Class 3 Readings

1. On those days the students were obliged to stay indoors and sit in rows and maintain silence on the floor of a small room that had been designated "the gymnasium."

What does this type of authority teach the students. As educators we want students to have some voice in the education and in the classroom. Sitting quietly in a gym does not influence their learning at all, it actually even makes their education experience awful. We want students to enjoy school and want to wake up in the morning and actually go, but doing this is going to make the students hate school and actually give them reasons to not learn and skip the school day. What does this type of treatment do for the students future? I will tell you this, it is definitely not going to help their future as human beings and as students.

2. The teacher, moreover, did not merely name and govern every inellectual event with practiced specificity, he also issued his directions slowly, pacing words with a meticulous delivery that brought to my mind the way the staff attendants spoke to the Alzheimers patients at my fathers nursing home.

Students do not want to be treated like babies and talking to them slowly like an Alzheimers patients is not going t help them. If you do not give the students the respect they want and treat them like the age they are, than you as an educator will not get the respect you want from them. This quote tells me that these educators are not giving the students a voice, and it seems very authoritative. When I think of this quote, it makes me think the educators do not care what the kids want in their education and reading this quote makes me think that these educators think the kids are stupid. Its the teachers job to give the students enjoyment, but this type of education is not helpful to the kids. Honestly, what are they really learning by getting treated like babies trying to learn their first words.

3. Thats a level four suggestion.

What? Since when do schools refer to everything as levels. What kind of curriculum is that? A student makes a great point in class, and the teacher give him/her feedback by saying, "that was a level four response." Since when did education and students become arcade game, like pacman. And by using levels for the students shows the students that there are higher levels and starts unneeded competition between students. A kid should not have worry about if he is saying something wrong and wait for the teacher to respond back with, "well that was a level one response." Our society has come to the point, where students and children have no voice and are actually looked down upon. No one should be an educator if this is the approach they want to take with students because it is much more harmful than helpful.

4. The uniform activities and teachers words controlled my own experience perhaps as much as they controlled and muted the expressiveness of children.

In this school students do not have the right to be creative and express their feelings. The educators have no right to tell the students who and who they cant be. If someone likes music or art or even english, a teacher has no right to control that student and tell he/she not to enjoy those subjects. Since when did our school systems become the Army or Marines? If we wanted this much control in our schools everyone would go to a military school. I'm not saying a military school is bad, just sayin it is not for everyone. Every student learns different and teachers cannot mold all students into their perfect learner. It is our roles as educators to adapt to the students learning styles and mold ourselves into an all around teacher that encourages diversity and individuality. This schools curriculum was so structured and harsh, the author even felt controlled at the school. I can only imagine how these students felt day after day, knowing they had no voice.

5. If we were not a segregated school, if there were middle class white children here, the parents would rebel at this curriculum and they would stop it cold-like that.

I find this quote very interesting, because it seems to be the students that attend this school are in touch with society and know big of a role race plays in certain things. It also says something about the community they are in the type of upbringing they have. It sounds to me like their own parents have not stepped forward and attempt to fight for a change in the curriculum. I think this shows in a lower class community there is more to worry about than a childs education. I feel their attitude is "as long as they are getting an education, right?" This quote may also state that no one cares because there are no white people involved in the school, so why bother with a change. It boggles me that no one has looked at the success rate in this school, because this type of educating cannot have high graduation rates or success rates. These teachers obviously do not want success, they want authority and nothing else. A school system like this should be looked at and should not be unheard of because I believe they are runing lives.

6. Public schools prepared students for the workplace by teaching them to come to the same place everyday, stay there for a prescribed number of hours, and follow the teachers (boss) instructions.

This is how the school was in the olden days, but has this education approach even changed? From reading chapter 3 and 4, it seems some public schools have not changed there educational approach.  And I do not understand why the olden days would want that type of education. This type of approach does not teach kids to express their interest and it definitely does not teach them to be creative. Children need open ended questions, they need diversity,  and they need voice in the classroom because that is how students become better human being and worokers. To be honest after reading this quote, have public schools really changed? I do not believe teachers at public schools get to know the children and really bond with the students enough in order to really help them in the way educators need to. I myself went to prep school, and to this day I am still connected with at least 10 of my teachers because they actually cared about me and impacted my life in the positive way that teachers are supposed to. This quote really got me thinking, we might need better professionals in our public school.