George Dei believed schooling to be impacted by the
community. Community schooling is the need for a new way of teaching and
learning within a diverse cultural location. Community is the basis for the
upbringing of an individual. Different strategies of learning are successful on
certain forms of community. And within a particular group typical intuitional
learning may not work for them. Dei suggests that new practices may alter the
success rate of the education within the community. There are good notions
behind the idea of altering the schooling program to connect with potential
pupils.
“Schooling
as a community actually builds a sense of belonging and identification within
that community. A Holistic education can impact the learner and allow him or
her to respond to the fragmentation of identities and self” (Dei, 2008, p.360).
We learn best when there is a connection of identity with what we are learning.
That is true for my knowledge of how I, personally learn. When you are able to
connect your daily life to what you are learning. Growing up in a more rural
community my classmates and I were more willing to participate in the
learning’s when the teacher connected our learning’s’ to outdoor activities or
animals which the majority owned. “For education to be meaningful and to impact
human lives, it must engage all learners” (Dei, 2008, p.360) without leaving
out a group from a different cultural background. When African-Americans are
placed in a school separate from their community or a school which does not
encompass the community it generates a hostile learning environment. Being
excluded from an institution pushes the students away from learning. When
uninterested in a subject who would not ignore the teachings?
I
agree with Dei, taking control of the “mainstream [of] our youths [leads] to
success” (Dei, 2008, p.352). Altering the educational program to
fit the learning process of all the students will be beneficial to those who
statistically receive lower grades and are then racialized for doing poorly. To
give a fair chance to those students being racialized there is only one simple
solution. Teach them from a perspective which they will understand. Incorporate
their history and their community interests. A community forms the ideals of
its individuals and those individuals identify themselves through those ideas.
When the community is cut out of the equation attention to education is lost. So
why not encourage the educational program to incorporate community into the
learning process. Dei believed this, and so do I.
I couldn't agree more with everything you've said! The idea of altering the school curricula to cater to the students who attend the school is an integral idea to the success of students. Your statement that we learn best when there is a connection of identity to what is being learned is spot on for me. I learn best when I can tie in ideas to experiences I have had or my own personality traits. I too come from a rural community and I can still remember class projects or field trips that were more geared towards outdoor activities rather than in sitting in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe community that a student comes from greatly molds the experiences they will have at school and the amount of learning they will do. The support of community (whether in the form or religious groups, ethnic groups or neighborhoods) is so important to the learning experience of a student. To see everyone interacting and communicating and getting along will only leave positive memories and a better learning environment for the pupil. If there is segregation and anger towards people in a community, the student will feel divided and less able to learn effectively.
Altering the school curriculum to better suit the student is the first step to creating a more harminous community, and ultimately, more educated youth.
I meant to add in something that popped into my head, but completely forgot until now. I wanted to say that I think a big problem as to why the curriculum hasn't been altered is the idea of tenure that we were introduced to in the last class when we watched "Waiting for Superman." I had no idea what tenure was until then, and now that I do, I can see why many teachers slack off and don't bother to try and get creative. I can say I have had a few teachers like this, and now I can see why they got lazy. The scene when all of those teachers gathered together at a seminar to try and make themselves feel validated, when really, a great majority of them haven't done anything of importance particularly got my attention. If these teacher really cared about better the future of young people, they shouldn't need so much validation. They should get that from seeing the success of their students. Just my opinion..
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