School of Thought for Schools

Introduction

The final project for Paideia II: Making Decisions for U.S. Schools involved a representation of each student’s philosophy of education. Traditionally this would be a standard paper about each student’s philosophy but not in Jim Langholz’s class; he likes to think and allow his students to think “outside the box” so he said we could represent our philosophies in any manner that seemed appropriate and effective to the student. The options were endless. Students were free to compose music, create artistic masterpieces, make movies, and whatever else seemed conducive to representing their educational philosophies. Professor Langholz hoped these less stringent guidelines would lead to more thoughtful projects that would be more meaningful for both the student and the audience (this is symbolic of his educational philosophy it seems). At the same time, I think he would rather not read 25 papers on similar issues in the middle of May. When Professor Langholz informed my class that he wanted to give us more freedom and flexibility for our final project in this course, I immediately knew what I wanted to do.

I have an affinity for hip hop music. I am not talking about the garbage on the radio but rather passionate and poetic songwriting by clever wordsmiths. This less mainstream brand of hip hop is often called “underground” or “intellectual” hip hop/rap. Underground/intellectual rappers are not in the rap game as a business. For them, hip hop is art and for some it is life. They do not rap about bling and bitches but rather are concerned with witty wordplays, storytelling, and discussing important issues including racism, poverty, and politics.

Currently, I think much of our education is too much like mainstream rap. It is seen as a business or job for many people. Just like mainstream rap, it perpetuates society’s emphasis on materialism and mass production. As mainstream rapper DJ Quik pointed out, “if it don’t make dollars, then it don’t make sense.” It seems that society through such medias as mainstream rap as well as education is indoctrinating this ideology in our kids. For example, when a student asks what the significance of some vague math concept is, often times the teacher responds by saying something like, “you need to know how to do this to move up to higher levels of math so that you can get into college and eventually get a good job to make money.” In other words, the only legitimate reason that teachers can conjure up about why certain subjects in school are important is that they will eventually allow the student to make money. I would rather have schools teach our kids skills and knowledge that enable to make a difference in the world not just make a living. There is too much hurt and there are too many problems in our world that run the gamut from economic to political to environmental to social. Mainstream rap does not care about these issues; underground and intellectual rap are often passionate and proactive about such issues. Not only does non-mainstream rap talk about real world issues, problems, and solutions in its lyrics, it also inspires change. Underground and intellectual rappers are often activists. I feel that our current education system in the United States of America is, like mainstream rap, too apathetic, indifferent, and uninspiring about the problems that plague our planet. It may be beneficial to attempt to incorporate more of underground and intellectual rap’s ideologies in our education system and abandon any and all factors that resemble mainstream rap. I believe education can prepare students to act in ways that may not “make dollars” but can still “make sense” or be important. Hip hop allows rappers to cope and make sense of things, express emotions and thoughts, connect with others, be creative, and consider real world problems. Listening to hip hop allows people to hear the stories of others, learn about what problems they are passionate about, witness art, hear poetry, and learn about different cultures. Hip hop can excite the listener and rapper, comfort them, inspire them, educate them, and even just bring a smile to their faces. Schools have (or should have) similar goals. As I mentioned earlier, real hip hop (that is rap that is mainstream) is art. There is intrinsic value in art. There is also intrinsic value in the education of our kids that goes beyond preparing them for a job. Schools that resemble mainstream rap which may the norm these days ignore or forget the intrinsic value of our youth and their education but there are ways to incorporate the values of underground and intellectual rap into our education system and as a result better acknowledge the intrinsic value of our youth and education while better preparing students to understand and address the hurt in our world. I will stop with this more traditional manner of discussing my educational philosophy and let my rap do most or the rest of the talking.

So, I wrote a rap for my final project. I was initially worried that my lyrics would come off as corny. Then I thought, “who cares?” As long as my lyrics discuss ideas that I believe are important to education and are not terrible then who cares if they are somewhat corny. I started by brainstorming a list of ideas that I saw as major components in philosophy of education. I provided that list below to show how my brain was working before jumping into my lyrics.

