What I found most interesting about today and the reading is the idea of needing to change the U.S. education system toward a more critical thinking and less “drill and kill”. The Ken Robinson video reinforced this idea of a need to change the education system. The idea of changing away from a manufacturing approach to a more agriculture approach made sense to me. Matt brought up the point of should the education for someone in New York City be the exact same as in Northern Idaho. I agree with there are some common things everybody should learn to be productive members of society. But I don’t think the education should be the same across the board there needs to be some regional component or just an opportunity to allow a region to educate their children
The book really pointed out the still large gap between whites and minorities in terms of funding and access to opportunity. I realized this existed to some extend but not to this degree. I was completely shocked by all the accounts of poor districts using substitutes for the entire school year and that they weren’t talking about long term subs but one class have so many different teachers the students couldn’t remember their names. If my child had that many different teachers I would be enraged with the school district. How can they possible think children can learn under those circumstances?
The reading pointed out how the educational system was doing a better job during the 70’s and then took a big drop during the late 80s when the Regan administration reduced or eliminated many federal programs supporting college access and support to poor areas. I was kind of surprised by the effect this had on the education system in such a short time.
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