SCHOOL AND SOCIETY/ 41212-ES 3950-115
Instructor: Dr. Tetyana Koshmanova
W 6:00—8:30 p.m.
SANGREN HALL 04520/ FALL 2012
Credit Hours: 3.
Office: 4025 Sangren Hall
Phone: office: (269) 387-3508
E-mail: tetyana.koshmanova@wmich.edu
Home page: http://homepages.wmich.edu/~tkoshman/
Office hours: Wednesdays, 4:50 p.m. – 5:50 p.m., and by appointment
Course Prerequisites: Minimum of 70 earned semester hours
Course Texts:
• Jennifer Hochschild and Nathan Scovronick (2003) The American Dream and the Public
Schools. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Coursepack (available on-line for you to order at www.dollarbillcopying.com, click on
our school and search for your pack)
• Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein (2010). They Say/I Say. The Moves that Matter in
Academic Writing, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton Company, Inc.
Course Description: This course focuses on the study of schooling in its social-historical
contexts. It is designed to help students understand how American schools are organized and
work. It is designed to help students understand the forces and factors that shape schooling
practices and govern the possibilities for change. The course is concerned with the structure and
evolution of schooling in the context of American society. Although we will be primarily
concerned with schools in the United States, comparisons with other countries’ schools will be
provided. It centers on issues and debates in contemporary schooling, including such topics as the
effects of social class, race and gender bias, conflicting aims of education, the nature of and
disputes about both the formal and hidden curriculum, and the status and direction of the
teaching profession.
Course Purpose and Objectives: Expanding students’ knowledge about organization of
American schools as well as developing thinking skills about controversial issues of
contemporary education are the two main objectives of this course. The course is not aimed at
equipping students (as future teachers) with practical recommendations, recipes, and particular
ways of solving everyday school problems. This is a problem-oriented course. Be prepared to
raise more questions than get answers. The course is designed to help future teachers to foster
strong writing and thinking skills, and to exercise these capacities with regard to issues in
American education. Therefore most of the class time we will be reading, discussing and writing
about professional issues and positions taken by scholars of education. Students will use those
positions as points of departure for developing their own views, and expressing them in their
questions and comments in class, as well as in their writing assignments.
Thinking and writing are complimentary processes. Good thinking begins in serious
discussion, but thinking is clarified and deepened in the process of writing. This course requires
diligent student engagement in numerous and ongoing tasks involving both kinds of
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activity. A basic requirement of this course is that every student demonstrates solid
competencies in the written and oral expression of ideas. You will be required to write in
ways that are different from the writing you have done before.
Development of such competencies is a core purpose of the course. The number of
students enrolled in each section of the course is limited precisely so as to facilitate the close
monitoring of student competencies in the written and oral expression of ideas. Every effort is
made to help students develop powers of careful, critical judgment with regard to educational
issues. This will include opportunities for students to provide forms of responsible critical
feedback to others in the class regarding the issues they are working on. With those broad goals
in mind, this course will focus on the following outcomes. Students in this course will be
expected to:
• Deepen their understanding of the social context of school practices and the ways in
which educational practices and ideals are culturally embedded;
• Develop and articulate clear statements of educational aims and values, as well as cogent
positions on controversial educational issues;
• Extend their ability to engage constructively with others in mutually respectful, openended dialogue examining purposes, values, and direction of schooling practices and of
the teaching profession.
School and Society fulfils the University’s baccalaureate requirement.
Principal topics: This course will attend to a number of enduring themes, tensions and
controversies in American education. We will focus upon the political morality of teacher
authority: the ways in which teacher judgment and action responds to the wider context of debate
and controversy and contributes, for good or ill, to the shape of current practices.
A central strand of the course will focus on the practical judgment of teachers. In
particular, we will consider two aspects of teacher judgment. First, the importance of formulating
good judgments in and about schooling practices: deciding what it is right to do or at least to
strive for in an uncertain context of conflicting interests, ideas and values. The second is the
value of articulating the basis of those judgments in a way that defends them and contributes to
the thinking of others about the matters in question. ES3950 will focus on these two domains of
inquiry and skill. The central purpose of the course is to equip future teachers with the
dispositions and skills needed to engage fundamental educational issues in a serious, constructive
and thoughtful way.
