Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Friday August 29

• Virtual school visit assignment

• Groups/scholarly essay (form groups, select topics)

• Course rationale

• My Op-Ed in The State:

http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/498361.html

• Will merit pay reform education positively?

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Friday, August 22, 2008

Op-Ed, The State

Crisis rhetoric, Utopian thinking and school ‘reform’

By PAUL THOMAS - Guest Columnist

“Arts of the Possible,” Adrienne Rich (2001)

Universal public education has two possible—and contradictory—missions. One is the development of a literate, articulate, and well-informed citizenry so that the democratic process can continue to evolve and the promise of radical equality can be brought closer to realization. The other is the perpetuation of a class system dividing an elite, nominally “gifted” few, tracked from an early age, from a very large underclass essentially to be written off as alienated from language and science, from poetry and politics, from history and hope—toward low-wage temporary jobs. The second is the direction our society has taken. The results are devastating in terms of the betrayal of a generation of youth. The loss to the whole of society is incalculable. (p. 162)

EDU 111—Perspectives on American Education

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