Teachers' Cost of Living Matters

This is so true! Teachers' cost of living truly does matter. So often in the American education system we want to compare average teacher salaries from state to state and city to city. This had impacted education for a long time. Many potential teachers choose to leave lower paying areas that could really use them or some decide to not teach at all! This is having a negative impact on our quality of teaching in America. We have to also consider that teachers salaries are based on their years experience and their educational degrees.

I have been a teacher for three years now in Rutherford County Schools. I have several times considered moving to a place with a higher salary. Then I very quickly realized that a lot of these higher paying areas have a greater cost of living. When I did the calculations moving to a place such as San Diego was actually going to make me have a lower total salary! I have seen salary have an effect on the teachers who choose to work at my school. Some of the teachers actually moved in to my county to teach because we paid more based on the cost of living for our area! So in this particular way it had a positive effect on my school! I thought it was very interesting to see that Memphis was on the list as being one of the higher paying salaries based on the pay and cost of living. "and in Memphis, Tenn., average annual salary is $45,108 and adjusted salary is $50, 797." (Georgiou, Moore, & Villarreal 2005) Now Memphis schools are not the easiest to work in but the adjusted salary would certainly make someone consider it!

Georgiou, D., Moore, M., & Villarreal, P. (2005). Teachers' Cost of Living Matters More. NCPA Publications. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from, http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba535

Multicultural Education

My own experiences in school would lead me to believe that there was no such thing as multicultural education. As I reflect back over my childhood education, my initial personal reaction is that everything I learned was based on white American Historical views. My textbooks in History were geared toward the views of the majority. There is one glimmer of hope from my past that reflects a spot of multicultural education. I had one History teacher in high school who would always have an activity after each major lesson that where he placed us into groups from different ethnicities's views. That is the only remembrance I have of any multicultural education in all of my years of elementary, middle, and high school. I received my multicultural experiences at home because my family has many ethnicities in it.

My initial reaction to this was that it was sad that I wasn't taught to see all viewpoints in school. Thankfully this was something I learned at home. My personal reaction is that I feel as an educator that it is my duty to reach all students and teach all viewpoints. There are several right and wrong ways to go about this of course. Reflecting back over the articles I have read allows me to understand what multicultural education rally is and what implications it has.

The policies, structure, and curricula at my old high school were used a means of social control. The structure was very hierarchical. We had major leaders who controlled what happened at our school. The policies were set in place to have the students sent to the leaders for any problems. The curricula was designed to make the students accountable. These things controlled our social aspect because oddly enough the students followed the adults and set up, unknowingly, our own form that modeled the schools amongst us students!

I agreed with Hirsch's statement on multicultural education, "Most of us would agree that children in early grades should begin to acquire respect for each other. And we would probably agree that respect can in part be fostered by a curriculum that includes the study of diverse people and cultures." ( Hirsch 1992) The way we can do this as educators is by showing all viewpoints. I liked the idea from the Multiculturalism in School Curriculum article that we do not have to deviate from the curricula or even from the one sided textbooks to be able to show all viewpoints in activities as teachers! "teachers must include all cultures that make up our history, but we must not do so in a way that we are forced to pull out each culture and teach it as a separate entity." (Waxler) What are your views on how to effectively incorporate multicultural education?

References

Hirsch, E.D. (1992) Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary Schools. Core Knowledge Foundation. Retrieved June 22, 2010, from http://www.coreknowledge.org/mimik/mimik_uploads/documents/4/CentCurr.pdf

Waxler, A. Multiculturalism in School Curriculum. ESL Teachers Board. Retrieved June 22, 2010, from http://www.eslteachersboard.com/cgi-bin/articles/index.pl?noframes;page=3;read=1621

Multiculturalism

If I would have been asked what Multicultural Education was before reading the articles, I would have said it is a great way to teach the history of all types of ethnicities in America. I now have a completely different view on Multiculturalism! All of the three articles seemed to be against Multicultural Education. The vibe I got from them was that all multiculturalism will do is cause some race to be mad. This is because different races see historical events happening in different ways. So they idea in the IHR article was why teach it when we can't give all ethnicities perspectives on each event in history. "Significantly, the understanding by many non-whites of multicultural history is entirely different from that of whites." (Taylor) The Pithissippi Burning article was geared more toward an angrier more aggressive group of whites and authors who believe that American History should be told from a white point of view. It seemed like the people mentioned in the article were afraid that white American History is being lost. "In the next 50 years, white culture (such as it is) will cease to be the dominating force in the American landscape." (Tobia) The National Planet article also had a negative idea on Multiculturalism. "This structure is imposed on people who do not want it: since it is a global structure, there is no escape." (National Planet)

I am shocked that so many people viewed Multicultural Education as negative or a problem based of off the viewpoint. I am a U.S. History teacher and in my classroom I teach multi culturally. I do this by showing many view points and allowing the students to analyze and synthesize there opinion or take on the event. Yes, I agree that our textbooks and materials are geared toward one ethnicity more, but we as teachers should be able to present the information or at least leave our students with questions about other people's views on the event. I think we should teach American History just as it happened and mention all ethnicites involved and let the students know each side. I think multicultural education in today's History should focus more on a mix of ethnicities and not just the white view point, because we are, after all, just a melting pot for races today in America! Our old history was more white, but our more recent history involves many races. I believe we should embrace that, do you?

