Someone and Then Another

Gatto:
The reading I did for this was "6 Lessons". This reading was telling us about the basics of teaching in all education. Lesson 1 is that kids are purposely put in certain classes and should therefore stay in those classes. Lesson 2 is to know when to be hard workers yet to be able to move from one material to the next with ease. Lesson 3 is to give up your basic powers as a human to the authorative figure aka teacher. The fourth lesson is that the teacher has all the power in a classroom going from curriculum to disciplinary actions. Lesson 5 is to put all of your everything into receiving the approval of your teacher. You should go to all cost to impress them and revolve your existence around their opinion of you. The last lesson is that you are under survelliance by your teacher at all times. Whether its through other children or homework, they can see and control what you do and learn.

These lessons are completely accurate when it comes to what teachers are suppose to teach the students before any of the work and even during their teaching. These lessons make for cooperative and conformed children who will bend over to do anything for their teacher. This however is bullshit because students shoudl have power in the classroom as well. I'm not talking about total control but we should be able to have some say in what we learn and/or how the teacher teaches it. Not all children learn the same so for some these mind games don't work as well as others.

Freire:
This article was about how teachers are just people to fill up students heads with things that use to mean something and now mean nothing because they are not taught with meaning to us. Teachers put things into our minds and we are expected to remember it all. My favorite quote from the text is "The more completely she fills the receptacles, the better a teacher she is. The more meekly the receptacles permit themselves to be filled, the better students they are." This quote is saying that the more we know the better the teacher is considered. The more we let ourselves be taught without a fight or word the better students we are considered.

This quote to me seems very true because teachers are looked and judged upon the amount their students learn and the grades they get. This however should not be how a person is judged because students can gain more from a teacher than just school knowledge. The fact that students are also judged upon how obediently they learn is also a problem. Students shoudl not have to bow to a "higher power" to learn. Everyone in a classroom setting should be equal because not only are the kids there to learn but so are the teachers.

Delpit:
The interview with Dr. Delpit discussed equal oppurtunity for low income children. She says that you can do this but teachers cannot undermine the student's intelligence. They must believe in the child in order for them to achieve. She also discussed how the arts can be a way to teach children more about school. It keeps them more interested and they relate to it more while they are also being taught about music or writing.

I agree with Dr. Delpit because if a teacher does not believe in the student the kids think that there is no reason to even try. Children need people to back them up in order to achieve wonders. I also agree with arts being another way to teach children basic lessons. For me especially I have always been more interested in music and poetry more than math and science. Incorporating these things into basic school curriculum would definitely interest me more and make me want to learn because I can relate to it. I think what she says about it being mostly children of color or African descent is wrong but hey whatever she wants to believe.

Fanning:
Mr. Fanning talked about the difference between SOF and other schools. He gave it a lot more credit than needed but I guess that's what he has to do. He taught us about the difference between liberal arts and standard education. He said SOF is more about indivuality within teamwork and that the teachers are there to help us with our own thoughts and ideas not just to teach us by books what other people say.

I definitely agree with this about SOF. Whether I think it works or not is different. I think to be at SOF you have to have reached a certain level of maturity. A level that not all of SOF students have reached and even I myself sometimes forget that I have. If you have that level of maturity SOF can be a great advantage because it is about indivuality and a lot more lenient than other schools. Without that maturity however it is just a school that you can bullshit through while getting away with whatever you want.