One part of these chapters that really stood out to me is that on page 161 in Chapter 9. It read: "The decision as to what grades and ages, if any, are to be assigned to specific levels must be, we believe, a decision to be reached within each school district on the basis of local data and experience as to developmental levels of children, existing graded school organizations, and school facilities." The problem with this is that it allows for lower standards in urban settings. Having increasingly variable standards from district to district will lead to a lowering of the bar. It will not have the effective amount of oversight. Perhaps in the last 30 years we have focused to much on adjusting the structure of middle schhols, junior highs or whatever you want to call them and not reflected enough on content and how much the kids are learning. Allowing districts to decide their structure and curriculum based on students that are behind other districts is completely regressive. That does not mean that there shouldn't be a community and local influence on the education system, but it has to be a collaboration.
This brings me to a point that I agreed with in chapter 10 (pages 170 - 171). Some of the transformations that could be positive were bullet points on these pages. One was, teach a core academic program that involves CRITICAL THINKING. Second, reengage families in the education of adolescents. In many districts this could be the biggest challenge of them all. However, when successful, it would reap the greatest benefits. A sense of family and values is missing in many districts and a re-urging of that sense will encourage people to care about their child's development and show immediate response.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm not entirely sure what you mean when you say that "a sense of family and values" are missing from some districts. What types of family do you mean? Every kid is from a family. And what types of values? I think the terms "family" and "values" and "family values" have been manipulated by politicians and the media in our society to really comment on a hierarchical view of which families are really being valued over others. Frequently, what we see is a value placed on middle-class nuclear families at the expense of any family form that deviates from this. Although certain districts face more challenges than others, and this can frequently be related to the income of the families represented, I don't think this means that parents in these districts don't care about their children's development.
ReplyDelete