WeBlog 4

         While reading Madeleine Arnot’s piece, the first statement that first caught my attention was, “In the United Kingdom… responsibility for the school curriculum and its teaching had been devolved to the teaching profession, and teachers who were represented as experts in curriculum delivery to the diverse needs of local school communities” (18).  This statement struck me, because I feel that this is how education should be run today.  Instead, the government makes the decisions about curriculum and what ‘should’ be taught in schools.  It always surprises me that teachers are not considered to be professionals or experts at their trade.  A teacher is just as much as an expert in curriculum as an accountant is with taxes or a sales person is with their product. 

This same idea was revisited again when Arnot wrote, “The pacing of knowledge established by the government took over the time in which teachers and the professional subject networks might fruitfully reflect on the messages transmitted though the curriculum” (31).  This statement reminded me of when we discussed the Everyday Math Program during class.  As I can remember from our discussion in class, the government is pushing the use of this program.  Programs like these take make the country believe that anyone can create a curriculum and simply teach it if they can follow the script.  These programs take away the ability of the teacher to move at the pace of his/her students.  For me, I am the only teacher who teaches College Algebra, and I love it.  I do not have to keep up or wait for anyone else, and this type of curriculum is what these students need.  If I find the students to be particularly interested in a certain concept, I can delve deeper into the section rather than quickly move on to the next section.
               I wanted to become a teacher, because I want to teach the future minds of America.  I believe that the curriculum for these minds is constantly changing.  Because of this constant change, no one, other than the teacher in his/her own classroom, should restrict what should be taught.  The teacher knows his/her students best and is an expert in the content curriculum.  If the government or public disagrees, then maybe something should be changed at the university level to better prepare teachers rather than restrict them once they get in the classroom.
              I also found Jean Anyon’s piece to be very interesting.  When she described how the working class students simply learned rote behavior; the middle class students learned how to do the work to get the right answer; and, the affluent professional students were asked to interpret and apply their knowledge (40-41).  From my experience, I find this to be true as well.  I completed some of my student teaching in an inner city school in Toledo, Ohio.  I found that the students were given workbooks that follow a day to day script.  The school community was much different as well.  The teachers did not work together, and the students were not allowed in the building other than while school was in process.  I felt that many of the teachers were simply trying to push the students through rather than challenge them.  I do not blame the teachers, because I could sympathize with them.  Many teachers and students have worries other than their school work.  Some students may be worried about when their next meal would be, or if they would have to take care of their brothers and sisters at night rather than complete their homework. 
                  On the other hand, I now teach at a school in an affluent professional area.  I am able to teach completely differently compared to my student teaching experience.  Most of the students are present daily, and many of their main concerns are about school.  Many of them do not have the home concerns that many of the working class students deal with daily.  Furthermore, as a teacher, I do not have a scripted math book in which I have to teach.  I create my own lessons and work with my department to do what is best of our students.  I notice that I have more flexibility within my position compared to the teachers as the inner city schools.  Many of those teachers have the same teaching abilities as I do, but they do not have the same flexibility as I, which greatly restricts them.   After reading this section, I do not agree that there should be class differences in schools, but I can understand how the separation gradually occurred.