Meta-Reflection EDU 6120

 

I have really enjoyed this class. I learned a lot, but my biggest take away is that there is so much history and there is so much more to the history of education than I realized. The funny thing is, based on my 11 years in the field of education, there have been so many changes, why would I not expect that over hundreds of years there would be more history than I can even sift through in a summer class. What I appreciated about this class is that it exposed me to so many facets of history and to so much more of the details of how we got to where we are than I realized.  In fact I have often felt that classrooms today still seem so traditional that it really seems like education has not changed much at all over the last hundred years, but after all of the readings, I realize that there has been a lot of thought into how we pursue education for our children. It still does not change the fact, for me, that there seems to be the need for change in the classroom in terms of differentiating education. I do think that over the last few years there has been exponential growth in the right direction here and I am really excited looking forward in so far as how technology will begin to inundate  education. I think it took a long time and technology has taken way longer than it should have to filter into education, but it is and I think things are going to change quickly now. I am sure that there were times in the past that people felt just like that, that things were going to change quickly. In the mid 1700’s Ben Franklin along with many other like-minded people met regularly to discuss education and share knowledge. This pursuit of knowledge and finding more effective ways to educate our children is not new and I am excited to be a part of this exciting time of new technologies in education. There was even an article about Sal Khan in Costco’s magazine this month!

“Franklin also noted the value of individual correspondence as an enterprise in self-education. He engaged in extensive correspondence with knowledgeable men and women on both sides of the Atlantic, tapping into their investigations and opinions on matters relating to science, religion, politics, agriculture, and scores of other topics” (Jennings & Urban, 2008, p. 60). The engaging discussions across the world have been happening for generations and will continue in the years to come.

Wagoner Jr., Jennings L.; Wayne J. Urban (2008). American Education: A History. Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.

EDU 6120: History of American Education- the beginning

The truth is I do not know much about American Education past snippets I have gathered over the years from other unrelated classes or experiences. In a class I took this past winter I learned a little about the evolution of the American Education system and the book, American Education: A History, helped define it some more. This book is laid out really great because it starts at the very beginning of what is now America. Beginning with the interaction of early settlers with the Native Americans and through chapter two has us ending with one of my favorite people, Benjamin Franklin and his ideas and ideals about education.

I thought it was really interesting to read about the difference in how the Native Americans ideas of education were starkly different from the ideas that settlers came over. “Although education among the Native Americans differed from tribe to tribe, the basic elements were similar. Boys and girls had to master certain skills and gain specific understandings before they could be accepted as mature members of the tribal society (Wagoner & Urban 2008). Whereas the people who came from Europe had a different idea in mind of how not only their children should be educated, but the Native Americans as well, as demonstrated through this quote by Christopher Columbus, “’ I assure Your Highnesses that I believe that in all the world there is no better people nor better country. They love their neighbors as themselves, and have the sweetest talk in the world, and gentle, and always with a smile. They go naked, men and women, as their mothers bore them. But … they have very good manners…. Your Highnesses should feel great joy, because presently they will be Christians, and instructed in the good manners of your realms.’” (Wagoner & Urban 2008).

I find history really interesting and since Education is my passion, this is of particular interest to me. I am excited about this class though, because I don’t think I would have easily found the time to learn this history had it not been something that we are being asked to do. I am especially looking forward to digging deeper into some philosophical changes in how a child should be educated from the past several hundred years.

 

Wagoner Jr., Jennings L.; Wayne J. Urban (2008-08-14). American Education: A History (p. 6). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition.