So where does all of this leave you with regard to how you think about schooling, education, and their purposes? Note: I am particularly interested in how/whether this course has helped you to think about where your ideas about school and education come from.
Rachel Ruble: At the beginning of the course, I was extremely oblivious to a lot of issues in the educational system. Whether it was from a lack of knowledge or completely ignoring the issues, I never thought critically about school before. Now, I feel like I have learned a lot about the education system, not only in America, but other countries as well. I think the way someone perceives school and education depends a lot on their own experiences and where they went to school. Different classes and races can all have extremely different experiences which shapes their own feelings towards the system. A lot of the readings and videos shown throughout the semester have helped me better understand schooling from lots of other perspectives, not just my own. The discussions in small groups and a whole class have also given me more ideas of how school and education is completely different for everyone, which I never had thought about before this class. I think this class has shed a new light on a subject I didn't know much about before taking it.
ReplyDeleteAfter going through this class my views on education and schooling have changed. My eyes have been opened to factors that I hadn't previously considered. I have always had a problem with the education system that's in place because I thought there was a simple fix that people were choosing to ignore. I now know that it's deeper than that. I learned that other countries have techniques in place that are successful and I believe we could learn from them. I also learned that not everything works the same for each student. I took a lot away from hearing the different school experiences of my classmates. Getting a variety of perspectives changed my understanding of things. I realize how dangerous an inefficient education system can be on future generations. Before this class I thought school was basically a babysitting system that taught things no one really cared about. Now I know that you can really cater your learning experience to fit your needs and just how important schooling is.
ReplyDeleteDiamon Patterson:
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, I would like to say that I really enjoyed the honesty and transparency that this course provided. However, I knew that the educational system needed improvement prior to this class, because I attended school in a lower income area. The pop culture information we dissected enhanced how I viewed the purpose of schooling and why it is hard to see a change in the operation of public education. I had a pessimistic attitude towards the purposes of schooling such as conformity. Further into the semester, learned there are both pros and cons to the way American schools function. I do wish that America would incorporate activities that facilitate independence and curiosity like schools we have examined on the international spectrum. Additionally, the educational system is ran by the government so it is a slow process to see a difference such as providing more opportunities to minorities and underserved populations.
First off I think it should be stated that i'm very interested and passionate about education and education issues. This course helped me a lot to develop a perspective on how teachers are portrayed and how school are viewed in society. This course helped develop and reinforce my belief that schools are vectors for developing skills and content is not the most important thing in terms of what people learn. I think we had a lot of great conversations about women in stem and trade schools when we talked about that one kids show that I dont remember the name of. Overall I think this course really did a good job with further developing my interest in schools and education. It has made me want to take more education courses
ReplyDeleteThis course has definitely broadened my knowledge and perspective on education and its purposes. Prior to this class I had a very surface level perspective on education. To me school was just another avenue to waste time and money, get a degree, and hopefully obtain a job that would support your mediocre lifestyle. While I still see this to be true somewhat, I never payed any mind towards the intricacies of the education system (the variation of education across the world, how class and race can influence education and its systems, individualism, etc.). - Phong Ngo
ReplyDeleteIt’s so easy to take your personal experiences from school and turn it into a generalized perception of the purpose of education. For me, school was every man for themselves type of situation. I had to fight tooth and nail to put myself in the positions I needed to be. Everyone doubted me including teachers, peers, and family members. I held a naivety that assumed everyone's experience with education was similar to my own. To get through school with good grades and move on to the next step of higher education. This is what has been preached to me my entire life. Therefore, I never stopped to analyze the issues holding the education system, and the future members of society, hostage. The detrimental issues interwoven into the education system's foundation would be extremely difficult to unwind. I think this is why society stays stagnant when it comes to education. Media today holds partial responsibility for this. People can share their ideas and experiences so readily onto public platforms with the possibility to go viral. There are so many viewpoints and directions people want to take; that the vision and the actual purpose of education can get lost in the noise. Overall, this course has caused me to be much more analytical of the quality of education I am receiving. I pay more attention to the educational climate, how I am receiving the information and the underlying messages that are possibly shaping my ideas.
