What is the Purpose of Public Education in a Democracy?

It has become clear to me that the purpose of public education in a democracy is to simply help children to be good open minded citizens. A public school should not just dump information into a kids head and say there you go you can leave now. A public school should take a child and do the best they can do to expand that child's way of thinking. Teach them the laws of our society and teach them how to work with others of all kinds. A child who has good critical thinking skills and can get along with other kids and people is a child who will grow up to be successful. A main part of life is the different interactions a person has with other people. A school needs to show kids that no one is better than anyone else and that they need to work and interact well with others in order to be successful in different tasks. If that can be taught along with allowing the kids to think through problems using each other as outlets for help then the kids in these school will grow up to be good citizens which is what the purpose of public education is. I feel everyone will have different views on what the purpose of public education is. I also feel there is no definite concrete answer, but i feel that if our society is going to survive and become stronger this is what public education has to do.

My second try at Montclair

This year I am technically a Sophomore. If you look at how long I have been in school I should have been graduating this year. When I first got into Montclair I did not know what it was I wanted to do. I stopped going to all my classes, but never dropped them. I failed all of them. I was put on academic probation so i went to Bergen for a year. When I got back into Montclair I had a GPA of 0.87. I spent one whole year retaking everything I failed in the past in order to get a respectable GPA. Now I am here just starting to get into what it is to be a teacher. I am happy with myself and the progress I have made since my first try at Montclair. I still have trouble managing my time sometimes and getting myself motivated to do the work, but I have come a long way from my 0.87 GPA. In a way i am happy that this incedent has happened to me. It has shown that I really can do whatever I want if I put my mind to it. It usually takes a lot for me to put my mind to something, sort of like failing out of school, but at least I know I can do it if I had to. Before this I did not believe in myself so much. It has made me a better person, and a harder worker. I do wish that I was done with school by now like I should have been, but everything happens for a reason so I am ok with where I am at right now.

What am I learning from my Inquiry Project?

I am learning things about No Child Left Behind that i never knew before I started doing this Inquiry Project. Before this project I just thought No Child Left Behind was some program that people did not like because it made kids take tests. That explanation alone shows how little I used to know about this topic. After doing the research for this project I can now understand why so many people do not like No Child Left Behind. One thing i learned was about how schools are getting shut down because they are not meeting their Adequate Yearly Progress. I used to just think when a school did not meet their AYP there was just some sort of penalty or something to that effect. Instead I found out that schools will sometimes be closed down when they can not meet their AYP. I do not understand how that is something that can help children. The kids are having a hard time meeting the standards set for them, so instead of giving them more help we will just shut the school down. To me that makes no sense. One other thing I did not know was how much time is actually spent teaching for the HSPA. I never realized how much time is taken away from other things in order to try to prepare these kids for these tests. They spend so much time practicing for the HSPA that they start resenting and hating it. Kids will then miss class when they know they are going to do more HSPA studying. I figure that if you want a child to do good on a test or with anything they have to enjoy what they do. Constantly pounding this information into a kids head over and over and over again is only going to make them hate it.

Service/Meetings at Arts

By going to the two meetings and completing the community service at Arts has given me some insight to what exactly i will be getting myself into. For community service I helped the guidance office organize all of the contestants in this contest that was going on between different high schools in Newark. I got to watch the videos that these kids put together and they were very powerful things to see. Some of the problems these kids talked about in their poems and videos are things I have not even been through before in my life. By doing this service it has shown me that I have to be prepared for everything. Certain kids might go through certain things other kids do not go through. I have to be ready to maybe see or hear about things I am not used to. The meetings I attended at Arts also had the same effect on me. I attended two staff meetings at Arts and the second one stood out more than the first one. At the second meeting the faculty was talking about the end of the year and students who were close to missing more days then they were allowed to and still pass. There was a list passed around of all the kids who had an outstanding amount of absences and the reasons why they were out so many times. I will not go into the reasons why some were out, but i will say that some of the things were surprising to me. Like i said before, these two things have opened my eyes a little to the fact that everything is not just good and easy. I know now things will be tough being a teacher, but i feel like i am ready for it.

NCLB

The No Child Left Behind Act is supposed to be a good thing for schools. When you simply hear about it, it does seem like a good plan. A plan that makes sure that kids are all learning the same thing and need to pass tests in order to show they know it sounds like a good thing. The problem is it is not as good as it sounds. Yeah the idea seems like a good idea, but when you really think about it there are problems. One thing i feel is a problem is that some kids are just bad test takers. This whole act is based on standardized testing and if some kids are not good at testing chances are those kids will never really do well on the test. Another thing that is wrong with this act is it is forcing teachers to teach for the test. The teachers have limited time to be creative with kids and branch off into different things because they have to make sure their kids know the material for the tests. Yes, know the stuff you need to know to take these tests are important, but when a teacher has to make sure everything gets covered by a certain time in a certain way it leaves them now time to do other things with the kids. Sometimes open discussions about things that are not exactly in the curriculum can help kids learn better, but teachers cannot do things like that because they have to make sure they teach for the test. No Child Left Behind is something that is forcing kids through school which is not letting them get the other information outside of the testing information that they need in order to be successful. It is a good idea, but it needs to be changed in order to fit students better and not just push them through school.

What is the role of public education in creating citizens?

