How are the arts, specifically music viewed, treated, etc. in urban schools?
I have not had any experiences with urban schools. I attended a small suburban school. In my particular school, the music program was something that was held in very high regard. When I imagine myself in a few years as a teacher, I naturally picture teaching in a suburban school where the music program receives decent funding and overall is viewed by the students, faculty, parents, and administrators as being a fairly important program to have.
After some brainstorming here are some questions that I would like to explore.
In urban schools what are the views of:
The students?
The teachers?
The parents?
The administrators?
Out of all of these players how exactly do they view the arts? Is it considered unnecessary compared to the other issues that students in urban centers need to face?
This is something that I would imagine to be the case. The arts are usually brushed aside in many schools. My school experience is most likely not the norm when it comes to the arts.
Can the arts be used as a tool to engage students? I personally think the arts are important for enriching the lives of any student. I would like to see if music can be a used to enrich the lives of students in urban centers.
Some other questions I have are related to being a teacher in general in an urban school.
What does it really take to be an urban educator?
Is this something I want to do?
Do you have to be some kind of super-teacher to do this job? If so am I cut out to do this?
If the system is so flawed do you need to know how to beat it or get around it in order to succeed? If so why is it like this and what can I really accomplish as one teacher against the system?
Hopefully i will be able to answer some of these questions by the end of the class. If I can it will not only help me decide if urban education is something I want to do, but I think it will also help me gain a better understanding of being an educator in general, wherever I end up teaching.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
What Shapes Our Schools
What are the major influences that shape schools? A possible contributing factor affecting what schools are like is public opinion about what particular schools; urban, suburban, and rural should be like. This idea extends past the schools to an overall vision of how people perceive the culture surrounding the particular areas. To explore this concept we may explore some of the factors that shape the dominant views of American culture. Including the idea of a romanticizing of the America’s rural past, the rejections of urban centers, because of the conflict with America’s vision of it’s past, and finally explore the implications of these conflicts regarding the problems that affect urban centers and schools.
American culture often constructs it’s identity in the past, romanticizing the old simple life. Urban centers conflict with this cultural identity of the rural American past. Urban centers are heterogeneous entities, with big minority and immigrant populations. They are associated with industrialization and are the not green spaces, directly contradicting with the cultural vision of America’s past as a homogenous entity, comprised of white Anglo-Saxon, Protestants, living the simple life in the wide-open spaces of America. Copland, the great American composer defined his sound, the American sound with the use of the wide-open interval of the Perfect fifth. This notion of the boundless open-spaced America is undoubtedly engrained in the American psyche. In contrast to this openness, the urban center is a place that is dense and full.
We can find some significance in this rejection of the urban center and see how it has contributed to the formation of the suburbs. Families in essence get “the best of both worlds” the proximity to the city, for work and the green, country spaces for their children. The suburbs are regarded as safe places for children to receive their education. This has caused white families to leave the cities and in effect contributed to the re-segregating of our schools. It is interesting to see how some of the problems that affect urban schools can be attributed to the cultural differences between the dominant American culture and the cultures of the minority students in urban centers. Because if this conflict the needs of students in urban centers are not being met. Students are forced to chose between adapting their own cultural identities or having to reject education entirely.
These are just a few thoughts relating to what factors shape our school. We should recognize that how our schools are shaped is greatly impacted by the cultural identity of America, and in the particular case of urban schools, the conflicts that urban centers present with this American cultural identity.
American culture often constructs it’s identity in the past, romanticizing the old simple life. Urban centers conflict with this cultural identity of the rural American past. Urban centers are heterogeneous entities, with big minority and immigrant populations. They are associated with industrialization and are the not green spaces, directly contradicting with the cultural vision of America’s past as a homogenous entity, comprised of white Anglo-Saxon, Protestants, living the simple life in the wide-open spaces of America. Copland, the great American composer defined his sound, the American sound with the use of the wide-open interval of the Perfect fifth. This notion of the boundless open-spaced America is undoubtedly engrained in the American psyche. In contrast to this openness, the urban center is a place that is dense and full.
We can find some significance in this rejection of the urban center and see how it has contributed to the formation of the suburbs. Families in essence get “the best of both worlds” the proximity to the city, for work and the green, country spaces for their children. The suburbs are regarded as safe places for children to receive their education. This has caused white families to leave the cities and in effect contributed to the re-segregating of our schools. It is interesting to see how some of the problems that affect urban schools can be attributed to the cultural differences between the dominant American culture and the cultures of the minority students in urban centers. Because if this conflict the needs of students in urban centers are not being met. Students are forced to chose between adapting their own cultural identities or having to reject education entirely.
These are just a few thoughts relating to what factors shape our school. We should recognize that how our schools are shaped is greatly impacted by the cultural identity of America, and in the particular case of urban schools, the conflicts that urban centers present with this American cultural identity.
Monday, February 2, 2009
How Education Is Represented In The Media
The media undoubtedly has a large impact on reinforcing people’s stereotypes, if not shaping them, regarding education in various urban, suburban, and rural school settings. We can generalize some of the stereotypes specific to the different school environments and try to find some examples of actual films, songs, TV shows, and news stories that perpetuate these stereotypes.
Suburban Schools:
Suburban schools are usually portrayed as a places comprised of many different cliques, composed of varying groups of the “in” and the “out kids”. More often than not real issues that pertain to all schools such as violence or teen pregnancy are completely omitted and serious issues such as underage drinking and drug use are glorified.
Urban Schools:
Urban schools are indefinitely portrayed as failing schools comprised of bad teachers and worse students. Compared to suburban school life, which is presented as being entirely devoid of serious violence, urban school life is represented as revolving around it. Students must cope with broken homes and the constant threat of violence. Interestingly in a suburban paradigm drug use might be represented as the carefree passing of time with friends smoking marijuana. In contradiction to this an urban environmental representation might show the “streets” side covering the dealers and gangs that procure and sell the drugs.
Rural Schools:
Depending on how “rural” we want to get, a one room school house in the mountains, or a small town in the middle of Pennsylvania, revolving around a sports program, we find some variations on the portrayal of education in this type of setting. A general stereotype that is applied to anything rural is a romanticizing of life as being at is most simple. The inhabitants of the rural community are simple people who are shown to have a greater understanding or appreciation of life because of their simple existence.
Examples
Suburban:
Film: Mean Girls
Fits perfectly into the mold of suburban school life where the most popular girls rule the school.
Music: “Rip her to shreds”
This is taken from the Mean Girls soundtrack. The song future supports the plot of the movie about a caddy girl and the call from the less popular girl to take her down.
Television: 90210
This again follows the mold showing the interactions of different groups of students. The major concerns of the students center on sex and fitting in.
News: Suburban Schools Reject Metal Detectors
This story tells about the resistance of parents and students to install metal detectors in their Washington DC school. This is very interesting because here is something that doesn’t fit the Hollywood version of suburban school life, needing metal detectors.
Urban:
Film: Dangerous Minds
This film tells the story of an outsider coming in to reach the students. It is perfectly aligned with the stereotypical urban school myth.
Music: “Gangsta’s Paradise”
This song is taken from the dangerous minds soundtrack. The song supports the idea of how central violence and gangs are to the lives of students in an urban school.
News: FIFTY YEARS LATER
Desegregating urban schools
This article talks about all the problems that are associated with urban schools. The article talks about an effort to study the lives of the students outside of school to account for their poor performance. It does seem as if blame is being placed on the students rather then considering the educational practices in relation to the needs of the students.
Rural:
Film: Songcatcher
I have not seen this film but from reading the synopsis it appears to enforce the stereotype of the simple life. The musicologist is able to find preserved folk songs, handed down over time, which we could possibly say are symbols that represent the larger theme of life in its simpler, better form as having been preserved.
Music: “Down in a willow garden”
This song is taken from the “Songcatcher” soundtrack. Fitting with the simple life is stereotypically a closeness and inevitably, a greater understanding and appreciation for nature.
News: Rural Schools
This article outlines how public policy is wrong in the eyes of the author when it dictates closing smaller rural schools and consolidating them into larger schools.
Suburban Schools:
Suburban schools are usually portrayed as a places comprised of many different cliques, composed of varying groups of the “in” and the “out kids”. More often than not real issues that pertain to all schools such as violence or teen pregnancy are completely omitted and serious issues such as underage drinking and drug use are glorified.
Urban Schools:
Urban schools are indefinitely portrayed as failing schools comprised of bad teachers and worse students. Compared to suburban school life, which is presented as being entirely devoid of serious violence, urban school life is represented as revolving around it. Students must cope with broken homes and the constant threat of violence. Interestingly in a suburban paradigm drug use might be represented as the carefree passing of time with friends smoking marijuana. In contradiction to this an urban environmental representation might show the “streets” side covering the dealers and gangs that procure and sell the drugs.
