Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Journal #3

The first part of the seminar discussed restructuring for caring and effective education. There were five essential questions that were brought into perspective. The first was what is our destination in education? Most of us search for a life long learning; to fit into a world culture, good work ethic, skills necessary, and an eagerness to learn. The second question was who has been invited on the journey? It is often asked 'who's school is it anyway?'. My thoughts were that everyone is an equal contributer to education. Everyone has to contribute together. We were all shown a poem and asked to relate it to the presentation. The relationship between the theme of the poem and the presentation is education is all about achievement and learning. The third question was what routes have people chosen to get us there? We discussed excellence without equity, its advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages were that decisions could get done quickly and efficiently, better people to compete globally and internationally, self worth, and money making. A disadvantage was that we could get too caught up in the standards. A simplistic or bureaucratic route fosters paranoia, despair, and self interest. Diversity begins to be viewed as a problem. A quote shown was "We will not successfully marginalize in schools until we stop seeing diversity as a problem." If we don't, a disability is created. special needs students in regular classes do better academically and socially than those who are inclusive. Excellence without equity is a little different. Some of the disadvantages I found were lost off interest, easy to lose incentive and motivation, everybody isn't the same, sense of freedom, and things getting watered down/bar gets lowered. Simplistic solutions for complex problems. Its justice not charity. Excellence and equity together create equalence. The fourth question was How will we get there? You can use written directions, oral directions, or a map. You need a vision, skills, incentives resources, and an action plan to create a change. The fifth question was how will we know if we have arrived? You need a culture of excellence, artistry, and care. Our children won't care how much we know, until they know how much we care. A culture where character counts and we are mindful. You also need a culture of collaboration, creativity, courage, differentiation, that values diversity, empowerment and self determination, equalence, committed to a brighter future, and reflection and accountability. The future will arrive ahead of time, no one ever said it was going to be easy.

Questions ...

1. What is our destination in education?
Answer: I believe that our destination in education is to fit into a world that is accepting of diversity and world culture. To make this happen you need a good work ethic. Acquiring the skills necessary to achieve such a goal is a process over time. You need a motivation and eagerness to learn. Education is a learning process, lifelong learning.

2. What are the advantages of excellence without equity?
Answer: I believe that decisions could get done more quickly and efficiently. People will be given an opportunity for higher success, they would be able to compete globally and internationally. Making money and funding a lifestyle is probably one of the biggest motivations. Also self worth and a pride acquired through learning provides another sort of motivation.


Citation ...

(R Villa, public presentation, July 17, 2008)

No comments: