For the inquiry project I will be working with Pat Sutor. We have decided on an overall focus for the project. Pat and I are both in the MAT program for music education. Our inquiry project will focus on music education. We are specifically interested in the impact that a greater emphasis on popular music can have on student interest in school music programs. There has been much research done regarding the importance of arts education for students. We are not interested in contributing to this research but exploring how to better increase student interest in arts education. Our hope is to conduct a small case study at East Side High School in Newark. East Side High offers us an interesting example because of two factors. One, the school system does not offer instrumental music until students reach the high school level. And two, the music teacher Aril Ocasio, regularly uses popular music as an educational tool. The fact that instrumental music is not offered prior to students reaching the high school is significant because it creates great pressure for Mr. Ocasio to recruit students and to maintain student interest in the various ensembles within the music program. It seems that part of his success may be attributed to his introducing popular music into the performance repertoire of the ensembles.
We are planning on interviewing Mr. Ocasio as well as a sample of students from his classes. Although Pat and I have settled on a general topic we have yet to decide on specific things such as the interview questions. We will most likely have different ideas about the questions in this blog. I feel that this is a good opportunity to see where each of us is headed with the topic and gives us the opportunity to use any discrepancies that might arise to further focus our topic. Some possible questions I am considering asking Mr. Ocasio are:
What are some of the challenges you face as a music educator in an urban school?
Why do you regularly arrange popular music songs for your ensembles? / What is your motivation for doing this?
In your opinion does the knowledge that a student will get to perform music that they listen to regularly have an impact on their desire to be part of an ensemble?
In your opinion was popular music a genre, or style of music that was emphasized in your training as a music educator? If yes, why do you think it was? If no, why do you think that it wasn’t?
Are you a fan of popular music? What do you listen to?
Some potential questions for the students include:
What is you favorite type of music?
What is your favorite artist/band?
How often do you listen to music? When is your favorite time to listen to music?
What is your favorite piece of music that you have performed in school? Why do you think you liked it so much?
Why did you decide to join the school music program?
Did you know that you would get to play songs such as _________ (popular music piece performed in the past, or maybe the piece the student cited as their favorite if they stated a popular piece) when you joined? If you did know, did that influence your decision to join?
This is clearly far from a finished project, but it offers a jumping off point from which the investigation can be focused. I am examining this through the lens that arts education in very important in the lives of students and that it is our job as educators to find a way to motivate students to participate in the arts. The example of East Side High School can offer some good insights into the usefulness of studying popular music to increase interest as well as a means to exploring the importance of popular music in the lives of the students.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
Annotated Bibliography
Fiese, J.K. & Decarbo, N.J. (1995). Urban Music Education the Teachers’ Perspective. Music Educators Journal, 81(6), 27-31. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from JSTOR database.
This article focuses on the responses of twenty successful music teachers to four open-ended questions about their experiences and backgrounds in teaching music in an urban setting. Many of the answers were similar in addressing the challenges of teaching in an urban setting.
The first question dealt with how the teachers viewed their undergraduate/graduate courses in preparing them for teaching in an urban environment. According to the authors, “The majority of the respondents felt woefully unprepared to teach in the urban setting”. Many felt that their training prepared them to deal with the “ideal” student and missed the complexities of handling the issues of students from differing social and economic backgrounds.
The second question asked the teachers to offer examples of one or two techniques or approaches that they have utilized and have found to be particularly effective. There was a range of responses, but some of the overlying themes touched on the importance of experience and ultimately experimentation to find what works the best. Also, it was pointed out that having the respect of the students and control over the learning environment is paramount in achieving any level of success.
The third question asked, what factors the teachers felt contributed most to their personal success. “Several teachers identified various support networks of teachers, supervisors, mentors, and others that helped them meet their goals.” Others cited their continued educational studies through, professional clinics and conferences.
The final question asked if the teachers might offer some observations for improving music education in urban schools. Some of the responses pointed out the need for programs that addresses the needs of low-income students being created and integrated within the curriculum. Also it is suggested, “ Having all of the constituencies involved in dialogue, rather than parallel monologues, for the advancement of the students’ music education is perhaps one of the central features of successful urban school music programs”
Overall this article offers an insightful glimpse into the realties of music education in urban schools. It offers input directly from teachers involved in the action of teaching music everyday, and achieving successes in doing it.
This article focuses on the responses of twenty successful music teachers to four open-ended questions about their experiences and backgrounds in teaching music in an urban setting. Many of the answers were similar in addressing the challenges of teaching in an urban setting.
The first question dealt with how the teachers viewed their undergraduate/graduate courses in preparing them for teaching in an urban environment. According to the authors, “The majority of the respondents felt woefully unprepared to teach in the urban setting”. Many felt that their training prepared them to deal with the “ideal” student and missed the complexities of handling the issues of students from differing social and economic backgrounds.
The second question asked the teachers to offer examples of one or two techniques or approaches that they have utilized and have found to be particularly effective. There was a range of responses, but some of the overlying themes touched on the importance of experience and ultimately experimentation to find what works the best. Also, it was pointed out that having the respect of the students and control over the learning environment is paramount in achieving any level of success.
The third question asked, what factors the teachers felt contributed most to their personal success. “Several teachers identified various support networks of teachers, supervisors, mentors, and others that helped them meet their goals.” Others cited their continued educational studies through, professional clinics and conferences.
The final question asked if the teachers might offer some observations for improving music education in urban schools. Some of the responses pointed out the need for programs that addresses the needs of low-income students being created and integrated within the curriculum. Also it is suggested, “ Having all of the constituencies involved in dialogue, rather than parallel monologues, for the advancement of the students’ music education is perhaps one of the central features of successful urban school music programs”
Overall this article offers an insightful glimpse into the realties of music education in urban schools. It offers input directly from teachers involved in the action of teaching music everyday, and achieving successes in doing it.
Cultural Identity
Culture is of great significance when approaching an understanding of learning. It is through culture that we formulate our identities as individuals as well as members of society. More often than not it is through the lens of our culture that we view the world. Ultimately, culture creates for us, a series of expectations regarding all aspects of our lives. This is very significant in evaluating the way that students learn and will learn. When we analyze this further we see that we might gain the ability to account for some of the shortcomings of our educational system as well as foresee potential problems that could arise. Therefore, exploring this idea of cultural and the role that it plays in education, serves to aid a host of players within the educational arena including, students, parents, teachers, and administrators. As a future educator it is quite clear that there is a lot to gain in exploring this idea further. In this entry I would like to explore initially exactly what culture is. We can explore some of the main factors that shape it. After we have looked at what shapes culture we can explore the impact that culture has on a persons views regarding, race, class, gender, sexuality, and religion. From there we can examine the impact that my culture has had on me as a learner and how this can be applied to others. Finally we can look more deeply at the role of cultural in the classroom. We can look at how culture creates expectations between students and teachers and how problems can arise when those expectations are not met.
What is culture? Culture is comprised a many factors that make up our identity. A big factor is ethnicity. Every group of people has their own set of traditions. Also religion plays a big part, many of the values that a group has can be a product of their religious beliefs. Regarding religion, we are mostly talking about moral values, Though shall not kill, etc., We can also include the values a culture might have concerning things such as motivation or life goals, in other words what the cultural view is regarding purpose in life, what pursuits are worthy ones and what pursuits are not worthy ones. Regarding urban education, we have seen the problem where education is at conflict with cultural dismissal of the importance of education from both family and peers.