Rural Schools:
Depending on how “rural” we want to get, a one room school house in the mountains, or a small town in the middle of Pennsylvania, revolving around a sports program, we find some variations on the portrayal of education in this type of setting. A general stereotype that is applied to anything rural is a romanticizing of life as being at is most simple. The inhabitants of the rural community are simple people who are shown to have a greater understanding or appreciation of life because of their simple existence.
Examples
Suburban:
Film: Mean Girls
Fits perfectly into the mold of suburban school life where the most popular girls rule the school.
Music: “Rip her to shreds”
This is taken from the Mean Girls soundtrack. The song future supports the plot of the movie about a caddy girl and the call from the less popular girl to take her down.
Television: 90210
This again follows the mold showing the interactions of different groups of students. The major concerns of the students center on sex and fitting in.
News: Suburban Schools Reject Metal Detectors
This story tells about the resistance of parents and students to install metal detectors in their Washington DC school. This is very interesting because here is something that doesn’t fit the Hollywood version of suburban school life, needing metal detectors.
Urban:
Film: Dangerous Minds
This film tells the story of an outsider coming in to reach the students. It is perfectly aligned with the stereotypical urban school myth.
Music: “Gangsta’s Paradise”
This song is taken from the dangerous minds soundtrack. The song supports the idea of how central violence and gangs are to the lives of students in an urban school.
News: FIFTY YEARS LATER
Desegregating urban schools
This article talks about all the problems that are associated with urban schools. The article talks about an effort to study the lives of the students outside of school to account for their poor performance. It does seem as if blame is being placed on the students rather then considering the educational practices in relation to the needs of the students.
Rural:
Film: Songcatcher
I have not seen this film but from reading the synopsis it appears to enforce the stereotype of the simple life. The musicologist is able to find preserved folk songs, handed down over time, which we could possibly say are symbols that represent the larger theme of life in its simpler, better form as having been preserved.
Music: “Down in a willow garden”
This song is taken from the “Songcatcher” soundtrack. Fitting with the simple life is stereotypically a closeness and inevitably, a greater understanding and appreciation for nature.
News: Rural Schools
This article outlines how public policy is wrong in the eyes of the author when it dictates closing smaller rural schools and consolidating them into larger schools.
Comedian's take on Hollywood's version of urban education
I thought I would share this. He uses some strong language but it is bleeped out
Frames of Reference
When I sit and reflect on what the idea of urban education means to me, I am struck first by the fact that it is something that is entirely foreign to me. I grew up in the small suburban town of Verona NJ, attending the Verona public schools system, a predominantly white school system. In regards to the notion of a frame of reference for urban education, I in truth have no true frame of reference. It is not something that I have had any experience with in my life. My background and upbringing are undoubtedly shared not only by some members of the Curr. 523 class but obviously by countless others as well and curiously enough, despite my apparent detachment from urban education, I, and others with my similar background do in fact possess many ideas about urban education and the factors, issues, and circumstances connected to it. I will attempt to explore some of the potential significance of my ideas regarding urban education by laying out some specific examples of beliefs that I hold regarding urban centers, schools, teachers, and students. After citing some specific examples, we can explore the beliefs regarding impact that may be had concerning education as a whole as well as the implications for formulating the type of teacher and professional I hope to be in the near future. Finally, we can examine the origins of the beliefs and discuss their importance.
People hold many beliefs and it is safe to say that that the word belief is not always synonymous with the word fact. This being said, I do have specific beliefs about urban centers, schools, teachers, and students and but it should be stated that anything I offer is in its purest form simply belief, stemming from a host of sources but in the end not being claimed to be fact in any way, supported by anything other than my preconceived notions. However, it is from this very fact that it is not fact that we gain the greatest potential benefit. By reflecting on these beliefs and exploring what thoughts I have concerning this area I can ultimately approach teaching armed with the knowledge of my preconceived ideas and use that knowledge to make myself a better educator. I offer myself in doing this self examination, the opportunity to weed out any misconceived ideas that may exist.
I can begin listing some of the beliefs I hold first by stating a belief regarding all students. The belief is that every student is unique and comes to the classroom with his or her own unique background, encompassing ideas such as different cultures, beliefs, skills, desires, and goals. As a result of their own unique circumstances it becomes clear that every student will possess their own unique set of needs to ensure the success of their learning. This is true regardless of where the student is from and what type of school they are attending, suburban, rural, or urban. The needs of a student in a suburban school are going to find some overlap with those of one in an urban or rural school but are going to have those that are specific to their particular situation.
