We frequently hear critics argue that U.S. students can’t write well and that there is a “literacy crisis” in the U.S. What is the origin of these discourses? What do they have to do with immigration, national security, and economics? How does the notion that Americans can’t write drive the national push to test writing? Here we explore the history of writing and testing in the U.S., the “science” and technology of testing approaches, and how the rhetoric of assessment impacts the lives of Americans today.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Conflict Theory and How Much Schools Suck

To start off this post, I would like to quote Deborah Brandt from Literacy in American Lives: "Schools, they suggest, devise curriculum and assessment tools that protect society's pecking order and justify its reward system." The "they" in this quote refers to educational critics. These critics are applying a conflict theory perspective to their analysis. This perspective takes from Marxist theories, so if you have a basic grasp of Marxism then you can understand conflict theory.

The question to be answered here is whether schools actually provide equal opportunity and social mobility to everyone in America. In the past, racist beliefs had most citizens against social mobility for African Americans, but now our schools ideally provide equal opportunity. If Brandt's book and college in general has taught me one thing, it's that American schools are not perfect tools of social mobility. It's not as simple for someone coming from a low income SES family to go to school, go to college, and suddenly become middle-class.

Okay, so conflict theory tells us that American education has a long way to go before it truly provides equal opportunity. In general, I don't think Brandt or other critics believe school is bad for students. Enter John Gatto. Gatto retired from education after almost 30 years of teaching. After his career, Gatto left teaching with a highly critical stance on how schools are affecting students. I'll end this post with a link to some of his books and a clip of him speaking. What do you think about Gatto's beliefs?

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ogCc8ObiwQ
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1 comment:

Conor Hall said...

I have to tend to agree with this guy to an extent. I like the point that he brought up about the state education is meant to produce a predictable homogeneous safe product...that the current economy demands. If you don't really fit the mold you tend to get screwed over. My high school was large enough and in a generally well off area , so my school had very good arts programs, and sports programs, but realize that there is a need for private schools to help many kids flourish such as performing arts schools, and prep schools that can tend to have a focus on athletically gifted children.

April 14, 2011 at 7:41 AM

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