WebLog 2 January 27, 2011
Michael Apple had some solid and poignant points in the first chapter of his book, Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality. While I did not agree entirely with all of his ideologies, he seemed to have a very strong handle on the big issues of today’s educational system and the history which got it there. With that said, he chose in what my opinion, is a very “touchy” title for his book. Educating the “right” way. What is right? And who is right? There are so many political battles over education, so many laws passed and changes made to “better” the system. But is it better?
Being in a college of education program at the time that President Bush passed the No Child Left Behind Act, I found myself re-thinking what my focus was on going into this field and what my personal career goals were going to be. On the one hand, I was seeing streams of seasoned teachers who were many times some of the best in their fields, have to go back to school to become “highly qualified”, and were most certainly not happy about this new law. One woman who had been teaching for 35 years actually turned to me and said “get out while you still can. Our government missed the boat again!” I was shocked. At the time, I wasn’t sure how I felt about all this political hoopla. After all, our roles as teachers hasn’t changed, was this law really going to affect us in the classroom? And on the other hand, I was becoming a professional in the field of special education. I was very passionate about advocating for children who have special needs and the concept of “no child left behind” sounded like it was truly about those children. But was it? Is it fair to expect our children with cognitive delays to have to take the same tests as students who are able to learn typically? The more I thought about it, the more I started to understand what that seasoned teacher meant.
In Apple’s anecdote about his student Joseph, he brought up a very strong point that we’re told to focus on “standards”, and “raising the educational bar” but the truth is that Apple is right when he says that “the educational reforms may sound good, but often work in exactly the opposite way when they reach the classroom level. “
If our government set up our educational system to be successful, then why are so many students falling through the cracks? Why is there so much failure? Where are all these gaps and what is being done to fill them?
I am sure that Apple has explored these questions at many levels, and I’m sure he will attempt to address some of them in following chapters. However, even Apple may not have all the answers to educating the “right” way. At the end of the day, I have to be able to tell myself that I did the best job that I could with the materials and knowledge that I have, and hope that my students will be successful regardless of the fallacies in the “system”.
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