What is the purpose of public schools?
Ultimately, the purpose of school is to prepare children for the real world, but there is so much more that goes into this. Of course, students take academic based knowledge from school such as math, science, and reading, but the purpose of school is so much bigger than that. Children will walk away from public school with so much more than just how to solve a math problem or how to write an essay. Kids can be expected to walk away from public school with a true understanding of the world around them. Learning things in public school about character, the world around you, and how to be a good human are just as important as learning academic lessons in my opinion. These are lessons that can be taken with children throughout the rest of their lives.
A marginalized student is a student who feels like they are on the sideline during school. This can be caused by many things such as race, disability, sexuality, etc. Students can even feel marginalized by their upbringing such as students from low income areas. Some things these students who feel marginalized in school need is understanding and empathy. In the article "The Pedagogy of the Marginalized: Understanding How Historically Disadvantaged Students Negotiate Their Epistemic Access in a Diverse University Environment," it states "their experiences have become either a blind spot in current academic scholarship, or an object of knowledge misrepresentation that contributes to the perpetuation of their marginalization" (pg. 308). This goes to show that school systems need to do a better job of helping these marginalized students succeed. Sometimes, marginalized students get lost in the crowd and are not receiving the extra help and push that they need to do well in school.
Hello McKinley,
ReplyDeleteOverall I believe your blog post is constructed wonderfully. I really enjoyed your second paragraph. I do have a statement that you may want to think about. When you stated, " Kids can be expected to walk away from public school with a true understanding of the world around them " do you mean understanding of the real world to a certain extent? In my post, I went on a brief rant on how school systems do not really prepare us for the real world. Yes, I do believe that schools have an actual purpose and boundaries that they should abide by. Yes, it teaches us life lessons here and there, but that is just the surface. It doesn't teach us about loans, budgeting, how to do taxes, how credit cards work, how to buy a house, the harsh, bitter, cold world, relationships, amongst other things besides financials. Yes, we have access to such things from college courses and resources , but not everyone goes to college. Well, what about our parents and the internet? Some parents aren't knowledgable to give such advice or aren't always the best to listen to and there are many contradictive things on the internet. I believe that once one finishes high school or whoever is out of the school system , that we are just thrown out into the world and society says " figure it out, you're on your own buddy". Once I graduated high school, got a full time job, and went to community college- my eyes widened. As if I was oblivious to the real world this whole time and the truth is most of us are. We have to be disciplined and strong enough to combat with society and the world itself. There are circumstances one can't avoid, but I believe that poverty, homelessness, amount of people in prison etc come from the failed school system and our failed society. Even if the school system may be a small percentage as to why, I believe that if we had a stronger school system as in community, inclusion, support , etc that many wouldn't be in situations they are in today. It is so hard to get by that one can not live comfortably simply off $ 7.25 / $10 and with children. Its either go to college with debt , trade school, or jump into society with a high school degree. Hopefully that didn't come off as harsh, but it's just my given perspective on school. The public school system is doing way more and better for their students and marginalized students than in the last 10, 20 years, so that is a good thing. Yes, there's still room for growth and improvement, but that's just about everything in life. :)
Hi Chelsie! Thank you for your comment. To answer your question, yes, I meant to a certain extent. Schools teach kids about the real world to a certain extent while they can also learn more about the real world from their parents, family, personal experiences, etc. Others can only teach you so much about the real world, a lot of things are figured out on your own through personal growth and experience.
DeleteHello McKinley,
ReplyDeleteYour blog about the purpose of public schools is simple and well-put. I also believe that a student in a public school environment walks away with more character and understanding of what is around them because of what they're exposed to in that environment. They develop tough skin and realize what is socially acceptable and what is not. I feel as though they are exposed to a harsher setting, but one that will prepare them for what the real world contains. They learn about different races, cultures, religion and so forth. They learn what bullying is and how you can spot it in real world situations. Like you stated, schools can be more empathetic towards those marginalized students. Some come from a low-income area and may not be able to gather the supplies needed to learn and succeed. The schools can come up with supply drives, where people who have extra supplies like journals or pencils can contribute. I like how you tied in the reference to the book and to the other assignment we had about empathy.
Hi Isabella! Thank you for your comment! I really like your idea on the supply drive for low-income students. This can be really beneficial for families who cannot afford school supplies and will ease a lot of stress. This also gives people who are more privledged the chance to help.
DeleteHello Mckinley, I enjoyed reading your blog! For the first paragraph, I liked how you brought up the idea that children learn more than just academics. I agree that students also learn a lot of world experiences from school such as how to form a line and learning how to listen when people are speaking when we are younger, to learning time management when we are older. I think something to think about is, why do students mostly learn about these experiences in schools? Do these world experiences tie to what schools are teaching academically or is it because of schools general expectations of students? I also really liked your interpretation for what marginalized students are, however, I wish you would’ve gone more into depth of how marginalized students could be more included. There is a variety of reasons why some students can be considered as marginalized, and having a solution is not enough, because it would take many solutions. In other words, there needs to be a solution to better include students based on their race, and another solution based on their sexuality, etc. This is because marginalized students should not be put in one category, they need to be handled on a case-by-case basis in order for everyone to feel included/ in order to better succeed in school.
ReplyDeleteHey Cami! I think one of the reasons that these lessons are learned in school is because although things such as not talking while others are talking have nothing to do with academics, they can help on the academic side of things. For example, if a student is talking while the teacher is giving a lesson, will the student really gain anything from that lesson? To answer your second question, I would say both. As I stated in the answer to the first question, these lessons can help with the academic side of things, but they can also tie into the real world. Thank you for your comment :)
DeleteHello McKinley! I really loved reading your blog. I think using "on the sideline" to define marginalized students was a really good connection. These students do need extra help in school and I agree that we can definitely do better. In order for these students to succeed they may need extra help from teachers or other people in the school. I also liked your "purpose of schools". I do think it is important to note the social aspect of school. For many students school is used as an escape from their hectic home lives.
ReplyDeleteHi Kaci! Thank you for your comment. I really like what you said about how students use school to escape from their hectic home lives. This puts a lot of things into perspective and is often something people do not think about.
DeleteHi McKinley, I really liked how you worded this blog. I think the fact that you said students are supposed to have a better understanding of the world around them when they leave school and then went on to explain how we are close minded when it comes to marginalized students from different backgrounds or different parts of the world/etc. This just shows the disconnect and hypocrisy we are told to preach to our students. Why would we preach empathy and a better understanding of the world around us if the school system has a hard time doing that itself at times?
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