Education Is Politics

QUOTES:

"Can education develop students as critical thinkers, skilled workers, and active citizens? Can it promote democracy and serve all students equitably?" 

Although this is this is only the second and third sentence in the reading it is a REALLY powerful quote. It is definitely something to think about. When I first read the title of this reading I automatically thought of my political science class and thought "oh jeez here we go again with politics". Education can OF COURSE develop students as critical thinkers. That is how we become critical thinkers. Education plays a big part on how students look at the real world. We all have our own opinions, neither right or wrong, they are our views. And we as future teachers are going to teach our students that. There will be things going on in the outside world that students will sit there and actually think about and it will be critical. Everything in life is going to be critiqued whether it is good or bad. They will become skilled workers because going to school teaches students skills like learning how to write a check, and learning math problems so they can figure out percentages at a store. Everything you learn in school is a skill. And finally students WILL be active citizens whether they register to vote when they turn 18 or not. Each student will have an opinion on all political views. 

"In making these choices, many teachers are unhappy with the limits of the traditional curriculum and do what they can to teach creatively and critically. Whether they deviate from or follow the official syllabus.."

I personally really liked this quote because it has a lot to do with politics. I was talking to a teacher who works at a New Bedford public school and he was telling me that it is really hard for students in an urban are to be happy with what they are learning. Because teachers now-a-days have to be so stuck on what the book and their syllabus tells them, it's hard for them to make lessons enjoyable for students. Students obviously don't want to sit at their desks all day and do written work, they want to do some fun activities and group work. However if the teachers lesson does not have that included they do not do it, simple as that. Teachers have their own classrooms which means they should be able to create some of their own lessons, and maybe teach some things that students will be able to take into the real world with them. 

"By situating critical study in student experience and language, problem-posing is also multicultural, the fifth value in the agenda offered in the first chapter.  Student speech, community life, and perceptions are foundations of the curriculum. Empowering pedagogy develops classroom discourse for the students diversity."

I really liked this quote because as a student I don't like to just learn the same thing all day every single day. In high school we had four classes a semester we would have an elective,two problem-posing classes, and a language. I really enjoyed that because it breaks up your day and helps make a student learn diversely. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY