45, More big thoughts on school

Hirsch and Sizer have many opposing views on education. There is also the simple fact that the focus's are completely two different grade levels. Hirsch focuses on elementary schools while Sizer has his attention on high school. Hirsch believes that "Students should be able to read and know basic number facts by the end of the first grade," while Sizer argues, "Students should leave school as well-informed skeptics, able to ask good questions as a matter of habit". Hirsch began his work as a literary interpreter and began to think about students and books comprehension to read. After giving a test he came up with the "concept of cultural literacy- the idea that reading comprehension requires not just formal decoding skills but also wide-ranging background knowledge". He came up with the conclusion that schools and teachers must teach their students a set curriculum to allow them better understanding of subjects in texts. He also "founded the Core Knowledge Foundation in 1986. While Sizer was best known as the father of the Essential Schools movement, which he founded in 1984. The movement’s umbrella organization, the Coalition of Essential Schools, spans a diverse array of public and private schools united by their adherence to a set of common principles". The idea was that teachers are mere coach's and mentors. In comparison I would say to Hirsch there is the idea of core classes with strict learning materials that go against electives and a more neutral way of constructing what students will learn.

Being at School of the Future for 7 years now and looking back now that I am ready to graduate I can see many of the points and ideas Sizer has put into this school collating with his Coalition of Essential Schools main principles. I think for the most part during my middle school years the habits of mind were drilled into our minds and were a very big part in how we learned the materials from all core subjects. Though I must admit after 3 years of it, it did grow tiring to have it repeated over and over again. But during those years it did prove to me that they made not just myself but other students think deeper and in different ways to things we might not have other wise. It was a great experience which and method to have kids think outside of the box and learning that most other schools do not even have any or that they have more then our 7 its interesting to me how the school or who ever came with just 7, connections, significance, evidence, POV, alternatives, (cant remember the other 2). Once in high school there was not just less talk of the habits of mind there wasn't any unless you count the exhibition process in which we have to do every year so we can graduate. I am not sure if the school actually helped me use my mind well though i think it was a good start. I do believe it wasn't just the courses, core classes and the habits of mind, I think it also had to do with how the teacher taught the class and their attitude toward helping us think out side and more intellectual. But now that I have seen and understood that there are so many more ways to view something, and never just one solid interpretation has helped me keep an open mind in which I can become a better learner. It may just be my dislike for math and numbers but I often held the idea that both math and science would actually be hard subjects to teach and create lesson plans that are for the now and do not only prepare us for skills we will need in the future. So while the english and history classes are more along the line of Sizer's goals the other two, math and science are under the ideas of Hirsch. Though I think Ms. Baker was one of the only math teachers who had come the most close to Sizer's ideas rather then just preparing us for the future while Mr. Tsui this year is always saying how the stuff we are learning will help us in college and later in our lives. There are times though were Tsui or Zitolo have noted the importance of critical thinking and not just seeing everything as black and white like when we learned about Knights and Knaves. There were mathematical ways to figure it out but there was also ways where you just had to look at the problem and figure it out with critical thinking.

My own education for the past 7 years has fallen under the umbrella of Sizer with a little sprinkle here and there of Hirsch. Experiencing them both I feel they are both important in my life with my education. Learning about how to be a critical thinker and how to live our own lives is very important and if not for our society I would say it should be the main concept because really to get through life you need to see things out side of the box and be adapt to thinking more in depth. Though our society does run like that it also runs with power and money hungry people that will stop at nothing to get their way to the top. And to one day join them in the sea we need skills that prepare us for the future and not just ones that help us with ourselves. If no one really learned how to get by in society, it would be tough when we become adults and try to keep a float with everyone else. So in my reasoning both is important though I do like the Immanent part of the education far more interesting since it connects to my life so much more. Which is probably way I never had the taste for math and science, both are interesting subjects to say the least but what will they do for me? Later they will probably useful but now, its only getting through it to get good grades. I think if it was more fun and connected to student's lives more it would be at the forefront of everyones interests.

