Topic: Art Museumes
What is it you want to prove?: Why cartoonist should go to art museums
Who is the audience: cartoonists
Why should they care?: Inspiration (gain), confidence and time (loose)
Reasons to agree:
1. gain knowledge os other artists/art
2. new ideas/inspiration
3. recognition/networking
Reasons to not agree
1. wasting time
2. loose individual style
3. knowledge may not be applicable
Answers to objections
True, however it wouldn't be a waste of time if you learn something
Well, yes, but all knowledge is applicable
Not in this case, because people are surrounded by things that an diminish your individuality all day long (TV, radio, books)
Supporting material: art parody's; cartoonists always do a parody of a piece of art
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Poor Teachers = Poor Students
Taking into consideration what we have watched and read over the past couple of weeks, there is one thing that seems to be universal - bad teachers equal bad students. If an educator simply cannot teach or is unwilling to teach, how will their students learn anything at all?
From personal experience, I know what it's like to have a terrible teacher. Whether they just didn't want to teach, or their own opinions got in the way of the facts, it was always very difficult to lean in those classes. Even when a teacher is being accused of sexual harassment, he did not get fired. The reason? Tenure.
Teachers are guaranteed their jobs because of one simple thing - tenure. After a teacher has had their job for a couple of years, they are granted tenure, which basically keeps them from getting fired for any reason at all. Sure, it seems really good in theory, but what about in application? Even if a teacher cannot educate their students whatsoever, they will keep their job. Thus, they will keep pumping out kids who just aren't learning anything at all.
So, how do we fix this? One way: get rid of tenure. Out of all the possible jobs in the world, is there any other that have anything like tenure? No, not any that I can think of. Yes, tenure is there to protect the rights of the teachers, but we need to stop thinking about them so much. We need to shift our focus to the students, to their futures. Without tenure, schools will be able to fire teachers that are doing a poor job.
From personal experience, I know what it's like to have a terrible teacher. Whether they just didn't want to teach, or their own opinions got in the way of the facts, it was always very difficult to lean in those classes. Even when a teacher is being accused of sexual harassment, he did not get fired. The reason? Tenure.
Teachers are guaranteed their jobs because of one simple thing - tenure. After a teacher has had their job for a couple of years, they are granted tenure, which basically keeps them from getting fired for any reason at all. Sure, it seems really good in theory, but what about in application? Even if a teacher cannot educate their students whatsoever, they will keep their job. Thus, they will keep pumping out kids who just aren't learning anything at all.
So, how do we fix this? One way: get rid of tenure. Out of all the possible jobs in the world, is there any other that have anything like tenure? No, not any that I can think of. Yes, tenure is there to protect the rights of the teachers, but we need to stop thinking about them so much. We need to shift our focus to the students, to their futures. Without tenure, schools will be able to fire teachers that are doing a poor job.
Teachers = Bankers?
Friere describes teachers as using a 'banking' way of teaching - as in, instead of encouraging their students to absorb and apply what they are learning, teachers merely present the material to the kids, hope the kids memorize it, and have them regurgitate this false sense of knowledge on a test.
To change it, Friere believes that teachers must begin to reject the idea of 'banking' teaching. Instead, he wants them to use 'problem-posing' teaching, where the teachers would have their students understand fully what they are learning and encourage them to ask questions and have opposing ideas. Friere wants the teachers to be able to think about the material just like their students will be.
To change it, Friere believes that teachers must begin to reject the idea of 'banking' teaching. Instead, he wants them to use 'problem-posing' teaching, where the teachers would have their students understand fully what they are learning and encourage them to ask questions and have opposing ideas. Friere wants the teachers to be able to think about the material just like their students will be.
Chalk (2006)
This movie was a bit of a disappointment. Like Waiting for Superman, it only really focused on the adults as being the problems/solutions to the education problem. Why are these movies putting so much attention on the adults when we are aiming to help the kids?
Chalk also didn't really show how horrible it can be to have a terrible teacher. Sure, the history guy was bad at first, but he learned from his mistakes and grew as a person. Not all teachers do that - in fact, almost all of them learn nothing from their mistakes.
It is also seen that, like students, teachers care way too much about how they appear to other people. As adults, they really should care that much about how their students see them.
I think Chalk was really hard to connect with because it was a mokumentary, so I didn't really have high expectations from the very start.
Chalk also didn't really show how horrible it can be to have a terrible teacher. Sure, the history guy was bad at first, but he learned from his mistakes and grew as a person. Not all teachers do that - in fact, almost all of them learn nothing from their mistakes.
