The Story of Schools, Episode 4: 1980-2000

This video was interesting to watch because I actually lived through some of the years that were covered. It was interesting to see why certain things like standardized testing and charter schools came into existence. I don't know much about charter schools and what they do, so I was glad this video gave a quick overview of what they are. I also liked how they showed the opinions of the presidents throughout the video. The president has a pretty big effect on what happens in education and it's nice to see them get excited about different aspects of education. I was a little put off by George W Bush and how he believed that every student should be tested at every grade. That seems a little excessive and maybe even intimidating for the students. Every few years should be enough and might encourage students to take it seriously. One thing I wish the video had covered was the idea of tracking. I'm not sure when this idea came into practice, but I'm sort of on the fence with how I feel about it. Like most things, it has both pros and cons. It's good because it allows students to take the classes that interest them. But it's bad because it categorizes students from the beginning. This may cause them to feel limited in what they are "able" to take. So perhaps there is a better way. Maybe we could settle on a combination of the tracking and not tracking. For example, there could be one level for all students. Then, there could be a special interests course that students cold take if they wanted to. I do agree that students who are supposedly on a lower level shouldn't be treated as such, but I also believe that students who are supposedly on a higher level should be able to take a course that might challenge them in a different way than the base level. If this course existed, I don't believe it would be necessary to have an Honors or AP distinction. It would just simply be a course with a slightly different topic.

The Story of Schools, Episode 1: 1770-1890

This segment was particular interesting because prior to it, I had a hard time imagining what school must have been like back then. It’s awesome that so many people were interested in changing schools for the better of the students and teachers. This section focused on the evolution of the American Public School System, as well as the major inequities and how/if they were solved.

In the late 1700s, only the larger towns were required to build schools. Children in smaller towns were left to learn on their own. Some towns had Dame Schools, which mostly doubled as a daycare and was run by women. In school, students had a horn book (a pallet with the alphabet and one prayer) and the New England Primmer (used to teach reading and Protestant religion). By 1773, students were only spending less than 82 days in school. Slaves weren’t allowed to receive any sort of education and women only received enough education to get married and have children. Poor families couldn’t afford to stay in school. At this time, the state was probably taking better care of the livestock than the children. Thankfully, there were a number of people who were ready to make a change in the education system.

Noah Webster wanted to Americanize the students by removing anything that had to do with Britain. This meant all British textbooks, and even words, were removed from the classroom. He published the Blueback Speller which had new, American spellings and put a lot of focus on American history. Noah Webster was known as the schoolmaster of America. Thomas Jefferson believed that a successful democracy required a successful education for all citizens. He drafted a bill that stated everyone got three years of public education and a few advanced students would go on to college. Horace Mann, a politician from Massachusetts, believed that all students should have an equal chance to succeed. He became the Secretary of the Board of Education and rode a horse from district to district to checkup on the schools. He wrote detailed reports on each school’s condition. Eventually, he created what was known as Common Schools, which taught common knowledge that would give students an equal chance in life. It was free, high quality and didn’t know the difference between rich and poor students. It was funded by tax dollars. He standardized a lot of what we use now – chairs with backs, blackboards, etc. Bishop Hughes did a lot for Catholic schools. When the community started to get fed up with the Catholic schools using the public school funds, he tried his best to create a system of Catholic schools that wasn’t based on public funding.

I think the thing that surprised me the most about this portion was how early on desegregation had begun. In 1855, a law was passed to abolish segregation in Boston schools. And only ten years after that, slaves could finally learn how to read. Why the heck did it take another 100 years to finally get it right? Honestly, schools shouldn’t have to be scared into desegregation. Would that principal in Boston ever let in Roberts if her father hadn’t pushed for it? Probably not. It’s really too bad that it took so long for people to become accepting of each other. The same applies to women. Women weren’t respected as educators until they had no one left to teach the students. Katherine Beecher strongly believed that women were put on this earth to teach. She believed it was in their nature to be caregivers.

The Story of Schools, Episode 3: 1950-1980

I really liked this video because of all the positive changes that were occurring. People were slowly starting to realize how important equality truly is, especially when it comes to education. I really liked seeing people push for equality. The inequities that were occurring during this time brought on a number of different reforms that were fully supported by Lyndon Johnson, the president at the time.