In this section of ES3950, we will orient ourselves by examining education in the context
of notions of and questions about the “American Dream”. Within the context we will strive to
provide the best responses that we can to the following issues in American education:
• The legacy of segregation and limited success of desegregation efforts
• The inequalities of school finance and school finance reform
• The nature of and conflicting interests regarding contemporary school reform
• The varieties, risks and desirability of choice in schooling
• Forms of separation and inclusion in public schooling
• Competing ideas about multiculturalism in American education.
Course Expectations and Evaluation
Attendance is obligatory. A pattern of absence will adversely affect your grade. Absences will be
dealt with in the following manner: one absence=no penalty (except loss of participation points); two
ES3950/41212, Koshmanova, FALL 2012
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absences=final grade total for class will be lowered by 5%; three absences=final grade total will be lowered
by 10%; four absences=student will receive failing grade for the course. Frequent tardiness/leaving early
may also result in a lower grade for you: for each 10 minutes of tardiness/leaving early you will lose three
participation points/out of 10. Four tardiness/leaving early will result in one missed class. University rules
require documentation of excused absence before makeup work can be accepted. When absence is
the result of an extenuating circumstances beyond the student’s control or when an absence is prearranged
with the instructor, the instructor may excuse the student from the above penalties, provided that the
student makes (and then follows through on) acceptable arrangements for making up the class session and
any missed work, including tests or quizzes. Makeup work or tests must be completed as soon as possible,
typically within the next week following the excused absence. Except for exigent circumstances, late
papers will be penalized 2 points a day (out of 20). Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each
class section. Therefore, try not to miss the attendance list passed around. This will be entirely
your responsibility.
Class participation. This course will proceed as a seminar. It involves participation in all sorts
of class activities such as discussions and group work. Demonstration of knowledge and
understanding of the assigned readings, and readiness to ask and answer my questions regarding
those readings are the most valid forms of class participation. Your engagement in all of those
forms will help make our class interesting and informative. Additionally, this will be an excellent
opportunity to receive class participation points. The top score (15 %) for class participation will
be given only to those students who will be systematically active in the discussions led either by
the instructor or by the students. Although final calculation of one’s grade will be based upon a
point system, I will reserve the right to change the grade up to ½ grade level based on the quality
of student’s participation. For example, if one’s points indicate the grade of B, the final grade
may be anything from CB to BA.
Quizzes, tests and in-class tasks – reflection papers, pop-quizzes, short writing assignments,
group and individual work, and more involved tests of course content will take place at various
times. They will have varying format and will be based on the readings for the day, as was well
as on the new material explained in class. Any test or task worth more than 2% will be
announced at least one class in advance. There will be total of 20% based upon these activities.
Personal Essay (First research paper): Final draft due October 10. You will write an
autobiographical essay that addresses the following question: “Why do you want to be a
teacher?” and “What is your practical philosophy of education?”(Note: I have used the term
“practical philosophy”) in order to encourage you to ground your philosophy in your personal
experiences, rather than abstract theory). Your paper will be written using a “writing process”
approach, which means that you will work within the context of a writing group consisting of
classmates, and you will compose several drafts.
The American Dream Chapter Essay (Second research paper): The due date (of your choice)
on p. 5. A central feature of this course will be to develop a personal position with respect to
each of the issues noted above. This involves the written development of a short argumentative
essay on topics pertaining to these issues. Each student will write one short essay (between 8001000 words each) advancing a particular position to one selected issue. This paper is worth 20 %.
Maximum credit will go to those students that most fully satisfy a high standard for
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professionally appropriate writing and presentation. To be fully satisfactory, each paper must (1)
be clearly focused, with the goal and premises indicated (1-5 points); (2) well structured, aligned
with the goal and premises (1-5 points; (3) cogently argued (1-5 points); (4) make accurate and
informed references to relevant material, using APA style, 6th edition, with appropriate citations
as necessary (1-5 points); and (5) be free of glaring and distracting errors in standard usage of the
written language (punctuation, spelling, sentence structure) (1-5 points) (25 points total). This
paper must be submitted to me by e-mail and as a hard copy.
The Rethinking or Shame Argument (Final Research Paper)--Final Essays due December 12.
