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Education and the Teacher in Me
My personal philosophy in education combines several of the influential and psychological philosophies that exist nowadays. Each of the philosophies has a greater or less magnitude in my character, molded by the influence of great educators throughout history, and also my own experience with professors at school. My personal philosophy of education is mostly existentialist; then, it is progressive, reconstructionist, essentialist, and finally perennialist. Regarding the psychological aspect, my personal philosophy is more constructivist than behaviorist. Understanding these philosophies' development and characteristics will help me to discover who I am as a teacher and a person.
First, I should consider existentialism and constructivism because these are the most influential philosophies in my educational character. Existentialism is one of the classical philosophies in education, and it is student centered, which means that it prioritizes the interests of students. Existentialists believe that it is in the hands of students, no teachers or school, to define what students should learn. Existentialists believe that students should find their purpose in life through education. Professor Emeritus in the American University David Miller Sadker and Doctor Karen R. Zittleman (2010) explained that "[e]xistentialists do not believe that "truth" is objective and applicable to all. Instead, each of us must look within ourselves to discover our own truth, our own purpose in life" (p. 286). According to these authors, because this way to look at education is totally the opposite of essentialism, it is not popular in regular classrooms, and it is one of the most difficult to apply in education. Nietzsche, a German philosopher and existentialist, stated that "[t]here are no facts only interpretations" (cited in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 1997). Furthermore, my personal philosophy has a strong influence from constructivism, which "asserts that knowledge cannot be handed from a person to another (from a teacher to a learner) but must be constructed by each learner through interpreting and reinterpreting a constant flow of information" (Sadker and Zittleman, 2010, p. 293). Some of the most relevant contributors to constructivism were psychologists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. As Piaget said, "Learning is no more than a sector of cognitive development that is facilitated by experience" (as cited in Papert, 1999).
Second, I would like to talk about those philosophies that are less likely to influence in my character and way of thinking. Perennialism, which is closely related to essentialism, is a teacher centered philosophy. According to Sadker and Zittleman (2010), "Both [perennialism and essentialism] tolerate little flexibility in the curriculum. Both implement rigorous standards. Both aim to sharpen students' intellectual powers and enhance their moral qualities" (p. 281). Most of the schools are inclined to these two philosophies. Some of the greatest figures of perennialism are the once president of the University of Chicago Robert M. Hutchins, and American philosopher Mortimer Adler. Perennialists believe that true knowledge is in the "Great Books—works by history's finest thinkers and writers" (Sadker and Zittleman, 2010, p. 281). In the words of Mortimer Adler, "The Great Books of ancient and medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge and wisdom, a tradition of culture which must initiate each generation" (as cited in Sadker and Zittleman, 2010, p. 282). Also, my personal philosophy has little to do with behaviorism, which "is derived from the belief that free will is an illusion and that human beings are shaped entirely by their environment" (Sadker and Zittleman, 2010, p. 294). A primary supporter of behaviorism was Harvard professor B. F. Skinner.
In conclusion, the knowledge about these educational philosophies allows me to know myself as a teacher and at the same time honor all of those educators who, from a way or another, have aimed for a better prepared society.
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Believe What I Say (Reflection 16)
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Roman and Athenian Education (Reflection 15)
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High Schools as a Proof of Change (Reflection 20)
Even though the common school movement was successful and served to create thousands of elementary schools where education was free, there was a big empty space between the elementary school and university. The need to fill that empty space brought as a consequence the foundation in 1921 of the first free secondary school in a city that was a pioneer concerning educational reforms in several occasions, Massachusetts. The name of this school was the English Classical School at the beginning, but then its name changed to English High School, and finally to Boys' High School. However, as more similar schools were created, the secondary schools took a private-tuition character, and they were not seen as an extension of elementary schools by the general public. The programs in these schools were dedicated to prepare for college or provide students who would not continue studies with a general curriculum. But the view of secondary schools as private schools was not the only obstacle to the creation of free high schools. The public rejected the idea to pay additional school taxes just like it happened when Horace Mann came out with the idea of the free elementary school. However, thanks to several court cases, such as the Kalamazoo, Michigan, case in 1874, the courts determined that public taxes could be used to benefit secondary or high schools. So, this is how the idea of the free high school became a reality. The country and society had become more industrialized, so education of masses had to be higher to the one that elementary school offered, and everybody had to have access to high school. Parents started to see high school as an opportunity to obtain better jobs for their children. High schools represented what elementary schools had represented about a century before, which was the growing of American dreams and economy. High schools differed from the precedent secondary schools in that they were governed not by private boards but by the public. The creation of free high schools affirmed democracy because these schools allowed thousands of children who finished elementary school to continue their studies, and they were free, so all children no matter their social status were able to attend school and improve themselves. The American high school differs from European high school at that time in that in America, students did not have to decide right away what they wanted to study; in Europe, the tracking system was stricter. However, high school did not meet the needs of all students. For example, the junior high school, first established in 1909 in Columbus, Ohio, was designed to meet the unique needs of preadolescents. So, it lacked democratic principles because it did not meet the needs of every student. In general, even though it was not perfect at the beginning, the high school became a strong symbol of democracy and progress in the education in the United States of America.
