The Unbalanced State of the U.S Educational System
Throughout American history there have been countless numbers of reforms to our educational system. The media has been very instrumental in helping to bring what are often underrepresented styles of education into the limelight, making our society aware of educational topics they might have been blind to otherwise. Whether or not these reforms made it the conventional way to the congressional level, where law can mandate educational reform, many of them have still had a serious effect on the way students are being taught today. Black studies has seen a course of heavy reform and triumph. Johnnetta B. Cole explains in her piece, Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education, the 5 ways black studies …show more content…
Our school’s have been run on a very traditional style of teaching, which many students do not succeed in. Johnnetta B. Cole explains that traditional liberal arts education is based on “ an objective, value-free exploration of the range of human history, activity, knowledge, and creativity” (Cole, Johnetta. Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education p. 23). Cole argues that in reality “education is based on a Eurocentric perspective of the world, reflecting a racial, gender, and class bias that distorts African and African-American experiences.” (Cole, Johnnetta. Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education p.23). Students from the US have an inherent advantage when it comes to what is taught do to our heritage. US native students often don’t realize that Black Studies are not a part of their curricula, and can 't comprehend how minority students are not as successful in their studies. Students in the US grew up learning about the history of our country, and curricula very rarely touched on the history of Africa, or Black …show more content…
The first and most important step to success is to bring on new progressive style of teaching. Progressive teaching is a way for the students to have a more in depth experience with learning, and allows the teacher to “get on their level”, this is the method Johnnetta B. Cole supports, “There should be a closer relationship between the academy and “the outside world,” in contrast to the traditional model of the academy as an isolated ivory tower. Thus students should be encouraged to engage in field projects and practicums that place them in dynamic interactions with communities.” (Cole, Johnnetta. Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education p.25). The best example of a successful transformation from traditional teaching to progressive, is Mrs. G’s minority filled class in the film and novel The Freedom Writers. Mrs. G’s progressive approach to her teaching was characterized by a method that encouraged her students to dig deep into the experiences they were enduring as young people growing up in the inner city. She introduced a project that required students to write in a diary about their daily lives on the streets. She decided to do this after having her students read Zlata’s Diaries. Although she wasn 't expecting to receive many diaries back, she still wanted to see if it could work, and sure enough it did. After the very first day she was very
Throughout American history there have been countless numbers of reforms to our educational system. The media has been very instrumental in helping to bring what are often underrepresented styles of education into the limelight, making our society aware of educational topics they might have been blind to otherwise. Whether or not these reforms made it the conventional way to the congressional level, where law can mandate educational reform, many of them have still had a serious effect on the way students are being taught today. Black studies has seen a course of heavy reform and triumph. Johnnetta B. Cole explains in her piece, Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education, the 5 ways black studies …show more content…
Our school’s have been run on a very traditional style of teaching, which many students do not succeed in. Johnnetta B. Cole explains that traditional liberal arts education is based on “ an objective, value-free exploration of the range of human history, activity, knowledge, and creativity” (Cole, Johnetta. Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education p. 23). Cole argues that in reality “education is based on a Eurocentric perspective of the world, reflecting a racial, gender, and class bias that distorts African and African-American experiences.” (Cole, Johnnetta. Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education p.23). Students from the US have an inherent advantage when it comes to what is taught do to our heritage. US native students often don’t realize that Black Studies are not a part of their curricula, and can 't comprehend how minority students are not as successful in their studies. Students in the US grew up learning about the history of our country, and curricula very rarely touched on the history of Africa, or Black …show more content…
The first and most important step to success is to bring on new progressive style of teaching. Progressive teaching is a way for the students to have a more in depth experience with learning, and allows the teacher to “get on their level”, this is the method Johnnetta B. Cole supports, “There should be a closer relationship between the academy and “the outside world,” in contrast to the traditional model of the academy as an isolated ivory tower. Thus students should be encouraged to engage in field projects and practicums that place them in dynamic interactions with communities.” (Cole, Johnnetta. Black Studies in Liberal Arts Education p.25). The best example of a successful transformation from traditional teaching to progressive, is Mrs. G’s minority filled class in the film and novel The Freedom Writers. Mrs. G’s progressive approach to her teaching was characterized by a method that encouraged her students to dig deep into the experiences they were enduring as young people growing up in the inner city. She introduced a project that required students to write in a diary about their daily lives on the streets. She decided to do this after having her students read Zlata’s Diaries. Although she wasn 't expecting to receive many diaries back, she still wanted to see if it could work, and sure enough it did. After the very first day she was very