Outside Forces Affecting Education

Daniela Elliott
Blog #6, pages 167- 215
Literary Luminator

1.       "The effect of media influence, especially on male violence, must be courageously dealt with by every school district." (pg. 178)

Media, whether its music, television or the internet, I believe, has corrupted young children so much more than parents think it would.  When I think about the ridiculous shows that our on TV that are directed towards young adults: Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, Secret Life of the American Teenager, etc. The list goes on and on and these shows will never been understood by teenagers and young adults as just a TV show. They see these shows and want to imitate what they see, or they spend so much time trying to make them something that seems popular on a show. I don’t believe teenagers understand that it’s not real, or that it’s all just for fun.  I know that when I think about my own children, someday in the future, I’m learning so much right now about what not to do with my children and restricting media use is going to be one.  When I was growing up, it used to be Saved by the Bell and Charles in Charge, and there was never anything on those shows that negatively influenced me and I want my own children to have that same upbringing. 

2.       “This year our school separated the girls into classes by themselves away from the boys.  it has helped the girls to concentrate.  They are more focused, and I have noticed things about girls’ behavior that I never really noticed before.” (pg. 183)

The more I read this book and the more I think about my own childhood, the more I like the idea of single-sex education.  I do believe that there is something very beneficial to having our children go through elementary and even middle school in a single-sex school.  This book talks so much about how rapidly the brain is developing during these young ages and how many differences there are between boys and girls.  Then I think about the schools here in Rochester that offers this education style: Mercy and McQuaid.  Two private and expensive schools, so the question is: how badly do I want my children do get the best education style of teaching? Enough to spend thousands of dollars each year to send them to these schools? I have a feeling that if more people could afford such schools, that more parents would select this option.  

3.       “No one denies the need to hold schools and teacher accountable, and no one likes schools to constantly under perform, but is the present hysteria to test students healthy for the learning brain?  Our research shows us that, for the most part, it is not.” (pg. 190)

As a future educator, I’ve heard so often of standardized testing and their “importance.”  Importance is a tricky word to use because for the most part, it is politicians who are deciding what is and isn’t important for schools and students.  I agree with the quote, that a level of accountability needs to be held, as with any other job, being responsible for what you’ve taken part in is only natural and expected.  But, with all that I’m learning in only my first semester in grad school, and all that is still left to learn, I wonder how politicians could ever be qualified to make such important decisions for the educational system.  Politicians are intelligent in their own rite but if a person is not well-informed of something how could it ever be okay for that person to make such a powerful decision for something they don’t fully understand? With so many bigger issues affecting our country, it seems as though politicians have bigger things to worry about, bigger things to actualyl take part in.

Video: a humorous take on Teachers and Wall Street