Read: Chapter 8 in the Intro to Teaching Book
Watch Failing Grade on the included text DVD and respond to the questions on p. 262
Respond to the poll on privatization.
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About Me
- Professor Debra Pratt
- I am a wife, mother of 7 and grandmother of 1. I have taught at PNC since 2000 and prior to that taught kindergarten for 9 years. Most recently I have become very interested in learning about environmental health issues and what I can do to make a difference.
I feel the biggest problem that Chester High had due to the lack of governance was the money. The school had none and therefore they had a lack of teacher, books, and resources. The problem really stems from the lack of money. I think in this situation and one of the boys that was being interviewed said, everyone points the finger at everyone else. No one really took the blame on themselves and tried to fix the problem. The government blamed the school and the school blamed the government and the students blamed both the administration and the government.
ReplyDeleteI think the state that the school was in is due to the lack of finance Chester High has. They have no money for anything. They don’t have enough books for every student, a lot of their computers don’t work, and the school doesn’t have enough money to pay the teacher which in return makes the teachers not want to work to their fullest potential.
I believe that privatization was seen as a solution because that was there would be money. I think that is probably one of the only reasons. There would be one group of people incharge and someone to fund the school.
Most of the problems at Chester high where due to governance. Mainly though was the money and lack of teacher and officials. With the school having multiple layers no one wanted to take charge of the problems that they where being faced. THey would rather blame the other person in charge than take the problem into thier own hands.
ReplyDeleteChesters lack of books and teachers was due to finances. They did not have the funds to purchase enough books for all of thier students nor enough to be able to pay the teachers for all the courses they wanted to offer.
The government thought that if they privatized the school and gave them funds for being a privaste school the students would be better and want to try to succesed more. Unfortunately that was not the case.
1. Chester High’s lack of teachers was due to governance. The school board was not doing its job on hiring enough teachers so there could be a teacher for every class. The students talked about how some classes did not have a teacher. This is definitely a lack of communication and care. The multiple layers of education did not help Chester High at all. Different people were in charge of different areas and I believe that too much got lost in the middle. Things were not getting taken care of because there was so many levels.
ReplyDelete2. Chester High’s lack of books and resources was due to finance issues. If the school doesn’t have any money then they cannot by books, there is no way to get around that. These problems show that Kozol was correct by saying that schools should all be funded similarly. If a poor school does not get funding there is no way that they can progress.
3. Privatization was seen as a solution for Chester High because they believed it would improve the school. A company that would run the school would know what they were doing and how to run the school properly. Privatization was being considered because they believed it would be able to turn the school around.
1. The school governance was also a big problem for the school. There weren't enough teachers and no one really wanted to accept responsibility for the problems at the school. It is very easy to say its someone elses falt but it is difficult for people to accept that they contributed to the problems. There was a very serious lack of responsibility at all levels which made everything worse for the students.
ReplyDelete2. The lack for educational resources were due to finance issues. Students didn't have textbooks to work with, technology, or other necessary classroom materials to help students be successfull. Also, there was a serious lack of qualified teachers. Kozol's statement was correct in stating that funding should be equal among all classes. As shown in the clip, there is a serious lack of equal funding, leaving the poorer schools behind in the education system.
3. Privatization was looked at as a quick fix to the money issues the district had. The thought that if they had the funding they lacked, everything would all into place, which didn't turn out the way everyone expected.
1. Many of Chester High's school problems were due to governance. One main problem was that there were not even enough teachers to run each classroom. The teachers that were there could not control their students. The school district was in charge of hiring the teachers but they were not doing a good job at it. The school also had a high turnover rate with the teachers they had quitting every year. The district seemed to not care about their school and did not do anything to help them. The high school was in a very negative situation because of the lack of care that people had for their school and nobody was trying hard enough to change it.
ReplyDelete2. Chester High also faced many problems with finances. The school did not have enough books for every student. The students could not complete their homework without a book, yet they were not allowed to take them home since there weren't enough. The school also had computers but the majority of them didn't work. They also did not have enough money to pay good teachers to work with their students. They didn't even have enough money to pay the teachers that they did have. Kozol's statement about savage inequalities stated that the education for all people should be the same, no matter how much money they have. This school faced this problem because they did not have any money so they couldn't afford good education. According to Kozol's theory, this should not have happened because they should get just as good of an education as everyone else.
3. Privatization was seen as a solution to Chester High's problems because they figured they would get a better education. Since the privatized schools have a mission of improving test scores, maybe the students then would learn more. They would also no longer be in severe need of money at the school.
Many of Chester High's problems were due to lack of governance. Money also played a big issue in their problems. The teacher's were no in control of their students. Teachers were always quiting and their school district didn't really care about the students. Some classes didn't even have a teacher.
