and their role in it. The system we have in our schools now is pushing students away from asking questions about the world and wanting to learn. We have begun duplicating genetically formed kids to think, act, and dream a certain way in order to fit in.. As Shor says "curriculum is one place where dominant culture can either be supported or challenged, depending on the way knowledge is presented and studied" and I believe it's time to challenge the norms and begin using the creative and innovative methods to keep our children engaged and curious!
"Since so much of importance was omitted from their curriculum, students in these low-ability classes were likely to have little contact with the knowledge and skills that would allow them to move into higher classes or to be successful if they got there."
This article discusses how “tracking” students by their academic ability level is detrimental to their learning experience. Student who are tracked as “high-ability” have access to a richer education, better teachers, the importance of development of problem solving, critical thinking, and are expected to do more class/ homework. These “low-ability” children supposedly get a duller education, average educators, and are taught to focus more on life skills. These students are disciplined more often and greatly focus on socializing, class routine more than academic learning.
This topic is definitely a controversial topic because there are two sides to every story.
I do believe that certain aspect of learning are altered when you "track" or group children together by academic ability. As the facts show there are disadvantages, but I've become interested in the advantages of grouping children by academic need. I view ESL as a form of tracking, and these students are all put into a classroom under one impression; Spanish is their first language. SO these students are all clumped into this one classroom.. But is this not beneficial to the kids to be in a classroom full of students who struggle in the same ways? Are their needs not better met in a classroom that specializes in the education of a student whose learning English as their second language? Do the students in these types of classroom not learn because they are considered lower-ability based off of their background? I see an exponential amount of one on one work with teachers, TAs, and mentors, and as our research has shown and Kahne and Westheimer discuss, students strive in these kinds of environments. So in my eyes is see this controversial topic as just that, there are advantages and disadvantages in grouping children and who is to say if this is right or not?
Service Learning
Joeseph Kahne and Joel Westhemier suggest that learning and service reinforce each other and have benefits when used hand and hand. It has been know that Educators and legislators insist that this service provides rich and educational experiences for students at all ages, meaning it it good for the students who are servicing and the students who are learning. The main purpose of service learning is to point out the various ideological, political, and social goals while promoting self-esteem, the development of higher order thinking skills, and making use of all abilities in order to provide an authentic and wholesome learning experience.
Kahne and Westhemier also suggest that students who are interracial or lower-class need this service the most. School is a place where ideas and interests should grow independently and mixing in mentors who are young and actively showing compassion, interest in academics, and social matters acts as living prof that there is more to the world than what your parents preach.
This week, we are orbiting around the idea of the inclusion of all students in classrooms no matter their abilities is necessary as well as beneficial for all students involved.
Quotes
"I don't think, that those special education kids drain anything. That class would not be half of what it is if anyone of those kids got segregated. We're all together in there."
-Kliewer
"When she enrolled in a regular public high school as a freshman,Christine's Individual Education Plan was passed on from her segregated school; it suggested that she had extremely poor motor control, low-level cognitive skills, low-level communication skills, a lack of adaptive skills,
and aggressive "acting-out" behaviors. In the general curriculum of the regular high school, however, these images of defect were dramatically transformed "
-Kliewer
"'Now we know that people with disabilities can learn and have a full, rich life. The challenge is to erase negative attitudes about people with developmental disabilities, get rid of stereotypes and break barriers for people with disabilities."
-Kliewer
Points of discussion:
I found this website called Kids Together Inc and they're an organization whose mission statement is "To promote inclusive communities where all people belong" and on the site I found some benefits of inclusive education for both mainstream students and those with special needs. The evidence is as followed:
Benefits of Inclusion for Students With Disabilities
Friendships
Increased social initiations, relationships and networks
Peer role models for academic, social and behavior skills
Increased achievement of IEP goals
Greater access to general curriculum
Enhanced skill acquisition and generalization
Increased inclusion in future environments
Greater opportunities for interactions
Higher expectations
Increased school staff collaboration
Increased parent participation
Families are more integrated into community
Benefits of Inclusion for Students Without Disabilities
Meaningful friendships
Increased appreciation and acceptance of individual differences
Increased understanding and acceptance of diversity
Respect for all people
Prepares all students for adult life in an inclusive society
Opportunities to master activities by practicing and teaching others
Greater academic outcomes
All students needs are better met, greater resources for everyone
