Can Schools Close the Acievement Gap Between Students from Different Ethnic and Racial Backgrounds

Burris, C., Weiner, K.G., and Mathis, W. J. Issue 5: Can Schools close the achievement gap between students from different ethnic backgrounds? Taking sides. p. 108-114.

Question 1: Read the side you're supporting. Of the points made by the author, which one do you feel can be argued the most strongly? Explain your reasons. Which point do you feel is the weakest?

The point that I believe can be argued most strongly is that is all students are given the enriched curriculum that high-achieving students receive, achievement will rise. I agree with this statement because I believe that if you give students challenging work that they will want challenge themselves to accomplish the task in front of them. Even if the student is in a lower class because they do not try hard, this work will get them to work to their fullest potential. By having all students take challenging courses it gives all students the same equal opportunity to succeed and there will be no questions because every student is learning the same material.

The point that I feel is the weakest is having students that have learning disabilities take the same classes, but have a different grading system. This could make school not enjoyable for students with disabilities. Also, you could never know if the students are actually learning the material or not because they are being graded differently.

Explain.Question 2: Read the side you're arguing against. Of the points made by the author, which one do you feel can be argued against the most strongly? Explain your reasons. Which of the opposing points do you feel is the strongest? Explain.

The point that I can argue against the strongest is that to bridge the gap we need to deal with the underlying problems of society first. This argument can be argued because school are supposed to give students equal opportunities. So if the school is offering to have all the students take the same challenging course then the problems in society will not have anything to do with it.

The point that I feel is the strongest is how more affluent schools have more money to be able to provide for their students whereas lower income school will have difficulty providing for their students. This is very true in all cases. Schools get money according to how many students and where the school is located. In a more wealthy area the schools are going to get more money then school in lower income areas.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Gardner, H. (1993). Frames of Mind. Tenth Anniversary edition. Introduction.

Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Wikipedia entry.


The first reading by Gardner discusses how some people believe that intelligence is inborn and each person has to a certain degree. They believe that this intelligence can be measure through linguistic short answer, pencil and paper test. Other believe that intelligence is not just one thing but a variety of different things and cannot be measure through pen and paper test. These different intelligences include spacial intelligence, musical intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence, mathematical and linguistic intelligence, spiritual intelligence and intelligence of other people and intelligence of ones' self. Gardner continues to discuss how is MI theory believes that there are different domains in which the culture of the environment and the artifacts present effect the type of intelligence individuals develop. This theory also supports the opinion that just because one student does better in math than other students it does not make the low achieving student any less intelligent than the high achieving student. It may just mean that the low achieving math student is intelligent in another area and domain. The second reading from wikipedia give a general definition of multiple intelligence.

In my opinion intelligence can not be categorized into one subject. I believe in multiple intelligence. I believe in the different areas of intelligence and I don't think anyone has the right to say which of these areas is more significant than the others. I also support the idea that the type of living environment and culture has an affect on what we learn and how we learn. To say that there is no such thing as musical intelligence would deny respect and recognition of great artist. To say there is no kinesthetic intelligence would ignore the achievements of great athletes. To say there is no spiritual intelligence would degrade the work of powerful religious leaders. There may not be anyway to test the theory of multiple intelligence but I don't think the theory calls for testing. Perhaps we should accept the theory and work towards creating curriculum and learning environments that allow students to experiment and all areas of intelligence.

Piagetian Structures and Psychological Constructivism

Soltis, J.F. & Philips, D.C. (2009). Perspectives on Learning. Piagetian structures and psychological constructivism. Chapter 5, p. 41-51.

This reading discusses Piaget idea of learning through the function of thinking and learning in terms of structure. He did not study chimpanzees but humans, his children. He believed that the growing child was always busy creating cognitive structures. The child passes through different stages and creates a schema for each of the complex activities until finally its mental structure is close to that of an adult. Despite the criticism, Piaget's theory provided a new approach to understanding learners in the classroom.

According to Piaget structures are real and unobservable schemas of collected and organized information. Functions are carried out through different structures like the heart and lungs, so learning is carried out in the same way, through cognitive structures. Piaget's theory is related to learning because he describes three stages that children go through and it is important as educators to know what stage students are at to make expectations that will best fit their capabilities. His theory made educators aware of stages of development, importance of experience, important role of principles and the significance of organization.

Behaviorism

Soltis, J. F., & Philips, D. C. (2009). Perspectives on Learning. Chapter 3, Behaviorism, p. 21-32.

Ullucci, K. (2005). Picking battles, finding joy: Creating community in the "uncontrolled" classroom. Multicultural Education, 12(3), 41-44.

When reading Skinner's behaviorist teaching practices I realized that this is the method most teachers live by. Praising a student for good work, or giving a gold star or some such reward, is very effective. Teachers are well aware of this and I saw it going on all the time when I was working in my classroom for service learning. I think it is an okay thing to do but then again I think sometimes that is the only thing the students are working for is that reward and not the information they are actually learning. If I was a teacher right now I would probably have some kind of reward system because this is how I always have known a classroom to be. Also all of my teachers had reward systems and they told me it is the only way to get the students to do the work. Form a behaviorist perspective I would treat the students like with respect and treat them like I wold treat my own child. If I was a parent I would not want to be sending my child off to a school where the teacher does not even care about them. As a teacher I will care for my students like they are my own and hopefully gain their trust and respect by doing so, which in the long run will help everyone in the class out because we will get along and be able to take care of problems without causing battles.

