The Democracy of Education: Week 5

The Democracy of Education: Week 5: New Models in Higher Education This week's reading give an overview of several new approaches to educating. The first article is long...

I chose the Funding Model because it appears that funding for higher education has dropped rapidly since 1986.  This is due to the lack of funds and the budget crisis that our nation is experiencing.  Although, the budget seemed to be slowly improving, funds may not be allocated to support higher education as much as it may be more available to be used for health, criminal justice and the K-12 schools.
It would be beneficial to increase focus on funding for higher education which would produce skilled graduates and eventually help to improve the state's economy.
I also think that blended courses, which is also referred to as  hybrid courses is very beneficial because a part of the course is done on line and it will help students especially those who need more time to understand the course and the learning process. I think it mirrors this course, because part of our studies are on line and then we come in for a face to face.

Week 5

One of the models I picked is flipped courses.  The reason I chose this model is because it gives the students a real opportunity to not only pass the class but to learn the material.  An experiment was conducted with two professors.  One highly rated professor and one that was inexperienced.  The inexperienced professor used the flipped course method. He was more successful than the highly rated professor.  The second one I chose was the blended course.  I chose the blended course because it gives you the freedom to study online.    If there is a part of the material that you do not understand or need help with you can ask the professor in the classroom.  I can see students benefiting from the hybrid classes.  The third model that I chose was moocs.  Not everyone has the time or the money to pay for school.  It is a good thing that they have organizations giving them the opportunity to get ahead in life.  This can hopefully make it an even playing field.

The Democracy of Education: Week 4

The Democracy of Education: Week 4: Education; Incluseive, Exclusive, Growing Pains This Week's R&R is a "mock" Quiz question. Please be sure to post your ...

All the candidates were concerned about the education in our schools.  Weiner stated that if we have available space in the schools, it would be more useful to open up a chemistry lab, or a gym instead of a charter school, unless the competition for the space be more egalitarian.  Bill de Blasio would like to invest funding in early childhood and afterschool programs by taxing the wealthy and the revenue could be used to reduce class sizes.  Bill Thompson is against closing our schools and thinks that money can be used for teachers development instead.  John Liu also thinks that if we tax the wealthy, we could create a better economy that will allow more money for education.
The shortcomings to the arguments are would the people be willing to be taxed more?

Week 4

Each candidate has an idea on how to make schools egalitarian. On the other hand none of the candidates tell us the plan b or c if plan a does not work.  Bill states that the government fails to invest in early childhood education and after school programs.  This is something that is true. Could we fix this problem when he becomes mayor as soon as possible?  I don’t think so.  With the way the economy is where are we going to get the funds to get the personnel for the afterschool programs and our teachers for our schools?  When we have to worry about other things like our police force undermanned new police commissioner stop and frisk and inspector general coming in so let’s face it you can do something’s not all of them.  John speaks about the 1% that makes 500,000 thousand a year taxing them more.  Now let’s be realistic here the people that make a half of million dollars have ways to protect it through charities, donations, and other back ways they have learned over the years.  Yes it sounds great in theory that he would put that money to renovate schools but would it be enough for all of our schools and everything we need. Than Sal wants to focus on the 0-3 year olds because that is when education really starts, now let’s think about that one percent are they going to be happy with that tax increase for education for 0-3 year olds let’s remember who pays for the campaigns.

The Democracy of Education: Week 2

The Democracy of Education: Week 2:

The article by Jonathan Mott, states that America was actually republican and it also states that in the pledge of allegiance;  but over the years, our country has become more democratic.
I feel we are more of a democracy based on our governments and the favor of the public and their demands.
The article by Gary Gutting states how our political system is mixed instead of being ran by one type, but many forms of government, who has different rules of power.

Democracy of education

One of the changes that I am choosing is the invention of the automobile.  The invention of the automobile helped on the transportation aspect of getting kids to and from school.  This helped out with them being able to have access to the same education as other kids.  It also shortened up on the school districts. 

The second change I chose was segregation.  Segregation was a big one for me because the kids did not have the same opportunities at learning the same material.  They did not even have the opportunity at learning in the same environment.  They did not even play the same level of competition in sporting events.

The third change for me is the addition of the English as a Second Language Program.  This was huge for our country that was built with immigrants.  It is a program that helped so many cultures and nationalities today achieve graduate degrees.

The history of education

Education has come along way from the early 1900's when schools were started.  Schools were mandatory.
The three most important changes I considered were the horse drawn buses, the head start program and sports which included females. I can't even imagine the chaos it would cause today, if we still had buses which were pulled by horses.  Some of the buses today take over an hour or more to drop off or pick up students, so if we were still using the horses to pull the buses to school it would be very difficult.
The head start program was a brilliant idea, because so many students are benefiting today from this program at a much younger age.
The female students also have the desire to play sports and if that was not implemented, women like Serena Williams would not exist.
Today we have so many schools that involve religious, private, charter, there are so many school buses and the learning system is much improved.

Are we a democracy

The aspects of their ideas that I find the most convincing is that we are not a full Democracy.  The reason being we do not have control of our government at all.  We elect people to make the decisions that they feel is best for us.  The one question that comes to my mind is are they making the decision that is best for us as a whole or are they making the best decision for themselves?  Now I know we cannot have the people in full control because of corruption and scandals that we would see. But how many senators and congressman pass laws for personal interest and gains.  So I agree fully we are not a full Democracy.

Hire Act

Hire Arts function for job seekers are to show them that they have the skills or give them the specific skills that they need for a particular job.  For employers it helps them find an employee with a specific kind of skills that the employee knows he or she could do as soon as they hire them.  I think Hire Arts is a great idea simply because they are implementing what I did in the Military. You get trained and you pass it on to the next person and the next.  We do this for every job in the Army today.  I have personally experienced JROTC cadets come in with their four year degrees and know less than a seventeen year old Private who has been in the Army six months.  The pros are that it puts employees who thought they were not qualified for a specific position and shows them how qualified they really are.  The cons are that it could be real discouraging for college graduates who spend their hard time and money on getting a degree that they cannot use.  It can also end up being misleading to young people thinking that they do not need to go to further their education after high school.

Hire Act

I think that Hire Act function is to lighten the work of employers, by testing potential employees and selecting the most promising ones.

It is a good idea and valuable service, because by testing potential employees through written or video tests, their skills are recognized.

This process may benefit potential employees who do not have a college education, but have the experience and knowledge, but, it may not be beneficial to college students who have studied and earned a degree, but don’t have the actual experience.