ReplyDeleteThe music playlist assignment of this course is when the switch flicked for me and I realized that I was totally learning from pop culture my whole life. While analyzing the songs and translating what they've taught me I opened my eyes to how I hold a lot of weight in the meaning of songs/how I've internalized them because I've developed an understanding based on something not inherently educational. Yet topics in music were a huge discourse in school with peers which taught me to socialize and relate to people in school(which had nothing to do with what school taught us). I've also had a reoccurring voice in my head asking me "what's the purpose of school" since starting this course, and for the first times in my life the answer hasn't been "to walk away with student debt". We are schooling for society to maintain a status quo where people need to learn skills and communication for getting jobs, and I think pop culture exists as a counter educator (teaching perspective and allowing people to relate) and as a coping mechanism for people to cling to enjoy and to distract them from the funneling system of schooling. I think pop culture should be utilized more in schooling as I think it could diversify learning content. Educators are tasked with equipping students with knowledge to use for success, so it doesn't make sense to let students walk in to the world not understanding something like inequality, but it also doesn't always make the most sense to have a white teacher teach it in which case a pop cultural documentary with many perspectives would be a perfect teaching tool to convey that information. Pop culture defines history and represents what society is thinking about, so young people should be able to be exposed to that history as it continues to evolve while they also learn about past history.
ReplyDeletejake bosak
DeleteBefore taking this course, I wasn't very educated on the flaws, pros and cons, other aspects in our education system. This class has taught me a lot about different perspectives on our education system and made me critically think about the value of education. I used to think of learning as just something that I had to get through if I wanted to be successful but learning is much more than that and it made me actually more interested in wanting to learn and participate in my education.
ReplyDeleteLisa Carlen
DeleteMy personal experience in this class has been nothing short of positive and insightful. I am currently a senior set to graduate in May and begin graduate school to become an elementary teacher in August. I had a credit gap in my degree, so I had to pick an elective. I chose this course because it seemed interesting while also relating to my major. On the first day of class, I was surprised to learn I was the only education major in my class section. In many ways, this made me get so much more out of the class because I was able to learn many perspectives and opinions of people with different career goals. Due to my major, the discussion of education has been a highly discussed topic throughout my college experience. This course has opened my eyes to a lot of the issues in the education system. I think that in the begining, the education system had it down perfectly, but it has lost sight of what is important throughout the years. It is extremely necessary that the education system gets back on track in order for the children to find success in the system. Even though it is sad to realize, learning about these failures in the system have really encouraged me to be the best teacher and role model I can be. The discussions of race and culture in this class have also helped me and gave strategies on making sure none of my students ever feel like an outsider because of their culture or race. I also really enjoyed the class discussions and reading people's blog posts because it allowed me to learn different perspectives and learn strategies for the issues in education and schooling. I am very grateful I took this class. I am leaving with more knowledge than I could have ever imagined.
ReplyDelete- Catherine Fishburne
This class was an eye opener for me. I didn't realize how many problems the education system had particularly in the U.S. It was nice to learn about the different education systems from around the world. Personally I'm not a huge fan of the education system here but I do think they somewhat prioritize education. What I've realized is school in the U.S only give students one option after high school and that's college. Thats why I liked learning about the different education systems around the world because not only do they prioritize education they also give their students more options of what they want to do after high school.
ReplyDeleteThe first day of this class I really didn't know what to expect and how was pop culture going to play a part in class but I realized how key pop culture is in our education. I knew our education system wasn't the best but my mom has always told me that at least here education is free until we graduate high school so I had to take advantage of the opportunity which she didn't have. But that doesn't mean these issues can't be solved, especially after seeing "The Smartest Kids in the World" I know that America needs to make improvements and learn from these other countries, to enhance future generations way of critical thinking and curiosity. Obviously it won't be something quick as Texas is trying to ban books that talk about race or even remove parts of history and science textbooks. But through all the open discussions and materials I see now how other people have had different experiences through the school system which causes some differences in views but I feel like most agree that changes need to be made.
ReplyDeleteI have always felt strongly about the education system in the United States in particular. The use of media and literature have always stood out, especially with how media forms much of our education outside of school. The title of this course immediately drew me in because I just went "huh, interesting," and I mentioned it to a couple of my friends as well. They had a similar reaction, and were fascinated by some of the texts we were looking at. I explained the playlist assignment, and I found a spam from my group chat of songs that I could fit in somehow (unfortunately I went with rap instead of rock, but it was fun seeing them examine their music so closely and with the lens given to us in class). All in all, this course deepened my desire to better the education systems in the United States, which I hope to achieve through the career(s) I pursue. Not only that, but it was fun and challenging exploring my relationship with several forms of media such as the music I listen, the news I watch, and the films I watch as well.
ReplyDeleteAyla Nees-Doeppe: To be honest, I didn't know what to expect when signing up for this course, but I ended up really enjoying and loving it. I had some strong opinions about how media portrayed the educational system before this class. This class broadened and strengthened my views, if I wasn't a Junior and it wasn't too late to change my major I would probably want to go into education. I learned that America doesn't value a true education as much as you'd think, especially in high schools and lower grades. Theres lots of work to be done in and on the educational system in the US, but I am in a class with a whole bunch of future teachers and with the opinions shared within this class, as long as everyone else gets on board, we are looking at a brighter future.
ReplyDeleteI was honestly curious about where things would go when I started going to this class. The people in this class are incredibly driven and are each putting everything they have towards reaching their goals. It's honestly thanks to them that I've become even more determined to teach TEFL once I graduate.
ReplyDeleteWell firstly, I’m grateful that I was able to have this class be the first in-person class I had in literally 2 years. Having to switch to virtual classes and having to give up many of my extracurricular activities took a toll on me and it made me feel like I was losing my love for learning. Being that I was questioning many things about my own education, I hadn’t even thought about it, but I suppose this class came right on time.
ReplyDeleteOnto talking about things related to the content of the course… I’ve always had an appreciation for teachers (specifically teachers that I felt did things “right”). In high school I genuinely transferred from one school to another because I felt that many of my teachers at the time weren’t getting through to me. It was in my 9th grade year and I was coming out of a specialty program/school so when I brought this up to others they told me I just needed to “get adjusted” or that I was spoiled at the school I came from. I refused to hear any of it though, the fact that I went from getting a perfect 600 on my civics SOL to getting a barely passing 401 in World History in the span of one school year repulsed me. My friends that ended up transferring with me were going through the same thing so I knew I wasn’t alone in realizing all of this. Students can and should be able to point out flaws in how they’re being taught without them being told it is their own fault! Having said all of this, that experience was my first encounter with wondering exactly what I was supposed to be getting out of school. I always felt that I excelled in classes that were taught by teachers who loved to teach (crazy that those things don’t always coexist), but was I just being childish? Bougie? This class helped me realize that I wasn’t being dramatic about it. If I had stayed where I was, not only do I believe I wouldn't have gained this awareness about the topic of education, but I also don’t believe I would be where I am now at VCU.
I truly believe I’ve found a new love for education, but not in the “I love to go to school” way. This course opened my eyes to many things about education in teachers that I didn’t realize I had already experienced. Additionally, it helped me realize that those special teachers have to had felt the exact same way at some point in their lives in order for them to become the great educators they are.
(I might end up changing my major because of this class :P)
ReplyDeleteJT Holeman - After everything we have learned and discussed Id say that education in the school system is a force of child rearing in multiple different ways. Not only do kids learn different academic skills but also learn how to connect with other people and prepare them for what they plan on pursuing/joining the workforce.