ReplyDeleteFinances was another major issue of the school. The students were left without major resources like books and technology. They were unable to do homework because they couldn't take the books home with them. When the school doesn't have enough money to pay the teachers, they do not want to work.
The solution looked at by the school was privatization. The school wasn't in as desperate need for money if they chose that option. They would have someone to fund the school.
After watching the dvd, we all see that the main problem at Chester High, was governance. We also saw that with the lack of money, the sources of actual educating was really lacking. Whether it be books, other resources or even teachers, Chester High was struggling! I mean if there are classrooms that sometimes don't even have a teacher in them, you know that you have major struggles. If some classes did have a teacher, we saw that even then students would have control and that doesn't really allow students to learn if they're the ones that run the classroom. With such problems, we see that teachers would just quit working at Chester, and their school board seemed not to care about Chester at all. With all the chaos going on here, people looked for privatization to solve the problems. If Chester could be privatized, they would have someone in charge but more importantly, there would be funds. If you really look at this situation, it's really kind of sad because many people look at school's as a fun place to be and the best place to learn. However we see that this isn't always the case and it's very unfortunate that we have this in our school systems.
ReplyDelete1. Many of Chester's problems were due to governance. Lack of leadership from the school board trickled down to lack of leadership from the principals and teachers. There were too many hands in the pot, with too little communication. It seemed that people lost site of the main goal in all of this- to get the students the education they deserved.
ReplyDelete2. Chester High was plagued with a lot of financial issues. They were unable to pay their teachers, unable to afford books for their students, unable to give the students access to technology, etc. Due to the poor urban surroundings of Chester High, their is a major lack of support economically and physically. It seems the world has given up on them.
3. Privatization seemed to be a possible solution due to the fact that they had hit rock bottom and anything was better than that. With privatization being for profit, they could possibly find some help for the financial issue too. However, the cold aspect of privatization is not what Chester needed. They simply people to care.
1. It seemed that Chester High had many problems due to governance. The administration and board of education was not doing all that they could be doing to help out Chester High. As one of the students said at the end of the clip, "There wasn't even a teacher within every classroom." There was four different principals during one year! There was a lack of resources such as books and malfunctioning equipment. There was not any money that could further be used to help the school out either.
ReplyDelete2. There were a plethora of financial issues that plagued Chester as well. They were unable to pay their teachers', the one's that were there anyway, they were unable to purchase a sufficient amount equipment and necessities such as books. With the few computers that the school had, most of them did not work properly. Kozol's theory was correct in which all schools should be funded equally as was shown throughout the Chester High clip.
3. It seemed as Chester High had nowhere else to turn, but to a company and privatization. By allowing privatization, the school hoped that everything would fall back into place and pick itself back up, but that unfortunately was not the case. If anything, privatization worsened things for the students.
(1) The lack of teachers was due to governance and lack of money. There wasn't enough teachers to cover every class. There was a definite lack of responsibility as well. No one wanted to step up and take over; they just wanted to put the blame towards eachother. This led to even worse problems with the students and their learning abilities at this school.
ReplyDelete(2) Chester High School faced problems with their resources because of their finances. There weren't enough books. The teachers were under-paid. Their technology was not up to par. Most of their computers didn't even work. This made it hard for the students to succeed.
(3) The school used privatization as a solution. THis would help the school with their finances.
1. The school governance was a big problem for Chester High School. I believe the main problem was that there weren’t enough teachers to teach each class. It seemed like no one cared about what was going on at the school at all. No one wanted to change anything that was going on at Chester High. The teachers were also quitting which shows that there wasn’t much care for the students which is unfair to them. The teachers weren’t getting paid enough so they would leave. Chester High couldn’t even afford to pay their employees. There was a lack of books and resources for everyone at Chester to use. It also seemed like the administration and board of education wasn’t doing all that they could do to help Chester High School with their issues.
ReplyDelete2. Chester High School had many problems with finances. There weren’t enough books for the students to use. How are the students suppose to finish their homework f they cannot take the books home? This is crazy to me and a huge problem for the students. It is also really unfair to the students as well. The school also did not have enough money to pay well trained teachers to work with their students. The school did not have money, so the school couldn’t afford a good education for their students.
3. The solution for Chester High was privatization. This would be great because the school would no longer need money. They would have someone to fund the school for them if they privatized Chester High School. If Chester High school could be privatized then they would have someone in charge and money to fund what they needed. They also need people who care about the student’s education as well as money.
Chester High School definitely was in need of help. It seemed really hard for them to get things started. Their biggest problem I would say was their lack of money. To make changes in a school, it is always going to take some money to do so. It was really sad to see that kids were really getting cheated out of their high school diplomas. They were not learning at the same rate as we might have. I mean they barley had books for all the students and for their classrooms. The school even had problems with getting teachers to stay around. They were not getting paid enough and the government had to step in to help pay the teachers for the year. The privatized school system that they need to start could help the school get back on track. But was it almost too late for the school to make changes? This way someone will take charge of their money so that it is spent wisely. They could also find caring teachers to help, that will not be so concerned with their money but more about the students that they need to help. Privatization would help solve the problems with that school.
