Journal Article (Truants on Truanccy)

Truants on Truancy – a badness or a valuable indicator of unmet special educational needs?


Truancy is any intentional unexcused or unauthorized absence from compulsory schooling. The term basically describes the absences of a student by there own free will. Usually the absence does not refer to legitimate excused absences such as dental or medical conditions. In the article Neil Southwell states that he was himself, a persistent truant from school. He returned back to school through an access course and he now lectures in education studies at the University of Northampton. In the article Southwell viewed the literature on truancy and revealed a complex and contradictory picture. He argued that truancy was able to be seen as a key indicator to unmet educational needs and that the issue of truancy would not be addressed effectively until policy makers, practitioners and researchers learned to listen to the voices of truants themselves.
The article states that the reason why truancy came about was because the Government prevented truancy from being seen in any other way. The government at the time automatically said that truancy is a crime and not just a problem. The resulting certainty that the badness of truancy was at best self-contained and worse a major cause of crime, ensured that physical school attendance alone was politically acceptable and was all that required from the Government (p.92a). Southwell tried to show the readers of his article that truancy was part of a problem that needed to be addressed, but a major difficulty in addressing it was always its elusiveness. The Government and education policies had, in their perception and portrayal of truancy as badness, failed to defeat it, yet they did not consider their fundamental mistake was their misidentification of truancy as badness (p.92b) The Government failed to realize what the real issues were and instead they focused on the unimportant. Furthermore, the Government’s insistence on linking truancy to crime, and its rhetoric of being tough on the causes to crime, exposed that its motive was one of tackling crime rather than of ensuring educational conclusion (p.92b). In contemplation they physically held children in schools because they thought it would massively reduce crime, when a link between truancy and crime has been contested for decades and has been shown time and time again to be the result of flawed participant selection methods (Carlen, Gleeson & Wardhaugh, 1992; Gimshaw & Pratt; 1984; Tyerman, 1968; Whitney, 1994).
Other Researchers had their own definition of truancy. They contributed to the perception of truancy as badness, yet few were actually in agreement as to what precisely was bad about truancy. Stoll & O’Keeffe (1989) defined truancy as being absent from school (altogether or from a particular lesson or lessons) with or without a parent’s or guardian’s knowledge or consent. Reid (1993) saw truancy as illegal absence without parental consent on knowledge. As for Southwell, he argued that truancy was a form of ‘education Otherwise’ according to the terms of the 1944 Education Act. He also argued that the needs of truants, and of their families, would continue to be unmet by the Government. Truancy remained exclusory imposed even though it was self-actuated. Specialists who took the time to adopt that perspective to further the aims of inclusion were able to achieve a truant’s perspective. Researchers did this when their approach was informed by an adopted understanding of truancy as a self-actuated exclusion imposed by defective schools that failed to meet the special educational needs of all truants, and of their parents (p95). They achieved a truant’s perspective when they found a truant who openly and fully included them.
According to the Piagetian Ideas (McNair, 2010) Children are able to create and improve their patterns of thinking and behaving (schemes) through direct encounters with their environments and their memories of those encounters. Children experience the (external, physical) environment through their senses and Ideas. If the Government were to just understand the children and just listen to their perspectives and reasons as to why take part in truancy and not just make assumptions they would probably find a solution to it all. If truancy continues to be regarded as a badness of itself, there remains a danger that the underlying of educational needs will continue to go unmet because policies designed to stamp out truancy oppressively will also, by extinguishing the warning signal it provides, prevent those special educational needs from being recognized.

