Schooling in the

United States
GUSTAVO MUNOZ
EDUCATION 275

Throughout this semester I have seen differences of opinions in the class. I

believe that in the way that I think and express myself I have changed a bit.
Learning about the way we speak as teachers will make a huge difference in how
you educate the children. By being aware of how you speak, and treat everyone
in the class people will notice and will respect you. Teachers can make a huge
impact in a students life. Teachers can be counselors, friends, mentors, and
someone that students can rely on. In this class I have learned about the proper
ways to express myself without hurting others, even if I dont have any
intentions to, something I say can hurt someone without me knowing. Coming
from Texas I never made myself of how I speak. When speaking to friends if
someone said the word faggot I never thought much of it. It is a word that
many people use unfortunately, I always knew that it was wrong to use the word
and personally I chose not to use it, but I never did say anything to any of my
friends for using the word. Classes like this one make you aware not only of what
you say as a person, but what others say as well. I never thought much about
what anyone thought of me, before coming to Colorado State I knew that the
majority of the people would be Caucasian, which didnt necessarily scare me
but make me feel out of place. Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the
state of Texas. At first I thought that most of the people here were going to be
rich and stuck up, not knowing how to earn a dime and living of mommy and
daddys money. Although these are stereotypes that can be true for some
people, in my time here I have met that even people from the middle class can
suffer just as much. Unless you are part of the 1% life can be difficult for people
to have an alright living. I personally misjudge people here thinking that most
white folks will think less of people that are not particularly on their economic
status. People here have open my mind more and have made me think about
how I think things and make generalizations about anyone.
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Schooling in the United States

Educating can be a difficult thing to comprehend. It can vary from person to person on

their own personal life which can include the type of environment one grows up in, their culture,

economical status and political views. A person can be a great teacher to some students but not to

others the purpose of schooling in the United States should be to educate students on that specific

subject without any bias towards the educators views. Teachers should teach based on how they

believe they can educate the mentees without any order, bias or what society would think of

them.

Schooling in the United States is based on how well students do on tests. Unfortunately

this is not the best way to educate students since most school districts rate a professors ability to

teacher based on how students do on their test. It is important for students to learn the subject

that is being taught to them, not because the teacher is always correct or because they are forced

to take class that they dont want to take. Instead look at the opportunity that they are given to

learn about a new subject that they probably dont know anything about and if they do challenge

the teacher and educate fellow students that have a hard time comprehending the subject or that

just want to learn. The teachers role should be not be bias to one side and only teach biasedly.

Teachers are there to teach the subject and not their political views or anything like that. A

teacher will face many students from different backgrounds, they have to be aware of that and be

attentive on how they speak to everybody. Society these days pressure teachers into teaching

better, but it is also the parents and students choice if they want to learn and be responsible for

one another to have a teacher-student-parent relationship that will better the students opportunity

to succeed in class. In the article the why and the what Miller talks about holistic education and

how education needs to balance many aspects in life and how having more of one thing can
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affect the balance. When politics get involved in education and try to dissemblance by blaming

the teachers on how poorly students do, it puts a lot of pressure on teachers. Therefore, like

glazer says on the heart of learning how one should have values, care for others, have a kind

heart and believe in that society will better. Being optimistic can overcome many obstacles that

are put on teachers, not necessarily believing in a higher being but having faith that as a teacher

you can make a difference in a students life is what makes great teachers.

The existing order in the United States is based on what society or the global news

portray education. At the moment there is crucial debating on what is happening in Fergusson. As

humans we are inclined to debate and be opinionated into everything whether we know all the

facts or not. It is not a bad thing to debate the topic but be aware of the circumstance and the

situation. In education we put pressure on teachers by grading them on how well the students do

on test and unfortunately this is the basis on whether that teacher will have a job or not. We also

base our teachers on the community that they want to teach in, many teachers want to teach in

suburban areas because they are safer and feel that students are more capable of understanding

the subject better. For this reason programs like Teach For America were created. This program

can be a positive and negative for school district with low economic status. It is positive because

it brings current graduates to teach at school districts that are not the first choice of most grads. It

is negative because it brings in grads by promising to pay their loans if they teach at that certain

district for two years. This brings in many problems because school districts will input time to

future teachers with no guarantee that they will still be teaching after those two years. Johnson

explains how privilege works for some people in Privilege, Power and difference in here he says

that people have privilege when one group has more than others and this happens everywhere in

the world. Teachers have to understand that this happens and cant use privilege against a student
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nor can they point out the lack of privilege someone does not have. Teachers have to remain

equal and be a person that doesnt stereotype or judge based on someones privilege. When

teachers recognize privilege they have to be aware of what they teach. Sadkers points out in

Gender Bias: from colonial America that books, media, etc. can be bias. Teachers have to be

aware of this and make the students notice this as well, that way they can get cultured into

questioning everything that is taught to them and making deductions based on what they are

taught and learn.

Schooling in the States needs to change the current existing order by neglecting the

stereotypes that media and society make about minorities in general. Stereotypes are made to

condescend that certain type of culture, ethnicity, etc. People tend to patronize others that are of

lower class, political views or they are of different color based on what they have seen in TV or

what they have heard. There are teachers that have always lived in the suburbs and dont want to

have the experience of getting out of the suburbs. Order also has an effect on low income

students since most cant afford college without going into debt for the rest of their lives, which

makes it harder for them to get a valuable education that can improve their own life styles and

give back to their own community and show them that it can be done and not be the stereotypes

that are given to them since they are born. In order for people to understand one another they

need to know their history. Banks explains this in the article Multicultural Education by

signaling that white people cannot fully understand their own history without know the history of

Indians, African Americans, Latinos, etc. it was because of them that the united States has a

history. This country was built from immigrants, slavery, the conquering of a nation, how White

Americans treat everyone else that is not white like the Japanese and what happened in Alcatraz,
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to what is happening today still with black people and Latinos. If people dont acknowledge

these situations nothing will ever change.

In conclusion, in order to improve on the order of schooling in the States, teachers need

to be unbiased about the subject they are teaching. Dont judge anyone before getting to know

that person and dont care about a communitys environment. If everyone could get the same

education problems could be solved slowly but surely. Education is a gateway to improving

many difficulties people face that dont have the resources to have a better life.
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Works Cited
Glazer, Steven. "The Heart of Learning." A New Reader (1999).

James A. Banks, Cherry A. McGee Banks. "Multicultural Education." Wiley\ Jossey Bass Education
(2007).

Johnson, Allan G. Privilege, Power and Difference. McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Miller, John P. "Hollistic Curriculum: The Why and the What." (2007).

Sadker, David Sadker and Myra. "Gender Bias: From Colonial America to Today's Classroms."
Multicultural education (1999).