The Promise of Urban Schools

Urban schools are suffering from many challenges. Urban schools lack the resources that suburban schools have. Urban schools have great potential to prosper. Urban schools need to undergo many changes. Urban school students need to be encouraged through knowledge. Teachers need to be able to relate to their students. Urban school students shouldn't feel like their participation is not valued. They need to know that they are an important part of the community. They can make a difference in their lives if they are willing.(Teachers and the community also need to help in making a difference.) Teachers need to be actively involved in debates and actions in their schools as well as in their cities. Parent participation is also very important.(The Promise....pg.3-4) Instead of controlling students we need to inspire them. Action definately needs to happen quickly in order for their to be changes in the urban school environment. Schools need to prepare their students for the real world society. Schools also need to guide students in decisions that will affect their lives and also their community.

Inquiry Project Data

I still need to make some changes to my inquiry question. I think I need to be more specific. I still want to write my paper on the topic NCLB.I will need to check many sources and references. I can check the data from different schools; both urban and suburban. I can also speak to teachers who know the pros and cons when it comes to NCLB. There are many sources, I need to pick the ones that are most reliable. I can check the internet as well as books and use them for my sources. It seems like it's a tough assignment, but I think once we all start it will get easier.

NCLB: Narrowing the Curriculum?

In some ways I think NCLB is a great idea. This policy holds schools and school districts accountable for improving student achievement in Math and Reading. This is being done by increasing the amount of instructional time spent on both subjects.The downside to NCLB is that it takes away from other subject areas, such as, Art, Music, Social Studies, Science, and Physical Education. I think there needs to be some sort of compromise.All subjects no matter what should be looked at in the same way. All subjects are important in the development of each child. I think its ok for some subjects to be reduced minimally . But I don't think it's ok to reduce subjects such as Social Studies and Science to a great extent. I want to be a social Studies middle school teacher. It would bother me to know that time is being taken out of Social Studies and put into Math and Reading. Like I said before each subject is extremely important to the development of each child. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to NCLB, but something needs to be done to make NCLB as efficient as possible. Efficiency should be our number one goal and priority.

Teaching Againt Idiocy

Walter C. Parker discusses the root of the word “idiocy”. He explores the challenge that democratic societies face today. Democratic societies are trying to develop public-minded citizens. He addresses the following question: What problems do democratic societies face in developing public-minded citizens? He believes that schools can improve their efforts and achieve greater success. Idiocy shares the root idios, which means private, separate, self-centered and selfish. (Parker, pg.1) The powerful opposition in this article is the private individual versus the public citizen. Many schools are trying various ways to become democracies. They want to develop public citizens.
He marks that puberty is the transition to public life. In a democracy the people are the ones that govern. Parker notes one of de Tocqueville’s quotes, All democratic peoples face a “dangerous passage” in their history, he wrote, when they “are carried away and lose all self-restraint at the sight of the new possessions they are about to obtain.” De Tocqueville felt that getting “carried away” caused citizens to lose the very freedom they were wanting so much to enjoy. Idiots are idiotic because they are indifferent to the conditions and contexts of their own freedom. They fail to grasp the interdependence of liberty and community, privacy and puberty. (Parker, pg.2)
There is some hope in school. Schools already try to educate for citizenship, to some extent. Democracy is better than the alternatives because it can be held accountable for securing civil liberties and equality before the law. (Parker, pg.3) He states that there should be no alternative to democracy; instead it needs to reach its fulfillment. Democratic ways of living need to be created. Engaged citizens are not born capable of being democratic citizens. Being a democratic citizen is something that needs to be embedded into the human mind.
A school is not considered a private place; it is considered a public, civil place. Schools are public places where people are diverse. Parker discusses three keys. (1) Increase the variety and frequency of interaction among students who are culturally different from one another. (2) Orchestrate these contacts so as to foster competent public talk. (3) Except, teach, and model competent, inclusive deliberation. (Parker, pg.4) I agree with Parker’s proposal. I think children need to interact with children who are from diverse backgrounds. Children can learn from other children. Teachers need to promote acceptance and awareness when it comes to diversity. Interaction needs to be done in an n appropriate manner. People need to make sure they think before they speak, so that they don’t put there foot in their mouth. Things can be said as long as it’s in an appropriate manner.
A good teacher should be able to engage students in a positive way. Schools are the sites of choice because they have two important things, one being diversity and the other being problems, waiting to be solved. A proper curriculum for democracy requires both the study and the practice of democracy. Democratic societies are having trouble producing democratic citizens because they are not following the three important keys, which Parker has come up with. In many schools the diversity is present but there is still segregation, for example segregation in the cafeteria. There are many things that are hindering the further development of democracy in schools.

Inquiry Project

I think I want to discuss the pros and cons of No Child Left behind. This was one of the first topics that popped up into my head. I'm sure I'll come up with different ideas and topics. No Child Left behind would be a great topic for the inquiry project. This is a major issue in the U.S. educational department today. There are many debates over this particular issue. I'm sure many others in the class will decide to do the same thing, but everyone has different ideas and opinions regarding this particular topic.