When I think about urban centers there are a few ideas that spring to mind. I think of big cities and the many factors and conditions inherent to cities and city life. I immediately think of negative factors such as high density or over overcrowding, high crime rates, and high unemployment rates. However, my thoughts are not contained solely to the realm of the negative but in fact carry over to the positive conditions that are also inherent to cities such as cities being a source from which incredible art springs forth, attributable to the rich melting pot of cultures that reside in cities. I can attribute these feeling to my being a musician possessing a degree in jazz studies. It is clear also, that as a future music educator there exists great potential for drawing on the various cultures to enrich any type of musical instruction that I might provide.
The next idea to be reflected on is urban schools and the teacher and students that make up the institutions. My initial thoughts are that they are susceptible to many of the same problems that carry through from urban centers. Problems like drugs, violence, and gangs. I believe these schools also suffer from high dropout rates, poor test scores, and high turnover rates for teachers. I feel that there are unique pressures placed on the students residing in urban centers and is no surprise that the pressures of urban life carry through to an urban school. We find issues relating to identity in which students from various backgrounds may have certain ideas regarding education. For some of the students they may view education as something that does fit into their personal identity. They may feel pressures from their families and peers to think of education as unnecessary.
Upon gauging these thoughts I, at first, might be inclined to label the schools by saying they are “bad” schools. I am probably not alone in this initial assessment of the schools as “bad” it is an easy label to give. It is also easy to see that by labeling the school as bad it becomes easy to follow with “bad” labels for the students and teachers of the schools as well. What needs to be realized is that looking deeper into the situation we see that it is not a matter of having “bad” students, or teachers, or ultimately a “bad” school but that it is “bad” policies that dictate practices in the schools that are “bad” concerning the needs of a particular school. In fact we need to discard the “bad” label in seeing that a policy or practice might actually be successful when applied to one school and therefore see that when unsuccessful in another it is, by better description, an incompatible policy. I stated earlier every student is unique concerning the needs they have for their education and as of now, policies are in place that attempt to offer an all-encompassing assessment of students from every aspect of life. The students in rural, urban, and suburban schools do not have the same needs and therefore cannot have the same educational policies applied to them. The policy makers are, in most cases, similar to me in being completely removed from life within urban centers, or schools. However I feel it does not mean that only individuals from urban centers or schools can be successful in creating educational policy for students. It means that the policy needs to be changed to reflect the differences of the needs of students based on what their unique needs are.
Where can the source of my beliefs be found, where do they stem from? Interestingly enough I believe a huge factor is the media. The issues surrounding the schools, especially in the wake of policy such as “no child left behind,” are issues that receive a good deal of news coverage. In addition, there have been a variety of movies portraying the story of someone coming to a failing school and saving the children, being the one that finally reaches the students and is able to help them realize their potential. Undoubtedly, this has created a false Hollywood version of urban schooling, and a false sense of what the problems are in these schools. Movies like this serve to perpetuate the very prejudice idea that, as stated, the schools are “bad” and therefore the teachers must also be “bad” and in order to help the students a “good” teacher from outside of the urban setting must come in to save the day.
After considering these points, it is clear that every school and every individual student has unique needs for their educational success and the practices and policies of education need to reflect this. Because of this generalized policy and practice are most likely going to be unsuccessful in addressing all of these needs across racial, cultural, gender, and economic lines. Every school in every setting will confront teachers and students with its own set of challenges and by addressing them, the chance for better learning becomes possible. Taking all of this into account I can strive to structure my future classroom to be one in which I am aware of the individual needs of my students and able to understand the type of needs they have specific to what type of school environment I am in thereby increasing the learning potential of my students. It is clear that when a education in faring unsuccessfully despite the initial ease of placing blame on the setting, teachers, and students the blame belongs to the policies that either don’t account for, or outright prevent the means by which educators can address the needs specific to their school locale.
People hold many beliefs and it is safe to say that that the word belief is not always synonymous with the word fact. This being said, I do have specific beliefs about urban centers, schools, teachers, and students and but it should be stated that anything I offer is in its purest form simply belief, stemming from a host of sources but in the end not being claimed to be fact in any way, supported by anything other than my preconceived notions. However, it is from this very fact that it is not fact that we gain the greatest potential benefit. By reflecting on these beliefs and exploring what thoughts I have concerning this area I can ultimately approach teaching armed with the knowledge of my preconceived ideas and use that knowledge to make myself a better educator. I offer myself in doing this self examination, the opportunity to weed out any misconceived ideas that may exist.
