Reading Reaction for April 21st

T and C's final chapter seemed to summarize a lot of what our class discussion wanted to center on. They agree that teachers need to be involved more, but understand that outside entities are necessary and effective agents of change. I like the word they used to describe how reforms should be designed: hybridized. They include parents and the community in the reform process, which we all agreed in class is critical because the old adage is correct: it takes a village to raise a child. Each community in America is unique, and should have its own unique schooling. What may work for one area, is not guaranteed to work in another. T and C make it a priority for reforms to have the input from the people around the students the most. They mention that officials and legislators can equalize school finance and individual equity among students, but these alone are not sufficient in providing proper improvements to our education system. It read as though T and C understood teachers to be hesitant or reluctant to trust reforms in which they had no voice on. That seems to be a sensible response if T and C's incremental reform cycle is correct because the reform in question will only make a marginal impact on average. And, afterwards that same teacher will have to work through another reform, and so on. They mention that we need more able teachers to help (it would be interesting to see reforms to just get more adults in classrooms, teacher aids, to reduce the teacher-student ratio). Their summation is simple and direct. All of America is in the education at one point or another, and one quarter of it works and studies within the school walls. They say it has been a driving force in molding modern America as we know it. That everyone is and should be involved in it in some capacity. They end with fact that we must always plan for the future, and that's why Americans have tried to continually reform public education. Good Stuff.