Don’t even get me started on Betsy DeVos
Here is another episode of me making ‘educated’ rants.
Ha. Ha….
Ok, lets ignore that, shall we?
We will continue on our regular schedule of different minority group coverage in the following week.
To start off, here is an article you can glance through about the history of the United States educational system.
To summarize, because it is a REALLY long article. It is a critique of how the United States education is a “factory model of education”.
You’re teaching kids to be efficient workers/producers of ‘good grades’ with very minimal room to allow students to think for themselves. ‘Disobedient’ or ‘incapable’ students get swept under the rug because they fail to ‘meet the production standards’ (ie. good grades and what not).
It makes it real easy to blame the student for not following up on the laid out conveyor belt that is K-12 education.
This is not that much of a surprise when you consider the model of education the United States’ is based off on.
The Prussian Education System
The United States K-12, mandatory attendance education is a very similar copy of the previous Prussian Empire’s educational system.
To quickly summarize what the Prussian education system was like, it is commonly referred/criticized as making students become blind believers of authoritative figures. Also, it is associated with the German nationalist movement of the 1800s…
Along with the massive negative connections, one thing it did succeed in was bringing educational opportunity to the majority of the populous. It was consequential in increasing literacy, which was the main appeal for other countries, including the United States, to emulate the Prussian education system.
Shifting gears now.
Ok, The Prussian Empire has been long gone, and why is it important to know that the United States has used this to shape how we ‘do’ education?
It is important because there has been very little change or reform to how we do school in the last CENTURY.
Change is an imperative step to take for innovation and advancement to happen. We see this all the time in modern technology and medicinal practices.
How is it that we haven’t had a drastic shift that follows the changing times.
(Also, a change that actually works….and doesn’t cause more harm than good.. *death glare at Common Core and the No Child Left Behind Act*)
Combine this model of education, which asks for unadulterated authoritative respect that has intense political implications behind it, plus the massive economic forces that influence education (you can refer to my 2nd blog post)
It results in lovely corruption in the implementation of the educational system…
It astounds me that one of the most important jobs in the world, educating the new generation that will ‘rise up’, is not treated as preciously as it should be.
It really angers me to know that we have a highly unqualified individual who is secretary of education, who has little to no knowledge of the public schooling system. Politics aside, I know that last thing we need is to de-fund education, because making those budget cuts are going to severely affect the schools in lower socio-economic areas.
Connecting with the points I’ve been making in the previous blogs. To improve the flawed system we have, we need more attention and resources given to it, NOT the opposite.
Also, it has shown that there is a trend of more minorities in lower socio-economic areas. It will disproportionately affect minorities more. Which would, (and currently does), affect the achievement gaps and the quality of education these students are receiving.
Before I find myself putting war paint on my face while screaming ANARCHY!
I’m going to stop myself here, because this is a rabbit hole I do not want to go down, nor would like you to read.
So I hope you stay safe, wash your hands and have a great day!