I feel public education does play a role in creating citizens. When you think about it young kids spend more time in school then they do at home with their parents. Since kids spend so much time in school with teachers, it should be part of their jobs to make sure the kids they are teaching are becoming responsible and good citizens. Kids need to learn the laws of the world and how to interact with other people in school. Kids also need to learn how to be open minded. In the world we live in today, we need citizens who have an open mind, and who can listen to different ideas. Things in our world are so diverse. There are so many different kinds of people in the world who have so many different ideas and ways of doing things. Kids need to learn that that is ok. Kids need to learn that being different or doing something a different way than you might do it yourself is not a bad thing. There are so many adults today who do not think that. This is why kids today should be taught in school how to interact with people who are different from how they are. A society that is always changing needs to have citizen that can change along with it. If kids can learn at a young age how to treat people and get along with people who are different they will have a better chance at living a good life, because most of life is based on interactions with other people. If a kid learns to listen to peoples ideas and be able to see where a person is coming from even if they do not agree with it themselves, that is what will make them a good citizen.

Art's High School: After Orientation

I really enjoyed Arts High School. Like I said in my previous blog i was very nervous to go. I did not know what to expect or how it would go. Once i got there I did end up relaxing. I was really surprised by the school. I do not want to sound ignorant or anything, but when i heard we had to go to a school in Newark I did not expect the school to be as nice as Arts was. The building was very nice and the artwork that was all over the school was very good. I never felt bored walking through the school because everywhere you went there was something colorful and beautiful to look at. I think the way the school tries to incorporate all of the arts into every subject like math and history is amazing. I think the kids in this school are incredibly talented to be able to do the stuff they do. The performance the girl gave in the beginning of the day was very good too. She did it with passion and not just to get it over with. You can tell that the kids there take what they do very seriously and have the potential to do great things.

Even though I really enjoyed the school i am still nervous about the shadowing and the service we have to do there. Going to the school really put into perspective what it is I am about to get in to. As of right now all i have ever done in life was attend school as a student. This is going to be the first time i am going to get a taste of what it actually is to be a teacher. I know we wont really be teaching and rather doing more observing, but its still a little scary for me to be on the opposite side of things. Despite all that, I am looking forward to observing and taking part in things at Art's High School for the semester.

Art's High School

I am extremely nervous about attending Art's High School tomorrow. I have never done anything like this before in my life. I have always been unsure about what it is I really want to do with my life. I took the time and thought about it and decided that working with kids as a physical education teacher, but up until this point all i have really done is take some education courses and sit in a desk as a student. Now that I have to turn around and actually have to start seeing what teachers do I am very scared and nervous. I honestly sometimes am scared that I might not be able to do it.

As for my assumptions about visiting Newark, I have a few. I have never really spent a lot of time in Newark, so most of what I know about it is from the news. I do feel that it is a dangerous place, but i do not think that every part of it is dangerous. I really think that even though I am nervous about the trip, I really do think that at the end of it i am going to leave there feeling differently. From the website I can tell that this school is a great school. The kids seem like they are going to be very welcoming and easy to get a long with, and i feel that once i get in there I will loose my nervousness and become pretty comfortable. I feel that this will be a good experience for me and everyone else in the class, and I am looking forward to seeing what Art's High School can teach me.

How can understanding demographics help us better understand teaching and learning?

Before taking this class I never really thought demographics were important for teachers. You go to school, you teach what you have to teach, and the kids learn it. After reading the Hodgkinson article and listening to our in class discussion I realized I was completely and totally wrong. Demographics helps a person know who the kids are you will be teaching. They let a person know where these kids are coming from, what language is their main language, what is their family's income, and maybe what their family background is like. Demographics help a teacher prepare for the classes they will be teaching. A teacher has to be prepared based on the area they will be teaching in. Demographics can help a teacher develop lesson plans and activities that can benefit the types of kids they will be teaching. Certain kids from a certain area might not learn or relate to things the way kids from a different area relate to them.

Even though Demographics can help tremendously, they cannot prepare a teacher completely. When it comes down to it, demographics can help a person understand the area they will be teaching in, but they cannot let a teacher experience the exact kids they will be teaching before they actually start teaching them. A teacher can have an idea of what might be a good way to teach something, but I feel that they never really know for sure until they get into the classroom with the actual class. It is not exactly easy to teach in today's world, especially where we live. There are many places where the classroom will be filled with 20-30 kids, all from a different background and with different needs. To me there is no real easy way of teaching. Things like demographics though can help a teacher prepare as well as they possibly can for the school they will be teaching in, but until they actually step foot into the classroom they will not have a completely clear picture of what it will be like.

What is the Purpose of School?

I feel that the main purpose of school obviously is to educate children so they have the knowledge they need in order to go out into the world and be able to function as a member of society and provide for themselves. To me school is more than just the actual curriculum though. I think it is very important to learn adding, subtracting, reading, and other essential skills a person needs to function in the world, but teaching only those things are not exactly enough. I feel school in a way has to teach kids how to get along with other people, and how to act like a respectable and good mannered person. Some people will say that is the parent's job, and it is the parent's job, but should not be limited to just the parent's job. Parents usually work long days and sometimes are not capable of spending the amount of time that they want and should spend with their kids. I am not saying that this is right, but in the world we live in today it is a reality. People need to work longer hours or extra days in order to have the money to provide for their family, and do not get to do some of the things they should be doing. This is why i think schools should also teach kids how to get along with one another, and how to act towards other people. Young kids usually learn things like this in Pre-k and Kindergarten. In these grades a lot of teaching about sharing with other and things of that nature are taught which i think is a good thing. For some children school is the only place where they interact with other children their age. For this reason i think school has some responsibility in teaching them how to interact and behave with other children and not just how to read and write. Like i said in the beginning, I do not think it is the schools complete and absolute responsibility to make sure the children in the school grow up to be well mannered citizens. I ultimately feel the parents should be the ones who are the main teachers of that, but i do feel the school should also play a role in teaching those things since children spend most of their early life in school.