Socail Justice

DO YOU WANT TO TEACH FOR SOCAIL JUSTICE?

After reading the article written by Herbert Kohl, I was able to decide this. He got the point accross without any sugar coating, which made it easier to understand and made it a more serious thing to consider. He believes that teachers who teach for social justice are "those who care about nurturing all children and who are enraged at the prospect of students dying young, going hungry, or living meaningless and despairing lives - to do? How can they go against the grain and use their classrooms to work in the service of their students?"
His five suggestions on how to teach for social justice are as follows . . .

• First, don't teach against your conscience. Don't align yourself with texts, people, or rules that hurt children; resist them as creatively and effectively as you can, whether through humor or by developing alternative curricula. Try to survive, but don't make your survival in a particular job the overriding determinant of what you will or won't do. Don't become isolated or alone in your efforts; reach out to other teachers, community leaders, church people, and parents who feel as you do. Find a school where you can do your work and then stand up for the quality of your work. Don't quit in the face of opposition; make people work hard if they intend to fire or reprimand you for teaching equity and justice.




• Second, hone your craft as a teacher. When I first began teaching, I jumped into struggles for social justice. During one of my efforts a community person asked: "So, what's going on in your classroom that's different than what you're fighting against? Can your students read and do math?" I had to examine my work, which was full of passion and effort but deficient in craft. I realized that I needed to take the time to learn how to teach well before I extended myself with authority and confidence in organizing efforts. This is essential for caring teachers. We have to get it right for our own students before presuming to take on larger systems, no matter how terrible those larger systems are. As educators, we need to root our struggles for social justice in the work we do every day, in a particular community, with a particular group of students.




• Third, look around at the many effective ways of teaching children. I don't believe there is a single technique or curriculum that leads to success. Consequently, pick and choose, retool and restructure the best of what you find and make it your own. Most of all, watch your students and see what works. Listen to them, observe how they learn, and then, based on your experience and their responses, figure out how to practice social justice in your classroom.




• Fourth, it is not enough to teach well and create a social justice classroom separate from the larger community. You have to be a community activist, a good parent, a decent citizen, and an active community member as well




• Protect and nurture yourself. Have some fun in your life; learn new things that only obliquely relate to issues of social justice. Walk, play ball or chess, swim, fall in love. Don't forget how to laugh or feel good about the world. Have fun so that you can work hard; and work hard so that you and your students and their parents can have fun without looking over their shoulders. This is not a question of selfishness but one of survival. Don't turn teaching for social justice into a grim responsibility, but take it for the moral and social necessity that it is.

These five suggestions are clear and make a lot of sense to me for why social justice is important and why it should be taught. They help direct the teaching but also make it clear of why this type of teaching should be followed.

Some questions that I do have about Social Justice are . . .

• What are the responsibilities of the individual in regard to social justice?


• What does power have to do with fairness and justice?


• Do we have choices concerning fairness and justice?

After researching these questions I found some answers.

The responsibilite of the individual in regards to social justice is to treat people fairly as you would want to be treated. Everyone wants and equal chance at everything, and everyone want to believe they are equal. What i go from this question was that social justice is the finding for equal rights for all and that relates directally to equality among everyone.

Adding power into a situation causes inequality amongs people, which inturn destroys justice and fairness. People get power hungry and want complete control. People will listen to the ones in power instead of coming up with their own thought or ideas. If they do have their own ideas they will not share them or use them, if those in power do not approve.

Justice and fairness are often used interchangably. We do have a choices when it comes to justice. It is just if we decided to use the choice to our advantage and not let overpowering people take those choices away. It is about standing up for what you believe in and being strong with that belief.

Socail justice seems to have the idea of what people have been fighting for for hundreds of years- equality. Everyone wants equal rights and it is time to get them, nothing, including power should stop that. It is important to teach social justice to students so they are able to learn the importance of socail justice as well.

https://learning.umassonline.net/webct/urw/lc2228634.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/justice.html

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

NATURE, WHOLENESS & ROMANTICISM

The work of Jean-Jacques Rosseau brings much insight into life and especally the thought of education. He was born in 1712 in Geneva and became famous as a 'French' political philosopher and educationalist. He believed that people are born natuarally good and society currupts us to become evil. As we grow older we try to become good again; to live a simple life. He had more interest in people being natural:

We are born capable of sensation and from birth are affected in diverse ways by the objects around us. As soon as we become conscious of our sensations we are inclined to seek or to avoid the objects which produce them: at first, because they are agreeable or disagreeable to us, later because we discover that they suit or do not suit us, and ultimately because of the judgements we pass on them by reference to the idea of happiness of perfection we get from reason. These inclinations extend and strengthen with the growth of sensibility and intelligence, but under the pressure of habit they are changed to some extent with our opinions. The inclinations before this change are what I call our nature. In my view everything ought to be in conformity with these original inclinations. (Émile, Book 1 - translation by Boyd 1956: 13; see also, 1911 edition p. 7).

