What we talked about in class was interesting, and important to us. As the generation we will be the ones to look back and see what history has become and how it is slowly changing. Sure it would be nice to have a text book to void any basis. However; we learned that it is impossible; students should be given the choice to see what they want to learn, not be forced upon by people who do not have a degree in history.
I feel that because teachers are given a direct guide lines on how they are suppose to teach and avoid certain topics that it is holding back the students. Due to that it lessens the teachers to expand into new territory to develop skills they need to not only help themselves but the individuals who want to learn more but are limited due the textbook material. A topic that was brought up was minorities and whether or not there should be more material regarding them. History is just not about what happen to a certain group or race of people but other as well. I think that the text should have more diverse groups in it, there are always many events happening around the world with different culture but do we wish to focus on it, depends on the writers of the books.
Why is it that the Board of Education wants to change the text when they are not the ones the class room reading about it and remember dates? I think that students should be given the time to look up what they want to learn in history through videos, textbooks and the Internet so they can have many sides of the story not just one, because the writers portray someone as a hero or villain. I think by taking out certain things in the textbook and adding more of others, the board is slowly changing history and before we know it, no one will remember what happen in a certain moment in history. The students should be given a chance to vote on this situation not the people who think they know what they are doing, but really do not because not one of the members on the board has a degree in history.
Sherry, I somewhat completely agree with you on this whole situation. The kids that are receiving the education should be able to decide and create their own opinions about the matters they learn in a classroom. I also think though, the teachers should be allowed to have some room to also decide, because after all, they are the teachers. I guess it does depend on how the teacher "teaches" the material on whether they withhold some material or not. Anyways, those who really do not know what they are talking about and want to just give opinions, should stay out of the matter of choosing what material goes in a textbook. I do agree with you on that minority groups should have their rightful place in history. The world is not based on one race so for history it should not be centered around the more dominant race. Our group did get pretty heated on this whole discussion and this particular subject. I think it hits more people because it gets on a more personal level. But overall, the whole topic was an interesting one that got us thinking!
ReplyDeleteHello Miss Sherry. Well, I think you have a great point with your message here. I liked how you pointed out how teacheres are given certain guidelines at which to teach by. Personally, I do believe that students should be able to make the decision of what they would like to learn and how they would like to be taught because it's the method of teaching that really matters. I also liked how you clarified that there should be more diverse groups in text because there's a lot that's happening in the world. You did an amazing job with finding facts to support your argument and you made your message very clear to readers. For example, I liked how you mentioned the Board of Education to prove your point and I really like your flexibility with this whole response. All in all, it was a very arrousing discussion and entertaining as heck!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. You took the words out of my mouth. Last weeks discussion was debatable and I agree with your opinion. The way history is being taught does restrict critical thinking skills as it is based on memorization instead of analytical text. I think that minorities do show up in history books but just not enough. I think we should study more world history than American because most Americans are of different ethnicity and would like to see more of their own culture into history. In this way history becomes more interesting to students. I like your proposal of students voting for their own education. I would like to bring South Eastern Asia into our history books wouldn't you? I agree that the board is trying to control what we learn so that they can control what we think. It is a good comparison of our modern government to 1984. By the way your page is awesome you should get 10 points.
ReplyDeletehey sherry! i'm glad i came across your blog. it is very cheerful looking.
ReplyDeletei think you have great insight and your response to our socratic circle discussion is wonderful. i enjoyed how you focused on the importance of student education and how teachers are effected as well. teachers shouldn't have such tight lesson plans and rubrics. education should be about more than a simple letter grade. also, isn't it a teacher's job to be passionate about education? a teacher should be willing to give his student as much knowledge that he has to offer. teachers like mr. dominguez and ms. lederach and a few others make me excited to go to school and excited to learn. with these teachers, i appreciate my educational opportunities. and hopefully mr. dominguez reads this...extra credit?
also, i like how you brought up the idea of the students voting. i doubt that many students will understand the matter or even care about what is in our history text books but for those of us that do care, we deserve a say in our own education.