How Horace Mann took a stand against private schools and education and made a big difference in children's and adult lives. I think that Horace Mann is important because without him we wouldn’t have compulsory education. Horace Mann is relevant to the topic this year because it talks about taking a stand and that's what he did. Horace started realizing without compulsory education people were not learning and growing up to be able to take care of themselves. When Horace Mann made compulsory education about the future, not the present.
Horace Mann, a Brown University-educated lawyer, believed that the common school was a method to improve society. The best government, he felt, was a society in which people governed themselves through representatives that they had elected. In order to elect the proper officials, voters had to make informed and educated decisions. The only way that this was possible, according to Mann, was if voters were “literate, diligent, productive, and responsible citizens” (Gutek, 106). While Mann himself associated with the Whig ideology, he wanted the common school to be unbiased.
As I write this, and the reader reads, there are children who are thrown into buildings that barely pass for schools. They are educated without proper materials, and in many cases, without a teacher. In other places, there are teachers who are masters of pedagogy and command the room with their engaging lectures. There are students who perform elaborate experiments on Bunsen burners. It is for public education's transformation into the latter that Jonathan Kozol writes so emotionally and thoughtfully.
I was born March 24, 1755 in Scarborough, Massachusetts. My father, John Alsop, is a former New York delegate to the Continental Congress. My family has always been quite affluent due to my father’s success as a merchant. After finishing my elementary education at the age of 12, my father sent me to Dummer Academy, a boarding school in South Byfield, Massachusetts. I later started college at Harvard in 1773 when only two years later my education was interrupted when our facilities were allocated to house soldiers during the Revolutionary War.
The rapid reforms taking place in America, as well as the hatred of Germany and Dewey's book, sparked immense liberal changes and the censorship of Germany in American education. Progressive education was created because educational reformers and society began changing their perspectives on schools. Children’s ideas and welfare became the main focus of school. The fear of Germany during World War I also caused schools to censor positive information about Germany. Progressive education provided the basis of society’s beliefs and ideas during World War I and would continue to affect America throughout history.
One of the history's greatest figures, Nelson Mandela, once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Over the course of years, this statement has only become more relevant. Maybe that is the reason why the topic of the decline of the American education has been recently spurring such a heated debate among national academic and teaching communities. In “The Chronicle of Higher Education”, Carl Singleton, a faculty member at Fort Hays State University, also presented his reflections concerning the U.S. education system.
He emphasizes that this teacher and student relationship in education is for people whom are “necrophilous”. And that it is only a means to control the masses by disabling their ability to critically-think. He also encourages problem-posing teaching, which are open discussion classes where not only the students can learn, but the teacher learns as well; a truly ideal learning environment for growth and change. Some of you may believe that your education has not been oppressive, but I can tell you from my own experience that there have been significant improvements, but Freire’s ideals still hold true to this day.
In chapter 2, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paul Freire, he explains his view of the educational system. Freire argues that the educational system uses the wrong method of teaching, the “banking” method to teach students. He suggests a new method called “problem-posing.” He believes that this method is more effective for students and teachers. Banking education is based on teachers assuming that the students are passive and that they can take all control, determine what would be learned and just “fill” the students with facts.
John Dewey (1859-1952), was a philosopher and educator who changed the normal schooling conventions throughout his career, lifetime and beyond. Dewey strongly influenced the design of innovative educational approaches to create a democratic learning environment. Examples of these democratic strategies are demonstrated through current day discovery and experiential learning methods undertaken by teachers globally. The idea behind these approaches is to allow transmission to occur through communication. For John Dewey, education and democracy are intimately connected.
In Paulo Freire’s essay The “Banking” Concept of Education, Freire highlights two differing forms of education: “banking” and “problem posing”. The banking concept is one in which the students are simply being “filled” by the teachers’ transferal of information, rather than actually learning material (Freire 216). This type of education resists dialogue and suggests that the students are simply objects in a passive setting that they have essentially accepted. Often this causes certain facts to be concealed and a lack of true critical thinking, especially about reality. On the opposite side of the spectrum, problem posing encourages communication.
Paulo Freire argues that the relationship between a teacher and a student is a system of oppression. Where a teacher has absolute and total control over their students’ way of thinking. Freire refers to this as “The Banking Concept of Education,” where teachers teach and students listen and don’t question what they are being told. In the banking concept, teachers are depositing and students are the depositories. To Freire the banking system of education is destroying creativity and individualism in student.
Marxism Vs Functionalism Inroduction: This essay will discuss the Marxist and Functionalist approaches to education. The essay will likewise examine the two main concepts of sociology and the education system. The way in which Marxists and Functionalists compare education is important within society. The structure and processes of education systems are related to the general process of socialization (Markedbyteachers, 2014). Socialization is how an individual participates in society.
Education can be explained as the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits, and is the most valuable resource that one could have in life as, firstly, education facilitates learning and critical thinking, secondly, it allows for dreams of the future in terms of success to become a reality and lastly, it prevents the children of today from risking their future due to the influence of environmental hazards (Brooks, 2006). After studying the points discussed, it can be said that education plays an important role in the development of each and every human being and is not on categorized under scholarly education but rather any experience that allows an individual to broaden his/her knowledge. Amy Gutmann, an American political theorist proposed a theory surrounded around the democratic state of education requiring parents and states - to surrender some educational authority to professional education staffs’, also indicating that the children of today do not just benefit from freedom of choice, or identification with and participation in the positive aspects of their family and political aspects of the society. Amy’s theory is based on the characterisation of the three models of educational control namely Locke’s Theory of Parental control,
Reda (2015) states “If we want to see the world as a just and fair place where everyone is given equal opportunities, education is what we require. Education is a must if we want to do away with the existing differences between different social classes and genders. It opens a whole world of opportunities for the poor so that they may have an equal shot at well-paying jobs.” Creating education in a democratic state has been aimed by many states, theorists, philosophers and so on. Countries in this era have succeeded is aiming for a democratic education, some are getting there and other countries fail in creating a democratic education.
The purpose of education is to create the “catalyst”, - the interest, the imagination, the self-confidence, the enthusiasm for further knowledge that helps a person grow beyond what they believe they can be. Education should help develop skills and knowledge, so students can be productive members of society. The more knowledge you have, the more opportunities you have in life. I think back to my childhood and the teachers that made an impact in my life. I want to be that catalyst for students.
