Talking Points #10-Education is Politics- Shor

1) "School funding is another political dimension of education, because more money has always been invested in the education of upper-class children and elite collegians than has been spent on students from lower-income homes and in community colleges. Moreover, testing policies are political choices, whether to use student-centered, multi-cultural, and portfolio assessments, or to use teacher-centered tests or standardized exams in which women and minorities have traditionally scored lower than men and whites." 


      I do not think it is fair that people would rather give more money on the upper class instead of the lower class. The lower class needs more money than the upper class. How do people want lower class schools to learn the same as upper class schools, if lower class schools do not have the material they need to teach. We should be more considerate to the the lower class because they need more help financially than the upper class. That is just not fair.


2) "People begin life as motivated learners, not as passive beings. Children naturally join the world around them, and by using play to internalize the meaning of words and experience."


    I agree 100% with this quote. Children need to experience and see what is out there for them. They need to learn for themselves without anyone telling them. The more experience they have with the world they have around them, the easier they will get things and the knowledge. Children are not dumb, the are very intelligent and they learn really fast. The key word is being involved and participating. When someone participates, it actually means that they get what what they are doing. 


3)  "If the students task is to memorize rules and existing knowledge, without questioning the subject matter or the learning process, their potential for critical thought and action will be restricted."


               When a student learns a material, it is not all about memorizing. It is about understanding and practicing the material. A student is not going to learn something when they memorize . When students practice lessons, they are also getting a hands on environments. Meaning, it is not all about learning from a book. It is learning from a book and putting into reality.