Book Club Blog #2

For this week unfortunately I was not able to participate in the book club but I did catch up with my group members and we went over the next 4 chapters in the book. In this section Ravitch discusses how New York City Mayor Bloomberg worked to reorganize the school system by “granting higher pay to school officials, pressed for merit pay, opened many charter schools, broke up large schools into smaller ones, emphasized state tests” and enforced other things in order for more people to take the school system more seriously. In 2007 they were able to win most improved urban school district in the nation. This really showed many other states that putting in the work necessary change was possible. However, as time passed the Mayor began to pass reform programs such as the Children First that implemented mathematics and reading in everyday lessons. This caused many other subject teachers to be fired and not necessary in the schools because these two subjects were the main focus, so unfortunately this wasn't such a good reform program because it limited what students were exposed to in schools.  The mayor also promised more parent involvement through this program but that never happened it actually lessened their ability to be involved because board members were hard to contact.

Other problems that was brought up was the fact that most schools were not racially integrated especially because students were limited to only attending schools that were in the neighborhood. Only students whose parents who could afford to send them away to private schools were able to avoid the local public schools, which in most times was not including minorities. I’m really thankful that the high school school I went to had a quota system that ensured racial integration, I was able to experience my high school years surrounded by people from all different backgrounds.

Again in these chapters again we see the topic of the No Child Left Behind Act and it stated that all states had to define for themselves proficiency. And make sure that 100 percent of students were at the proficient level in math and reading by 2013-2014. 

Yet, again this caused school curriculum to be narrowed because their main focus was passing the tests because if scores didn’t show this the schools would shut down. Government officials still believed they were doing good by the students but in reality they were hurting them and over all hurting the system as a whole. This is also the case for a lot of schools today they are so focused on passing these standardized test that students are no longer well rounded individuals instead the focus is these tests.

Book Club #1

In class we met with our book club members to discuss the first 4 chapters of our book The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How testing and choice are undermining education. Although my group was the smallest I felt that we were able to formulate great discussion especially since our discussion leader had some thoughtful questions. One point that we touched upon was the differences between the A Nation at Risk and the No Child Left Behind Act.

During the 1960s and early 1970s the educational system was failing and A Nation at risk was released discussing many of the issues, it believed that there should be standards put in place that challenged all students to do their best academically. This report addressed education as a whole and stated that “ the nation would be harmed economically  and socially unless education was dramatically improved for ALL children” and that is why my group more so agreed with this report vs the No Child Left Behind Act that left school districts plenty of room to lower their academic requirements in or to receive the most funding. This put many students at a disadvantage because they were not reaching their highest potential.

In these chapters the author continues to talk about different strategies that was used during the school reform periods. Education is definitely a tool that will forever be necessary inside and outside the classroom it is for sure important for people to constantly seek out what's working for those learning and ways to improve things that aren't going as planned. Turning a blind eye will for sure harmfully impact the future.

This brings me to another point that Ravitch also brings up, many times parents feel that the school is 100% for their children's future. Yes, your child may spend most of their time in school but I also feel that it is necessary for parents to find the time to teach their children things as well,everyone knows school cannot possible teach your everything there is to know in life. That being said teachers, parents, and school officials have to do more to come together for the best interest of the youth. As they say it takes a village to raise a child.