11/25/2019 A Nation at Risk: Why the United States Must Regain its World Power Through EducationRead NowWhen analyzing the educational system in the United States in the 1980s, it was obvious that there was an issue. The United States had begun to lose its world power and dominance in areas where we had never been challenged. As stated in the report written by the National Commission of Excellence in Education in 1983, "our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry, science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors throughout the world" (Fraser, 333). This showed how our greatest challenge within education now was to always stay ahead of all of the other nations of the world. This dominance is shown to reflect the safety of our nation and is heavily critiqued by the report titled: Choosing Equality: The Case for Democratic Schooling written in 1985.
Terrell Bell served as the first Secretary of Education under President Ronald Reagan and had to work hard to ensure that the recently created department wasn't abolished by the president or sabotaged from within the department itself. In 1981, Secretary Bell appointed a commission to analyze the, "alarming decline in educational standards and achievement"; two years later the National Commission of Excellence in Education issued the report titled: A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform which explained that there was a crisis within American education and that, finding a solution to that educational crisis should become the major educational objective of the era" (Urban, 318-319). This report was issued by the organization that had been appointed by the federal government, and therefore knew what the were saying when discussing this topic.
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Within schools throughout the United States, those who were classified as handicapped students, as well as their families, wanted to be integrated into classrooms. This new law did just that for those students by providing "a free appropriate public education which emphasizes special education and related services designed to meet their unique needs" (Fraser, 324). This statement in the law established roles for paraprofessionals as well as individualized education plans (IEP's) for each special education student.
At the time, desegregation was still being opposed in schools throughout the United States. This included all different minority groups, including handicapped children. In response to this, the federal government pushed financial penalties upon districts that made policy to oppose integration in schools (Urban, 289). This federal enforcement showed that the entirety of the United States was pushing for full integration in the schools following the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 was the law that specifically targeted those who needed special education within the public education system. 11/7/2019 Tinker et al. v. Des Moines Independent Community School District: Students Fighting For What Is RightRead NowThe events that lead to this Supreme Case were fairly straightforward and understandable based on the feelings of the United States at the time. At a time when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been passed, many groups in the nation believed that they too could band together in the name of a cause. In this instance, three students banded together in opposition the the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to school. When the school administration found out about this movement, "they met and adopted a policy that any student wearing an armband to school would be asked to remove it, and if he refused he would be suspended until he returned without the armband" (Fraser, 312). Following this, the three students that wore the armbands were suspended from the school, so they took the school district to court with the claim that their First Amendment right of Freedom of Speech had been violated.
In the 1970's, President Richard Nixon was able to lead the United States in a new and more conservative direction. "By winding down the Vietnam War, he was able to neutralize one or more volatile issues that had sparked the youth rebellion of the 1960's" (Urban, 283). This showed that the Tinker et al. v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case led to some action being taken. The youth of America were actually seen by the executive branch of the government, and action was taken to aid in their sentiments. 11/6/2019 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka: Why Did the Supreme Court Rule That Segregation Was Illegal?Read NowThe 1954 United States Supreme Court did two things that were extremely unusual when ruling on the Brown v. board of Education of Topeka case. First off, they overturned the previous ruling in the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson. Secondly, the Supreme Court made this ruling unanimously, something that almost never happens, even to this day. "The plaintiffs contended that segregated schools are not 'equal' and cannot be made 'equal', and that hence they are deprived of the equal protection of the laws" (Fraser, 278). This statement from the plaintiffs of the case were found to be correct in their reasoning by the Supreme Court and were directly quoted later by many of the justices of the Supreme Court.
In the Plessy v. Ferguson case, the Supreme Court had ruled that facilities could be segregated given that, "facilities were equal". When a decision was reached in the Brown v. board of Education of Topeka case, it sparked the Civil Rights Movement including the Montgomery Bus Boycotts in 1955, the Greensboro sit-ins in 1960, and most notably; the March on Washington DC led by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 (Urban, 284). The Supreme Court at the time knew of the importance of the Brown v. board of Education of Topeka case and they knew the impact that it would have on the nation, and that is speculated to be one of the reasons that they ruled unanimously on the decision. Following his first year of teaching, Herbert Kohl wrote the novel Thirty-Six Children which accounted for a harsh, yet realistic view into education as of 1967. He was presented with 36 African-American students, who were just as terrified as he was to be a first-year teacher. He tells the story that on his first day, students were asking questions about volcanoes and he went to congratulate a student for his response and that student flinched in response. This was the moment that he realized that both him and his students were afraid of each other, and specifically doing the wrong thing (Fraser, 257).
The reason that so much pressure had been put on new teachers to be good at their job was in response to the Soviet Union launching the Sputnik satellite. This advance in scientific discovery by the Soviet Union made Americans feel as though they "had lost its scientific and technological lead" in the world (Urban, 260). teachers felt enormous pressure to educate their students well, primarily in the natural sciences and mathematics. 11/5/2019 Ladies' Talk: Thoughts of Margaret Haley, Ella Flagg Young, Grace Strachan, and Cora BigelowRead NowIn regards to teaching, Margaret Haley believed that teachers should organize in order to obtain, "increased salaries, job security and pensions, an end to overwork in overcrowded schoolrooms, and recognition of teachers as educators" (Fraser, 210) Similarly, Grace Strachan points out that the definition of the word salary uses the words, "a person", without differentiation to male or female (Fraser, 216). In addition, Cora Bigelow explains that the current problem at hand won't diminish unless teachers are given time to join forces and advocate for what they need within their own democratic system (Fraser, 219). These women believed in uniting teachers into groups to advocate for proper salaries and other proper teaching conditions and compensations for their hard work.
On the other side, Ella Flagg Young believed that teachers and school administration should solve their issues within their own system and shouldn't be too broad in their aims for themselves as teachers. In 1920, Warren Harding promised a "return to normalcy" (Urban, 211) and Ella Flagg Young believed that this normalcy was the internalized construction and repair of the system. This would include small groups of teachers discussing what to teach their students and would have almost no interaction with school administration. |
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