One individual interviewed in Vicki Abeles’s documentary, “Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture,” said we need to think about how we can create happy, successful, and creative people. Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman” documentary as well as other current literature and media have invited people from all ranks of society, even celebrities as popular as Oprah, to ask similar questions about children in today’s American educational system.
More now than ever, the nation is gravely concerned about the American educational system within an increasingly globalized economy. International comparisons are used as scare tactics and many Americans are seeking reform. This past semester, I took a course titled Sociology of Education in which I explored a variety of literature and media in education. I wish that everyone interested in education could take such a course to explore relevant materials and hold discussions that would improve education. However, I realize that many people do not have time to devote to such study. In this brief, I intend to highlight the most important works from this course and give a short explanation of the benefits they provide. I recommend the following:
Books
1. Kathleen Benett deMarrias and Margaret D. LeCompte’s The Way Schools Work: A Sociological Analysis of Education (1999)
2. Terrie Epstein’s Interpreting National History: Race, Identity, and Pedagogy in Classrooms and Communities (2009)
The Way Schools Work is a great introductory piece for anyone unfamiliar with social educational issues, but is also a very insightful piece for experienced educators. It can be used as a textbook to any social foundations course. It explores theories behind education that are critical for people to understand. This book marvelously illustrates all the forces that are at work when it comes to schooling. I would recommend beginning with this book as it reveals all the vertebras that make up the spine of education.
Interpreting National History advocates teaching United States History from a social justice perspective. This book discusses the empirical research study that Terrie Epstein conducted in the 1990s of 5th, 8th, and 11th grade students, their teachers, their parents, and a working class community in Michigan. Epstein sought to discover how these participants interpreted national history and how that affected their racial identities. Whites interpreted the nation as progressively inclusive of racial diversity and rights while blacks interpreted the nation as perennially exclusive by maintaining white privilege and violence. It is important to reveal how history education can impact identity construction.
Articles
1. James D. Anderson’s “The Historical Context for Understanding the Test Score Gap” (2009)
2. “Race and Our Biocentric Belief System: An Interview with Sylvia Wynter” Appendix B-2 of Black Education: A Transformative Research and Action Agenda for the New Century edited by Joyce E. King (2005)
3. Jessica Gordon Nembarhd’s “On the Road to Democratic Participation: Educating African American Youth in the Post-Industrial Global Economy” also found in Black Education: A Transformative Research and Action Agenda for the New Century edited by Joyce E. King (2005)
Anderson’s article is an inspiring piece that helps us truly understand alarming statistics often published in the news. It is inspirational in the fact that the author reveals the remarkable record of the history of African American education in which they have overcome one achievement gap over the next. This piece is important as it illustrates positive trends rather than only portraying the negative.
The article interviewing Sylvia Wynter is an integral one that we kept referring back to throughout our course of study. She explains that we need to “come into full conscious of the fact that it is we who are the agents and authors of ourselves and that we do it according to rules” (2005, p. 365). These rules she refers to are how we make ourselves human through words, meanings, and institutions. This can be a complicated read, yet a very powerful one.
Gordon Nembhard strongly recommends, “We must consider that one of the things we should be educating our youth for is to transform the economic system - humanize and democratize it – so that is serves everyone well” (2005, p. 239). The teaching approaches advocated would encourage democratic and economic participation. The author believes to inspire students towards attaining academic achievement in school and beyond we need to focus on problem solving skills, flexibility, and collaboration to compete in a global economy. We need to promote critical thinking skills and focus on teaching students the ability to learn.
Videos
1. The Lemon Grove Incident
2. Culture and Language Academy of Success, Los Angeles
“The Lemon Grove Incident” is a film that is critical to watch because it demonstrates the effectiveness of agency. The viewer learns the importance of community organizing and how to stand together against injustice as they watch a Mexican community oppose segregation of schools in their community. Sadly, I think communities are largely lacking agency today.
The short video highlighting the work of the Culture and Language Academy of Success in Los Angeles is an uplifting piece. This is a good antidote to current films such as “2 Million Minutes” and “Waiting for Superman” that portray American education negatively. The school in this film was designed to be culturally responsive to students whose needs were not being met in the traditional setting. They focus on students’ culture throughout learning and teach them there are many different languages that are appropriate in different settings. This would be an exemplar school for many to emulate.
I hope you review the selected pieces and they inspire you as they have me to improve education in the United States. I believe it is critical for Americans to have a greater understanding of education based on scholarly work and research before they start comparing apples to oranges in international comparisons or suggesting that bad teachers and unions are the major problem in schooling.
Looks like you're digging deep into some serious issues! I look forward to keeping up with your readings!
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