Chapter 1 Reading Reflection

One thing that really stuck out to me in this chapter was how resistant secondary education is to change. The author has this to say, "Of course, all this resistance to chagne is neither accidental nor perverse. In a sense, schools are designed to be conservative institutions. One of the main functions of education is to transmit the core traditions of a culture to its children" (20). This statement rings true. If you really want to change a culture or a society, you have to invade the schools and change what is being taught to the children. Think back to the American Indians. Children were taken from their families and put in schools where they were taught to assimilate into the white culture. So then, is it because of our culture that schools are so unwilling to accept change? What is implied by this statement? Are our schools here to educate our children, or to teach them a specific culture? What I would like to know is why was the current education system established. My parents believe that education used to be very successful, and feel that in current times, it is now failing. They think that education has changed greatly from when they were in school.

One thing that the author said, that I did not really agree with was that he claimed that drop out rates were slowly lowering and that graduation rates were increasing. He did not site any sources or studies to back what he was claiming. From everything that I have read, it seems that there is little change in this area.

I would like to spend more time this semester, learning about the 11 key ingredients that this book claims makes a good high school.