Prior to this class, I knew there were significant issues with the educational system, but it was not something I spent much time deeply thinking about or trying to understand past the surface. This class challenged me to look at why these were previously passive thoughts and view the educational system from different perspectives throughout our curriculum. I genuinely enjoyed and learned from each module we did this semester, especially watching and viewing other’s documentary projects and reading New Kid. This was the first college class I have taken that was primarily discussion based (and in person!!), and I loved talking with different groups each class and gaining new outlooks on the issues we spent time thinking about. Overall, this class has helped me think deeper and more meaningfully about where my ideas about school and education come from and why.
ReplyDeleteAbbe
I honestly really enjoyed this class. Before, I always knew that there were some pretty big issues with our education system in America, especially compared to other countries. However, it wasn't something that I spent much time thinking of, especially since I was too busy dealing with school. This class definitely helped to open my mind to things like that and I'm more aware thanks to the discussions we had in class. We talked about all different persepctives and outlooks and it helped me to better understand the subjects we talked about.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this class and the way it was taught. I always knew that there were issues with our education system but this class really opened my eyes to just how many issues we have and showed me what education looks like in other parts of the world which I though was really interesting.
ReplyDeleteStevie Watson
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the school system has felt largely the same. Garnered primarily from my time attending and working in a school, as well as social media. The most interesting part for me was seeing how the depictions of schooling have changed over time. The early films glorify the teachers while later ones vilify them. The most challenging part is the difference in how race is depicted in school films. White people are allowed to have fun, silly adventures, while POC, primarily black people, are shown having to overcome drugs and violence. The example that sticks out to me is The Breakfast Club. When my group sat down to discuss it we first asked if anyone had seen the film before. I basically have it memorized, it’s one of my favorite movies. However, Sha’Nya said she hadn’t but knew of the hype around it. She had always heard people love the movie because of how relatable it is. However, she said she couldn’t see herself in this movie and could not relate to it. I don’t want to steal another student's story, I just found that to be a good example of what the class became as a whole. Looking back on movies from the ’80s and ’90s with a 2021 mindset and critique. I think as long as our films (the ones targeted at young people especially) exclude POC students from the narrative and keep their stories focused on pain, we’re never going to get out of that mindset. The mindset that stories like New Kid are trying to break down.
Walter Garrison
ReplyDeleteThis course has supplemented my thoughts on education through the experience of education in pop culture. Examples in this class helped me to think about Positives and negatives of our education system as it stands. The way I see it school should be a level playing field where everyone develops crucial aspects of their identity. Teachers are very powerful in the lives of the students and must use their power exclusively for the good of the students. In my opinion there is nothing worse than a bad teacher and there are far too many of them out there. Given that teachers are properly trained, there's no reason that education should not solely be a force of good in the lives of today's youth.
Choosing pop culture education as an elective, I was expecting the class to be a discussion course on some normalities of different cultures. I thought it would be just another class where you write papers comparing different cultures and relating them to the topics in class. On the first day of the semester, The professor quickly debunked the idea that busy work does not help with engagement, when engagement is what helps students become interested and involved in class. He encouraged group discussions, encouraged critiquing teaching skills, and created enjoyable activities for class participation.
ReplyDeleteNyah Burnett
DeleteWhen I first enrolled in this class, I had strong feelings about public schooling and what it is all about. While these feelings were valid, if I were to debate with someone knowledgeable about our schooling system I would have failed at getting my point across. After completing this course, I feel as if I have a footing and education about school that I did not before. Not only an excellent professor but great peers in the classroom helped me achieve this. This does not only apply to schooling in the United States, but now in other parts of the world as well. Our purpose of education as a human has always been to make sure the future generation was more prepared and smarter than the one before. But in our country, I always felt like it was meant to hold us back and limit our creativity. We as a country were number 1 at many things in the past, and our head got too big for our shoulders and we are falling behind in almost everything other than the military. But I see that there are still educators that want to see us succeed (especially Professor Kurt) and I think it is important to get professors like these on bigger platforms to get their word out to everyone, not just the lucky ones who are in their classroom.
ReplyDelete