Chapter 11 & 14: Reform Pressures and Alternative Forms of Schooling

Question 1

Under critical pedagogy what did Paulor Freire describe as the banking model?

Answer 1

Banking model: teachers are simply depositing knowledge into students brains (banks) and we are on occasion make withdrawals from this knowledge, but it is not progressive
Freire argues that the banking model is oppressive and dead

Question 2

What does Freire describe as critical/progressive schooling?

Answer 2

a. Learning should be fundamentally liberating, making life better for people and make people more aware of injustices; it should not be a deposit-withdrawal system
b. Problem posing; relating to real life meaningful situations
c. Interactive; come together, solve problems collaboratively and together
d. Related to praxis; the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, embodied, or realized
e. Must develop technical skills, such as literacy and numeracy but linked to a liberating sense, not just for the sake of learning it

Question 3

What is the purpose of critical pedagogy?

Answer 3

• Expose oppression
• Change oppression
• Liberate all (oppressors & oppressed)
  School and learning are fundamental to this success

Question 4

What does Illich say in regards to schooling?

Answer 4

“The pupil is thereby schooled to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. Hid imagination is schooled”
School kills creativity, it is simply educating
We say schooling is to develop critical thinking, but we are really teaching students to teach like the educator

Question 5

What is Illich’s institutional critique of modern education?

Answer 5

a. Learning is prescribed and not self-driven or self-initiated
b. Learning becomes a quest for credentials; it becomes competitive rather than collaborative
c. Learning becomes divisive; learning should be creating different individuals for different roles
School structures hinder learning

Question 6

What is Illich’s proposed solution to his critique?

Answer 6

Deschooled learning; schools should not exist

• Learning should be informal in real world situations, making ourselves available to teach others what we know
• Using learning webs
• References services open to the public
• Skill exchanges
• Educators-at-large

Question 7

What are the advantages of Illich’s deschooling?

Answer 7

• More genuine and equal exchange of skills
• Less power differential based on credentials
• More self-direction
• Learning more individually meaningful material

Question 8

What was created in the 1970s in regards to schooling? What were the intentions of the creation?

Answer 8

The 1970s were a reform movement. Free schools were invented.

Intentions:

• Democratic structures: administrators, teachers, parents & students
• Administrators and teachers are there to answer student questions and mainly as resources for students
• Students learn what they want to learn, they call the shots and choose what they do all day
• Explorative, open, self-directed, jolistic

Question 9

What are the problems with free schooling?

Answer 9

a. Funding and access; only accessible through private school
b. Free learning and cultural capital (biggest issue); to be a free learner requires a certain amount of cultural capital, if learning is not encouraged in the home then children are unlikely to engage it in
c. Interest group struggles; been found that parents usually end up calling the shots, rather than the children
d. Commitment

Question 10

Why do people choose to homeschool?

Answer 10

• Closer family bonds
• Tailored to the child’s individual interests and abilities
• Learning environment more relaxed and natural
• Diminished influence of peers and “peer pressure”
• More positive and broader socialization: experiences with children of various ages as well as adults
• “Shelter” from secular society: religious groups

Question 11

What are the two class of parents who choose to homeschool their children?

Answer 11

1. Ideologues: opposed to the “what” of schooling (curriculum)
   - Religious fundamentalist opposition
   - “School-not-challenging-enough” opposition
2. Pedagogies: opposed to the “how” of schooling (structure, organization)
   - Hierarchy, control, structure
   - Negative peer socialization

Home schoolers from both ends of political spectrum. Some home school because of geographic isolation.

Question 12

What are some legal issues surrounding home schooling?

Answer 12

No real legislation guiding homeschooling
Parents indicate intent to homeschool to school board in writing. School boards have right to investigate homeschoolers.
Homeschooling is free of public regulations
ex. no curriculum, no tests, no attendance rules, etc.
They, however, do not receive high school diploma, except if home schoolers choose to follow provincial rules.
- Voluntary adoption of curriculum and textbooks/materials
- Students can achieve HS diploma through correspondence courses or General Education Development (GED) testing

Question 13

What are some consequences of homeschooling?

Answer 13

It is estimated 20 000 children in Ontario are home schooled

• Educational outcomes
• Socialization; how to get along with racial diversity, other lifestyles, other opinions
• Learning opportunities and resource
  ex. lack of gym, pool, music room, software, counsellors
• Lack of exposure to differing viewpoints and debate

Question 14

What are the counter-arguments presented by homeschoolers?

Answer 14

• Applied experiential learning; making all experiences a learning experience
• Non-age specific = better socialization
  ex. less fearful of adults
• Individual child needs/learning needs

Question 15

What are the outcomes of homeschooling?

Answer 15

Difficult to measure: parental reason for homeschooling affects outcomes
Limited data, but suggest no disadvantage for home schooled children in tests or university admission

Question 16

What is neoliberalism?

Answer 16

The idea that the best way to solve problems is to let the free market run the show. It gives market solutions to social issues and allows for minimal state intervention. states private solutions always better than public solutions.
ex. not have any public schools, less welfare payments but lower taxes and incentives for working

Question 17

How does neoliberalism work in education?

Answer 17

a. Creates a distrust in public education
b. Preference for private education; creates a market for schools so it creates a competition
c. Giving parents/children educational choice; they do not all have to go to same the school in their district
d. Emphasis on accountability; schools must provide incentives and advantages to bring children in

Question 18

How do tests create accountability?