An important aspect of culture is that it encompasses not only what makes us who we are but also how we will view others. Ultimately because of the values and traditions that exist, expectations are created concerning aspects of the world. In certain cultures women are viewed as being inferior to men. It is therefore expected, that women will not pursue things such as education. An idea such as this viewed from an American cultural perspective seems absurd. This isn’t to say that there is no gender bias here within U.S., there is still some progress to be made, however I think most people agree that women are just as capable as men, more so if you count the whole multitasking thing. Culture has a big impact on shaping our identities, both individually and collectively. We decide who we are and where we belong with in society. If we look at the example of a culture that regards women as inferior it is easy to see how this could have the effect of causing a women within the culture to underestimate her abilities. Also In this instance the women’s culture has dictated to her, her place within society. She has been allocated to being below the status afforded to men. Gender is not the only thing affected when viewed through the cultural lens; we also see how it impacts the views of race, class, religion, and sexuality. Religion plays a big role in dictating what is “appropriate” regarding sexuality. Religions such as Catholicism, which was how I was raised, state that homosexuality is a sin against God and wrong. I personally do not feel this way about homosexuality. We might consider an instance where we have a wonderfully effective teacher who connects to his or her students, keeps them motivated, engaged, etc., but is a devote Catholic and views homosexuality as wrong. What happens when this teacher has a homosexual student? This is a tricky problem and it raises the notation, can anyone ever really be neutral with regards to others? This is an important question for an educator who is most likely going to encounter views and opinions that differ from their own. The answer is probably not. Culture is powerful and it is through it that we see the world, however people have the ability to change their views. One step to dealing with this dilemma is at least being aware of it and trying to be conscious to what our own cultural views are.
My upbringing and cultural identity is one in which education is extremely important. I was always expected to perform very well in school. I’m still expected to perform well. For me the expectation was such that there was never a question about finishing high school and going to college. My grandparents did, my parents, did, and I was going to as well. I went to Catholic school through 5th grade. In 6th grade I went to public middle school. When I got to the public school I rebelled a lot, which I credit to the stifling strictness of the catholic school. I started smoking cigarettes, and I tried drinking and smoking pot. I did all the things I wasn’t supposed to do. Interestingly though, for me the importance of school as I stated was drilled into me. Therefore, despite my rebelling I never stopped doing what I needed to do in school. I always received very high grades because that was how it was supposed to be in my mind. The pressure of the importance of school was so great that I couldn’t escape it, so much so that I never even thought about not doing well in school as an option. When we look at the instance where a student has cultural pressure to not do well in school I can understand how significant the challenge is to go against the strength of that cultural pressure.
The last idea we can look it at is the role of culture in the classroom. We can elaborate of the idea of culture creating expectations. Within the classroom culture creates expectations for the students of the teacher as well as expectations for the teacher of the students. We find the potential for problems when these expectations are not met. An example that we saw in class is one in which a student in an urban school does not know what a yacht is. There is a level of expectation that everyone knows that that is a boat, but a student who grew up poor, within an urban environment may have no idea because they have never seen one or even heard of one. An obvious expectation for students is that they speak English. What about an immigrant child who has just come to the U.S.? They will not be able to meet this expectation. Another example regarding language is the expectation that the student’s parents can speak English. What happens when they cannot understand the important documents that are sent home regarding the child? Further still, what if the parent speaks English but can’t read? With all these examples we see how there are expectations that are created within the school environment and how easily problems arise when the expectations are not met.
After exploring all of the notions we see how important culture in creating a person’s identity both individually and collectively as a member of society. Culture dictates that rules, beliefs, and values, serving as a lens through which a person views the world he or she lives in. Culture also serves to create expectations regarding the person themselves as well as expectations of others both within and outside of a particular culture. This fundamental component of a person’s existence is crucial concerning education, especially with regards to understanding the pressures and needs a student will have to be successful in their learning. As a future educator I can take this knowledge and use it as a tool to prevent the problems that arise when expectations are not met, blurred, or missed between my students and myself.
What is culture? Culture is comprised a many factors that make up our identity. A big factor is ethnicity. Every group of people has their own set of traditions. Also religion plays a big part, many of the values that a group has can be a product of their religious beliefs. Regarding religion, we are mostly talking about moral values, Though shall not kill, etc., We can also include the values a culture might have concerning things such as motivation or life goals, in other words what the cultural view is regarding purpose in life, what pursuits are worthy ones and what pursuits are not worthy ones. Regarding urban education, we have seen the problem where education is at conflict with cultural dismissal of the importance of education from both family and peers.