A third essay, with the same requirements as the second paper, will focus on formulating and
analyzing a key argument based upon the course pack readings (either Shame of the Nation or
Rethinking Globalization). The argument should be clearly grounded in the text and advance an
educationally relevant claim. This paper is worth 20 %. The instructor will use the same point
distribution as in the previous paper.
The two questions tied to reading assignments. For two separate classes, students will write
one question that focuses discussion on an issue of their choice related to assigned class readings.
The questions cannot require yes/no answers and must prompt students' reflection over the
reading material. Along with each question, students will submit a paragraph-length explanation
about why that question is an important one for teachers to address. The questions and
paragraphs will be discussed in class according to the Schedule of Reading Questions. Please
submit this question one class period in advance (before our class considers it in class). I cannot
accept the question without the accompanying paragraph. Each question and paragraph will be
worth up to 5 %, a total of 10 % for both questions and paragraphs.
Grading Policy: The grade for this course, figured on the basis of the percentage system
indicated above, may be summarized as follows:
• Class participation: up to 15 %
• Quizzes, in-class tasks, homework: up to 20%
• Personal Essay: up to 15%
• The American Dream Chapter Essay: up to 20 %.
• The Rethinking or Shame Argument: up to 20 %.
• The two questions tied to reading assignments: up to 10 %
The instructor will calculate your final grade based on the paper work provided and will
verify receipt of all papers in electronic format.
Final grade computation
A
94-100%
C
BA
88-93%
DC
B
82-87%
D
CB
76-81%
E
Academic Integrity Statement
70-75%
64-69%
60-63%
below 60
You are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the policies and procedures in the
Undergraduate and Graduate Catalogs that pertain to Academic Honesty. These policies include cheating,
fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity and computer misuse.
[The policies can be found at http://catalog.wmich.edu under Academic Policies, Student Rights and
ES3950/41212, Koshmanova, FALL 2012
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Responsibilities.] If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be
referred to the Office of Student Conduct. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you
believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with your
instructor if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment
or test. In addition, you are responsible for making yourself aware of understanding the policies and
procedures that pertain to the Code of Honor and general academic policies on such issues as diversity,
religious observance, student disabilities, etc. [The policies can be found at http://osc.wmich.edu
and www.wmich.edu/registrar].
Need for Accommodations: Any student with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning,
psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact
the professor and the appropriate Disability Services office at the beginning of the semester. The
two disability service offices on campus are: Disabled Student Resources and Services
616.387.2116 or Office of Services for Students with Learning Disabilities 616.387.4411
Tentative Schedule
5 September Introduction. The American Dream and the Public Schools, ch 1
12
The American Dream and the Public Schools, ch 2. First drafts of Personal Essays due
Readings in the Coursepack (the Shame of the Nation, pp.1-52). They Say/I Say, Intro, Ch.1
th
(For all They Say/I Say exercises, use APA style, 6 edition)
19
Watch the Guest Lecture by J. Kozol (City Club Presents Jonathan Kozol, via on line)
Read the Paper by Professor James Bosco titled Is it Possible to Reform Schools?
26
Readings in the Coursepack (the Shame of the Nation, pp.53-98)
They Say/I Say, ch.2. Second drafts of Personal essays due.
3 October Readings in the Coursepack (pp. 203-211). They Say/I Say, chs 3-4
American Dream, ch.3; They Say/I Say, ch. 5.
10
17
American Dream, ch.4. They Say/I Say, ch. 6. Final drafts of Personal Essays due
Watch the animate by Sir Ken Robinson Changing Education Paradigms. Chapter 2 essays due
Documentary on schools of choice. Chapter 3 essays due They Say/I Say, chs 7-8.
24
American Dream, ch.5. Chapter 4 essays due
31
American Dream, ch.6. Chapter 5 essays due
7
14
November American Dream, ch. 7. Chapter 6 essays due
American Dream, ch. 8. Chapter 7 essays due
21 Readings in the Course pack (the Rethinking Globalization, pp. 99-143) Chapter 8 essays due
28 Documentary on the Readings in the Course pack.
5 December Readings in the Course pack (the Rethinking Globalization, pp.145-201) Course wrap-up
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December 12, 7:15—9:15 p.m. Final Essays due
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