Brainstormed List of Important Components in my Educational Philosophy

• School should be engaging and even fun
• Student choice should be valued
• Field trips should be more common
• Curricula needs to better connect to real world problems
• Schools need to educate and expose kids to real world problems and
• Schools and assignments should provide opportunities to tackle problems (service, research, etc.)
• Teachers should not assign busy work
• Schools should “let kids be kids”
• Schools should better interact with community and families
• Schools should encourage extracurricular activities
• Schools should challenge kids
• There should be less traditional and standardized testing
• Schools need to recruit more and better teachers
• More funding is needed
• Teach more skills as opposed to facts
• Schools should develop foreign language skills at young age
• Integrated learning (making material overlap between classes) needs to more common
• More classes should be team taught
• More class should incorporate differentiated instruction
• Smaller classes are important and should be more common
• More alternative schools (mixed grades, single gender classes, home schools, etc.) would be beneficial because they can better cater to kids and find out what is and isn’t effective (trial/error)
• Recess is important
• Schools should provide healthy meals
• Classes need to allow for group work and improve teamwork skills
• Electives are valuable and under-funded
• Schools need to teach students to be life long learners and passionate global citizens

Lyrics

Hook:

Lets talk about kids, schools, and books

Time to teach kids that they're important no matter their looks

Schools be stealing childhood from kids like they crooks

with so much worthless busywork, tests, and gobbledygook

too many real world problems in schools get overlooked

this is my school of thought for schools, enough with the hook

Verse 1:

This is my school of thought for schools

My doctrine for America’s boys and girls

Its time to prepare them for the world

By encouraging growth more than enforcing rules

I’m done making deals and dealing with fools

Screw the busy work, our kids aren’t mules

Schools gotta help kids reach the top like a stepping stool

On the road to success, school’s not a road block but more like fuel

Hook

Verse 2:

Ima spit a little rap, express my mind via rap lines

About some of the big questions of our times

Like what should teachers teach and how?

And how to make our kids say “Wow”!

Schools gotta realize kids aint dumb, school should be fun

Schools gotta treat each kid equally and like they is Number One

Teachers need more freedom, have class outside, play in the sun

Let the kids wander and let them run, teach them that learning in life’s never done

Hook

Verse 3:

Back to the Basics, get kids active like running shoes by asics

environmental crises, social injustices, be proactive, time to face it

inspire youth to stand up and change it, rid the world of hate and racists

this is what schools need to, they might say they do, but they fake it

Schools are too caught up in teaching trivial facts and recording test scores

Who cares when Pocahontas was born, this is the worthless knowledge I abhor

Let's rather teach kids how to learn, grow, care, and explore

about the globe, our planet, its cultures, its hurt, and more

Hook

Verse 4:

It’s time to change America’s education system

There are too many problems in the world but kids don’t get ‘em

With better education, teachers and schools could try to fix ‘em

Lack of excitement in schools makes them feel like prison

All we’re really doing is programming robots that listen

Schools need to inspire kids to be active learners and global citizens

Light the fire in our youth to make working for change their mission

I want this fire to be big and I want it hot, make it sizzling

Hook

Verse 5:

Schools right now are more problem than solution

if education was nature, schools would be pollution

for countless reasons like unequal money distribution

and poor preparation in our teacher education institutions

and lack of ability to train or excite our kids to make a contribution

to the world they live in, provide a shock like electrocution

nah but really, weve identified flaws, now its time for a resolution

schools need to rebooted. about time for an education revolution

Hook

Verse 6:

Screw ranking students, why are we so obsessed

With measuring and comparing our kids to the rest?

Like, on average who is best, east or west?

We’re forgetting that treasure doesn’t only exist in chests

All our kids are treasure no matter what the data says

The system’s so messed up that it seems possessed

It’s a little bit weird that in a country where we’re so blessed

That the only we can evaluate our kids is with a frickin’ test

Hook

Verse 7:

Kids can't jacked to learn cuz classes are too focused on grades

Forget the As and GPAs for a bit. Let kids be kids, let them play

Allow for student choice on assignments, let the students have a say

Students will benefit if they can pick topics of interest this way

As a teacher, I want to differentiate my instruction

This will allow my classes to better function

And ensure that all my students come away with something

These are real goals fam, I ain’t fakin or frontin’

Hook

Verse 8:

Aight, all I’m doing is using my brain and imagination

Im dreaming about the future of education

For whites, blacks, Hispanics and Asians

Creating classrooms that are amazing is my inspiration

This ain’t fantasy like Pixar animation

It’s reality son, it’s history in the making

The norms in U.S. schools aren’t working so let’s break ‘em

There are opportunities for change, so let’s take ‘em

Links to My Favorite Underground/Intellectual Hip Hop

The songs linked below are great examples of creative storytelling, witty wordplay, and intelligent content.

Little Man by Atmosphere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG00EsjCFWc

Be by Common

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zp4_r8_MMho

Forest Whitaker by Brother Ali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ScPoBEFl1Y

Commencement Day by Blue Scholars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRkhiFmsPHU

Connect For by Common Market

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5teQ7x3yNXw

Africa Must Wake Up by Nas & Damian Marley ft. K’naan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvXit6N3M5E

Moment of Truth by Gangstar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH3hrtp1T84

Hope by Pete Philly & Perquisite ft. Talib Kweli

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Y1pUwME2k

Heartsprings by Heiruspecs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmZ9umLuEp0

Conclusion

The problems in our current education system are obvious but the solutions are a bit harder to come by. If our schools do not cease to resemble the negative side of mainstream hip hop, I don’t think these problems will mitigated. Schools in the United States have the potential to become the most valuable and beneficial institutions to society but first our schools need to adopt some of underground and intellectual hip hop’s axioms of creativity as well as connection and involvement in real world issues. Again, school’s need to move away from the mainstream rap ideal that, “if it don’t make dollars, then it don’t make sense.”

The Perpetuations of Society's Paradigms in Education

I have recently started to become more and more frustrated with a few paradigms in our culture. First, I am bothered by the idea that more or bigger is better. This has obvious ramifications for environmental issues, greed, and consumerism but I have started to think about it in terms of education and specifically work that is assigned in schools. Often times, I feel as if educational institutions at all levels perpetuate this idea that more is better in the forms of excessive amounts of homework and the like. My frustration here is maybe better described by relating it to the commonly held ideal in our nation that progress, movement, action, and work all seem to be honored or thought of as valuable no matter what. In school, the more you study the better; the more books you read the better; the more AP classes you take the better. And the list goes on. While there are obviously some positive benefits to this desire for more and better things and actions, I think too often the results, consequences, and tradeoffs are ignored. This limits time, energy, and desire to take part in other valuable parts of personal growth and societal membership. I do not believe that allowing kids to have extra this extra "free time" for lack of a better word would be all bad. Again, it may only lead to more screen time for some youth but there would be other benefits. On top of this, I think my previous word choice of the word "free time" may have conjured up some negative connotations (such as not productive, wasted time, lazy, etc.). As was previously mentioned, this is because of our country's affinity for more and bigger and better as well as general output and production. "Free time" also has some extremely valuable consequences such as relaxation, exercise, fun, rejuvenation, creativity, etc.

I think we are too busy as a nation and this starts when kids are young. Kids need to be kids. Likewise, college students need to be college students. Heck, parents need to be parents too but are often too busy with work. We are prevented from fully taking advantage of all of the life experiences that used to be correlated with specific life stages because we are too busy and caught up in structured behaviors. My dad used to play baseball everyday in the summer with his buddies for hours and learned to love the sport. I don't think I was able to gain the same appreciation for baseball during my childhood as my dad because I often resented going to baseball practices or games because my summers were too organized and structured. Playing baseball for my dad was a completely kid organized activity and in some ways more voluntary. Today, it seems the majority of youth sports are highly structured and adult organized. Kids seem less attracted to these activities.

I work as a camp counselor at YMCA camp in northern Minnesota during my summers and one specific story jumps out from last summer that relates nicely to this train of thought. While on an overnight with a group of 10 year old boys, my co-counselor and myself decided to take a break from the kids to sit back and relax after a long day of running around after the little fellas. We expected to be pulled from our conversation to break up a fight or answer questions about girls or when dinner would be ready. Instead, we were pleased to see the kids wrapped up in completely made up role play game where each kid was a different animal with different capabilities and skills. The point of the game was to survive the longest and even though the rules for survival were spontaneously determined, there were no fights or arguments. Some of the kids even made their own habitats and shelters. The campers invited us to play and we had a blast. It was actually one of the highlights of my summer. One of the most insightful kids in the group told us that he enjoyed the made-up game so much because "there were no grownups telling us what to do." It was completely kid run.

Maybe I would have liked baseball more as a child if it was more kid run like it was for my dad. What if school were more kid run? More student choice in projects and topics is not an extremely novel idea but I believe that it could be more commonly integrated in schools. More free time may even be a good thing. My campers were able to develop their creativity, incorporate knowledge about the dynamics of ecosystems, and work on cooperative and problem-solving skills. Some of the same consequences may be seen in the classroom if students were allowed to be students. Another idea that is running through my head right now is the possibility of taking some parts out of school curriculums to allow for more student choice in education. This extra time in the school year could also be used for service projects or field trips or other learning experiences. This would be valuable at the individual as well as societal levels.