ReplyDelete1. I would say that most of the problems that Chester High had were due to the governance or administration. If there had been someone in power that was truely invested in the student's success, then a lot of the issues of overcrowding, insufficient teachers, and lack of books could have been predicted before they happened and something could have been done about it. Since there was not one person or group of people for the responsibilities to fall on, (but instead layers upon layers of governance), things never got taken care of as they were happening and, thus got out of hand very quickly.
ReplyDelete2. The lack of books, lack of computers, and and lack of staff were all due to financial issues. Were Kozol's idea of equal funding among all schools put into effect there would be no need to worry about whether basic needs were going to be met in the classroom.
3. Privatization was thought to be a solution for Chester High, but as far as I am concerned was not a very good one. After Edison took over the school behavior decline, truancy rose, and test scores declined. The reason that privitization was seen as a solution in the first place was probably because all of the resources has run out in the community and there weren't many other options left. Perhaps the state assumed bringing an unbiased party in to assist would be helpful, but in my opinion it would be much better to have someone in power that had an interest in something other than a monetary gain.
1) A majority of the issues Chester had was due to governance. However, I think all of the issues stemmed from the lack of money. The school didn’t have enough teachers, not enough textbooks and the resources they did have were out of date and falling apart. By having multiple layers of governance, no one wanted to take the blame. Instead they just pinned the blame on someone else, rather than taking responsibility for what has happened.
ReplyDelete2) There were many problems related to finances. If they district didn’t have the money they couldn’t pay the teachers and buy the supplies needed for a successful learning environment. In addition the supplies they did have were falling apart or weren’t complete like the computers.
3) Privatization seemed as if it were the ideal solution to a deep problem. District officials felt if a company took over then everything would just correct itself. They also believed if a school had money then everything would be alright since many feel money can fix anything. However, the school needed teachers who cared and would want a change that would benefit everyone. In the clip it was the students were rebelled and wanted change not the teachers which sends a clear message regarding the faculty.
The main issue with Chester school was the lack of the governance. There was no direction and no one stepping up to the plate to fix the problems. A money problem was also an obstacle.Not enough books and poor pay for the teachers. I think with a better adminastration, even the money problem could have been solved, however I am not completly against privatization. I feel that it helped this circumstance and has potential to be helpful on other issues if ran right.
ReplyDelete1. One issue at Chester High was the lack of governance. There weren't enough teachers to teach each class and the ones that did teach didn't care. And that can cause students to not about their education as well. Because the teachers werent getting paid enough they would leave
ReplyDelete2. The school also lacked finances. They didn't have enough for books for every student, so some students went through classes without books. And one has to ask themselves, how are students suppose to succeed if they don't books to study from? The school was also unable to pay their teachers which some of them to quit or just not care.
3. As a solution, Chester High used privatization which allowed the school to have more funds for books for theuir students and were able to pay their teachers more.
Governance was the most apperant problem faced by the system in place at Chester High school. The lack of coordination between departments leads to a deteriaration of the quality of education provided to the students. As in previous chapters, the collaberation between different departments of the school as well as systems within the school is essential to being able to assess the problem faced by all. Only when the situation is assessed honestly and appropriatly can a solution to the challenges begin to develop. Of course lack of funding will always present more difficult challenges, but until teachers and administrators are willing to take the initiative and risk failure to an already failing system, there will never be progress. Nobody wants to be to blame when things go wrong, but if there are no opportunities are available for everyone then the school system is not functioning the way it is supposed to.
ReplyDeleteWhile privitization may appear to provide solutio0ns to problems such as funding, they only act to limit opportunities and experiences to the few. Money is essential to providing available resources to students, this is true. Creating an impression that only high SES students deserve these resources is a result that is far more detrimental than any other outcome is advantagous. Also, the experiences children encounter through out the course of there career as students surrounded by people from all backgrounds is more highly representative of the world culture our existance is starting to become. I forget the name of the experiment, but the premis is this. Students with blue eyes were treated superior to the rest all day long and by the end of the day they began to treat the others as if this was truly absolute in their beliefs. The next day the roles were reversed. Imagine the effect this had on the children. This is the same effect that privitization has on children, and all along without them knowing it is occuring. For a change our schools need to be an experiment in equality not superiority.
(Blue eyes/Brown eyes)
the problem of the governance is that there were no support on the from the school board and the lack of school coordinatares. too give show the school and the community that there could be a change in the school. but with the lack of support that the school will have problems.
ReplyDeletethe financial issue was lack of books and giving the school the financial support that they need. so basically the lack of money was not reaching the school.to provide the school with any support.
so the kids can probably get better education and be in better education enviroment.