Educational Philosophy

The educational philosophy that I chose is realism. Realism can be defined as "a, b, and c and so on exist, and the fact that they exist and have properties such as F-ness, G-ness, and H-ness is (apart from mundane empirical dependencies of the sort sometimes encountered in everyday life) independent of anyone's beliefs, linguistic practices, conceptual schemes, and so on." The reason I chose this philosophy is because I believe that I am a realist.

My question is what role does realism play in education. After research I found out that realists rely heavily on teachers in education. Teachers should teach students the essentials and basic information on how to survive. Materials and subjects should be presented in an organized way. I believe that realism is an important philosophy in education and think the following quote explains realism.

"The whole point of education is to turn mirrors into windows"
Sydney Jay Harris (American Journalist)

Influential Figure in Education

Clara Hemphill has revolutionized the research of schools. It used to be the norm for a family to enroll their kid into the public school that they lived in. They may also move to another location in order to enroll their children into a school of their choice. Clara Hemphill is the founder of www.insideschools. org. This is an interactive websites that parents/guardians can go to research potential schools. The New York Times states, "The Website’s school profiles detail test scores, of course, but they also describe the culture of each school, giving prospective families insights on teaching styles, homework, and discipline. There are also policy papers, parent alerts, and nuts-and-bolts guides to school admissions, testing, and other education essentials. InsideSchools.org doesn’t pull punches; you’re as apt to read about barren science labs at a given school as you are to read about a great principal."

This is a new and innovative tool that gives parents the luxury of hearing first hand facts and reviews on the schools that their kids will be enrolling into. With all of the recent cut backs on education funding this website has become a useful place. Clara Hemphill has brought technology to the forefront when searching for quality educational institutions.

Are schools being equally funded?

"Nine years ago, a coalition of civil rights groups filed a class action lawsuit (Williams v. California) that documented the deplorable and even unsafe and unsanitary conditions in many of California’s schools that serve large numbers of students of color." The underlying cause for this is that the schools are being underfunded. This is a major issue throughout California over the past decade. The following article (http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/17/opinion/oe-makdisi17) shows that Governor Schwartzenegger is making extensive cuts in an already beleaguered systems.

The cuts are causing serious issues for school systems whom the majority of the enrolled students are of color. In 2001, their were not cuts being administered because the economy was in a much different state. These school systems are operating with outdated books, limited supplies and resources. The limited financial resources also creates cuts in the number of teachers and variety of classes offered. The question now is are schools being unequally funded?

It is a fact that schools are being unequally funded. Area demographics plays a major factor in this as well. More affluent areas have schools with up-to-date technologies, athletic facilities, equipment and infrastructure. Their is even a difference in the quality of teachers because they are able to pay more to faculty. States insert a certain amount of money back into it's cities education and it is not being equally funded. The opportunities to succeed and recieve a quality education are limited depending on location.

The inner city population are more diversified with different races and minorities. http://www.psk12.com/rating/USthreeRsphp/STATE_MA_level_High_CountyID_0_start_251.html.

This website shows the rankings of schools in Massachusetts. Schools that are private and are located in affluent areas are at the top of the list. Where as West Roxbury, Dorchester, Lawrence, and other high minority/low income cities are at the bottom. This is due to the fact that they do not have as many opportunities and the resources available to them. The difference leads back to schools being unequally funded by the state.

In conclusion, schools being unequally funded has become a major hot topic in education. No matter where the schools are located, everyone should have the same resources available to them to succeed. However, this is not the case and is due to the face that schools are not being equally funded.

Education to Health

I decided to compare education to health. Diet and exercise are major factors in what type of health issues/problems a person develops throughout their life. From the day you are born the type of diet and exercise affects your health. A person that does not monitor negative habits such as; eating unhealthy foods, consuming more calories than needed, using drugs, abusing alcohol, not exercising daily, will be more likely to develop serious health issues. A lot of people have health issues that are from family genes, however they can be monitored by dieting and exercising daily.

Education for a person begins from the day they are born. There are a number of outside forces that can affect the level of education a person gets. Parenting as a newborn (being read to and learning how to communicate and speak). The effectiveness of teachers from K-12. Role-models in life. Friends that are made. Activities that a person is involved in (sports, music, art, language, etc). The amount of effort that a person gives back into learning (studying and reading). All of the above mentioned factors affect the quality of education that a person receives.

I compared education to health because I believe that they are similar in the fact that many variables affect both greatly. Education can be positively or negatively affected depending on the influences and experiences in a persons life. This is similar to health where it can be positively or negatively affected depending on the diet and exercise.

The fascinating aspect is that the level of health and education are constantly changing for better or for worse.

*Dieting does not mean losing weight (ie weight watchers). A diet is a healthy amount of food consumed that relates to their body type.