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Do politics have a beneficial role in education today or do they hurt our education system?

Politicians shouldn't do anything for the schools but give money when it is needed. I do not think they are beneficial because instead of trying to understand what actually goes on in the classroom, they make decisions for the classroom as if they have first hand experience in it. They do not fully understand what is needed in the schools, what goes on, or how the teachers and students feel. There needs to be reform of how much say so they have because they take over without letting people who are in the classroom and in the school make any decisions. If they were beneficial, for example, the state exams that are given in urban areas wouldn't be so Eurocentric, but then again, if they weren't in control there may not even be state exams. They think they know what's best when they have no idea.

Surveys could be given out to parents, teachers, principals, and even the students about, for example, how effective the new textbooks are or how they feel about rules that need to be followed that are not working. Politicians don't realize that just because they make more money or have a certain degree that we who are in the schools are capable of decision making and understanding what is effective and what is not. Also, people think children are stupid and think that because they are children they dont know what they are talking about. A way of reforming could be to sit in a classroom for a couple of months like we do for student teaching so they can see with their own eyes what their policies are doing to the children.

True, and I also meant to say that the answers should be take seriously and not disregarded if its something that goes against what is going on.

Is an IQ test a good indication of a student's ability to succeed in school and in a future career?

I have never taken an IQ test or saw one before so I cannot really answer this before I fully understand. However, if an IQ test is a test similar to the state exams, then no it isn't. I say this because children sometimes fail the state exams because of the bias questions that are on it. An example for this is the articles we read about how white children are raised at home compared to white children and the affects it has. White children are better negotiators, according to the study, so does that mean black children do not have that ability? Absolutely not!! If a test that is generalized for "All People" then it cannot be effective, and I am sure that the IQ tests are generalized, but correct me if I am wrong please.

I agree, and this makes me think about learning centers that we made in Educ. 307 for students who need to be taught in a way other than a lecture or a textbook. Learning styles are very important and NEED to be considered before teaching and definitely testing students.

I believe there is a way around everything, so no, they cannot control everything I teach in my classroom. Everything that is in the textbooks does not have to be taught precisely the way its written. We can use other books, we can use both and let the students decide what they want to believe, so they do not always have to control every single thing. Restrict yes, control no.

I do not agree with Samantha. I believe there is a way around everything. Yes too much time and focus is spent on the tests, but if we think outside the box, we can prepare them for the test without making it so tedious. We can sit in the school yard on a nice day for our lesson, we can go to the pizza shop to eat and learn fractions. There are many ways where we can teach our students effectively, and still follow guidelines.

I learned a lot about us from this discussion. Apprehensiveness and nervousness is the reason why some things never change, and it seems like people are going into the system feeling that way. We have to think about the people who single handedly made changes (Harriet Tubman, Nat Turner, etc) and realize that we can do it!! If we all come together and if we start to change first in the classroom then we can gain the strength and fight the bigger fight. Intimidation will get us nowhere!!

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.