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American Education’s Growth (Reflection 19)
American education has varied greatly since the Pilgrims arrived to this country until today. The first classrooms were mostly religious. In New England and other early colonies, children's education began at home. Some women transformed their houses in schools which were called dame schools. There were also apprenticeship programs for both boys and girls. Boys were taught by masters while majority of girls learned at home. The Puritans living in Massachusetts passed several laws with the purpose to improve the educational system and ensured that children learned properly. Puritans founded the first Latin grammar school in Boston in 1635 and Harvard College in 1636. Black and Native American did not have access to education, and even white poor people had limited education. The northern colonies, which were composed by Puritans, were the most advanced respecting education. Thomas Jefferson advocated for equal educational opportunities for every white child, and Benjamin Franklin founded an academy after his name that offered a practical program composed by elective courses free of any religious influence. Another important aspect about American education was the common school movement during the early decades of the nineteenth century that was composed by poor white people who wanted access to education. Horace Mann became the movement's leader. The common school movement had as a result the creation of the elementary school. Horace Mann made several contributions to education because he advocated for better build schools and the foundation of several normal schools in Massachusetts for a higher preparation of teachers. Also, a great part of American education's history is about the efforts of Native Americans and African American for the chance to learn and achieve equality. When I looked at the history of American education, I learned that it is extremely linked to sexism. First, girls were segregated from schools, and like Native American and African American, women had to struggle for their place in schools. Also, concerning education and sexism is the fact that teaching was considered a male career in colonial times, and women who taught in regular classrooms were considered masculine. Women who taught were unappreciated even though the years passed and more women dedicated to teach. In the first years of the twentieth century, people started to think about teaching as a female career because 90% of the teachers were women. Then, male teachers became suspect of being gays. Another historic aspect of American education is the creation in the 1880's of secondary schools and high schools to fill out the big gap between elementary education and university. American education's history would not be the same without John Dewey and his Progressive Education movement, which became widely known in the 1920s and 1930s. Progressivists gave education a new perspective because their program emphasized in the health subject, family and community relation, psychology, and social sciences. Also, this new educational way covered the interests of a growing number of diverse students. The responsibility for educating American is not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States because during colonial times education was a state responsibility, and it had nothing to do with the federal government. However, federal government found the way to influence in education with time, and education management came to be what it is today. Education has faced a growing diversity on the students' body while immigrants from all over the world have become part of the population like Hispanics, Asians, and Arab Americans. It is obvious to me that American education has come a long way from its foundations constantly changing and improving, and its history is filled with tenacity and the love of hundreds of people trying to live the American dream.
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Heads or Tails (Reflection 18)
I think that education in America has been viewed as a vehicle for improving society or destroying it; it all depends on what historic period is evaluated and through what eyes it is seen. For example, Puritans, who were among the first people to come to American soil and settle down, believed that education was the way to improve the church and achieve moral perfection. Reading, writing, and moral development had a close relation to the Bible, so Puritans believed that instructing people was important to fight the Devil. Education has also been seen as a tool to achieve equality and human rights. In the 1700s, Thomas Jefferson believed that American education should be widely available to all white children no matter their social class, so poor children could also be instructed. In 1828, many poor white people asked for the opportunity to learn. Horace Mann, who advocated for a common school opened to everybody, became the leader of these poor white people. This is how it appeared what it is known today as elementary school where all children have the right to learn and are treated equally without money being an obstacle on the way to basic education. However, Horace Mann's battle was difficult because while he envisioned a better America with equal opportunities for all children, business interests expected disaster if children, who constituted part of the work force, were taken away. Tax payers expressed their concern that additional monies may be required to cover public education which will affect the country. Other people who did not think about education as a way to improve society were Native Americans. Church missionaries educated Native American with the excuse of making them civilized, but these alleged teachers were actually using education to conquer and ridicule the natives' culture. Native Americans saw education as a weapon to kill their culture and oppress them. Consequently, Native Americans decided to use education also to fight for the survival of their culture. This is how the Cherokee syllabary surged from the hands of Sequoyah people. This allowed the possibility of writing in Cherokee and the publishing of books in this language, Cherokee school became bilingual, and even a Cherokee newspaper came to light. The Navajos were another tribe who opposed the action of the federal government to conquer through education. Many Navajo people refused to send their children to reservation schools, created by the colonists in Indian reservations, because of the same reason of Sequoyah people who taught that education would take away their children out of their tradition and their believes. On the other hand, African Americans have had to fight hard to win their place in schools. Due to ignorance and racism, education of African Americans was seen by the white South with fear and anger in colonial times. Since that time, black people have had to fight for their right for a proper education, but thanks to their perseverance and noble reasons, African Americans learn today in the same classrooms that not only white people but every minority learns. Women have a story of struggle for a chance to learn too. Often discriminated, female students were often relegated to house chores, or they were victims of hostile demonstrations by male students and professors in schools. Nowadays, American education has come a long way getting better every day. Many people see education as the way to create future professionals, who will make amazing discovers in science, learn more about ancient cultures, and achieve several other accomplishments. American education, which is not discriminative like in colonial times, is seen as a tool to change our future citizens for the better. However, as I said it was not always this way because American education for some time was seen as a weapon to fight for social injustices by some people, a tool of conquest by others, and even some people thought of it as a straight way to Heaven.