One more frustration I have with our education system is the fact that kids spend the first 18 years of their lives (or longer for college bound students) cooped up in the classroom with minimal direct real world exposure or experience. I think we could be using schools to bring about valuable change in society while simultaneously better preparing our youth for the real world and educating them about the state of the world. Our children could learn while beginning to tackle such problems as climate changer, hunger, and poverty by engaging in service projects or even research in their communities. So, while this rant kind of jumped around, it is critical of some aspects of society's mindset especially in regards to schools. For one, society is too concerned with quanity of production and not the quality, overly structured lifestyles, lack of choice, and lack of real world exposure. Despite all of this, there is hope for American schools.

Wind Farm Visit

Today I visited Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm with members of my environmental sociology class (which is a great class by the way). It is located on the border of Minnesota and Iowa with the turbines in Iowa and the offices in Leroy, Minnesota. It was very interesting and informative. We even were allowed the chance to go inside the turbine but unfortunately were not allowed to climb the 80 meter ladder to the top. The trip was intriguing for a number of reasons. First and foremost I enjoy learning about environmental and energy related issues but on top of this it made me think about many educationally relevant issues.

As a future biology (and hopefully environmental studies) teacher, I have thought a lot about encouraging students to pursue careers in environmental fields or at least take an interest in environmental, climate, and energy related issues. One way to spark interest would be to take a field trip to a nearby wind farm or other place where alternative energy is produced. I definitely learned more by visiting this wind farm than any book, teacher, video, or website could teach me. Students of all ages could/would enjoy visiting a wind farm or similar place. On top of this, wind may be our future (for countless reasons that i will not get into at this moment). As a result of this trip I began to think of extremely important careers that should also be considered environmental careers. I have usually thought of environmental careers as requiring a significant amount of academic training (usually more than a 2 year program) even if the job does not pay that well; however, today I realized that turbine mechanics (solar mechanics, etc...) should also be considered environmental careers. These jobs don't require a 4 year college degree let alone grad school but they do allow us to pursue a more sustainable future. These jobs are in high demand, only require a 2 year technical degree, and I imagine pay a "sufficient," for lack of a better word, amount. They are also extremely hands on and would allow an individual who is concerned with the well being of the environment or our dependence on fossil fuels or implementing cheaper sources of energy to promote all of these goals without having to attend more than 2 years of school after graduation or sit behind a desk making policy or in front of computer that models climate change. These sorts of mechanics and technicians should definitely be considered as having environmental jobs.

Globalization, which have discussed at length in almost all of my education classes, was also extremely evident in today's trip to Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm. The farm is in Iowa with an office in Minnesota. It is one of many farms owned by Horizon Wind Energy which I believe has its headquarters in Texas. Horizon is owned by EDP which stands for Energy de Portugal (obviously a Portuguese company) and the turbines are made by a prominent Danish company called Vestas. Globalization is clearly responsible for all of these interactions. I thought this was pretty cool and further perpetuated the importance of preparing our future students (and ourselves for that matter) for an increasingly global world. Today was awesome and I recommend that all of you visit a wind farm if presented with the opportunity. Below are links for some of the companies involved in Pioneer Prairie Wind Farm.

http://www.horizonwind.com/home/

http://www.vestas.com/

Chocolate Milk

There has been a lot of talk about the problem of unhealthy food in schools. People have been struggling to implement healthier food in school lunches and the vending machines in schools for a number of years. My dad is a dentist and he has worked adamantly to make sure that pop machines were not turned on during school hours in Bloomington. It is obvious that the types of food children are eating today play a significant role in the higher levels of obesity, diabetes, and teeth/gum health issues like cavities. On the other hand it is also obvious that the higher levels of obesity and diabetes in our nation is due to the fact that we have affinity to technology, t.v., video games, computers, and sedentary lifestyles. I think that if we are going to accurately address our nations health crisis, we need to attack the problem from all sides. This includes encouraging more exercise as well as healthier diets.

In class a few weeks we discussed a controversial competition in which Decorah students were encouraged to drink more chocolate milk than other competing schools. Our class discussed many valid points about why this is problematic. This competition encouraged mass consumption of a beverage that is extremely high in sugar content and at the same time discouraged the consumption of normal (healthier) milk. On top of this, the argument presented by the organizers of this competition described chocolate milk as healthier than Gatorade. Perhaps we should not be comparing things to Gatorade however because Gatorade is not healthy in the first place. That is like saying we should have a competition to encourage high schoolers to smoke as many cigarettes as possible because cigarettes are better than crack. It's a pretty silly argument. If this competition is to encourage more consumption of milk by students then this honorable but why not encourage the consumption of white milk as well instead of a competition focused solely on the consumption of chocolate milk. Likewise, this sort of competition may perpetuate the idea in kids that there needs to be a reward for doing something beneficial (i.e. prize for drinking milk) or else it is not worthwhile.