My Personal Philosophy of Education

My Personal Philosophy of Education
Jurna Pierre
EDF1005
Professor McNair











Progressivism is based around real-world experiences. It focuses on providing students with the skills and knowledge necessary not only to survive but also to succeed in a modern and competitive society. Essentialism is based on the theory that children should learn the traditional basic subjects and that these should be learned thoroughly and rigorously. Perennialism is based on the theory that believes that one should teach the things of everlasting importance to all people everywhere. They believe that the most important topics develop a person. These three philosophies were demonstrated as the highest amongst the others on my Personal Philosophy of Education Survey; with a score of 75% for progressivism, 70% for essentialism and a 65% for Perennialsm.
As the name suggests, progressivism is a philosophy that is adaptable for society’s current state (Slippery Rock University, 2003a). It focuses on educating students in a manner that leads them to become productive adults that skillfully functions in an ever-changing world (Slippery Rock University, 2003b). William James and John Dewey are credited for developing this characteristically American philosophy of education. The Progressive education philosophy was established in America from the mid 1920s through the mid 1950s (Leonora M. Cohen, OSU - School of Education, 1999a). It was not so much an organized movement as it was a general spirit of reform embraced by Americans with diverse goals and backgrounds during the early twentieth century (Dr. Harold D. Tallant, Department of History, and Georgetown College, 2001). Before its initiation, the philosophy of education was viewed passively more than it was actively. Education was an object seen visibly, through text books and on white boards, but never was it acted upon or sought out hands-on. John Dewey was progressivism’s foremost proponent. One of his tenets was that the school should improve the way of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared decision making, planning of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority (LeoNora M. Cohen, OSU - School of Education, 1999b). John Dewey became famous for pointing out that the authoritarian, strict, pre-ordained knowledge approach of modern traditional education was too concerned with delivering knowledge, and not enough with understanding students' actual experiences (James Neil, 2005). Progressivism curriculum has a strong emphasis on problem solving and analysis. These skills are important in today’s society. Without problem solving abilities, a student or any individual is lost and alone in the bewildering maze of the society that characterizes the world today. Progressivism curriculum is centered on activities and instructions that challenge a students’ problem solving and analysis ability, in attempt to strengthen these skills. Progressivism sought advancement through the liberation of human energies and potential from both the fading restraints of past ages and the new restraints imposed by modern industrialism. Progressivism was, thus, both forward-looking and backward-looking in its outlook (Dr. Harold D. Tallant, Department of History, and Georgetown College, 2001).
Essentialism refers to the "traditional" or "Back to the Basics" approach to education. It is so named because it strives to instill students with the "essentials" of academic knowledge and character development. The term essentialism as an educational philosophy was originally popularized in the 1930s by the American educator William Bagley (1874 -1946). The philosophy itself, however, had been the dominant approach to education in America from the beginnings of American history. Early in the twentieth century, essentialism was criticized as being too rigid to prepare students adequately for adult life. Today Essentialists believe that children should learn traditional basic subjects. They also believe that these should be learned thoroughly and rigorously. An essentialist program normally teaches children progressively, from less complex skills to more rigorously built ones. They usually teach some set subjects similar to Reading, Writing, Literature, Foreign Languages, History, Math, Science, Art, and Music. The students learn passively by sitting in their desks and listening to the teacher. An example of essentialism would be lecture based introduction classes taught at universities. Students sit and take notes in a classroom which holds over one hundred students. They take introductory level courses in order to introduce them to the content. After they have completed this course, they will take the next level course and apply what they have learned previously (Foundation of Education Web, 2008).
Perennialists believe that one should teach the things of everlasting importance to all people everywhere. They believe that the most important topics develop a person. Since details of fact change constantly, these cannot be the most important. Therefore, one should teach principles, not facts. Since people are human, one should teach first about humans, not machines or techniques. A particular strategy with modern perennialists is to teach scientific reasoning, not facts. They may illustrate the reasoning with original accounts of famous experiments. This gives the students a human side to the science, and shows the reasoning in action. Most importantly, it shows the uncertainty and false steps of real science. Although perennialism may seem similar to essentialism, perennialism focuses first on personal development, while essentialism focuses first on essential skills. Perennialism has been supported by Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins.

reflection papaer#8

As I read about the educational reform movement that was initiated in a massive part by the publication of A Nation at Risk in 1983 in my textbook, I noticed the three broad waves of educational reform. The first wave involved the setting and maintaining of both students and teacher’s standards. The second wave involved the establishment of a more decentralized decision-making structure in education. The third wave of educational reform was the school voucher and charter school movement. The wave I found to be most important and dominate is the second one, the establishment of a more a central authority on decision-making structure in education. The reason why I found it to be so dominant is because when education has the distribution of administrative power in the making up of decisions for school structures it is easier for both the students and the government. The more ideas given in from different perspectives the better it is in initiating a new and improved structure for education. Teachers didn’t always have a say in decisions that were being made until 1986. The enforcing of allowing of making teaching a Profession, by The Carnegie Task Force encouraged local school districts to find ways to give teachers a greater voice and an opportunity to speak up in school decisions. Teachers were then able to throw in their two cent in. The second wave of educational reform has been known as “school-based management” and “site-based decision making” amongst other names. This wave is very dominant and thus stands out aside of the other two.

reflection paper #20

Public high schools weren’t always around, but it’s been said that as soon as they came about in the mid-nineteenth hundreds democracy was affirmed. I think the reason why this is so it’s because U.S high schools differed from European high schools. They differed, but still fell short of democratic principles. High schools were private and highly expensive to those who were not so wealthy. In the south, after the civil war, the creation of public schools began, thus giving the underprivileged citizens an opportunity to send their children to school. U.S high schools were much more developed than European high schools because they were of the U.S. School is and was very important to all back in the mid 1900s. As known, education has always been a crucial part of the U.S. As for the Europeans, I dont think eduction was consentrated on, due to the wars that were going on. Wars were happening back and forth in Europe because of religious rights and other issues the country faced. Most people wanted the religious rights to be established. Although the Europeans fled to the U.S. because of trauma that was going on in Europe, Europeans were way more aware of democratic principles than Americans were and they still are. Because they were only immigrants in the U.S, the Europeans sought to learn the laws of the land. U.S. high schools were more advanced compared to European high schools seeing that most of their support originated from the government itself. They were rich in supplies and materials.Things weren’t stable in Europe until war ended in May 8, 1945. The U.S invited outside countries like Japan into the state to better their education statuses. In contrast to U.S. high schools, the educational systems of European schools is based on the educating students of different backgrounds and nationalities. They focused on linguistic sections and not national one. I think this is the reason why U.S high schools fell short of democratic principles and they didn't. European high schools were more focused on learing the laws of the country and so they grasped more when they were taught. if i wasnt born in a country i would want to learn all the laws of the country myself. Overall there U.S high schools and European high schools did differ and still countinue to differ till this very day.

quiz #12

reflection paper#19

A Dame school was basically an early elementary school in English speaking countries. They were made up broadly for the first century of colonial development. They were usually taught by females and the schook was held at the teachers house. Dame schools varied in purpose. Some functioned as day care centers, administered by uneducated women, while others provided the students with a good start in the basics of learning reading, writing, and arithmetic. Dame schools in Colonial England had no desk, blackboards nor maps. Perhaps the only school supply they possessed was the Hornbook. Parents had to pay for their children’s education. Only the wealthy children were able to attend school. The Dame School was what a person might today refer to as an informal day care center. Parents left their children with a female neighbor(a "dame," as such ladies was then called) who taught the children simple material such as things being taught in day care centers today. The children were taught letters (abs’s), numbers and prayers while the dame did what she usually did at home. Judging from my point of view, sending a child to Dame school was like leaving him/her with a babysitter only back in the colonial time there was no such thing as a babysitter. To them, a babysitter was considered to be a teacher even to the little infants who were incapable of learning anything. Dame schools as appose to high schools were much like day care centers. High schools today consist of primarily older students who are steps away from becoming adults. One massive difference is that most public high schools do not require an annual tuition because the country pays for it, as it is part of the country’s education program. Unlike the Dame schools, high schools today offer a wide variety of school supplies such as text books, globes, and white boards with dry erasers. I believe the development in the colonial Time from dame schools to high schools changed for the better. Even though they are two different types of schools, Dame schools were elementary and high schools consisted of older students, I think the improvement was very important and has a huge impact on the way education is today in most public schools.

quiz#11

reflection paper#17

The difference between colonial New England educations with present day education fluctuates in a number of ways. First and for most, colonial education was much more developed in a since of wanting to learn what was being taught. I don’t think attendance really mattered to them or was even taken regularly because of the vast capacity of students in a single class room. The classrooms were like church assemblies compared to the way classrooms are now in present day education. The school term in New England was rarely four months in a year. Now-a-days teachers are able to take attendance and mark off who is absent or tardy. school lasts for about ten months, with an exception of days off, spring break, and winter breaks. Religion was very important to the Puritans. In New England, with an exception of Rhode Island, the Puritan or Congregational Church was practically the State Church. In no other part of America had religion taken a hold on people as it did in New England. Before education came religion. The New Ministers were important men of reflective learning and taught to their churches in honesty and true sincerity. As for religion in schools now-a-days, it’s rare that you’ll find it. Unless the school’s curriculum is Christian based the only time you’ll hear the Lord’s name is in the Pledge of Allegiance. Schools in the present day don’t put so much emphasis on religion and I really don’t know why. I’m still attempting to figure out how that became of a change. How did religion just turn away from education when it was basically the foundation of it all? The teaching styles of present day education I believe is way more advanced compared to the way it was in colonial times. Not to say that teachers today and teachers back then didn’t have any knowledge of teaching, but I believe both were trained according to what there was to know for the learning of the students during each certain time period. The teachers in New England were often students of divine nature who stood tall above the rest and sometimes the minister of a local church. Even the innkeeper was at one point capable of teaching. That goes to show you that almost anyone was sought out to do the teaching job. Today, an individual has to go through a number of steps before becoming a certified teacher. What ever the ministers and divine students knew was what they taught to the class. Today, teachers educate the students on things the state sets out for them to learn and comprehend in order to move on to the next grade. The difference between colonial education in England and education now were very different from each other. Thank God for technology.

Reflection Paper# 18

As mentioned in most of the articles on early day education, education has always been the center of everything. From Ancient Egyptian education to colonial New England; and even present day U.S. Education, education has been placed on a high pedal stool. I agree with the whole concept of education being viewed as a vehicle for improving society at large because education is the key to success. In order for anyone to do or become anything in life I believe knowledge must be present. If Roman children were not educated at home before they borrowed some of the ancient Greek system of education, I think the children would have to start from the very beginning of what there was to learn. Because they were taught by their parents when there were no school houses, the teachers were able to begin their learning from where the parents left off. If a father was able to read and write, he taught his son to do the same. The sons were also instructed in physical training, to prepare them for war. War played a vast part in society in Ancient Rome. The men who fought were well experienced and knew what they were up against. They had the training they needed growing up so taking part in war wasn't a scare to them. Thanks to education there were Roman soldiers in the society. I believe society today is the way it is because of education. Doctors, Lawyers, teachers, firefighters, chiefs etc, all were educated in order to be good at what they do. Just as children in ancient Roman times were instructed to reverence for the gods, respect and obey authority, and to be truthful at all times, schools today teach children the same thing so that they will know that society is filled with people who deserve respect. All these teachings of morality and respect to themselves and those of higher power helped prepare the Roman students for the life of living as members of a community when they became older and where finally away from home. Education is very important in every society. People are constantly being taught new things that they didn’t know before. A good educational grounding prepares anyone for learning more easily any task that they may attempt to part-take in the future. Any thing that is learned whether it’s from school or from a person’s everyday life is irrelevant to what we learn in normal education. Education is the core to every society and over all it is needed and very important.

reflection paper#16

Rhetoric is said to be one of the most ancient regulations in the human race. It is the effective use of language and the art of making persuasive speeches. Oratory, which was the art of public speaking, fell hand in hand with rhetoric. As mentioned in an earlier reflection paper, the Romans goal in education was indeed to gain the ability to become a spokes person. A rhetor was a teacher who taught students to make speeches on a given theme such as taking part of a source in action or just simply engaging in an economic debate or competition of some sort. Rhetoric along with grammar was the first to secure a position for a firm basis for further progress or development of the Romans. With this being so, culture was then identified with the art of using language with ease and aptness. In Roman they had what they called an Orator school in which a selected group of young men attended after they had completed both their primary and secondary schooling. The young men came from wealthy families and were ordained to become successful Politian and people of the jury. The Oratory school was very expensive but worth the expense because it taught the boys to speak well in public with cogency and confidence. In order to do this, the boys had to put up arguments at the right time and learn certain orations by heart so that they were able to recite portions of it in the future. I think rhetoric had a vast relationship with Roman education because it was basically what Roman children aimed to do. They wanted to be leaders and to be a leader one must be able to give out speeches to the public. A leader should be able to speak amongst all times of people from politicians, doctors, other speakers of great excellence and even amongst the mediocre civilians of the land. While the Roman students were being taught to make speeches on a given theme they advocated a course of action which was called declamatio. The rhetorical specialty of declamatio conquered the schools, fascinated the elderly people, and gave style to both oratory and literature. Rhetoric played a huge role in Roman education and their relations changed the lives of the students.

Reflection appaer# 15

The education systems between Rome and Athenians differed in many ways. Roman children were taught at home by their parents. Fathers taught their sons in Roman laws, history, ethnicity, and trained them physically so that they were well equipped for war in the future. Meanwhile mothers taught their daughters to pin, knit and sew for both themselves and the family. The goal of education in Rome was to be effective speakers and thus the children attended school every day from sunrise to sunset. They rested, but only for lunch then they would go back to school in the evenings. In contrast to the Roman educational system, in Athenia school attendance was optional and wasn’t authorized by the government. Children went to school up until about the age of 14. If education wasn’t given by the parents the child wasn’t expected to support the parents when they became old of age. Nurses and the elders of the land educated the children to respect and honor the gods. At an early age this was instilled in the minds of the children of Athenia. Around 220BC, borrowing some of the Greek’s educational system, the Romans begin to send their children to school with the father’s permission, at ages 6 and 7. At that time schools were then being paid for. Poor students didn’t attend school; rather they were taught outside the homes. Children who were taught outside of the home were sent to a house to get group-tutored. Those that were taught inside the homes were erudite by intelligent slaves who were skilled in teaching. Children that were really poor simply stayed at home and were taught by their parents. Roman and Athenian students both studied writing, reading and arithmetic, however they didn’t have the same school supplies. Roman students read from scrolls and books, they wrote on boards filled with wax and used small pebbles to solve math problems. In contrast, Athenian students learned the letters from written Greek alphabet and passages from well known poets. They were to memorize and recite them all. Just as the Roman students used pebbles for counting, Athenian students did the same. Athenian students had one extra subject over Roman students, which was music. They played the lyre (a musical instrument of ancient Greece consisting of a sound box made typically from a turtle shell) and performed at festivals and events. The Roman and Athenia education shared a vast variety of things in common, but they were completely different.

Reflection papaer#14

Aristotle was an important man in his own time. He wanted to classify all things, not only in a way that would make it expedient to store and retrieve information, but in the correct way -- the very system that is built into the universe. The Great Chain of Being is made up of God, Angels, Demons, Man, Animals, Plants, Materials; each having their own characteristic. The Great Chain of Being was said to be a metaphor served to express the indescribable plentitude of God’s creation. Every link that came from the chain was a speck of God’s creation. The great chain of being was sometimes called the ladder of creation. In this ladder came what they called Phylogenetic Scale. This scale was made up of different types of animal categories. Each category had its own individual rank and designation. Aristotle’s version of the great chain of being titles his “God” as the unmoved mover. Aristotle terminated that there must be a first, unmoved mover in order to explain every other motion that is of existence. He believed that there was something in the beginning of the creating of motion that caused it to be of existence. He also stated that if motion were not everlasting, then that time didn’t always exist. Time is what determines motion and as Aristotle said, the concept that time has not always been in existence has never been proven. Motion cannot stop and if it does something must cause it to discontinue. Therefore if there was no unmoved mover, there would be no motion. Basically from what I grasped from that section of the article, Aristotle believed that God is the initiator of creation and without him there would have been no creation. He believed that there is only one unmoved mover and that the unmoved mover that causes motion to be of existence is indeed eternal. I agree 100% with his concept of the unmoved mover. In order for something to be present there has to be something or someone that positioned it to be there. God is sturdy and is above all that is frail. If God was fragile he would be breakable, and that’s basically the point that Aristotle made when he elaborated on the unmoved mover. Aristotle’s four causes were of great importance and inquired into the nature of causes. The whole conception of it was to point out that a person does not understand a cause only when they can say it what it is, however they grasp the primary cause when they are able to know and understand the principles of the cause, thus being able to explain it into what they inquire.

Reflection papaer#13

Plato was a supporter of Socrates. He was much attached and felt profoundly and ethically influenced by him. Most of what he knew came from Socrates but, Plato was said to be a more virtually systematic thinker than Socrates had been. He established his own school of philosophy and was filled with an abundance of ideas. I believe his ideas were rather mind consuming and indeed did have a huge impact on the modern western educational system. His doctrine of forms discussed several important concepts such as knowing virtue, knowledge, justice, social life and etc. One specific concept in which that caught my attention as I read the doctrine was Plato’s Meno. The Meno was a traditional dialogue which was Socratic (having to do with the Socratic Method) in Tone. It introduced a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge. The Meno elaborated on the Greek notion of virtue, which is basically, to my understanding, a certain talent or skill a certain individual has the ability to perform. This talent or skill has some particular respect and admiration. One example in the article that was used towards this concept was the virtue of a baker. The baker’s virtue is what enables him to bake good bread. One special skill that I have is to braid hair and my moral excellence is what allows me to compete in any hair show and win with flying colors. Plato also developed idealism which is basically the theory that reality is based on absolute truths and not materialism. Idealism is one of the oldest systematic philosophies in western culture. My definition of it is when someone has the predisposition to correspond to things in an ideal form, or as they might or should be rather than as they are, with emphasis on values. Idealism fundamentally points out things straight out of the mind. I can honestly say that when I read Plato’s idealism I thought of myself. Being the ideal person that I am, I found myself agreeing with most of Plato’s theories. If there’s one thing that I dislike more than anything, with an exception of mayonnaise of course, it’s when people go around the bush (an expression meaning take time to get to the point of a situation or subject). If something needs to be said then I believe it should be said. Sometimes I tend to base the truth on my opinions which is not always in consent with the truth, but people still ask for my opinion and I never decline their request. Plato taught that the truth is in all things. He believed that we were not born with our minds as clean blank slates but with instincts and skills. We came into the world with the ability to learn and reminisce on those things in which we have learned. Overall I think that Plato’s ideas greatly influenced the future of public education.

quiz#9

reflection paper#12

After Sputnik, the Civil Rights movement and the protest against the war in Vietnam had a huge impact on school's curriculum. Reformers passed judgment on the cold war curriculum that highlighted academics at the expense of social reality. Criticism came from certain individuals who felt school curriculum was not academically sound. Among the foremost critics decrying the ills of progressive education were Hyman Rickover and Arthur Bestor. They called for an end to "student-centered" and "life-adjustment" subjects and return to more rigorous study of traditional courses. While the arguments raged, the launching of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957 put at least a temporary closure on the debate. The U.S was involved in a space race with the Soviets, a race to educate scientists and engineers, a race toward the first moon landing. Those arguing for a more rigorous, science-and math-focused curriculum won the day. With the new child-centered curriculum called “open classroom” the students in elementary schools were able to decide whatever it was they wanted to learn at the time as long as it was education based. By high school students explored an exciting array of electives such as Multicultural Education, Peace Studies, Ecology, and Women’ Study. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite. Its launching marked a decrease in civilization in the west in the Cold War. American schools were left to blame for the U.S. crash in beating the Soviets into space. Prominent university academics were enlisted to develop a more thorough curriculum, especially in the more challenging subjects such as math, science and foreign languages. Perhaps before Sputniks launching these subjects weren't taken critically by the students or weren’t as effective. After the launching, courses were rationalized so that students would focus not on memorization but on learning to think like mathematicians or scientist. Problems and issues pushed students to develop higher-order thinking skills. The propagation of electives in the 1960s and 1970s led to superficial course options and less rigorous curriculum. Coupled with meager test scores and the publication of decisive reports and books, America’s schools began eliminating electives and increasing the number of fundamental courses mandatory for graduation, sometimes referred to as a core curriculum. In many schools today, the curriculum is defined by the states. School efficiency is determined by standardized tests so that the government can keep track of what’s going on in our public schools. In doing this, the government is said to be more involved and complex towards all schools.

reflection paper#11

The impact that Socrates ideas had in the modern western education was very peculiar and strange, at least from my understanding of the readings. Even though he is well known in history for his great ideas, Socrates actually wrote nothing. He was more of a teacher that never taught in a classroom. He only spoke to groups of people who were willing to gather around and listen to all that he articulated. Most of our comprehension of Socrates comes from the works of Plato (427-347). Since Plato had other trepidations in mind than simple chronological precision it is usually impossible to determine how much of his thinking actually originated from Socrates. An elenchus (known as a logical refutation or an argument that refutes another argument by proving the contrary of its conclusion) was identified as the elenctic Method or the Socrates Method, according to the Notes of Socrates. He believed that happiness was moral excellence and through a chain of discussions he tried to develop an understanding of other people’s ethic and get them to recognize whatever it was he was implying. In Elenctic discussions or arguments, one person would claim knowledge of a certain subject or element, stating a thesis, which, through a series of questions, Socrates would scrutinize. Socrates would never state a conclusion - the questions he asked, on the other hand, would take different components of the individual’s argument, and make them seem rhetorical or stupid. The conclusions of most of these discussions were always temporary because it was always left waiting to be disapproved during a future elenctic argument. The concluding goal of the Elenchus was to typify virtue - since everyone had good quality in them and Socrates truly believed that it should be revealed. Socrates thought that if one could ever correctly define justice, he would have the definition of the absolute justice and his explanation of justice would always hold true for every creature in the universe. As for the examined life, the article was basically about the charges that were put down against Socrates and his trail. In conclusion, Socrates was an ancient philosopher who was really open and expressed what he felt so that all would able to hear him. I think his life was basically an open book that he wanted everyone to read. He had a great impact in modern education and that is why he is well know and talked about till this very day.

reflection paper#10

One task that keeps teachers busiest is what Philip Jackson terms “gate keeping”. The original definition of a gatekeeper is a person in charge of a gate, usually to identify, count, supervise, etc., the traffic or flow through it. From the text book’s point of view the gate would be the topic and/or open discussions being discussed in the classrooms and the keeper, of course, would be the teacher. In the classroom as gatekeeper the teachers must determine which student will speak, when, and for how long. The teachers also determine the basic flow or direction of the communication in the classrooms. The gate keeping function influences the classroom rules by allowing the students to recognize that there are specific rules and regulations to aide b in the classroom. Classroom communication patterns do not train the students to be active, inquiring, independent learners. Rather, the students are expected to become quiet and reflexive, to think quickly, to rely on memory, and to be dependent on the teacher. I doing so, students become more aware of class rules and therefore become more interactive. With the gate keeping function I believe the students will learn to have respect not only for their teacher but for their classmates as well. When the teacher has opened up a class discussion, the students will know that they must work together according to the interaction patterns. When the classroom does not have a fixed pattern it affects both teachers and students. As stated in the text, although questioning signals curiosity, it is the teachers, not the learners, who do most of the questioning. The typical student rarely asks an academic question. When they do ask questions it’s usually a “May I use the rest room?” or “May I sharpen my pencil?” type of question. The teachers usually feed into the disarray and waist valuable learning time asking the students’ questions like “Didn’t I just send u to the bathroom” or “How sharp does your pencil need to be before you actually start doing your work?” Students are not given much time to ask, or even answer, questions. Teachers usually wait less than a second for student comment and answers. As they go through the grades the teachers interact less and less with the students. Perhaps the challenge new teachers should keep before them is finding a way to turn their gate keeping role into a benefit for the students, instead or hindrance.

