Reflection Post #4

    Our schools are outdated. I don’t just mean the structures themselves (though the small classrooms, harsh lighting, and lack of common areas are jarring). In this blog post, I am referring to the outdated daily schedules and the curriculum that’s fed to the students. In the video we were assigned to watch this week, it mentioned how the school day is set up to resemble the industrial work day. The students are conditioned by the bells so when they move on to the workforce, they have an idea of what is expected of them within the factory or some other industrial age job. Clearly, however, there is not a need for this any longer. So why is it that we are so reluctant to change? 

(Here is a link to an article further explaining how the school day is modeled for the industrial age https://montessorium.com/blog/industrial-revolution-and-american-education ) 

    Resistance to change is also an issue in regards to the schools curriculum. The article, “The Academic and Social Value of Ethnic Studies,” written by Christine E. Sleeter explains how the modern curriculum is very centered on white history. When educating about POC history, “racial and ethnic minorities are added consistently in a ‘contributions’ fashion to the predominantly Euro-American narrative of textbooks” (Sleeter, 3). From my own experiences in learning about Black history or Native American history, it is limited to the struggles they’ve endured, or how white people have impacted or been impacted. This writing piece by Sleeter also highlighted how African American, Native American, Latino, and Asian students would be interested in learning about their own culture in school, and how it would make engaging in classroom discussion less of a struggle. This is similar to the movie we watched in class this past Wednesday. That movie did a fantastic job of showing how ethnic studies can have a positive impact on a student’s learning and performance in school. My thought is, America is a blend of all cultures, so it is only right that we teach about these cultures within our schools. America is centered around liberty and justice for all, so therefore what we teach in school should reflect that.

For my images this week, I have chosen to include photos from a high school experience. During my sophomore and junior year we had an exchange student who was very passionate about Chinese culture and dance. For Lunar New Year, she got permission from the school to organize an after school Chinese cultural dance club, and we were able to do a performance at Bryant College’s Lunar New Year Celebration. This was the first time my school had done anything in relation to my own culture and I was so elated to be a part of it. Though I had never been interested in dance, I found the day to be heartwarming. I felt a type of connection and sense of community that I had not before, and was thankful to experience it.