An important aspect of culture is that it encompasses not only what makes us who we are but also how we will view others. Ultimately because of the values and traditions that exist, expectations are created concerning aspects of the world. In certain cultures women are viewed as being inferior to men. It is therefore expected, that women will not pursue things such as education. An idea such as this viewed from an American cultural perspective seems absurd. This isn’t to say that there is no gender bias here within U.S., there is still some progress to be made, however I think most people agree that women are just as capable as men, more so if you count the whole multitasking thing. Culture has a big impact on shaping our identities, both individually and collectively. We decide who we are and where we belong with in society. If we look at the example of a culture that regards women as inferior it is easy to see how this could have the effect of causing a women within the culture to underestimate her abilities. Also In this instance the women’s culture has dictated to her, her place within society. She has been allocated to being below the status afforded to men. Gender is not the only thing affected when viewed through the cultural lens; we also see how it impacts the views of race, class, religion, and sexuality. Religion plays a big role in dictating what is “appropriate” regarding sexuality. Religions such as Catholicism, which was how I was raised, state that homosexuality is a sin against God and wrong. I personally do not feel this way about homosexuality. We might consider an instance where we have a wonderfully effective teacher who connects to his or her students, keeps them motivated, engaged, etc., but is a devote Catholic and views homosexuality as wrong. What happens when this teacher has a homosexual student? This is a tricky problem and it raises the notation, can anyone ever really be neutral with regards to others? This is an important question for an educator who is most likely going to encounter views and opinions that differ from their own. The answer is probably not. Culture is powerful and it is through it that we see the world, however people have the ability to change their views. One step to dealing with this dilemma is at least being aware of it and trying to be conscious to what our own cultural views are.
My upbringing and cultural identity is one in which education is extremely important. I was always expected to perform very well in school. I’m still expected to perform well. For me the expectation was such that there was never a question about finishing high school and going to college. My grandparents did, my parents, did, and I was going to as well. I went to Catholic school through 5th grade. In 6th grade I went to public middle school. When I got to the public school I rebelled a lot, which I credit to the stifling strictness of the catholic school. I started smoking cigarettes, and I tried drinking and smoking pot. I did all the things I wasn’t supposed to do. Interestingly though, for me the importance of school as I stated was drilled into me. Therefore, despite my rebelling I never stopped doing what I needed to do in school. I always received very high grades because that was how it was supposed to be in my mind. The pressure of the importance of school was so great that I couldn’t escape it, so much so that I never even thought about not doing well in school as an option. When we look at the instance where a student has cultural pressure to not do well in school I can understand how significant the challenge is to go against the strength of that cultural pressure.
The last idea we can look it at is the role of culture in the classroom. We can elaborate of the idea of culture creating expectations. Within the classroom culture creates expectations for the students of the teacher as well as expectations for the teacher of the students. We find the potential for problems when these expectations are not met. An example that we saw in class is one in which a student in an urban school does not know what a yacht is. There is a level of expectation that everyone knows that that is a boat, but a student who grew up poor, within an urban environment may have no idea because they have never seen one or even heard of one. An obvious expectation for students is that they speak English. What about an immigrant child who has just come to the U.S.? They will not be able to meet this expectation. Another example regarding language is the expectation that the student’s parents can speak English. What happens when they cannot understand the important documents that are sent home regarding the child? Further still, what if the parent speaks English but can’t read? With all these examples we see how there are expectations that are created within the school environment and how easily problems arise when the expectations are not met.
After exploring all of the notions we see how important culture in creating a person’s identity both individually and collectively as a member of society. Culture dictates that rules, beliefs, and values, serving as a lens through which a person views the world he or she lives in. Culture also serves to create expectations regarding the person themselves as well as expectations of others both within and outside of a particular culture. This fundamental component of a person’s existence is crucial concerning education, especially with regards to understanding the pressures and needs a student will have to be successful in their learning. As a future educator I can take this knowledge and use it as a tool to prevent the problems that arise when expectations are not met, blurred, or missed between my students and myself.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Questions about urban education
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.
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 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
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