Reflection paper#9

The first school and Ancient Egyptian Education had a number of things in common. Education to them both was viewed as a prized possession. They valued its every aspect and the moral attitudes and views of life that came along with it. The inventive goal of the Sumerian school was as the book (History begins at Sumer) termed “professional”. The Sumerian school established this goal for the training of the scribes. In obtaining this goal, the scribes would be able to suit the economic and directorial demands of the land. They followed this goal throughout its existence; in doing so the school became the center of the Sumerian culture. Similarly, the Art of learning, reading and writing was one of the most overriding forces in the ancient Egyptian civilization education just as it was to the Sumerian school. Almost all of today’s knowledge about the ancient Egyptians came from the work and art of the ancient Egyptian scribes. Most of the Egyptian’s ancient principles came from certain texts, so-called Books of Institution and Wisdom Literature. The advice given in these texts were addressed and taught by elders of the royal scribal classes to the younger men of those same classes. Throughout the years the concepts became recognizable to all levels of Egyptian civilization. In comparison, Sumerian professors equipped the oldest dictionaries known to man. Semitic conquerors, which I’m guessing ranked beneath them, borrowed the dictionaries and highly admired the Literacy, which they deliberated and replicated long after the Sumerians had become extinct. As for literacy and ingenious characteristic of the Sumerian curriculum, it consisted primarily in studying and imitating the large, various group of literacy symphonies. Formal vocational training also existed along with scribal and at-home teaching. In ancient Egyptian education an official would take on his son as a helper, so that the son would have "on the job" training and the sequence become habitual. My thoughts on teacher’s effectiveness today are that the classrooms are more set up with suited material for the students. The teachers are much more laid back compared to the professors that taught at the Sumerian School. They were all about discipline and getting class work done, however in most schools teachers are not here for the learning of the children but rather just to get a paycheck.

quiz#7

quiz#1

Score » 76 out of 100
Total Correct » 25 out of 33 correct
% Score » 75.76 %

Quiz#6

reflection paper#7

The threefold approach to education in the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia were home schooling, apprenticeship and temple education. Just as in the 21st century, children in ancient Egypt emulated adult behavior. Most children who are homeschooled by their Parents by a 25% rating actually want to take up their parents Trade or profession. The only difference is the fact that in Egypt, more often than not, the children were learning their ultimate trade or professions by the very simulation of their parents and in the modern time most children imitate their parents but don’t actually take up their parents professions in the future. As Egyptian children grew older they took on more of the responsibilities on farms, workshops, vineyards, and gained expedient skills and understanding from the elderly. Along with the skills also came moral attitudes and views of life. Parents instilled their ideas about the world, folk rituals, their religious standpoint, and their viewpoints on correct behavior toward others, and toward the deities (the gods). Home schooling wasn’t the same for all children in Egypt. For example, they had formal vocational training along with scribal at-home teaching. Young men and women were not taught the same things. Because young men did not choose their own careers and pursued the family trade or profession, they were often taken on as assistants if their fathers were officials so that they were able to experience on-the-job training. In doing this they were becoming more equipped to take up their father’s profession in the future. Young women from less superior families would typically stay indoors and handle the household, sing, dance and play musical instruments. The children of poorer families such as fishermen and farmers had even less formal education. They learned how to sow, garner and harvest, make nets catching and preparing fish. You would mainly find them out in the field milking cows or sowing seeds rather than in school where they should be. Basically their education was made up of manual labor. As for apprentices, they were people who were legally bound through bond of a master craftsman in order to learn a trade. The early Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans all had systems of apprenticeship. Most superb pyramids and temples that are still here today are evidence that the system of apprenticeship clearly did make a difference. Temple education was just like every other school during the ancient time. Cuneiform was used for everything from letters and prayers to incantations, dictionaries, and even mathematical and astronomical treatises.

reflection paper#6

The invention of writing is so crucial to the establishment of the world’s great ancient civilization because writing provided a way of extending human memory by imprinting information into media less erratic than the human brain. During the time when humans created relics and artifacts, the need for teaching others how to use those artifacts became necessary. If modern humans such as San in South West Africa and Cro Magnon in southwest Europe did not begin drawing pictures 40,000 years ago artifacts would not have been revealed in the human mind. A form of script identified as cuneiform was invented in 3200BC by the Sumerians and flourished between the 3100BC to 2000BC. This writing fell into abandonment after this time had gone by yet scholars achieved in decoding it last century and today we that are just finding out about cuneiform writing can examine all of the many thousands of extant cuneiform inscriptions. The name cuneiform means “wedge shaped”. About 9000 years ago, Farmers used tokens marked with plain pictures to label basic farm manufacture. With the increase in technology of cities and urban centers of manufacture 6000 years ago, more intricate pictographic tokens were also devised to label manufactured goods. Eventually, the tokens were replaced by impressions made on clay tablets. The simple tokens used to indicate farm goods gave rise to the practice of pressing tokens into the clay tablets to produce a raised picture. Tokens were used to denote manufactured goods, drawn on the clay tablets with a rounded reed, were called a stylus (pen-shaped instruments used in drawing or artwork). The impressions left by the stylus were wedge shaped, therefore giving augment to the name cuneiform, wedge-writing. Another element of writing used by the Sumerians was pictographic impressions. These impressions were used as remembrance aids in the recording of financially viable data. Some words in the Sumerian language were spelled alike but had no commonsense connection in meaning. Only when looking at the sound of the Sumerian language does the reason for using the pictograph in any way become understandable. In becoming sound symbols, most pictographs began to be stylized and lost their iconographic form altogether. Numerous examples of true writing in the Sumerian cuneiform syllabify have been found that date after 3000BC. Overall I believe that the invention of writing played a very important role in the establishment of the world’s great ancient civilization. If writing were not invented writing forms such as the ones just mentioned in my reflection and many others would not have been in existence.