I have many mixed views on Thomas L. Friedman's piece in the New York Times. Many people are out of jobs and Many companies are either closing or looking for workers that are outside of America. The problem Friedman says is that we are slipping with things that make most countries competitive. If we added in "I.T. infrastructure, economic performance and so on" more job opportunities will be created and once jobs and such settle down, our economy will start to heal itself. In my opinion more and more of infrastructure is a bad thing. We have so much of it already but we are not using it to the full potential. If we create more and more our world will become more and more industrialized and I fear our environment will pay for it. It is already in danger of being polluted, and cut down, and etc. And most of the cases it " just slowly enough so the crisis never seems acute enough to take urgent action." I dont really see school as being the solution for all of this. Schools will better educate students and we learn everything the government wants us to. Perhaps if school's get better there will be some hope for schools to better get the kids to do what they want them to and what they expect them to. But even with school, many students would still be doing and learning what they choose.
I think schools do have the potential to be better and that they should. Education is important for many reasons that people have listed and many reasons that it isnt. For some it is a place to stay off the street, for others its a place to have their first steps of being successful. Schools are all of these. They are what ever the student, teacher, parent and officials want it to be. Though I think there should be more freedom within a school. I feel like that if more and more people put their opinion in schools and how they want it to be, students will only become more and more like the tools of the government. Grownups are always saying that students and children are the future of our society. They hold so many expectations and want so much for us that they push more and more for certain things to be learned. The only trouble with this is that the whole economy is screwing up the schools. Schools are closing down, teachers are out of jobs, student metro cards will soon be gotten rid of and this will cause more and more students to drop out of schools for ones closer to them. if we are truly the future of our nation and whatnot, then the government and officials should take better care of the schools.
I think we can always count on schools to teach us something. But not just the regular curriculum but also important life lessons. Children are always going to be pushed or pulled by the people around them. There will always be influences from every direction, parents expect certain things, other family member too, teachers, grownups, other students. At home its much more of the parents influencing the students with their views and beliefs. I am not saying in school that this wont happen, Im saying there will be so many more views and beliefs that the child is exposed to so much more that they can open their mind and decide what they believe in and view. School gives kids this option. But more and more I feel certain schools arent thinking about the students but what they want out of them. Even Obama goes into discussing what is asked of us. What responsibilities each role has in terms of schools. He doesnt mention what is in the students needs as children to learn and do. Yes we are students but we are still kids and we cant be expected to act like adults and learn everything and act like little robots. We are human and these needs such as wanting to play outside, more creativity, gym time, music, and such can not be taken from us. Schools have the responsibility to the students to play to their needs. Not just to sit there and learn what they are told to. The best teachers I had were ones that actually made the courses interesting by relating them to things we are interested in. It may be false to lure kids in with this but if it gets them to learn then why not especialy if after a while they actually want to learn.

Journaling about school

I think my earliest memories of school was going to the petting zoo with my class and we had so much fun getting to pet the chickens and cows. I remember having my best friend with me, cause we lived in the same building and we went to the same school, so for the first day it was great cause we both already knew each other. I also remember getting to know Yan, who was very shy but I went over to her anyway and after that we were the best of friends. Unfortunately most of my memories of school are not so much the things I had learned but the people I met. Although I do remember one thing from science where we were learning about plants and we would always do this fun activity to keep the stages of photosynthesis in mind. I also remember during my 3rd grade year we had a class pet and all the other classes were jealous. We got to name him Sebastian and even got to pick him out. O I remember when U got into middle school a lot of my friends would say that they had dance class at their school or something and I never had that but we did have cooking. One time, chef's came to our school and taught us how to cook and make salads and we actually held a restaurant in our lunch room and waited on our parents. I think now more then before I am actually enjoying what I am learning but I do miss all the creative classes I used to have in elementary school like acting, music, art, gym. We even had a huge play ground and basket ball courts where after lunch we had time to play in. I used to miss that the most when I got into middle school.
The first memory of middle school was everyone meeting up in the gym and we did all these fun activities to get to know each other. There were only 3 people from my old school but I remember everyone else had tons of people they knew. And that as the year went by those people dropped out of SOF. So I basically started over fresh with new people. Now looking back on it, its funny to me how many people we go through along the way. So many different friends that aren't there anymore. But that sometimes thats what has to happen for the new ones to come in. I think well for me as i got older school wasnt just about learning anymore, it was also about being with friends.

42: extra insights after research

Do school's help in the development of social skills better then that of home schooling? It is in fact the opposite way around. Many have always argued that kids that are home schooled are deprived of mixing in with kids their own age which makes them socially awkward around many other people. But it is in fact found that regular schooling is the one that is bad for kids social skills being around kids their same age.

The social aspect of school for me is important in my own life. I think for the most part if it were not for school I would not have the many friends that I do today. It has helped me meet new people and has taught me many things. For me being shy has always seemed like a disadvantage because I did not talk a lot and some times am over looked. But being around my friends and watching them (oddly I have a lot of loud friends) I dont always seem to nervous talking with other people. This was my first thoughts going into my project but after researching it I felt like I got a better understanding of my views on the topic even if some of them remained the same. I was figured that kids who were home schooled, had missed out on a lot because they werent always around many kids and must seem lonely. I learned though that it is the opposite. Home schooled kids are actually more adequate to socialize not just with other kids their age but adults because they have learned respect. Often times you always hear kids talking back to their teachers in school or not respecting them, by always talking and disrupting the class. This effects the other students learning and makes it hard to figure out whats the right thing to do and act. There will always be more peer pressure on kids that go to school, because they have so many influences and the need to fit in far outways anything else. Home schooled kids are freed from these pressures. They don't have to worry about not fitting in and impressing other people. they also dont have to worry about other kids bothering their learning. They also I bet, get out more and see the world then kids that go to school. They grow and learn in much more of an open environment then we do. These outings and visits help them interact with many new people. I think i agree with this, but my understanding of home schooling will always on the side that regular school is not so much better but at least for me the more comfortable match. I think with home schooling I would always wish I go to school and got to hang with people and make friends with kids my own age. I think either or, the kid would want the other not really knowing which one would be better.
Both school and home schooling are great ways for kids to learn both social skills and other many lessons. But I think the same questions we got about school would still fall under home schooling. Is home schooling the best? What gets taught at home? Should the kids get to pick? Some of the same we asked about regular school.