Getting Off Track
Another education class tonight, and I’m trying to process everything that we discussed. It’s weird – the economic disparities underlying education in this country, and the way those play into racial/ethnic distinctions, seems like an undercurrent of the class, and something that’s very much on the mind of the professor. But it’s not being brought to the fore in a systematic way, so that people can understand it and use it to analyze other issues.
We spent a lot of time talking about the notion of tracking in public schools tonight, for example. And as someone who took a lot of honors classes in school, I know I felt a little defensive about the idea that my own education didn’t live up to the democratic ideals I have now. And then right at the end of the discussion, someone else mentioned that so far neither we nor the textbook had discussed the contrast between public schools and expensive private schools in terms of creating separate expectations for students. Which was a really good point, but one that kind of implied that the entire discussion so far had been kind of missing a key piece, you know?
Look, I’m all for making students construct knowledge for themselves. But I still kinda think that a little more structure would be helping us do so more efficiently.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.
Thursday, January 25th 2007 at 1:50 pm |
I hope you don’t mind me asking a personal question here! Are you doing a Master’s in Ed. because you want to teach something other than college students, or because you don’t have a tenured philosophy position and see this as an opportunity to better your teaching theories until that time comes? (I ask because the latter sounds just like the sort of thing I would do, and I didn’t think anyone was as crazy as me!) I’m really enjoying hearing about it, either way!
Thursday, January 25th 2007 at 2:26 pm |
Little of door number 1, little of door number 2, plus some of door number 3 to go with it.
Door number 1: I’ve given a lot of thought to teaching social studies at the high school level. I figure it could be an opportunity to introduce students to certain ideas and ways of learning/thinking earlier in their educational process. It would let me incorporate philosophy, history, politics, etc. into one “subject.” And it would be an opportunity to possibly mentor/guide younger students as they develop – Lord knows I needed a lot of help from my high school teachers.
Door number 2: I’m doing a lot of adjunct teaching right now, and even if I do wind up staying the college course, all of my teaching training has been ad hoc. Couldn’t hurt to get some pointers.
Door number 3: When you see Dewey mentioned in the popular media or culture today, it’s usually on the basis of his educational theories. I want to get a sense of how he fits into the educational context to try and do a better job of beating back some of the disinformation. So it’s also a way of rounding out my research specialty, such as it is.
Thursday, January 25th 2007 at 4:56 pm |
Awesome, on all 3 counts.
You ARE as crazy as me. A rare gift.