Quiz #3

reflection paper#5

Intellects such as Charles-Arnold Van Gennep have pointed out that practically all human societies use ceremonial rites to mark important conversions in the social status of any individual in order for them to join cults, groups, sororities and etc. As stated in the article Rites of Passages are highlights and validated changes in a person's status, predominantly on the occasion of such life-changing events such as birth, marriage, parenthood, puberty and death, but also may occur upon taking a political office or joining a secret society or group. According to what I’ve grasped from the article I believe initiation rites and rites of passage ceremonies have a massive association with teaching and learning. First and for most, when you initiate something/one you are giving them a formal admission or acceptance into an organization or club e.g. an adult status in their community or society. In order for them to take full accountability for it they must be taught certain things such as rituals, promises, oaths, pledges, etc. After they have learned and processed it all they are then symbolically killed (reborn, and nurtured as they take on the new social status) and then reborn into society as new and different persons. One example the article used was segregation, which was the universal beginning stage of rites of passage. The People who were involved in such abhorrence experienced rituals meant to shred them of their identities and separate them from their preceding social statuses. They were also forcibly moved geographically and transformed in appearance (their clothing, hair, or other physical markings of their previous selves). Another example stated in the article was that of young women whose heads were shaved and eyebrows removed on the first day of the koroseek initiation ceremonies among the Okiek of Kenya. Initiates seldom go through sacrament and torment intended to redefine their social reputation. One thing they also do is endure a variety of body adaptation procedures, including haircuts, tattoos, and scarification. Male circumcision and female excision also usually marked rites of passage. An African tribe in Kenya removed an initiate’s lower front incisors during initiation rites. Clothing and ornaments also indicated the loss of their previous statuses. Different cultures have different rites of passages that they abide by. They are taught things that they didn’t know before joining a cult, group, society or whatever it maybe. Learning and teaching falls hand in hand in theses ceremonies. The whole purpose of the ceremony is to become a different individual, and the only way that’s possible is by being taught something new.

Reflection paper#4

From reading the article Early Human Phylogeny I learned about Hominid Species which are referred to as humans and/or our immediate ancestors by archaeologists and paleontologists. The word “hominid” refers to a limb of the zoological (related or pertaining to animals) family, Hominidae. Hominidae include all species initiated after the human/African ape ancestral divided. That includes all species of Australopithecus (bipedal hominids) and Homo. While those species differed in many ways, hominids shared a matching set of characteristics which defined them as a group. The most conspicuous of these traits is bipedal locomotion, or walking upright. I can’t moderately say I see eye to eye with it all and reckon the fact that they did exist, but I did find the readings to be very captivating and well put together. One specific section in the readings that captured my attention was the Australopithecus africanus: The Taung Baby. Raymond Dart discovered the first early hominid species in Africa. His discovery led almost everyone to believe that human origins and earlier life development started off in Africa. Raymond Dart named this newly discovered species Australopithecus africanus, or "Southern Ape of Africa." It was actually a small skull the size of a new born infant. It looked really amazing and neat. Reading the story of Lucy changed my thought of early Humans just a little because I realized it all made sense when I did my own individual research. I didn’t realize how much she looked like a human till I found out that she was bipedal. The article described how Lucy's bones were common with evidence clearly pointing to her being bipedal. They knew Lucy was feminine because of her size and bone structure. The male hominids were larger than the females which made it easier to distinguish them. They don’t know how she died the only injury they found on her bones were a single carnivore tooth pierce mark on the top of her left pubic bone. They say it was a peri-mortem injury, which is an injury that usually occurs after death. I thought the story of Lucy was very interesting. At first I didn’t want to read it but as I continued on into the story I found myself doing some research on it later on and even bringing it up into my everyday conversations at work. Overall the article was efficient and effectual to my learning.

Reflection Paper#3

My elementary and secondary education was a mixture of both the Contribution and the additive approaches. As a child I was enrolled at a Christian Academy called Ebenezer Christian Academy (ECA). ECA wasn’t really diverse in nationality because it was a Haitian-American school and most of the students were Haitian-Americans. The principal most of the teachers were Haitian-Americans as well. The students didn’t refer to the teachers as teachers instead we called them supervisors because they didn’t teach us everything. Most of the teachings came from the textbooks we worked in independently. We called them supervisors because they administered unto us as we worked and if there was something we didn’t comprehend then they would be of assistance. If there were 150 students enrolled at the school about 5 were African-Americans (non-Haitian relations), 3 were Hispanic and the rest were Haitian-Americans. With the contribution approach, which is the approach multicultural education usually begins with according to the textbook; the school admired important holidays, great heroes and essential cultural elements e.g. Black History month, Martin Luther King’s birthday, Presidents Day, Thanksgiving and/or New Year. Admirations mostly went towards prophets and apostles in the bible and God of course, since it was a Christian school. Using the additive approach, added onto the schools curriculum without changing its structure were days of contribution and merriments for the cause of such events and individuals. Going back to the contribution approach, one cultural element that was greatly appreciated was May 18. May 18 is Haitian Day and on that day we went all out in celebration. We dressed up in Haitian colors, food was brought in by the parents and staff and things that we didn’t know about our Haitian ancestors were taught on that specific school day. I was always excited to attend school on that day not only for the imperative tradition but for the scrumptious Haitian Food as well. If I could go back to ECA the approach that I would want the supervisors to take would be the Transformation Approach because I believe that it would’ve been very beneficial to the little 5% of non-Haitian students we had at the school that knew so little about the culture.