He has a belief in education, also.

From the first moment of life, men ought to begin learning to deserve to live; and, as at the instant of birth we partake of the rights of citizenship, that instant ought to be the beginning of the exercise of our duty. If there are laws for the age of maturity, there ought to be laws for infancy, teaching obedience to others: and as the reason of each man is not left to be the sole arbiter of his duties, government ought the less indiscriminately to abandon to the intelligence and prejudices of fathers the education of their children, as that education is of still greater importance to the State than to the fathers: for, according to the course of nature, the death of the father often deprives him of the final fruits of education; but his country sooner or later perceives its effects. Families dissolve but the State remains. (Rousseau 1755: 148-9)

Important parts of his beliefs are:

• a view of children as very different to adults - children are naturally good.


• the idea that people develop through various stages - and that different forms of education may be appropriate to each.


• a guiding principle that what is to be learned should be determined by an understanding of the person's nature at each stage of their development.


• an appreciation that individuals vary within stages - and that education must as a result be individualized. 'Every mind has its own form'


• each and every child has some fundamental impulse to activity. Restlessness in time being replaced by curiosity; mental activity being a direct development of bodily activity.


• the power of the environment in determining the success of educational encounters. It was crucial - as Dewey also recognized - that educators attend to the environment. The more they were able to control it - the more effective would be the education.


• the controlling function of the educator - The child, Rousseau argues, should remain in complete ignorance of those ideas which are beyond his/her grasp. (This he sees as a fundamental principle).


• the importance of developing ideas for ourselves, to make sense of the world in our own way. People must be encouraged to reason their way through to their own conclusions - they should not rely on the authority of the teacher. Thus, instead of being taught other people's ideas.


• What we know today as 'discovery learning'

I agree with the beliefs of Jean-Jacques Roussau. His belief that people are born naturally good and the society brings evil into them. I can see this in young children. My baby sister has not fully been introduced in society yet. She is so innocent and run around all day playing with her toys and her friends, but my brother who is now in school and introduced to society has become a little devil with the influence of friends and the "evils of society". I believe the best thing to do it to teach children how important it is to be individuals and as my dad always said "Be a leader not a follower". I grew up by this rule and I feel as though it has lead me to become who I am today. Being your own person is important when it comes to education. The beliefs of his education philosophy are listed above, I belive his bullets make very good points about children and their education. Especailly, 'every mind has a form of its own' and the next bullet "each and every child has some fundamental impulse to activity. Restlessness in time being replaced by curiosity; mental activity being a direct development of bodily activity." All children are active and cannot sit all day, teachers need to let them release their restlessness, and the best way is interaction, which will help students become individuals and introduce diversity.

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm

MAC fighting for Equal Education

What is MAC? MAC stands for the Massachusetts Advocates for Children. MAC fights for the equal rights within education for special education students. In 1970 MAC found that students with disabilities were being unfairly treated and systematically exluded from the schools. A 20 year long law suit was put in place to be sure Boston Schools stood up to their obligations equality for special education students. In the late 1990s, MAC helped to organize a statewide coalition of parents, teachers, school superintendents and others to preserve essential services, protections and funding. MAC continues to actively advocate for the rights of children with disabilities.

Goal of the Inclusion Project:

MAC's goal is to ensure that children with disabilities receive the services and accommodations necessary to participate in the mainstream of public education and receive equal educational opportunities.

Objectives:

1. To provide information to parents of children with disabilities, advocates and educators regarding rights to receive services and accommodations necessary to participate in the mainstream of public education and receive equal educational opportunities.

2. To provide parents with technical assistance, referral and advocacy services.

3. To retain, improve and enforce provisions of the state special education law, regulations and policy to provide equal educational opportunities for children with disabilities.

4. To ensure that children with disabilities participate fully and fairly in Massachusetts education reform initiatives, with a focus on policies and practices pertaining to MCAS, which students with disabilities must pass in order to graduate.

http://www.massadvocates.org/special_education

Hot Topic_ 12% of Highschools ... Drop Out Factories?!?

High School is where students make their best memories, have life time experiences, and prepare for their future. Dropping out of high school can effect futures and change lifes indefinetly. New studies show that 12% of United State Schools are labeled drop out factories. A drop out factory is labeled by 60% of freshman do not make it to senior year. With 1,700 schools having graduation rates under 60%, it might be time to do something. The states listed below are the percent of drop out factories per state.