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An Old Debt (Reflection 17)
New England was one of the first European settlements in America. New England's population was mainly composed by Puritans, who were part of the Pilgrims that came in the Mayflower but distinguish from the rest by their religious believes. The most important principle for the Puritans was their religion, so it is not strange that religion was a strong influence in New England's education. Parents took children to church, and later these children were tested at home and school on what they had heard during the sermon. Reading the Bible was mandatory to live a virtuous life, and education of children was important for social perfection and church's purification. The way I see it, there was a strong connection between the church and the school. The Bible also stimulated discussion of literature and promote intellectual activity. Puritans taught Greek classics of Virgil, Cicero, Ovid, and Terence, and also poetry and Latin verse. To these extremely religious people, Americans owe the foundation of the Roxbury Latin School, which was the first of the free schools for American children, and the foundation of the first American College, Harvard in 1636. While other Americans were involved in developing the country's transportation and industry, the Puritans were more concerned about the country's culture. Religion was also extremely important in the motivation of scientific thought. The vast majority of Americans admitted to the scientific Royal Society of London was composed of Puritans from New England. Teacher training was diverse and was given by the kind of teacher. Parents and grandparents taught children moral values and correct social behavior as well as reading. Some women transformed their houses into schools, which were called dame schools. These ladies taught reading, writing, and computation. Puritans also had an apprenticeship system in education. Boys usually were sent with masters who taught them not only vocational skills but also reading and writing, and girls learned homemaking skills from their mothers. So, the quality of teaching and teacher's preparation varied greatly and depended on the education and talent of each master, dame, family member, or minister. Concerning the length of expected school attendance, classes in the Boston Latin Grammar School, which was founded by Puritans and considered by many today as the model for the future American high school, started at 7 a.m., recessed at 11 a.m., and picked up from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. Graduates from the Boston Latin Grammar School were expected to go on to college and finish their studies there. The length of attendance at school was determined by the social position of the student because only wealthy students could go to the Boston Latin Grammar School, and Harvard. Discrimination was present in education in New England. There were several aspects to consider if someone wanted to go to a Puritan school. First, Puritans did not accept anybody in their community who did not share their religious believes. Second, black and Native Americans were denied educational opportunities. Finally, poor students could not afford going beyond the formal school or having more than basic education. So, New England's education was discriminatory concerning religion, race, and also social status. On the other hand, American education has given a great turn and made several progresses nowadays. Religious people do not control education anymore. It's true that there are many religious schools, but there is a wide array of diverse schools that are not religious, so children have options to choose from. Concerning teacher training nowadays, it is my opinion that teachers are more prepared now than they were before. Education in the United States has become more rigorous, so more testing and longer courses are required in order to become a teacher. Today, ministers are ministers; housewives do not make a school out of their houses; parents who opt for homeschooling generally look for professional teachers instead of teaching themselves, so those who teach today do not consider teaching as an alternative but as a life's path resulting in more specialized teachers than before. The length of expected school attendance keeps being about the same as in the time of the Pilgrims. Everybody wants to pursue a career at a university. The only difference now is that attending school is possible as long as the student wish to study. In most of the cases, the economic factor is not an impediment to go to a university anymore because there is financial aid, scholarships, loans, and other ways for students to pay for their career. Discrimination at schools is against the law in any school. I do not think that discrimination affects the eligibility of a student to go to a determined school like it used to be in New England's education. Although it is true that some schools are expensive, there are alternatives like I said. It is my opinion that American education has come a long way and changed in a huge way from the time of New England and the Puritans, but it is undeniable that the deep roots of American education grew with teachers in New England. Puritans started the long way to American education as it is known today.
