Reflection on Goals of Education,Power and Control of Schools

In class this past week we talked about the goals of schooling, and I learned a lot of new points that I’ve never thought about.  When you go to school for so long, you never really sit back and think about WHY you are actually doing something, why you wake up every morning and spend so many hours of your life in one location. It was interesting looking back in time and seeing how schools came about.

Picking a curriculum seems like it would be the hardest thing to decide for schools. It’s almost impossible to choose what children should be learning in school because there are so many contrasting ideas and thoughts. There is no way that you could please everyone with the curriculum, who is teaching it, and how they are teaching it. Another point that we went over in class was the topic of school boards, which is controversial for a number of reasons. School boards should consist of people of all types, not just elite. If school boards consisted of a variety of people there is a better chance that schools would please more people. Schools' definitely have a hard time being fair, and catering to all types of children. If they started with school boards, it would eventually trickle down to schools.

Another topic which is controversial in American schools is teaching patriotism in class. It is definitely a touchy subject. Schools should be patriotic, but give children the choice at the same time, because at the end of the day America is supposed to be about choice. Sometimes I think it is hard for kids who feel they are different from the average kid to act patriotic, almost like they feel they don't belong. If schools made people feel more accepted, it will be easier for children to be patriotic. At the same time, the American classroom needs to be mindful of kids who are patriotic for the country they came from. There is nothing wrong with kids being loyal to their home because that's all that they know. Teachers need to make sure that they are fair to children even if they aren't being patriotic towards America.