Answer 18

a. Measure student performance
- Against curriculum/grade level expectations
- Offers diagnostic
- Create incentives
b. Measure teacher performance
- Do students learn
- Changes over time
c. Measure school performance
- Quality check
- Performance over time
d. Measuring percentage of students meeting minimum standards for literacy at the end of grade 9
- Same standards for applied and academic students
- Clearly show that streaming does not work; only 50% or less of applied students are successful on EQAOs compared to over 90% of academic students

Question 19

Should we link teachers’ salaries to student outcomes? Why would it be a good idea?

Answer 19

This would be merit pay. If students perform well, teachers salaries are positively affected. However, if students perform poorly, it is negatively affected.

Why would this be a good idea?

• Motivates teachers
• Creates accountability for teachers (not only students)
• Pushes teachers to improve the learning and outcomes of all students

Question 20

What are the problems of merit pay for teachers?

Answer 20

• We don’t know why they’re doing bad, could be taking away valuable needed resources
• Teachers will only teach test material
• Leads to cheating
• It’s been found that it creates greater inequality, already disadvantaged neighbourhoods are being further disadvantaged
• Teachers won’t go to teach in disadvantaged communities, since shouldn’t they be paid more?

Question 21

What did the the Globe & Mail editorial “BC’s worst school may be its best” question?

Answer 21

The Roosevelt Park school in Prince Rupert scored last in provincial tests, but it’s in a disadvantaged community, so how can it be compared to a private all boy school in Vancouver?

Question 22

What does the editorial reveal in regards to testing?

Answer 22

Reveals testing problems:

• Can only measure test scores
• Cannot measure community issues
• Cannot measure school initiatives
• Cannot provide a relative measure of success

Question 23

Why is the worst BC school better than their test scores?

Answer 23

This school is better than its scores because:

• It’s in a disadvantaged community with disadvantaged students
• The school offers proactive outreach such as literacy programs for parents, different parenting programs, etc

Question 24

What are some arguments against testing as accountability?

Answer 24

• Negatively affects learning and schooling
• Limits teacher creativity; test prepping takes precedence
• Ignores school/student context; disadvantaged students (social class, race, ethnicity) might fall through the cracks
• Narrow concept of schooling; what else is important?
• Critical and creative learning/thinking/problem solving
• Well being
• Personal development
• Equity
• Community involvement

Question 25

What is the principle behind creating a market for education and learning?

Answer 25

The principle: instead of funding public schools, we fund families to put their children in private schooling.
The rationale behind this principle: education market (like any other consumer good) creates competition.

Question 26

What are the hoped-for benefits of marketizing education?

Answer 26

• Competition increases quality
• Choice and competition creates diversity
• Meets different educational needs
• Parents and students can vote with their feet
• Creates accountability to students and parents

Question 27

What are the problems with marketizing education?

Answer 27

1. Limit to choice
   - Economic, social, and cultural capital
   - Transportation
   - Knowledge of options
2. Context is important
   - School location (suburb, inner city)
   - Teachers; all teachers won’t be paid the same and will encourage teachers to go to the “good schools” in the “good parts” of town
3. Resources
   - There would be a lack of schools in poor communities, if schools became for profit, why would they develop in poor communities
   Cost
   - Additional costs differentiate schools; affects access

Question 28

What are the possible consequences of marketizing education?

Answer 28

a. Increased inequality
- Exacerbates hierarchies between schools
b. Changes teacher-student relationships
- Service providers and customers
c. Individualization of success and failure
- “Could have chosen a better school”

Question 29

Who is education largely funded by?

Answer 29

Public schooling runs off of local, provincial and federal government funding and the private sector. The federal government is the most popular schooling option.
The problem of public schools is financial strain:
- government & deficits; not enough resources for all demands
- competing funding interests
ex. hospitals, social assistance, etc
- declining school funds and growing school population
There’s been a sharp decline in local government funding, and a reduce in funding from provincial government. As these decline, private funding increases such as fundraising.

Question 30

How does fundraising increase inequalities?

Answer 30

The top 10% fundraising schools in Canada raise more funds per year than the bottom 60% put together. Neighbourhoods in economic distress have limited resources to offer to fundraisers. Some argue fundraising is unethical. Despite this, the private sector is rising significantly in their funding; they fund schools more than the local and federal governments do.

Question 31

What type of corporate interests are found in schools?

Answer 31

• Exclusive vendor contracts
  ex. coke/pepsi campus
• Advertisements on school busses, school property, the gym, etc.
• Sponsored textbooks & course materials
• Equipment with strings attached
  ex. Channel One offered schools audio/visual equipment but they had to show students their news program which was mostly filled with ads

Question 32

Why are schools attractive to corporate activities?

Answer 32

• Youth consumers
• Early brand loyalty
• Captive audience
• Public relations, convince students they are good corporate citizens

Question 33

How is commercialism good for schools, students, and corporations?

Answer 33

For schools:

• Schools receive extra, much-needed funding
• Schools needs computers, TVs, DVDs, and other equipment

For students:

• Access to resources and equipment
• Learning with stuff they like and understand
  ex. math using M&Ms

For corporations:

• Public relations
• Sales and profits

Question 34

Is the cost to students bigger than the benefits?

Answer 34

They are selling kids to corporation

1. Content vs. advertising
   - What is learned and how is biased
   - Can provide incorrect information
   - Legitimizing questionable products
2. Behaviour
   - Consumer vs. critical learner
   - We need to protect our children from inaccurate information, and from being turned into consumers with no critical thought
3. Accountability
   - How is the money used?
4. Stability of corporate funding
   - Corporate organizations are not required to give a certain amount of money or continue to give schools money