I can begin listing some of the beliefs I hold first by stating a belief regarding all students. The belief is that every student is unique and comes to the classroom with his or her own unique background, encompassing ideas such as different cultures, beliefs, skills, desires, and goals. As a result of their own unique circumstances it becomes clear that every student will possess their own unique set of needs to ensure the success of their learning. This is true regardless of where the student is from and what type of school they are attending, suburban, rural, or urban. The needs of a student in a suburban school are going to find some overlap with those of one in an urban or rural school but are going to have those that are specific to their particular situation.
When I think about urban centers there are a few ideas that spring to mind. I think of big cities and the many factors and conditions inherent to cities and city life. I immediately think of negative factors such as high density or over overcrowding, high crime rates, and high unemployment rates. However, my thoughts are not contained solely to the realm of the negative but in fact carry over to the positive conditions that are also inherent to cities such as cities being a source from which incredible art springs forth, attributable to the rich melting pot of cultures that reside in cities. I can attribute these feeling to my being a musician possessing a degree in jazz studies. It is clear also, that as a future music educator there exists great potential for drawing on the various cultures to enrich any type of musical instruction that I might provide.
The next idea to be reflected on is urban schools and the teacher and students that make up the institutions. My initial thoughts are that they are susceptible to many of the same problems that carry through from urban centers. Problems like drugs, violence, and gangs. I believe these schools also suffer from high dropout rates, poor test scores, and high turnover rates for teachers. I feel that there are unique pressures placed on the students residing in urban centers and is no surprise that the pressures of urban life carry through to an urban school. We find issues relating to identity in which students from various backgrounds may have certain ideas regarding education. For some of the students they may view education as something that does fit into their personal identity. They may feel pressures from their families and peers to think of education as unnecessary.
Upon gauging these thoughts I, at first, might be inclined to label the schools by saying they are “bad” schools. I am probably not alone in this initial assessment of the schools as “bad” it is an easy label to give. It is also easy to see that by labeling the school as bad it becomes easy to follow with “bad” labels for the students and teachers of the schools as well. What needs to be realized is that looking deeper into the situation we see that it is not a matter of having “bad” students, or teachers, or ultimately a “bad” school but that it is “bad” policies that dictate practices in the schools that are “bad” concerning the needs of a particular school. In fact we need to discard the “bad” label in seeing that a policy or practice might actually be successful when applied to one school and therefore see that when unsuccessful in another it is, by better description, an incompatible policy. I stated earlier every student is unique concerning the needs they have for their education and as of now, policies are in place that attempt to offer an all-encompassing assessment of students from every aspect of life. The students in rural, urban, and suburban schools do not have the same needs and therefore cannot have the same educational policies applied to them. The policy makers are, in most cases, similar to me in being completely removed from life within urban centers, or schools. However I feel it does not mean that only individuals from urban centers or schools can be successful in creating educational policy for students. It means that the policy needs to be changed to reflect the differences of the needs of students based on what their unique needs are.
Where can the source of my beliefs be found, where do they stem from? Interestingly enough I believe a huge factor is the media. The issues surrounding the schools, especially in the wake of policy such as “no child left behind,” are issues that receive a good deal of news coverage. In addition, there have been a variety of movies portraying the story of someone coming to a failing school and saving the children, being the one that finally reaches the students and is able to help them realize their potential. Undoubtedly, this has created a false Hollywood version of urban schooling, and a false sense of what the problems are in these schools. Movies like this serve to perpetuate the very prejudice idea that, as stated, the schools are “bad” and therefore the teachers must also be “bad” and in order to help the students a “good” teacher from outside of the urban setting must come in to save the day.
After considering these points, it is clear that every school and every individual student has unique needs for their educational success and the practices and policies of education need to reflect this. Because of this generalized policy and practice are most likely going to be unsuccessful in addressing all of these needs across racial, cultural, gender, and economic lines. Every school in every setting will confront teachers and students with its own set of challenges and by addressing them, the chance for better learning becomes possible. Taking all of this into account I can strive to structure my future classroom to be one in which I am aware of the individual needs of my students and able to understand the type of needs they have specific to what type of school environment I am in thereby increasing the learning potential of my students. It is clear that when a education in faring unsuccessfully despite the initial ease of placing blame on the setting, teachers, and students the blame belongs to the policies that either don’t account for, or outright prevent the means by which educators can address the needs specific to their school locale.
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