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A Centenarian Authority (Reflection#14)
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Ideas Are the Real World (Reflection#13)
Plato, who was a disciple of Socrates, shared his master's ideas, but at the same time, Plato went deeper than Socrates in his queries about life comprehending not only ethical and social philosophy but also metaphysics and epistemology. Plato even had the chance to fund his own Academy, and he was not afraid to teach the Athenian youth what he knew. I think that the impact of the ideas of Plato in western education could be considered as notable if his academy of Athens was really the first one of its kind in the world; this would mean a huge step toward the formation of the western education system as we know it today. Plato believed that because the physical world and matter were imperfect and changeable, they were fake or surreal. For example, factors like temperature, height, and everything that could be perceived by the physical senses was changeable according to Plato, so they did not constitute the real world. The philosopher believed in the existence of what is called Platonic Forms that were abstract ideas that could not be acquired by any physical or bodily experience. Platonic Forms were perfect, undeniable, and unchangeable. For example, 6 + 6 = 12. This is a mathematic truth, and there is no way to discuss this truth, so it constitutes a Platonic Form. Plato's idealism suggests that ideas are the reality and not mere mental images, so what many people see as the real world, the material world, is not real. According to Plato, ideas are the one who make possible for people to name and identify everything around them. For example, you consider that a chair is small because you have previously think that the chair is small, so ideas have the power to change and define how people see the world around them. It is my point of view that because the theory of Platonic Forms gave great importance to ideas, it contributed to the development of the intellectual and scholastic activity. The theory of reminiscence proposed by Plato stated that the material world cannot be the source of knowledge for human's ideas because everything we perceived by the physical senses is surreal, so the only way to find the real knowledge is by following our instincts or sense impressions. Although human beings acquire most of their knowledge from what the elderly teach them, there are certain situations that require a knowledge that cannot be thought and that comes straight from a Superior Entity, according to Plato. For example, a governor of a city cannot learn how to lead because others tell him how to do it, but he has to trust in his sense impressions. Plato thought that humans knew the truth or the Platonic Forms before they were born. He also believed in the immortality of the souls. Because the body is changeable, imperfect matter, it cannot be real, so only the immortal soul is real together with the Platonic Forms or abstract ideas. Plato is one of the first and most important philosophers, so I think that his contributions to the discipline of Philosophy are remarkable. He also supported the equality for males and females regarding education, and he said that men and women should have the same opportunities in society. Plato also thought that in order to serve the interests of the state, children should be educated by the state rather than their parents, so Plato's thoughts opened the door to new learning opportunities besides homeschooling. I believe that his ideas were an early incentive to the progress of education and the desire of human beings to think about the great mysteries of the Universe, express their ideas, and stop living a simple life to understand and discover the complications of life itself.
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Going Up (Reflection#12)
Even though the launching of the Sputnik took place in the Soviet Union in 1957, this event had a big impact in American education because there were several philosophies in education at that time, but specially one was positively influenced by the launching of the Sputnik. This philosophy is Essentialism which encourages students to learn the principal academic subjects, develop a patriot character, and improve their moral character. This is the traditional way that most of American students learn, and it supports the use of the reason and the sharing of a common American culture in schools. Before the Sputnik, there was a big debate concerning another philosophy in education called Progressivism which supported that knowledge is not the cumulative gathering of information by memorization and should be acquired by the use of experiences to help solving present problems. Passive listening to the teacher is not the appropriate method to learn according to progressivists who suggested using students' interests to solve current issues. I think that Progressivism was quite different from Essentialism, the prevailing philosophy in the United States. Some people who were against Progressivism argued that this philosophy was undermining American traditional education system because this method differed from what Essentialism proposed for schools. Essentialism is a teacher-centered philosophy while Progressivism is student-centered. With the launching of the Sputnik, the United States felt threatened, and the Soviet Union became a potential menace in the scientific field. Because the United States could not stay behind, it started a race to form scientists and mathematicians to compete with the Russian country. So, Essentialism, also called back-to-basics, became stronger in schools because of the need to create students better prepared and reinforce the national identity and union within the country going back to the deeper roots of American history. The launching of the Sputnik allowed Essentialism to arise definitely as the prevailing philosophy in education in the United States and stopped the big debate between this philosophy and Progressivism. The launching of the Sputnik started an educational revolution because it boosted the attention in improving students' preparation. Harder tests for teachers and students, more requirements to graduate, and higher standards emerged as a consequence of this revolutionary transformation in American education also called neoessentialism. With the launching of the Sputnik high to the space in 1957, the Soviets also launched the willing of Americans to improve their academic level, stay upfront, and achieve higher patriotic standards.