Perspectives on Learning and Educational Psychology

Soltis, J.F., & Philips, D.C. (2009). Perspectives on leaning. Chapter 1 Introducion. New York: Teachers College Press. p. 1-8.

Santrock, J.W. (2009). educational Psychology. Chapter 1, Educational Psychology: A tool for effective teaching, p. 1-27.


These readings were introduction into different perspectives of learning and educational psychology. The frist reading by Soltis and Philips discussed how there are mant different ideas on how students learn and researcher, educators and psychologist differ greatly in their views on learning. Some feel that learning happens when a person takes all of the information and reviews it until it all comes together in their head, this theory is sometimes called the "Aha!" theory. Another theory suggest that the brain is like a computer views learning in more technilogical terms. What seems to be evident among all of these different theories is they all seem to focus on individuals and do not take into account the effects that parents, siblings, teachers, friends, movie characters and the enviornment have on how students learn and what they learn. The second reading provided interesting background information about educational psychology. It discussed the people who had large impacts on the development of the educational psychology field and how each of thier ideas and beliefs shaped the course of action of the field throughout the twenty first society and the contributions their work has made for educators and students. This introduction breifly describes insturctional strategies, teaching practices, and the importance for teachers to remain committed and motivated.

Inner city African-Americann parental involvement in elementary schools and Invisible Inequality.

Abul-Alil, J.K. & Farmer, A.D. Inner city African American parental involvement in elementary schools: Getting beyond urban legends of apathy. School Psychology Quarterly, 21, 1-12.

Laureau, A. (2002). Invisible inequality: Social class and childrearing in black families and white families. American Sociological Review, 67, 747=776.

This first reading discussed the myth that inner city African American parents were hostile and apathetic to their child's academic success. In actuality the lack of school involvement and participation amongst inner city African American parents is because these parents often do not have the time to attend in school meeting because of long work hours, some lack English proficiency and have younger children to take care of. Three strategies were identified that proved to increase parental involvement and interest in school and the success of children, these were empowerment of parents through training parents for school readiness and providing integrated school-based mental health services that support family needs, outreach that related at home activities with classroom activities, and lastly indigenous resources that allow parents to meet in more comfortable setting outside of classrooms that are accessible through transportation and free. When these three strategies are emphasized inner city African American parent involvement increases.

The second reading was on Invisible Inequity across social class and childrearing in Black and White families. The study compared an African American boy from a middle class family with an African American boy from a poor family. The middle class child has many adult ran activities that focused on developing his personal interest and talents, he was offered many opportunities to speak his opinion and did not spend much time with relatives or neighborhood children. The working class child had much more free time playing outside and watching t.v. with children in the neighborhood of different ages, cousins and relatives often spend the night and communication with parents was short and direct. Working class parents were less trustful of school administrators and less comfortable with professionals, such as doctors. The overall result of this study emphasized that class played a more significant role in childrearing then race.

1. I felt that this studied focused more on the inequities between socioeconomic status not race but inequities can include black families have to deal with stereotypes, prejudice in the work force and from school administration. Black families are generally lower income because of past discrimination and face institutional discrimination in the future. Black students have more of a chance to feel excluded in the classroom.
2. As a teacher I would personally make it my responsibility to get to know my African American students and learn their situations. I would become involved in the community I teach in and make their interest and needs my own. Hopefully this will help me see students beyond stereotypes.

3 different Preschools

My first observation was that the Chinese preschool students were sent to boarding schools during the whole week, except Wednesday and the weekends. As we watched in the video there were kids who had many issues leaving their parents, and questioned their memories as to picking them up on Wednesday. As the one child at Don-feng Preschool could no let her father leave. This lead me to question the children's current relationship with the parents, as well as what their future relationship would look like. Especially if it would suffer when reaching an older age. I also began to wonder about the children's relationship with other children. School can be a large growing ground for the expansion of social skills. Due to this environment did students have better social skills? I think as an older child a boarding school is appropriate but at such a young age children still need to be taken care of by their parents, the Chinese however feel that this is not an important factor. I really value the beginning relationship at a young age that children can begin to have while living at home with their parents.

Another observation I made was the difference in discipline within the schools. In the preschool in Japan the teacher did nothing when a student continued to act out and distract the class but in a preschool in America the teacher gave the student a warning and then puts them in a "time outs" if they continue to act out. This gives me the idea that Japanese schools focus on teaching their students self control and make the behavior of an individual the responsibility of the entire group and in America, schools focus on verbally expressing frustrations and desires and taking time to develop a plan that will best handle the situation. I feel that this is then reflected into the culture, Americans seem to be more outspoken and proud of expressing our personal beliefs. Americans are taught to work hard to stand out and be different while China and Japan promote the well being of the nation over the advancement of an individual.