Historical Perspectives

Entry #1

In the PBS web article entitled "School: The Story of Public Education", innovators are described as "visionary individuals" who have been leaders in school reform and transformation. Meanwhile, John Taylor Gatto, on his website for the Odyessus Group, states his belief that businessmen such as Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller have actually been the makers of public schools.
While it seems to me that the focus of both "innovators" and "makers" is to produce contributing members of society, it would appear that "innovators" are interested in the process of how this is accomplished and the "makers" are more interested in the end result. It seems to me that the "innovators" goal is to "form" a child into a well-rounded person with qualities to help him or her to be successful in adulthood, while "makers" seem to have a goal of "conforming" a child to what would be seen as the "ideal" in the work force.

As a trained teacher as well as a certified school counselor, I tend to lean toward the viewpoint of the "innovators". I believe that if we educate and nurture the whole child, the end result will be a productive person in the workforce as well as a well-rounded individual who makes contributions to improve our society. Because we live in an ever-changing society, I tend to think that "conforming" children to a particular ideal is not sufficient preparation for the future. Rather, if we "form" children to be critical thinkers who, in the words of Booker T. Washington, value "hard work, persistence and self-discipline", then they will grow to be adults who are equipped to be successful regardless of the changes in the world of work. For instance, whether a worker is flipping hamburgers, working on an assembly line, teaching in a public or private school, or defending criminals, the dedication to and the pride in one's work should be the same.

One innovator who I feel has influenced, and continues to, truly influence public education as we know it today is Deborah Meier. Meier worked for many years to "fix" public education in the lower income areas of New York City. Much like Joe Clark whose story is told in the movie "Lean on Me", Meier was focused more on what the students in her assigned schools could accomplish instead of what they had failed to accomplish previously. Her goal was to create a community - not to improve test scores or production. She is an innovator who realizes the importance of and shows success by creating a community enviroment that capitalizes on respect for all individuals and a family approach to learning. I currently serve as a school counselor in a low-income elementary school in Smyrna, TN. In my five years in this position, I have found that when parents are involved and children are taught how to make wise choices and think for themselves, the results are very positive. I am fortunate that my administrator is an "innovator" who realizes that before children can be taught academics, their basic needs must be addressed. Following this train of thought and practice, we have seen a continuous increase in yearly achievement test scores. Innovators like my administrator and Deborah Meier realize that in order to reform public education, we must address the needs of individual students on a very basic level before we can teach them academic skills which will in turn increase test scores and productivity.

As far as a "maker" that has influenced public education as we know it today, I would say that, based on the mention of them in Gatto's article, businessmen such as Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carenegie have all influenced public education equally. As business and industry grew and changed over the years, business leaders certainly saw young people coming into the workforce lacking the qualities they desired. As Gatto stated it, school became "a servant of corporate and political management". While I do detect a hint of sarcasm in Gatto's writing, I do believe that the "makers" have definitely had an influence on accountability, standardized testing, and uniform teaching in public education.

As I have reflected on Gatto's article, I have tried to think of what positive influence "makers" may have had on school reform. While I think Gatto was a bit extreme in his description of public schools being "training in boredom and bewilderment" and "antechambers to hell", I do believe that accountability is one of the ways to identify what is not working in public education in order to make changes toward improvement. Additionally, standardized testing appears to have the intention of finding out what skills children have and have not mastered in a very objective, rather than subjective, manner. Although I have never worked in a business or factory setting, it appears that many bosses and supervisors are more interested in the product, the bottom line and the job being accomplished than they are in the personal qualities of an individual. Therefore, standardized testing may be good practice for task-oriented individuals in the job force.

Overall, I see myself as an innovator. While I do believe that educators should always be looking for ways and means to improve on ourselves and our public education offering as a whole and that accountability in education is important, I also believe we must look at ways to improve all students for the good of society rather than just for the benefit of the workforce. I believe that education is largely about the process rather than only the finished product. Students must learn from and value where they have been in order to successfully reach their final destination in life.

Joe Clark - biography. (n.d.). Retrieved September 1, 2009, from http://www.joeclarkspeaker.com/biography.htm

Van Wagner, K. (n.d.). About.com:Psychology. Retrieved September 1, 2009, from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/hierarchyneeds.htm