Alabama 15% Alaska 17%
Arizona 17% Arkansas 2%
California 12% Colorado 9%
Connecticut 9% Delaware 21%
Florida 51% Georgia 39%
Hawaii 18% Idaho 3%
Illinois 10% Indiana 3%
Iowa 2% Kansas 3%
Kentucky 13% Louisiana 13%
Maine 1% Maryland 7%
Massachusetts 8% Michigan 13%
Minnesota 2% Mississippi 23%
Missouri 4% Montana 6%
Nebraska 3% Nevada 44%
New Hampshire 4% New Jersey 4%
New Mexico 27% New York 15%
North Carolina 23% North Dakota 4%
Ohio 10% Oklahoma 6%
Oregon 1% Pennsylvania 8%
Rhode Island 13% South Carolina 52%
South Dakota 1% Tennessee 14%
Texas 18% Utah 0%
Vermont 2% Virginia 8%
Washington 8% West Virginia 4%
Wisconsin 5% Wyoming 4%
Source: Associated Presshttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21532193/]

"At least 20 percent of the schools in eight different states have graduation rates less than 60 percent. South Carolina and Florida have the highest percentages--more than 50 percent of the schools in each one of these states were labeled dropout factories by John Hopkins University. Utah is the only state without a dropout factory. " http://education-portal.com/articles/12_Percent_of_U.S._High_Schools_Could_Be_Labeled_a_Dropout_Factory.html

This is a serious problem within this country that needs to be taken care of. This percentage of students are losing any chance at having a good life. It is time to fix this problem and keep students interested and keep the from dropping out of school.

Sex Education in Schools

What age is to early for students to learn about sex? How much should they be taught? What should they be taught?

There are many question to be asked when it comes to sex education being taught in school. Many schools are having problems deciding whether or not to teach sex education, and what grade they should start teaching it. Schools also need to be sure parents are accepting of what is being taught and that they follow the beliefs of students when it comes to sex. Depending on the school students are attending, depends on what they are being taught.

There are two different types of sex education classes: Comprehensive Sex Education and Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Program. They are two completely different forms of teaching. One class maybe good for some students and another class might be better for other students.

"Comprehensive Sexuality Education is a program that starts in kindergarten and continues through high school. It brings up age appropriate sexuality topics and covers the broad spectrum of sex education, including safe sex, STDs, contraceptives, masturbation, body image, and more... Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs emphasize abstinence from all sexual behaviors and do not cover information on contraceptives, STDs, masturbation, etc. "

Schools and teachers need to know what type of students will take the most information out of which class. Students seem to be growing up faster than anyone can expect and personally I believe a comprehensive sexuality education program would be most useful for students to understand what they are doing and how to do everything safely. It is not bad to promote abstinence, but teachers need to be prepared for the very few students will follow the abstinence program.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_sexEd2006.htmlexEd2006.html- gives very insiteful information about teens and sex. Some of the information is listed below.

Teaching Gap

There is a large gap between what teachers believe should be covered and what they actually teach on some topics in sex education.

Sex and Pregnancy Among Teens

• By their 18th birthday, six in 10 teenage women and more than five in 10 teenage men have had sexual intercourse.

• Between 1995 and 2002, the number of teens aged 15–17 who had ever engaged in sexual intercourse declined 10%.

• Of the approximately 750,000 teen pregnancies that occur each year, 82% are unintended. More than one-quarter end in abortion.

• The pregnancy rate among U.S. women aged 15–19 has declined steadily—from 117 pregnancies per 1,000 women in 1990 to 75 per 1,000 women in 2002

• Approximately 14% of the decline in teen pregnancy between 1995 and 2002 was due to teens’ delaying sex or having sex less often, while 86% was due to an increase in sexually experienced teens’ contraceptive use

• Despite the decline, the United States continues to have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world—almost twice as high as those of England, Wales and Canada, and eight times as high as those of the Netherlands and Japan

• Every year, roughly nine million new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) occur among teens and young adults in the United States. Compared with rates among teens in Canada and Western Europe, rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia among U.S. teens are extremely high

• Though teens in the United States have levels of sexual activity similar to levels among their Canadian, English, French and Swedish peers, they are more likely to have shorter and more sporadic sexual relationships and are less likely to use contraceptives.

Sex Education: Teens’ Perspectives

• By 2002, one-third of teens had not received any formal instruction about contraception

• More than one in five adolescents (21% of females and 24% of males) received abstinence education without receiving instruction about birth control in 2002, compared with 8–9% in 1995.

• In 2002, only 62% of sexually experienced female teens had received instruction about contraception before they first had sex, compared with 72% in 1995.

• Only one out of three sexually experienced black males and fewer than half of sexually experienced black females had received instruction about contraception before the first time they had sex.

• One-quarter of sexually experienced teens had not received instruction about abstinence before first sex.