Monday, November 28, 2011

Quotes: Education is Politics- Ira Shore


1)     1)  “People are naturally curious. They are born learners. Education can either develop or stifle their inclination to ask why and to learn. A curriculum that avoids questioning school and society is not, as is commonly supposed, politically neutral. It cuts off the students' development as critical thinkers about their world.”

I thought this quote brought up a good point about how when kids are young, usually before they start school, they are just dying to learn.  They are so curious and constantly asking questions. When kids start school this curiosity and questioning of the world is slowly taken away. It made me wonder what it is about school that takes this passion away, and how we can fix it.  It also made me imagine a world where that curiosity was nurtured instead of diminished. I would love to see a college full of students with childlike wonder and classrooms where there are constantly hands in the air asking questions, dying to know more.

This quote also addresses the idea of questioning school, which I think is very important.  Your educational career should start off with some questions and analysis. It helps the student not just think about what they are doing but why they are doing it.


2) "Students learn to be passive or cynical in classes that transfer facts, skills, or values without meaningful connection to their needs, interests, or community cultures. To teach skills and information without relating them
to society and to the students' contexts turns education into an authoritarian transfer of official words, a process that severely limits student development as democratic citizens."

This quote is very important when I think about what kind of teacher I want to be.  I feel a class is completely pointless if I can’t see how it relates to my life.  I often think about the things we learn in this class and discuss the topics with my friends because I have seen them connected to my world and that makes it interesting to me.   If a teacher just rattles off information to the class and then expects the class to regurgitate it, that is all I will do. The information is not retained and my life is no different after that lesson. 


3)     3)  "This political change of direction in the making of a democratic curriculum is a way to authorize students as co-developers of their education. With some authority, they can feel co-ownership of the process, which in turn will reduce their resistance."

This is another quote that made me think about what kind of teacher I want to be.  I agree that students should be “co-developers” of their education.  I think it’s very important for students to be interested in what they are learning and understand why they are learning it in order to apply it to their everyday life and the only way to do that is if they have a say in what they learn. 

1 comment:

  1. I like the idea having students help shape their curriculum, but it's hard to picture it implemented.

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