References

National Planet. Why Multiculturalism is Wrong. Retrieved June 19, 2010, from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=1439730

Taylor, Samuel. The Challenges in 'Multiculturalism' In How Americans view the Past and the Future. The Journal of Historical Review, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 159-165. Retrieved June 19, 2010, from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=1439730

Tobia, PJ. (2009). Pithissippi Burning: Race, White Nationalism, and American Culture. Retrieved June 19, 2010, from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/orgTools/ouHome/ouHome.asp?ou=1439730

Religion In Schools???

After reading the two pieces of information from the U.S. News and World Report and Library of Congress websites, it is apparent that the debate over religion in schools will always be a hot topic in American education. The article from U.S. News over the use finding weaknesses in Darwin's Theory of Evolution in sciences classes seemed to be more aimed toward not allowing the weaknesses to be mentioned. The article seemed to be in favor of the the atheist family from Chicago and the leading biologists in Texas. The article was not in favor of the social conservatives group trying to allow for the weaknesses to be spotted and mentioned in science textbooks. The other article from the Library of Congress took a different approach yet it was the same. I feel as if it was saying that the Jehovah witness families did not have to salute the flag because it violated their first amendment right. Although the article was not debating two groups who were for and against religion like in the other article, they were still debating as to how much religion can be forced upon someone in schools.

I feel like we have to follow our Constitution to be fair. I know that there is debate as to how it can be interpreted and that is why we rely on our Supreme Court Judges to make these decisions. I just feel as if we should have the option in schools to pray, salute the flag, discuss weaknesses in theories of evolution, etc. Where I draw the line is when someone is made to do these things and with consequences if they do not do so. I am a Christian and I believe in God with all of my being, but I do not believe it is my job to force one of my students in school to believe the same way I do. I am a teacher at school and I ethically have to uphold my position. Now if a child ever asks me personally about my religion I will explain to them because then they have opened the door, but this is not something that I have the right to stand up and force on my class.

I have struggled personally with this situation the last three years that I have been teaching. I want so badly to talk to some of my middle school students about God and what he can do for their lives, yet I know if I do there is a great chance that I will lose my job and possibly career. I am not sure how to personally excuse myself from not being a soul saver 100% of the time. It is still something that I am personally dealing with. Where do we draw the line as teachers. If we are Christians first before we are teachers then how do we carry out our duties as a Christian to spread the word of God yet keep our careers at the same time?

Innovators/Makers

I have to admit that I was confused at first on who a "maker" could be. I knew some of the innovators of education and I wasn't surprised by the people listed on the PBS site. After viewing Gatto's site, I realized that the makers played a great role on how we view education today! I believe that the innovators are the ones who have shaped education. They set forth the policies that have formed our education processes today. One of the most famous innovators is Horace Mann. I believe he is the most important because he pushed for public education and for all social classes to join the same schools. Although he did not push for desegregation, he still made some progress with the joining of social classes. He set the way for desegregation to be an option in the future. He and the other innovators are different from the makers. The makers did not shape education and set forth policies to form what we do today. What they did was to figure out a way to make schooling a process for producing people prepared for the workforce. I would say they made school to be a place where students were receiving training to prepare them for work. One of the most famous makers has to be Henry Ford. I think he is the most important because his invention of the assembly line is so in tuned with our educational process in America. How is that you ask? Well, Ford's assembly line was to produce the same products quickly and efficiently. As an educator, I almost feel as if I am being pressured to treat my students the same way. Gatto's site mentioned that these makers wanted schooling to be a place to prepare people. I feel like I am supposed to teach the students the same information and pop them out ready to enter the work world. Now I don't want anyone thinking that is what I do because it is not! I teach to the best of my ability and I meet every students needs and I do so with the intent to prepare them for higher education. I just feel as if we can still see a presence of the past makers that existed still in education today. We have obviously become a society more interested in higher education and not just the work force like we were decades ago . This is because our societies needs have changed. Whether it is Mann or Ford or the innovator or maker, education is still being changed even today!

Amanda King

I am currently teaching at LaVergne Middle School in Rutherford County. I will be starting my 4th year of teaching in the fall. I teach 8th grade History and coach girls basketball and softball. I will have completed my Masters Degree by the end of the summer through MTSU.