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This weeks reading was by Ira Shor entitled Education in Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment. I decided to post my blog based off of Courtney's blog who I think really encapsulated what Shor was trying to say.

Courtney first gave a quote from Shor saying:

"If I were a primary-grade teacher, I would devolp my time to problems of socialization. The most important thing children learn is not the three R's, It's socialization" He urged teachers to encourage students t0 question their experience in school: "You must arouse children's curiosity and make them think about school. For example, it's very important to begin the school year with a discussion of why we go to school.

The first thing in reading this statement is HOW TRUE it is that what I will remember most are the PEOPLE I have met and the Teachers that inspired me. Courtney talked about how Professor Bogad gave us a meaningless quiz that simply required us to spit back information. This information was nothing that would help me in life, would help me do something wonderful it was just to make sure that I did the homework. What I realized after that was that I'm better than this piece of paper and what it's asking me to do. I couldn't agree more with Courtney when she said "Towards the end i was slow on answering a few questions because I wanted to make sure that they were right because I wasn't sure if she was collecting them, but other than that it was like a normal assignment for many of my high school classes." I have never questioned these assignments. They are what I have always had to do. I believe that in my time at high school, I was never told to question why it was I went to school and that's what Shor thinks every class should be doing: asking questions.

I really like Courtney's quote about how we've had good teachers and bad teachers but in the end:

"Do you want to be that teacher who gives you assignments like we got in class? Or do you want to be the teacher who helps their students to learn? Personally I think we as teachers can change this. I think it's taking that extra hour after school to help students even though you aren't getting paid. It's taking those extra couple of hours planning a lesson that fits every student in your classroom. No one ever said that being a teacher was easy, and after being in this class and reading all of the article throughout the semester I've learned it will be even more difficult than I thought."


The teachers that I remember most impacting me were the ones that never gave me tests. I didn't have a lot of homework but I learned more about life in those classes than I could ever remember. I agree COMPLETELY with Courtney and how she says WE as teachers need to be the ones making the difference. This is one of the toughest jobs in my mind (and yes I firmly believe teachers do not get credit at all for what they do) and we need to fight for the rights of our students. I want them to be inspired to question why it is they are there what it is they want to do etc.

To answer some of Courtney's questions I really believe that teachers can change the education system. I think it starts with the students: even though the administration might be off you can still run your classroom and impact your students by just being there for them.

I want to talk about how it is that the administration can be improved: I feel as though that is where most of the politics comes into play and it's more about the school being "good" not so much the students.