Reflection paper #2

A paradigm represents a well spoken shared view of events or phenomenon. It has its own set of assumptions that imposes itself to what it perceives, according to the article. I believe that most of man's inventions have turned on a switch in a room where a large amount of people has never step foot into. While reading the section on paradigms I didn't come across any mind changing premises but I did read a couple that I was able to relate my already beliefs to. For example the short versions of the story of Original Sin analyzed exactly want I study at church. It explained the story of Adam and Eve and explained the scenario of that specific story. Adam and Eve indeed did become sinners and Eve did fall prey to enticement and tempted Adam. As a child I was told that the serpent was the obsession that persuaded Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. As I became older I heard from certain individuals that there was no serpent and that Eve was lusting after Adam. For the most part this paradigm allowed me to stick to what I learned as a child. As mentioned in the article, it takes a great deal of effort to change a paradigm. Another premise that was mentioned was a fact (to me) that God is a punishing God. The paradigm mentioned the punishments God positioned for both Adam and Eve and the serpent that hoaxed them into doing what were evil. Because of their sin we as their descendents have to suffer. Men have to go out and work hard for their family, women have to endure the pain of child birth, and snakes have to slither on their bellies to move about. To many that don’t really base there life’s on doctrines and Biblical teachings I think this paradigm may be the start of a new conviction. One Paradigm that I disagreed with was the constellation of assumptions created by an atheist structured to support the decision to disbelieve in God. Everything that was written in this paradigm I disagreed with. He mentioned that God isn’t omnipotent. I disagree because that’s not what I grew up believing. According to my constellations from the Holy Scriptures God does exist and He’s an all powerful God that can do all things. This paradigm didn’t change the way I view God and I don’t think it ever will. In the Paradigm Shifts section of the article the figure-grounds and ambiguous figure illusions penciled in most of my intention. The figure ground was the profile of two faces but in the middle it was actually a vase. Looking from both perspectives I saw both the vase and the two faces. The figure illusion was the profile of an old lady with a hat but at the time it was the profile of a young girl’s back with a hat on. I thought it was very interesting to stare at.

Reflection Paper # 1

The evolution of teacher preparation programs from colonial times to present day was a progressive change in both the increasing of its professionalism and value. During colonial times education barely existed and teaching wasn’t in fact considered to be a profession. It was viewed more as a temporary employment than it was as a career. Most of the teachers never even attended secondary school, which was considered to be a ranking between a primary school and college or university. They picked up their teaching skills by serving as trainees to master teachers and a large amount of them were under a sealed agreement to pay for their passage in America by teaching for a fixed number of years. Skills for teaching were not considered necessary but the knowledge of knowing how to teach was considered desirable. People who went into teaching were primarily teenagers who taught for about a year or two. They didn’t last long because they would get fired for either drinking or stealing. When the 1980s came around all that changed for the better. Reports were sent out for the reshaping of education and the increasing of professionalism for all those longing to become teachers. The undergraduate teaching major was replaced with a master’s-level degree and not to long after that came the bachelor and master degree. Teachers were also offered the opportunity to attend school for a fifth year to obtain a teacher’s license. Today we have alternative teacher preparation programs that allow teachers to be trained in teaching “on-the-job”. In attending these programs they are given the opportunity to experience teaching hands on (in a class room setting), however they do not become official teachers till after the completion of the program. The most well-known alternative teaching program today is the Teach for America (TFA). Critics argue that TFA does not sufficiently prepare teachers with the skills they need in teaching, with that being said they argue that the students pay the price for such actions. Others see TFA as a benefit for change in the near future. They say the more training teachers get before interring the actual classrooms the better it will help them farther along in their career. Overall, based on what I’ve read from the text book, I’ve learned that the way teaching preparation programs were viewed back in the colonial times cannot compare to the way they are viewed today. Today teaching is an actual enjoyable career. Not only is it desirable, but the aptitude of it is necessary and greatly needed.

quiz #2

EDF 1005 Quiz 2
Hope you enjoyed the quiz! Your score report is presented below.
Score Report
Score »
58 out of 100
Total Correct »
19 out of 33 correct
% Score »
57.58 %
Result »
Grade E

Bio

Hello my name is Jurna Pierre and I am an 18 year old Haitian-American. I was born and raised in Miami, Florida under the supervision of both my parents. As a child I went to a private Christian academy school where I was taught to work independently, in doing so I graduated high school at the age of 15. I am currently a sophomore at Miami Dade college , working to earn my A.A in education (teacghing-early childhood).
I would also like to minor in business administration because I have a dream of someday opening up my own daycare center (family owned). What motivated me to major in education was the community service hours I did while I was in high school. The Christian academy shool I attended (Ebenezer Christian Academy) was a very small school so there was only about three classes and everyone knew each other one way or another. I used to volunteer my time in the pre-K through kindergarten class. In doing so I fell in love with the children. They were so energetic and loving. Yes, there were times where they drove me crazy, but hey, kids will be kids. After I graduated high school I began to volunteer my time at my church’s Sunday school. There I worked/supervised the toddlers and infants. Long story short, after I enrolled into Miami Dade college I found a job working as a tutor at an elementary school, which is where I currently work. There, I assist the teachers in there class activities and I tutor about 5 groups of 6 children Monday-Thursday from. I love my job and everything about it! I'm very happy about my major and wouldn't want to change it to do anything else.