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Socrates' Way (Reflection#11)
If Socrates was alive, I think he would be disappointed to see that most of the students in the United States rely on their memory to learn. He would also dislike that the principal way of teaching in the classrooms is through lectures; the professor talks, and the students listen and answer to the professor's questions according with what they heard. Socrates had another learning method called Socratic Method or elenchus. Through Socrates' way, students do not memorize the lesson, but they think about the questions and come up with an answer using their reason and minds. Socratic Method uses discussion instead of lectures to teach. The main role in the traditional teaching method is the teacher's because the teacher is who ask the questions but also has the answers, so the teacher has an absolute power like a gatekeeper. However, the main role in the Socratic Method is the students' because the teacher asks the questions, but it is the students who have to come up with the answers, so they become active participants debating among themselves. Because with the traditional way of teaching students only learn and memorize what others say, they become like travelers walking through already defined paths. However, the elenchus allow students to think by themselves and expose their own ideas, so they can discover new paths. Socrates generally used the elenchus to look for answers to moral dilemmas in life. Socrates thought that people who do not care about improving their lives should be better dead. When people hear about life's improvement, they may think about making a lot of money, having a family, and being successful at work. However, this kind of improvement was not what Socrates had in mind. For Socrates, improving your life morally was more important than being wealthy and healthy. Many students go to school nowadays although they are not truly interested in learning because they want to get a degree, so they can earn a lot of money and improve their lives economically. Socrates would say that these students are missing the true purpose of life: knowledge. In order to improve their lives morally, people have to review through their internal characteristics and their actions using the elenchus method, find their imperfections and fix them moving forward to a more virtuous life. Socrates believed that the only way to achieve virtue was through knowledge. So, those people who do not want to acquire knowledge are not virtuous. Socrates also thought that virtue was the principal component of happiness. So, those people who are not virtuous cannot be happy. Socrates thought about happiness different from the way it is seen today. People nowadays think that they are going to be happy if they get what they want or need. For example, an overweight woman may think that if she loses weight, she is going to be happy. So, she goes under plastic surgery. People spend their money in the gym, surgeries, medicines, and treatments to look young, beautiful, and healthy. However, they change only the exterior, but they are not willing to improve their character. Socrates said that people who improve external factors but not the internal part of themselves may enjoy life at certain moments, but they continue to be miserable because the only way to be happy is by being virtuous. Virtue is not something that is born with the person, but it is obtained with effort and time. How does this apply in education? Well, a student who is not virtuous may feel unhappy and incomplete because there is not a real motivation to learn. Socrates' way to happiness and personal realization was like a chain that initiated with the elenchus. The elenchus was necessary to ask moral questions and look for answers. The more questions people were able to answer the more knowledge people obtain. Consequently, the person became more virtuous, and virtue would bring the person happiness. Socratic ideas are very different from the ideas that people have nowadays, so American schools would have to change their traditional curriculum in order to teach using the Socratic method. I think that it would not be a bad experience to learn like Socrates liked it because students would be better thinkers, better prepared, more virtuous, and at the end more happy with themselves and what they have achieved.
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Opening Doors to Success (Reflection#10)
When I heard that a teacher is the gatekeeper in a classroom, I did not know what this statement referred to. However, after some reading, I found out that this expression means that the teacher has the control to decide which student talks, when, and for what period extent during the class. Research in this topic has shown that teachers drive the questioning instead of the students most of the time. Teachers also take more time to talk and impart the lesson letting to little time for students to interact. This situation intensifies throughout the students going to higher grades. Gatekeeping could be considered as a dictatorship by some people because of the totalitarian control of the teacher; however, others may think that if the teacher does not have control over the whole situation, class may become anarchy. I think that it is necessary to have a balance and a greater interaction between the roles of the students and their professor inside the classroom. For example, if the professor allows the students more freedom to ask the questions they want, it could improve the students' understanding of a certain subject. Also, if the teacher allows students to ask and express their ideas freely, they would be able to develop an active and participative attitude, and the class would be more entertaining. Without a strict control of the teacher over the whole class, there is room for debate and discussion of the topic among the students. Consequently, if students show an active role, they would surely become more confident about themselves and curious about the discussed topic. On the other hand, gatekeeping mines the students' interest in the class because it is too boring for them to sit in a chair, listen to all the professor has to say like listening to a recorder that it does not stop, and then, go home with the head full of questions. This passive role of the student is the worst consequence of gatekeeping because passive students have to memorize all the professor says instead of thinking by themselves and reflecting about a topic. Gatekeeping promotes memorizing but not learning. I think that it is necessary to have teachers who are willing to leave behind their role as gatekeepers and start a new class experience where everybody has a chance to express their opinion and feel comfortable. I think it would improve the education, and at the end, it would produce more successful students.
It Is Not About When but About How (Reflection#9)
In order for teachers being effective, they have to be prepared and know their profession first of all. I think that teachers nowadays are well prepared because they have to take courses and several tests before they can take control over a classroom. Also, they have to learn about psychology and how to manage different situations inside the classroom today like teaching a diverse class where there are students not from one culture but from several cultures. In addition, with the power of technology which includes computers and audiovisual material, it has become easier for teachers to transmit the learning message to the students. In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, teachers were a little more diverse than now. There were formal teachers like now who taught students in a school environment, but there were also other less professional teachers who were equally important for the development of those civilizations. For example, parents played an important role as teachers of the culture, religious believes, and moral values to their children. Also, because occupations were mostly hereditary to keep the tradition and guarantee a successor on the family, regular people had to teach their occupations to the next generation. For example, a farmer had to teach his apprentice how to take care of a farm properly, and a craftsman had to teach his apprentice how to produce beautiful ceramic. Because professional teachers did not teach about occupations, the less professional teachers were important in order to maintain the order and the legacy of the culture as well. But, professional or not, what is true about Egyptian and Mesopotamian teachers is that they taught well their students and successors. For example, the workers in the pyramids had to teach others what they knew in order to finish the construction because pyramids took hundreds of years to build, and one generation was not enough to finish it. Teaching children effectively was the only way that those civilizations could keep their traditions over time and earn their great splendor. It is my opinion that teacher effectiveness in a classroom depends on the level of knowledge and preparation that teacher has and the available material to impart the lesson, but it has nothing to do with the period in history the teacher exists. As long as the message is transmitted effectively to the students, the teacher has made his or her purpose.
