"Great Educator"

Dewey argued that social influences are the “great educator” and that schools are only a secondary agent.  Social influences are important for the children as they are exposed to a variety of context as they grow from 0-to 5 years old and beyond.  The children come to our schools with personalities that are beginning to experience their preference and their learning styles.  The parent’ home and structure influence greatly the child.  Children that are growing in a structure household with a caring and loving family are able to adapt to the new changes that school present to them.  Students that are part of an affluent neighborhood received a vested amount of social influence and social experience that enrich their life.  The student is able to develop a background knowledge that will help them to develop critical thinking and evaluating skills.  Because of the exposure to new things in a frequent amount of time, these students receive education and educator as a facilitator.  They want to be in control of their learning, because many times they can request how much assistance or independent work they can do according with their interest.  In this case, education is a secondary agent.

What happen to those children that do not have many positives social influence? Those children that do not have positive influence will require a different set of teaching and caring skills that other students to teach them to be productive at school.  Those students will need to learn social conduct that helps them interact with other students and adults.  Connection, safety, love and emotional support help those students to belong to a group, to experience a sense of family and to drop their affective filter toward others.  When the affective filter is lower, students are ready to learn and participate better in the learning process.  But when the affective filter is higher, students are not able to learn to their maximum potential.

Students that come to school every day without the appropriate support at home do not have the correct social influence.  These students have an emotional support through the television screen and the video games (Video Games is not use as an educational tool). They arrive to their homes after school and spend hours playing video games and watching television.  What kind of social influence are they receiving from the television and the video games screen?  Are all those influence re-directed and challenges? Or do they accept them as this is the way that the world operates?  These questions should lead us to be aware of the students’ need, and then educators will target not only the content area but the human being too. 

In conclusion, we are living times where the “great educator” is not social influence in isolation the one that help the child to learn and become a successful thinker and learner.  Social influence that are well directed and working together with the school are becoming an important factor of human being/academic students’ success.

Hidden Curriculum

Hegemony according with the Webster dictionary is influence or authority over others; the social, cultural, ideological or economic influence exerted by a dominant group.  Tozer explains the term hegemony as the unequal power relationships between two or more cultures, ideologies, socioeconomic groups, etc.

The hidden curriculum brings information and knowledge that serves a purpose to a social, cultural, or economic group.  Hidden curriculum sometimes is difficult to identify by the citizens because it is embedded in the curriculum.  People with critical thinking are able to identify the hidden curriculum. 

Cultural hegemony it happens in school todays because the school and the dominant culture, influence the learning, knowledge and outcome of the citizen that will become American society in the future.   Education system is transferring the core knowledge that a dominant culture decides that will benefit the future society. 

As I was reading about cultural hegemony, I remember how education was a way to influence Native Americans to learn and assimilate White – European rationale about land ownership, economic and the possible benefit of changing their mindset from collective culture to a more individualistic culture.  Education provided in the Boarding School was teaching Native American Reading, Math, Science, English Language, etc.  In addition to teach the content areas mentioned before, the hidden curriculum was teaching the Native American to adopt the values and ideologies of the dominant racial and cultural group.  Eventually, Native Americans that returned to their home after their education in the boarding school shared their new values and perspectives with their previous generations.

Cultural hegemony could affect school today because even though that the United States is a diverse society (multicultural) the educational curriculum used in the school system teach about the values of the dominant culture, and dominant economic groups.  The media, the communication tools and the curriculum is a reflection of these groups.  White middle class citizen or wealthy citizens are the group of people that make decision on behalf of the teachers and students in the education system.  The textbooks and curriculum is a reflection of their decision, interests and their values.  Technology such as television, internet, and news on the web as well as other publications are an extension and reflection of the perspectives of the leading culture.

History textbooks are a real example about the hidden curriculum in a cultural hegemony society, its reveals the perspective of one group in the historical event, scarcely reveal the point of view and perspective of all the groups involve in the historical event.  Then, students learn to understand history from one perspective.  Educators need to teach students to learn more than one perspective and to be able to think critically about the historical events.

Reading selections that has been adopted in the public schools are making the effort to select stories that are relevant to the diverse student population in our schools.  Culture and family values from various ethnic groups are part of the new reading selections for elementary school.  Also, the goal of education today, is educate all students to be good and knowledgeable citizen of the American society, the future generation that will direct this country. 

Reference:

Webster dictionary retrieve from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hegemony

Tozer, S. E., Senese, G., & Violas, P.C. (2009). School and society:  Historical contemporary  
      Perspectives (6^th ed.). New York, NY:  McGraw-Hill.

School Reform

School reform is a process that needs the voices of all stakeholders to be heard because their participation affects the success of the reform.  The state and federal level many times provide the mandates that are the foundation for change in the educational system.  Then, school board members and school leaders provide a way to communicate the reform to the community and at the same time they become an advocate for the community as needed. 

Schools reform cannot happen if the teachers that are usually the implementers are against the changes.  Teachers need to have a clear understanding of the changes, the rationale of them, and a clear understanding of how to implement them.  During this process, check points are helpful to evaluate if they are achieving the goals or they need clarification from a trusted source. 

Teachers and administrators are generally approached by the parents that seek information about the reform.  Teachers should provide accurate information or direct parents to seek information in the district’s office.  Administrators could support teachers by providing resources, time and training in support of the reform.  As the reform gets established the school system must be open to make the appropriate adjustment to respond to the stakeholders’ needs.