NCLB

In support of President Obama’s new education strategy, Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, discusses the benefits of eliminating or changing No Child Left Behind. One topic touched on during the interview was the idea of rewarding high-achieving schools, rather than punishing low-achieving schools. The government plans on disbursing $3.9 billion to districts in hopes that schools become higher achieving. Schools that are lacking in performance and are in communities with a low socioeconomic status need money to improve their schools, and ultimately increase their students’ academic progress. However, the environment surrounding the school, family support, and after school programs also play a vital role in the academic progress and achievement of students.

Communities need to support their kids’ education, which means putting money into the community in which they attend school. Kids do not learn as well in schools that lack resources and involvement from the outside community. The students who suffer the most are the ones from families with low socioeconomic status. It is easier for these kids to fall behind in classes because they do not receive the same amount of academic and social support. I think that funding for after school programs and putting money into the community can help decrease this problem. When the buildings and landscape of the surrounding community is dangerous and/or run-down, it can result in a negative reputation for schools within that community as well as an environment that is not conducive for optimal academic success.

International Students

Usually procrastination ends up causing more harm than good but I am glad that I put off my blog for this week until after class today. We have had numerous discussions about assimilation and its role or lack there of in schools but I do not feel that I have developed much as a future teacher, current student, or lifelong learner as a result of any of these discussions but class was really interesting today. Jim and Will asked some international students here at Luther to join us. The international students' responses to our questions really provided me with food for thought as well as food for blog. One of the students was from Ghana. He attended a rigorous all-male boarding school in Ghana's capitol city before transferring to Marshalltown, Iowa for his senior year of high school. The other student, a senior at Luther, is from Japan but attended an international school in Japan since she was 2. Both students provided very interesting insight into their own assimilation and adjustment to Luther College. It was fun to hear.

Can Video Games be used in the Classroom or to Address "Real World" Issues

It is no doubt that video games are extremely popular among the youth in America and some kids even seem addicted to "gaming." I notice this in some of my roommates at Luther. Video games are often looked at as a waste of time and "gamers" are thought of as apathetic, unmotivated, and lazy. Other people argue that video games glorify violence and even lead gamers to be more violent. I recently came across a few articles online that present more productive uses of gaming. I came across the first article on CNN and it discusses a new game that was developed to encourage gamers (and non-gamers I suppose) to become more connected with real world problems, specifically in Africa. The game is called Urgent Evoke. It encourages players to contemplate and discuss solutions to problems such as poverty and environmental degradation via blogs as well as physically work or volunteer to reduce the negative impacts of these problems or create strategies to prevent the perpetuation of these problems. Gamers then are given virtual money or points for their contributions/ideas to move on in the game. Supporters of the game think the blogs may help participants get internships, jobs, or grants for their ideas. The World Bank Organization even gave Urgent Evoke $500,000. The creator of this game, Jane McGonigal, really hopes people in Africa will be able to access this game, play it, and as a result feel empowered to battle their daunting local and regional problems. I was quite intrigued by the goals of this game and I think the methods may be effective. The simple fact that gaming does tend to be addictive will ensure that large amounts of time, effort, and hopefully thought will be put into this game. I am excited to see the impact of this game.

After reading this article, I began to think, has there been any or much push for video games to be used in the classroom in a similar manner? I remember playing games like Math Munchers and other so called educational games but I do not recall if they were very effective. I think games like Urgent Evoke may have more of a positive impact on students and the world than games like Math Munchers which really only teach kids skills. Urgent Evoke requires its participants to ponder and discuss real world issues. They are urged to act on, care and learn more about these issues because the more they understand or more they physically address such issues, the more points they receive and better chance they have of winning. I think students educating students about current global problems and teaching the skills needed to be effective problem solvers is more important than encouraging students to memorize their multiplication tables,

I googled radical topics in education and came across an article that pertained quite well to my questions in regards to schools and video games. It was a list of 10 new and innovative ideas in education. The list was interesting and included the idea that video games can be used in the classroom as educational tools as long as teachers are also involved to facilitate more profound reflection by asking questions before, during and, after the game is played. To answer the question that is provided in the title of my blog, I feel that video games can be used in a manner to promote education, to inform individuals about real world problems, encourage problem solving skills, and urge participants to take action. The possibilities here are quite intriguing and illustrates one more role that technology can play in education.

Links to articles:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/03/01/evoke.game.africa.poverty/index.html

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7015