Still Changing (Reflection#8)
Educational reform began at the end of the nineteenth century when the United States of America was experiencing great economic and social changes. However, it was not until 1983 that the need for schools' reform was brought to the spot light with a report called "A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform" from the National Commission on Excellence in Education. This report made emphasis in the poor test results of American students at an international level, and it suggested reforming the education system and changing the alarming situation. The report also called the attention about the United States' disadvantages of being behind in comparison to other countries regarding education. Consequently, states respond with the first wave or attempt to reform education which had to do mainly with an increment on the rigor of programs and tests either to become a teacher or a graduate student. This attempt to reform the school system has the state as the central figure which means that politicians are who decide over educational issues. This first wave suggested the transmission rather than the reconstruction of the American culture. The second wave of educational reform which was started in the late eighties proposed the decentralization of schools. This wave was against large school districts and suggested to give the power to the teachers to take decisions regarding school management. This second wave which promotes the creation of smaller schools and districts is also called "school-based management." The third wave started between late eighties and early nineties, and in order to reform the education, it proposed the institution of schools where the students could find help beyond academic matters like social and medical help. The main focus of the third wave is the children. This wave is also called "school choice" movement. In summary, the three waves to reform education have the same purpose which is to improve American education; however, the waves differentiate on the ways they use to accomplish this. As I said, the first one's main focus is to increase the academic level of tests and programs; the second one emphasizes in the teachers' autonomy, and the third one supports a broader education beyond an academic program. The most dominant of these three waves has been the first one. I think that this supremacy over the others is due to the fact that this wave is based on the same roots of United States' education since its foundation with the only difference that the education has been taken to a more difficult level. Also, I think that the first wave is stronger than the others because it is favored by the government due to the fact that the power regarding changes and decisions about the educational system is held by the state. However, some argue that this first wave could emphasize the sense of superiority of American people mining the respect for other cultures.
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Where All Started (Reflection#7)
When I think about education, I see a tree. The culture and believes are the base or the roots of the tree because the place where people are educated has a strong influence in their education. Secondly, the trunk of the tree would be the historic period because time is another factor that influences in education and the available learning resources to students. Finally, the branches of the tree would be the different teaching ways among a same cultural surrounding. In the case of ancient civilizations like Egypt and Mesopotamia, the branches of the tree would be homeschooling, apprenticeship, and temple education. Homeschooling, which was the first and simplest teaching method in the child's life, refers to education at home where children learned from their parents and elder people only by observation, listening, and imitation. This is why some people say that "home is the first school". In Egypt, children used to learn about tradition, how to behave in society, their ancestors' religion, and even their future profession because occupations were considered hereditary. For instance, a farmer had to teach his son how to be a good farmer, and an artisan had to teach his son how to do pottery. Those men who could not have a direct descendent could adopt a son, but only with the condition to educate him in their labor. It is pretty obvious to me how important was for the Egyptian to follow the tradition. The only one who did not teach his sons directly was the king. The girls were also instructed at home. They learned to do households, sing, dance, and in some cases, play a music instrument. In Mesopotamian civilization, the education of values and tradition by the family was similar to the one in Egypt. A more formal approach to education was apprenticeship which was like in a job training nowadays. The method like today consisted in observing the task, practicing it under supervision, and mastering the abilities. Memorization was a main key on the apprenticeship method to educate. Masters not only trained about crafts but also medicine, architecture, sculpture, and several others. During the time they were learning, apprentices lived in the house of their masters who had to support them like a son. In ancient Mesopotamia apprentices were so important that apprenticeship was included in a code of laws called the Code of Hammurabi. Besides their future profession, apprentices sometimes learned writing, and arithmetic. When the time came to prove their abilities, apprentices became journeymen. Apprentices in Egypt enjoy a great consideration and esteem, and learning an occupation was seen as a life changing process that revealed the Truth. The other type of education was the temple education. This way was more sophisticated than the others because students took lessons in a classroom with a scribe or priest as a teacher. Most of the students who graduated from a temple school ended as priests, or they became temple or royal scribes. In ancient Mesopotamian and Egypt the formal education in temples was about the same where the students learned about medicine, astrology and laws in addition to basic subjects like writing, reading and math. Temples' classrooms can be considered as the first academic schools. Finally, despite the fact that education in Egypt and Mesopotamia was diverse, there is no doubt that these first innovative methods of teaching served as the base for the existence of modern schools.
