Monday, July 11, 2011
Socialization or Learning?
In The American School's chapter 9, the section on John Dewey touched upon the founding of the Laboratory School. The idea here is that social imagination is "the habit of mentally constructing some actual scene of human interaction, and of consulting that for instruction as to what to do." Furthermore, it highlights the concept of pragmatism, stuffing all of it under the umbrella of progressivism. As the book explained, pragmatism is "associated with the school of philosophy, means in its simplest form that humans should adopt those ideas, values, and institutions that best work in a particular social situation." In my opinion, I think that the schools (and those behind the organization of these schools) really wanted to discipline children and conform them - then they came up with the rationale that students needed to be socialized anyway. So it may have started as a way to get a large mass of people to conform to the rules and laws of the country but then expanded to shape individuals. I think that students need to have extracurricular activities to be able to explore themselves and the world. But, I'm not so sure that we should have the idea that anything we teach these children is going to be ingrained and become the norm - because it can surely be used for negative purposes.
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Keenan, You make good points about the original values of schools and socialization. We cannot discount socialization because we are, in fact, social beings and we need to have the ability to interact. The history of American schools slowly concealed the true significance of its existence. We discussed in class about the Anglo-American perspective and control. However, change slowly emerged and continues to gain momentum. Technology and the ability to communicate easily certainly impact this momentum. Access to the Internet gives all an opportunity to see the world. It also gives schools systems the same opportunity to make the many needed changes in order to create an equal public school system. I believe we’ll see many changes in the next few years. I’m sure these adjustments will not be made without disagreement as we already observe. I believe that the changes that are about to take place are not about one cultural perspective; all cultures have an investment and these changes will be about equity and the need to educate all American children.
ReplyDeleteThe gain from extracurricular activities is tremendous. It provides situations for students to experience learning outside of a classroom. It also is an excellent way to learn socialization skills and hidden curricula that may be hard to pull off in the formalness of the classroom. Schooling at young ages is also very important as it is a way to begin socializing our children, teaching them how to play and interact with other children of similar ages. As the children grow and continue in the education system they are taught to question their beliefs and form their own opinions. However not all students do this, whether it is simply they aren't being taught how to properly question their beliefs or they are more willing to accept what they learn as true is questionable.
ReplyDeleteI live kind of on the fence of this argument. I know that school was initially introduced as a mechanism for socialization. They wanted to engrain the importance of one people's ideals. School today is still attempting to teach children that only one way is acceptable. That is because the world only accepts that way. Before we can change schooling we have to change the world (How hard would that be?) because schooling is preparation for the real world and how can we say we have provided our students with the skills to survive that world if we don't teach them the ways deemed acceptable?
ReplyDeleteSpecial K!!!!!! My GIRL!!!! You are amazing person and you will be an OUTSTANDING eductaor. You have the trifecta which is high intelligence, great personality, and excellent communication skills!!! Your post was very indepth and brings to light the importance of understanding of how the schools were build and what exists now a days in the US. We can assume these kids are grasping the materials, ie standarized tests.. as we spoke before different methods and techniques need to be used to ensure the overall development of the student.
ReplyDeleteA great discussion, Kennan. From my point of view, everything likes “the golden mean”. John Dewey’s Laboratory School can make sense, since most people learn better visually and by doing things. Abstract things are hard to pursue. Furthermore, socialization is an important skill that children must start learning in kindergarten. Children must learn what is appropriate and what is not, the rules are rules to follow. However, as they grow up it is quite normal to question social norms and if they are wrong, they can be changed.
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