Homeschooling Panel

To often I think people get a negative view of homeschooling, and I felt this panel did a very good job addressing the positive aspects of schooling children at home. There is a very good chance my children will go to a public school, considering I will be teaching at one. However, this made me consider what it would be like to teach my child at home. They wouldn't have bells to interrupt their learning. They wouldn't have to change from subject to subject. If they are really into math at the time, they could push through as much of the material as they want, grade after grade if wanted, until they needed a break. Students schooled at home get much more one-on-one time and don't have to compete for the attention of the teacher.

I think there is a lot we as future educators can learn from home schooling. After taking Paideia 2, we all know that changing the school system is alot easier to discuss then to actually do. However, I think there are things that homeschooling offers that we need to look closer into and try to incorporate into the public education system.

Religion in U.S Schools

I wrote my Response Paper #4 on religion in U.S schools. I discussed the three paths schools could take when deciding what parts of religion to include in their curriculum. They can leave religion out entirely and ignore its existence, they can teach the Creationism and Darwin sides entirely, or they can embark on the path less traveled and offer multiple religions and allow the students (and parents) the option of which to study. I like the third option best. The idea I propose in my paper is that this would happen in the form of one course that has units on a variety of religions. The requirements for this class could be something like this; students are required to attend 3 of the 6 units offered on the chosen religions for the course. Religions could be chosen from a survey of the religions the students are most interested in learning about. If an assignment or lecture came up that was offensive to the student’s beliefs, they would be excused from it and given an alternative assignment. I think this is a good idea, because it allows parents to have a say in what units they want their child attending. It also doesn't force Christianity or Darwinism on the students, but lets them select what religions they are interested in studying. I don't think a school should entirely ignore religion in their curriculum, and this option makes it possible to include it.

Chocolate Milk

My nutrition teacher just informed the class that she wrote an article in response to Decorahs chocolate milk challenge, and it got published. I was really glad to hear this, because I found it unbelievable that they would participate in such an event. Granted, I can see where their thinking was coming from; most people do associate any type of milk as being good, or if anything, better than pop. However, chocolate milk is just as bad as pop. It has 23 grams of sugar in 8 ounces! That causes your insulin leaves to rise drastically, and only leaves you craving more sugar 2 hours later when those levels drop. I hate to think that the Decorah schools caused children to turn to chocolate milk, and thus, turn to even more bad eating habits.

I think nutrition is something that is not enforced enough in schools. School lunches are terrible, not just in taste, but in their nutrient contents as well. Obesity is at its worst and only growing. We as educators need to do what we can to better educate our students so they choose to eat well, before their habits become addictions.

Progressive vs Traditional Education

Monday in class we discussed progressive vs. traditional education. When asked to sit on the side of the room that favored the type of education you thought best, I sat in the middle. I think that education needs to be a mix of both progressive and traditional. I feel that when students are younger, they need a little more direction in the classroom. They don't really know what is best for them, and may not have yet discovered their talents and what they like best. The traditional education in younger years helps give students a look into the core subjects and a taste of everything. As students get older, I think that giving them a little more freedom through progressive education would be beneficial to the learner. Once students have touched into different areas, they will hopefully have been able to figure out their interests. Now, they will be able to choose for themselves what things they would like to study. I think the transformation from a more traditional education towards a loser, progressive education, would be something that students could really excel with.

Response to article "Firing Bad Teachers"

I was reading over the comments people posted on the article "Firing Bad Teachers." Firing bad teachers seems like it would be the simplest and most appealing thing for schools to do, in order to make sure students have the most beneficial instructors. However, if we were to do this there would be other serious problems we would have to deal with. Think of inner city schools, for example. If we were to fire teachers there because the students grades did not show improvement, it would be even harder to find staff to fill their positions. With this being said, however, I feel that teachers do need to take responsibility for their students success, to some extent. I also think that administrators need to look at the personal of the students, and their personal achievements. Maybe they haven't quite met NCLB standards, but are they improving? I feel that this is a very important component when considering to fire or not fire a teacher.

Should schools specialize education more?

This week in our group meetings and also brought up in class, was the discussion as to if we should let students "specialize" in something more than we do now. So many students get to college and even graduate, still not knowing that they want to 'do' with the rest of their lives. Would giving students more chances to dip their feet into different areas before college, lead students down a path suited for them? I feel it would be really helpful if schools would build in time for job shadowing or somehow getting the students to explore professions. I have never really looked into other occupations besides teaching; who's to say something else would have clicked had I had the chance to have been exposed to different fields?
My group in class talked about how Switzerland has a built in time where students go to a junior college and specialize in something, then go to college and major in it if they like it. The junior college is required, and a time built in to explore different fields.
I'm not really sure how or where schools would find the time to do this, but I think it would be a very helpful thing to preventing so much daddling once college arrives.

Response to "Domesiticty in the federal Indian Schools..." article

In schools, students are taught about the civil rights movement, slavery and how blacks were treated. Rarely do students learn about Native Americans and their history with white folks. Maybe that is why I found this article jaw dropping. Once again I learned about how whites treated another group of human beings, this time through federal boarding schools.

I found it horrible that federal boarding schools forbade native language use and religious practice, while also separating families. How horrible would it be to go to a school that did not let you speak your native language, turn to the religion that you grew up with, and not be with your family? Along with being in an entirely new surrounding, that would be horrible. Along with this, in the actual classrooms a "rigid and detailed military discipline that scheduled every waking moment, organized classrooms and work details, and even mandated a "correct" physical posture, "correct" ways of moving and exercising, and "correct details of dress." I would never want to be apart of a school like that, and i think its horrible what these reservation teachers thought would mold the students mind and make them better people.

Through all the horrible facts of this article, I did find it funny that the students were able to somehow maintain control over some aspect of their lives. I really enjoyed reading the bloomer stories. I liked how they tricked the inspectors during inspection, and then hide their bloomers in bushes. I was glad that the students had enough courage to not conform to everything the school tried to implement.

Reflection on 1st Response Paper

I really enjoyed getting together with people who wrote about similar paper topics as mine. It was interesting to hear what they wrote about, and their opinions on Harry Brighouse's "On Education" book. In my paper I said that I liked his theory of education, however, after listening to my classmates reviews on his book, I realized he isn't able to back up all of his information. I do not think that happiness and flourishing are the same things. I really feel that someone could be happy and not be what society views as living a 'successful' life, and rising up the finical ladder. It was nice being able to discuss our ideas of flourishing amongst one another.
I think that in order for a person to live a flourishing life, they must meet three things. They have to have the capability for economic stability, they need to find personal interests, and they need to learn how to be a good citizen. If they can meet these 3 areas, happiness should follow.