Second Discovery of Fire (Reflection#6)
The invention of writing was crucial for the establishment and development of the world's greatest ancient civilizations. Before writing, men used pictographs which were pictures that represent the objects just like they were. However, with the emergence of agriculture and the establishment of population in certain areas, counting people's property became necessary. In ancient Sumeria, this was the reason for the appearance of tokens. These counting tokens had pictographs on them that represented the possessions of their owner like grain, terrain, or cattle. Counting tokens are among the first tries of men to transfer information to other people. Soon, the pictures were not only about objects and physical elements, but they express an idea. The pictures representing ideas were ideographs. It is pretty obvious that men wanted to express through a medium other than spoken language which was ephemeral like the wind and could be forgotten. Soon, the ideographs and the pictographs were combined to represent not an established idea or object but sounds. What moved these men to try to represent sounds? Well, I think that language became complicated, and what was simple to express before when they did not talk that much, it was not simple anymore. New words appeared, and the language became vast like the sand on the beach. Verbs, adjectives, pronouns, and others were not tangible, so men had to come out with the idea of representing words through the connection of several images to form the word. The images were organized by order, and each image had a corresponding sound with the syllable of the word that they wanted to express. The images were stylized, and the Cuneiform writing style was born. This process of development of writing is relative to the Sumerian culture, but this was not the birth place of writing. Actually, it is said that writing was invented in two or more places. For example, researchers think that it was also invented in Mexico by the precursor of the Maya people, the Olmecs, and China is considered one of the birth places of writing as well. Other civilizations took advantage of this powerful innovation, and introduce writing into their own culture adapting it to the nation's language. For example, the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek symbols all came from one source, Phoenician scripts. The greatest merit of the Greek alphabet is that it was the first one to represent the vowels. Now that I know about the history of writing, I asked myself, Why was writing so important for these first and greatest civilizations? First of all, I think that most of the information that we have today about these civilizations is thanks to the written word. If it was not because of writing, we would not have any knowledge about the way they lived, their social organization, their battles, and their history. The member of these civilizations knew that writing was a great opportunity to preserve and pass their knowledge, costumes, and culture through time. Writing became an excellent way to show future generations about their ancestors and historical roots. Writing also served to mark social classes and to justify superiority of the religious and wealth people over commoners and slaves. So, writing was also an important factor in the definition of social classes. Besides, writing was seen in most of these cultures as something divine coming from the Gods. So, whoever knew how to write must be respected and honored. I suppose that writing was also important in the military field because in that time, the best way to communicate among troops were through messengers carrying important and sometimes confidential messages. Writing also allowed men from different cultures to show their words, thoughts, feelings, and point of views among themselves. Writing was like a second discovery of fire because it brought new light to the human existence and took the illiterate civilizations out of the darkness of ignorance.
Beyond One Generation (Reflection#5)
Rites and rituals play an important role in children's education and in their introduction to the society and the adults' world. These ceremonies vary depending on the places, but they all have something in common: They are learning experiences that help preserving cultural tradition. Some of these rites may take one day; others may take years. People do not have to travel far to be witnesses of a ritual ceremony. Most of the countries have their own way to do rituals. In my birth country, Cuba, most of the girls have a great celebration when they turn fifteen years old. There are some girls who decide to not celebrate this party, and others simply do not have the required money to plan an event like this. Usually, this celebration called The Fifteen takes years of planning by the family of the girl, but it only lasts one night. The day of the celebration is the same as the girl's fifteenth birthday. Usually, the big day, the girl's parents had a stylist to come over and make her beautiful. Then, a photographer takes multiple pictures of the girl dressed with several clothes and posing in several places. She wears big dresses like in colonial times and modern outfit for these pictures which are an important part of the ritual, almost as important as the party because they preserve this moment in the girl's life. Finally, when the big moment is about to come, the girl rides a convertible car around town waving to everybody on the streets. Then, the car drives her to the place destined for the party where her friends and relatives are waiting for the special person of the day. She wears a big long dress at the beginning of the party, but after a while she changes to more comfortable clothes. She dances with her father and her boyfriend if she has one. The way to celebrate The Fifteen is not the same with each girl, but it usually follows the pattern mentioned before. Maybe, this ritual was instated in first place to introduce the girl to society. However, nowadays, The Fifteen's main function is to preserve the tradition. Another function of this ritual is to show the wealth of a family. A better party, more pictures, video taking, and nicer dresses mean that a family is better positioned than others; it is somehow pretentious. This ritual has not a changing effect on the girls' minds and social condition, but it gives the girls the opportunity to participate in a popular tradition and follow costumes of her people that otherwise would be lost. The Fifteen is about the same as the Sweet Sixteen in the United States. I also think that whenever young teenagers reunite in a secret place to smoke or drink trying to imitate adults, they are doing kind of an informal ritual based on what they see and learn to do from adults and based on their wish to grow up. In other places, rituals have a greater importance and impact in young people's lives. In some African tribes there are rituals that mark the turning point for children to be considered adults. These rites may take years, and during this time the children will learn about the costumes of their people. In certain cases they may learn about how to survive in the forest and take advantage of natural resources, or they may learn about sexual behavior, fertility, and reproduction. These rituals are sometimes associated to religious believes in these African tribes, and the natives never take these rites lightly but celebrate them with a big ceremony that includes all the members of the tribe. The way I see it rituals could have a huge magnitude or they could happen at a smaller scale but all of them are educative and carry a lesson of cultural believes and sometimes abilities needed to survive among people and the environment. Rites and rituals mold people and develop customs on them that last during their life time.
