Educational Practices 1
REFLECTIVE PAPER
Presented to
Professor
In Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of the Course
Ant101: Cultural Anthropology
Name
October 20, 2013
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Abstract
A Reflective Paper, by its very definition, requires an introspective look both forward and
rearward. In other words, reflection is a way to dissect, and perhaps, categorize the
educational system that I have known, while each element is to increase the effectiveness
and contribution of the educational system. Therefore, is on aspect more important than
the other. This paper attempts to synthesize my knowledge and experiences and my
theoretical studies into a readable, meaningful document.
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Public School System
As this Research Paper, like any other, must adhere to established protocols of
research among others, I decided to anthropologically look at how we in this country are
in competition with ourselves in the way that our educational system works. I will then
compare and contrast how our system currently works as opposed to how it can and
should work for the benefit of the children we serve in our public school systems. In
other words I intend to self-evaluate the learning process of an educational system that
though much maligned, has served this nation well throughout history.
Our current system is based on Normative Values, which is to say that we have
a punishment based school system in America. This system attempts to "build" a student
by focusing on her/his weaknesses instead of his strengths. For example, we don't
generally tell the child how many he/she got correct on an exam we tell them how many
they got wrong on the exam. We don't even generally tell them how the body of their
work was fundamentally sound.... we just say, "You got this one right and this one
wrong". Dr. Phillip C. Schlechty, founder of the Center for Leadership in School
Reform, says our schools should be designed to be "learning organizations" but our
cultural and historical perspective doesn't allow us to think that way in our public schools
even though that is the methodology of learning embraced by none other than the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Again, my goal here is to show the
cultural clash that is being waged within our own educational system as it currently exists
and the way some education reformers would like to see it go. Make no mistake; this is a
battle of epic proportions.
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Systems within System
Let's begin our study of contrasting systems within a system at the beginning. In
America we have for years seen the "true" genesis of academia to be kindergarten. I
know that there has been pre-school of some form or another for years, but it has yet to
be fully recognized for it's value, and it is mainly viewed as an educational "nice-to-have"
as opposed to the "need-to-have" it has proven itself to be. I am not attempting to
minimize the importance and value of kindergarten. On the contrary, I believe that we
tend to get it right in kindergarten, because it is built on the premise of giving children
intrinsic motivation to show them that their good deeds are recognized. Hence they get a
gold sticker and the teacher smiles at them! My only point is that we need to embrace
pre-school as a necessary augmented to help the children who will be entering
kindergarten a year later. Instead, pre-kindergarten (pre-k) is viewed as some sort of
luxury that districts cannot afford. Education reformers would say that we couldn’t
afford not to have it input districts. Again, fundamental differences based on a cultural
divide. This divide is not base on race or religion or ethnicity or gender. It is based on
cultural mores about education and those who say let's be daring and adventurous and try
something new and different.
Our European based educational system simply can be improved upon. I am not
one of those who believe that it is an unequivocal and dismal failure. I do believe,
however, that the thinking that has gone into our system is a failure. The American
public education system has not survived, because of these so-called "thinkers", but in
spite of them. So I see the battle as being between the Traditionalists and the Reformers.
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A classic culture clash, an intra-societal impasse that must be breached if our children are
to complete in the global economy. Let me give some examples of how I think we can
come to a common agreement on the key issue of systemic change of our education
delivery system.
1. SCHOOL BOARD - Dr. Schlechty believes that the school board must realize that
they are key members of what he calls the Standard Bearer Process. As such, they must
openly support the process of focusing on engagement or Working On the Work (WOW).
This relies on there being an intersection between teachers, students and the
administration.
2. SUPERINTENDENT - Must foster an atmosphere of strategic Thinking that lets
teachers and administrators know that beliefs are not the end all and be all; they are only
foundations for visions. Holding tightly to out-dated beliefs is why our "Thinkers' refuse
to seriously dialogue with our "Reformers" so Supers must say to their staffs we need
"visions" to go along with the beliefs we all have.
For the traditionalists the words business and education are forever to be
separated and never to be conjoined in the same sentence of any serious discourse of
either. For the more visionary scholars, the two den never to be so separated. One reason
for this is that there is a bossy of evidence and scholarly study that truly believes, that for
education to thrive and survive in America, it must adopt segments of the business model
and apply and adapt them for education.
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Business of Schools
Business never loses sight of its "core" business. That is to say, that the fruit
business knows that it may indeed realize some profit from the sale of side effect
business, but it's core business is the selling of fruit. Additionally it never loses sight of
to whom it is accountable. Education must do the same thing. Education is not
accountable to the State, or to the politicians, nor the parents, nor the teachers. It is
accountable to the students. To the extent that any school district doubts this, is the
extent to which the cultural divide has reared its ugly head. The core business of schools
is to provide students with content-rich, engaging schoolwork. This results in students
learning those things that the schools, parents, and community want them to learn to be
considered well educated. Remember, this is about a cultural war of epic proportions
being waged within the confines of the United States of America, an intra-cultural battle
between two competing ideals or subcultures. The Traditionalists have a problem with
the premise espoused, by the Visionaries, which is this...SCHOOLS SHOULD BE
LEARNING PLATFORMS FOR STUDENTS NOT TEACHING PLATFORMS FOR
TEACHERS.1
That said, what we are talking about is a complete reform of our system of how we teach
our children and consequently how they learn in our schools.
According to the Schlechty Center there are 5 basic assumptions regarding school
reform. It must be said that no less than the National School Boards Association (NSBA)
agrees with these assumptions.
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1. There is an urgent need for dramatic improvement in the performance of America's
public schools.
2. The key to improving schools is improving the quality of the work students are
provided, schools must be organized around students and the work provided to students
rather than around adults and the work of teachers.
3. Students are volunteers. Their attendance can be commanded, but their attention must
be earned.
4. The changes required to organize schools around students and student work cannot
occur unless school districts and communities have or develop the capacities needed to
support changes-capacities that are now too often lacking even in the best-run school
districts.
5. Leadership and leadership development are key components to the creation of
district-level capacity to support building-level reform.
Conclusion
While I recognize that my paper may not exactly follow tried and true
anthropological study principles. I do believe that the premise is valid in that it examines
a societal clash that, unless solved soon, we result in no less than the continued
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eradication of the educational system in our country and with it the continued slippage of
our standing on the world stage, when it comes to competing against friends and foes
alike in the areas of science and mathematics. At no time did I intend to champion the
ideas of the Traditionalists over the Reformers or vice versa. My only contention is that
this is a legitimate discourse that must be seriously engaged in for the American culture,
for teachers, for administrators, for parents, but even more importantly for the American
public school student.
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Reference
http://www.nsba.org/ElectronicSchool
http://www.schlechtycenter.org