It is also seen that, like students, teachers care way too much about how they appear to other people. As adults, they really should care that much about how their students see them.
I think Chalk was really hard to connect with because it was a mokumentary, so I didn't really have high expectations from the very start.
Waiting For Superman
This movie is strange in the way it presents itself. It doesn't outright say "hey, Charter Schools are better", but it is certainly implied throughout the whole movie. Yes, it gives very good evidence as to why Charter Schools work, but they left out the reasons as to why they might not be for every kid out there.
It really is strange that those who are fighting for education are white, while those who struggle for education are not.
Firing a teacher should really not be that hard. Some teachers really just stop caring about their students as the years go by. I can think of at least two teachers from my personal experience that should have been fired - one for sexual harassment and one for poor teaching. But, because of tenure, those horrible educators will keep their jobs until they die. It's weird that it's like that though, because with any other job position in the world, on mess up and you're axed. It just strikes me odd that the one job that can actually make a difference is the one where the most unqualified people are.
It really is strange that those who are fighting for education are white, while those who struggle for education are not.
Firing a teacher should really not be that hard. Some teachers really just stop caring about their students as the years go by. I can think of at least two teachers from my personal experience that should have been fired - one for sexual harassment and one for poor teaching. But, because of tenure, those horrible educators will keep their jobs until they die. It's weird that it's like that though, because with any other job position in the world, on mess up and you're axed. It just strikes me odd that the one job that can actually make a difference is the one where the most unqualified people are.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Black VS Rose
Lewis Black on Education:
Lewis Black sure did have a lot to say about the education system. Even though he does agree with Charter schools, he is still concerned with how the country is handling public schools. Since the admission to a charter school is very selective, most kids are still attending public school, where it's obvious that kids are not learning everything they need ("25th in Math, 21st in Science, 1st in Confidence"). Even though Black didn't have any answers to how America can fix it's public schools, he did bring light to the situation.
Mike Rose - Resolutions
Mike Rose had a very nice list of what he thought should be changed about the education system, but it was very boring to read. Most of what was on his list had to do with the media's approach on education, not what could actually be done. His first point to to have "more young people get an engaging and challenging education", but how? Rose doesn't really give any answers or solutions, just a lot of ideas.
Lewis Black sure did have a lot to say about the education system. Even though he does agree with Charter schools, he is still concerned with how the country is handling public schools. Since the admission to a charter school is very selective, most kids are still attending public school, where it's obvious that kids are not learning everything they need ("25th in Math, 21st in Science, 1st in Confidence"). Even though Black didn't have any answers to how America can fix it's public schools, he did bring light to the situation.
Mike Rose - Resolutions
Mike Rose had a very nice list of what he thought should be changed about the education system, but it was very boring to read. Most of what was on his list had to do with the media's approach on education, not what could actually be done. His first point to to have "more young people get an engaging and challenging education", but how? Rose doesn't really give any answers or solutions, just a lot of ideas.
"Critiquing Education"
In my opinion, there are quite a bit of things that need to be changed about the K-12 curriculum in the schools of America. Nutrition, encouraging the arts, foreign language funding - while all of those things are important, the biggest change I would like to see is actually preparing students for real life.
How many years do you spend in school? 12, if you skip kindergarden and pre-school, 14 if you attend. Most of your life is in primary school. Yet, the minute you graduate, it's as if you have no idea what to do next.
Every student can say that throughout their school life, their parents and teachers had always told them "do well in school so that you can go to a good college." But how do you even apply for college? How do you know you're even good enough? What if college life isn't suited for you? So many questions that go unanswered and overlooked.
I guess that the biggest change I would like to see in schools is to stop pumping out kids that are ready for college. Instead of being like "you do this and this and this and BAM! College", maybe it should be more like "what do you want to do with your life and how can we get you there?"
How many years do you spend in school? 12, if you skip kindergarden and pre-school, 14 if you attend. Most of your life is in primary school. Yet, the minute you graduate, it's as if you have no idea what to do next.
Every student can say that throughout their school life, their parents and teachers had always told them "do well in school so that you can go to a good college." But how do you even apply for college? How do you know you're even good enough? What if college life isn't suited for you? So many questions that go unanswered and overlooked.
I guess that the biggest change I would like to see in schools is to stop pumping out kids that are ready for college. Instead of being like "you do this and this and this and BAM! College", maybe it should be more like "what do you want to do with your life and how can we get you there?"
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