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.