One of the biggest changes in this time period was from segregation to integration. African American children didn’t have the same resources as white children. They were forced to attend a different school, one that wasn’t quite up to par as the white schools. In fact, there were eighteen schools for whites and only four schools for African Americans. They weren’t receiving an equal education and they weren’t happy about it. One student, Linda Brown, and her family decided to do something about it. Her parents talked to one of the nearby white schools and tried to get her enrolled. When the principal refused, Brown’s family took it to court and fought it as hard as they could. Soon, they had decided to desegregate schools, but it still took some time for it to take full effect.

A second minority group that was suffering in this time period was Mexican Americans. They weren’t given the support they needed in school because teachers believed they weren’t smart enough to succeed. They weren’t even allowed to speak Spanish. If they did, they were forced to choose between receiving a slap or receiving detention. Finally, a group of Mexican Americans decided to write a letter to the school board making reasonable demands: no name calling and being allowed to speak Spanish. Until these demands were met, they decided to go on strike. Before long, there was the bilingual education act and Spanish was allowed to be spoken in schools.

Women were also struggling with rights during this time period. They were taught to be lady-like, domestic, and maternal. They learned to cook, clean, and sew. They were discouraged from playing sports and taking higher-level math and science classes. One woman in particular, Dorothy Raffel, loved playing basketball. When she tried out for the boy’s basketball team, they refused to let her play. Because of this, a girl’s “pick-up” team was created. This meant barely playing a game or two after school. They never got to travel or play other teams. Raffel kept fighting and eventually in 1972, Title IX was created, which allowed all women to be treated equal. If a school had a male sports team, they had to have a female version as well. There were also bias-free textbooks and co-ed activities.

Students with special needs weren’t receiving the help that they needed. In fact, 72% of special needs students weren’t even enrolled in schools. This gives them no opportunity to socialize with other students and absolutely no chance to try. It is truly disheartening that teachers and schools weren’t always willing to try at first. But soon, disabled students were allowed to come to school. It meant some very expensive changes, like ramps and automatic doors, but it was worth it to finally see those students attend school like everyone else.

Lyndon Johnson provides an interesting view as president because he was once a school teacher. He truly believed in the importance of equality and was willing to do whatever he could for minorities. He started the war on poverty and created Head Start, a program for children in low-income families. He also created low-cost college loans so more students would be more likely to attend college after high school. In 1964 he signed a bill that meant equality for all people. He even threatened to take funding away from schools who weren’t willing to fully integrate students.

The Story of Schools, Episode 2: 1900-1950

I found this video to be very interesting and informative. I haven’t really spent much time thinking about what school was like over a hundred years ago. So learning about it now, has been very eye-opening. I really enjoyed the stats that they gave at the beginning of each section. I especially enjoyed watching the stats, like percentage of 17-year-olds who graduate high school, improve as the years went on. This particular video put a lot of focus on immigration, IQ tests and change.

In the early 1900s, over 22 million (3 million children) immigrants came to America. The schools had to do something about this, but they weren’t sure what. The schools weren’t big enough to hold all of the students, so a lot of students were only allowed to attend school part time. This doesn’t seem like the students have enough time to truly learn. The schools put a lot of focus on “Americanizing” the immigrant students by having them study how to be Americans while in school. They didn’t have a lot of faith in the minority children and trained them in industrial work, not aware that they might actually be smart kids that just weren’t inspired or challenged enough to reach full potential.

The discussion of IQ testing in this episode was very disheartening. I didn’t like how the impossibly worded questions were used to determine the “quality people” from the less qualified. The test didn’t seem anything to do with what was learned in school. It was also unfortunate how culturally biased the tests were. They were always given in English, so anyone who couldn’t understand English was automatically doomed to fail.

It seemed like educators had a hard time deciding what was important for students to learn while in school. They changed their minds a lot. One of the first major programs was Gary’s “work, study, play” concept. At first, it was a hit. Students were kept busy at all times and even got to learn things that interested them. They had to walk from class to class, which kept them exercising both bodies and minds. Students even got to help run the school, whether in the kitchen, library, etc. However, people soon began to view the Gary plan as preparation for working in the factories and people revolted. They wanted to return to a focus on the pen, paper and book way of learning. So they got rid of the Gary plan and hit the books. Eventually, educators came up with a new program known as the life-adjustment program. This made school more relevant to students’ lives. They take courses on sex, dating, family life, etc.

One guy at the end made a comment about how the approach used towards education is always changing. The way he sees it, educators keep going back and forth between two concepts: traditional and progressive. I think educators are sometimes afraid when it comes to being progressive, but I believe it does a lot for the field of education when certain risks are taken. I think it is crucial that we continue to try new and exciting ideas to get students engaged.