The voices heard in the David School are the community, the parents, the teachers, the administrators and the students’ voices.  The David School is a response to the need of a community for providing a vital opportunity for students who did not have any opportunity to succeed in the public school system.  The teachers and administrators of the David School listen to the concerns of students and their families, and as a result they take their matters into consideration as part of the students’ educational experience.  This is the reason why the Principal’s home visit becomes so important in the process of students education.  Also, David School makes education meaningful to the students by teaching the curriculum according to their skill level, and their interests, in order to help them reach their academic goal.

Gender Equity

The issue of gender bias has been present in our society.  Gender bias among male and female in a professional, leadership, educational, economically, and family roles is evident throughout history and time.  Females in the past have had fewer opportunities to participate is areas where the male have full participation such as professional fields (math and science study and profession, medicine, veterinary, etc.)  Men used to have the leadership positions, the control on the industries that promote economic growth in the United State Society.  Men were able to pursue higher education and the opportunity of getting stronger on philosophy, history, etc.  The social interaction for men morally and family wise favor them to fully participate with freedom and independence.  Nevertheless, woman did not have access to professional preparation through higher education just in certain field such as education.  Math and science professions did not have many women participants.  Leadership positions for women were limited to the influence that they can make through the figure of the men through marriage relationships or fatherhood relationships.  Also, women were totally associated with their role of taking care of the family and the household, because of this responsibilities that they stay at home.     

Through the years and decades after the following important events: The Seneca Falls as the first convention of women right, the Equal Pay Act, the Civil Rights Act and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that promote not discrimination on work and education opportunities based on gender.  The male and female gender participation has improved in United States.  Females are increasing their educational background, their professional participation, their graduate rate and their contribution in the economic and work force of our days.  Since the 1960’s women have received their professional degree in Physical Science, Mathematics as well as in other areas such as education, Language, etc.  Females are working outside of their home and they are an active part of the economic development. Nevertheless, they are also suffering a duality in their roles.  They work outside the home and bring an income for their household.  Also, they need to continue accomplishing their responsibilities as a mother and house keeper.  The new women’s role in the 21^st Century Society creates women that multitask a lot.   

           From the classroom and educational point of view females and males have equal opportunity of getting an education; it is mandatory for both sexes. However, female students are more mature and more able to work with the culture of the school.  They are able to stay focus and complete their work.  Male students many times their immaturity or active behavior interfere with their academic achievement and performance. Females usually express their ideas and their knowledge in different way than the males do.  Also, we need to consider that cultural background of the females and males population at school can contribute with how both sexes interact and learn. 

Educators are facing a new challenge, educating males and females today must be active, hands-on, engaging and technology oriented.  The Education Systems in United States need to take advantage of the knowledge that students bring with them.  They need to use technology in the classroom because is part of their daily life.  Then, technology and hand-on activity might be the key to engage males in learning experiences that are significant to them.  In my district teachers work with students and recognize that the issues of gender bias could surface, but we are very aware of it.  So the district and their teachers work with females and males using technology and small group instruction as a way to teach them and guide them to reach their full potential.

           In the film “Country Boys” gender bias was not part of the film.  The characters of the film were boys with different situations to tackle based on economic situation, poverty and family issues. The teachers and principal deal with the boys with respect and appeal to the need of the students.  The female students have their personal issues also but they handle it different.  Family roles among females and males were exchanged.  For example Chris’ mom works outside the home to support the household because of the alcohol problem of his dad.  The principal is a female in a leadership position that understands the need of the students.  Moreover, the David School works with all students of their institution toward the goal of teaching them the knowledge that they need to become mature, independent and responsible citizen despite their gender.

         In conclusion the issue of gender could be blown up due to the eyes of the beholder and the particular situation.  Today gender equity gap is getting closer rather than extended.  What do you think?

Rita

           Ms. Rita is a leader with social justice in mind.  I think she will foster a curriculum that all students will access and benefit from it.  Ms. Rita will work with all students at the David School.
          She will bring her experiences from Wilson Middle School to David School.  She learned how to work with a multicultural diverse population and with economically disadvantage students.  She was aware of their need; as a principal she knew that students and their family wanted to be integrated as part of the educational community too.

Ms. Rita will need to learn about the culture of the Appalachian hills of Floyd Country in eastern Kentucky.  The students in this region have a variety of situations.  She is a leader with previous experience in the educational system or public school.  Now, she will be working with students that were not able to succeed in the public school system. These students are below grade level in content areas. A positive note is that Ms. Rita as a classroom teacher in the Basic Skills class was able to work with students with academic challenges.  She understands the importance of making education relevant to the students and thinks outside of the box in order to teach students with a variety of necessities.  Also, she knows that communication with students is crucial to develop a full understanding of their background, where they are coming from and what is their current situation.  Good communication and empathy are traits that will support Ms. Rita as a leader in David School.  She will be able to connect with students and families as she visits the students’ homes and gather vital information from the students’ families.

She will be able to gather resources to build a strong Art program in the David School. David School is not affiliated with a District many of their funds are by grants, sponsors, and other kind of funding.  I think this is an element that she could develop further by using what the school already has through the music teacher, and expanded with other options such as drama, art and music.  She can use the culture of the Appalachian as a springboard: their songs, their history can be integrated in the program.  David School wants to make education relevant and related to the real life of the students.  Students have talents that could be used as a platform to develop other contents areas and build the community where they come from.  Cross curriculum contents areas can happen through an Art Program too.  She will be enhanced David School with her leadership.