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Haiti Claims for Our Help (Contest)
Haitian people who suffer from the devastating results of the earthquake that took place a week ago can be associated with the proverb that says, "Nou led, Nou la" which means, "We are ugly, but we are alive". When we think about the Haitian people, people could enumerate a series of unfortunate events and conditions that they have suffered since they started to emerge as a nation. For example, along with the Haitian Revolution, political disturbances, crimes, poverty, and hunger, Haitians had also suffered natural disasters like hurricanes, and earthquakes. The most recent of these disasters was the earthquake of January 12th, 2010. Entire families were destroyed, and houses and buildings are not longer standing as part of the city's architecture. The country is devastated; however, Haitians have learned to overcome their difficulties through the years, and they have become strong people who fall but know how to stand again.
First, what is really important right now is to preserve life of those who made it through the earthquake. The proverb says, "Nou led, Nou la." Right now, Haitian survivors are ugly survivors because they come out from the ashes hurt and dusty, and they have lost everything they owned. Some of these survivors may even have to face the terrible reality that they lost part of their family. But like the phoenix which reborns from the ashes, Haitian people can recover from their grief if the rest of the world offers help. The ugly survivors who live in despair claim for help, and they say, "We are alive; we are still here." This terrible event have promoted the most lovely actions of humanity at a global level, and examples of this kindness show trough several donations of money, medicines and food that the people of the United States has offered. It is the time to make a positive difference and help Haitian people. It does not matter if we have never been in Haiti; we have the moral duty to help them. The reward for those who help could be to see in the news how a child finds his or her mother after the rescue team gets her from the ruins of a building. Another reward could be to see how elderly persons who survive the earthquake do not die a week after the disaster because they do not have anything to eat. Finally, Haitian people may not have anything to offer in return, and they may have different religious believes and costumes from some of us, but all this is not a reason for doing nothing. Haitian people ask for immediate help and let us know that their hearts suffer, and we must answer.
In conclusion, the proverb "Nou led, Nou la" made me think about the need to help the earthquake's survivors who are in a really hard situation. I can feel their pain, and I joined to all of those who support in a way or another the Haitian people.
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Lucy's Secret (Reflection#4)
Without Barriers (Reflection#3)
Comment to two gnomes dance the celebratory hopaky (5) on Asili the Journal Blogspot
In the background, I can see two faces, i guess they represent the two gnomes. In the foreground, I see two bodies shaking hands and dancing. I do not see them move, but I know they're dancing because of the poem's title. I think that the two gnomes represent people who do things they like instead of things that they are supposed to do. For example, a gnome would be a teenager whose parents want him to be a doctor, and he choses to be a basketball player because that's what he likes. I may be wrong, but this is my interpretation.
Comment to bat (3) on Asili the Journal Blogspot
To me, there are a lot of bats in this picture, but the black one it's the only one that represents a real menace because it's closer than the others. There is also like a whirlwind on the background which makes me think that the bats are about to go into it and never come back. The poem on the other hand made me think about the bats as dark temptations that can consume people and take them to lose everything.
Comment to coyote (2) on Asili the Journal Blogspot
The coyote described here is like a free spirit no subject to any rules or chains. In the image, I do not see any coyote, but a grotesc face laughing and defying the rules of the world.
Inventions and Their Impact in Human Development (Reflection#2)
of transportation, so they could travel longer distances, and soon, they discover that the world was not as small as they thought it was. Then, men began to ask themselves what was on the other side of the world, and their imagination flew away to unknow places. Then, adventurers went out looking for new worlds, and soon they circunnavegated the globe coming to the conclusion that the world was round and not flat with an end. Every new invention along history, and every new discover that humans had made amplified the human race horizons and its power. For example, microscopes had allowed humans to know the secret of viruses, and bacteria, so they have been able to find the cure for several diseases. Telescopes had allowed humas to explore galaxys far away from ours and understand our universe. Computers nowadays keep improving people's lives. Humans fear what they do not know, so the more their knowledge grows the less they fear, and humans amplify their knowledge by improving themselves and the instruments they use, and by inventing new tools. Everything began with a simple stone hammer and the dream to control the world. Now that humans control Earth, we keep looking at new horizons looking up to the stars.