Week 12, Education and Federal Government
As a foreigner, I have a clear understanding about the function of the federal government on education in the United States of America after reading this article "When it comes to education, the Federal Government is in Charge of......".
It is quite difficult to understand and confused about the complicated role of the federal government in education, if we do not know the national conditions of a country. Different national conditions of countries contribute to different national systems, including economic systems, political systems, and educational systems. This article provides detailed information about educational policies implemented by the federal government in American history, which helps me know the corresponding age backgrounds and corresponding international backgrounds, such as the Cold War, the segregation, and the Post World War II. I got to know that every educational policy reflects unique and special conditions of historical backgrounds, and they are the products of the times. The article also provides information for understanding the role of the federal government in the development of K-12 education and higher education, and the requirements that states need to meet so that they could receive federal funding.
This article makes me recall the book I am currently reading, it is about the closure of Chicago public schools. It is very impressive for me as a foreigner to know the extraordinary difficulties that African American Chicagoans had experienced for the past one hundred years. I was vey sad when I read the detailed stories about the segregation, racial discrimination, racial violence, and other invisible discriminations that they had encountered. I was very sad for the conditions of overcrowding, less funding, and poor educational environments that African American children faced. It is very ironic that more than five decades apart, African American Chicagoans in the same communities found themselves protesting the same problems, and the educational system seemed to put African American children to perpetuate segregation during 1960s. At the same time, it is pleased to see the efforts and the results made by educators and governors in today's society.
The article helps me know the functions of Western democracy, including the separation of the three powers, and also know the significant role of the presidential administration in national educational development. We can see nowadays, many American governors and educators are deeply concerned about the cut of the educational budget advocated by the Trump administration would play an unfavorable role in American educational development.
There is a famous saying, "Life is full of challenges, and it is never a smooth ride". We hope every children, every students can enjoy their rights of education, no matter where they live and grow, and no matter what kinds of government their countries have.
It is quite difficult to understand and confused about the complicated role of the federal government in education, if we do not know the national conditions of a country. Different national conditions of countries contribute to different national systems, including economic systems, political systems, and educational systems. This article provides detailed information about educational policies implemented by the federal government in American history, which helps me know the corresponding age backgrounds and corresponding international backgrounds, such as the Cold War, the segregation, and the Post World War II. I got to know that every educational policy reflects unique and special conditions of historical backgrounds, and they are the products of the times. The article also provides information for understanding the role of the federal government in the development of K-12 education and higher education, and the requirements that states need to meet so that they could receive federal funding.
This article makes me recall the book I am currently reading, it is about the closure of Chicago public schools. It is very impressive for me as a foreigner to know the extraordinary difficulties that African American Chicagoans had experienced for the past one hundred years. I was vey sad when I read the detailed stories about the segregation, racial discrimination, racial violence, and other invisible discriminations that they had encountered. I was very sad for the conditions of overcrowding, less funding, and poor educational environments that African American children faced. It is very ironic that more than five decades apart, African American Chicagoans in the same communities found themselves protesting the same problems, and the educational system seemed to put African American children to perpetuate segregation during 1960s. At the same time, it is pleased to see the efforts and the results made by educators and governors in today's society.
The article helps me know the functions of Western democracy, including the separation of the three powers, and also know the significant role of the presidential administration in national educational development. We can see nowadays, many American governors and educators are deeply concerned about the cut of the educational budget advocated by the Trump administration would play an unfavorable role in American educational development.
There is a famous saying, "Life is full of challenges, and it is never a smooth ride". We hope every children, every students can enjoy their rights of education, no matter where they live and grow, and no matter what kinds of government their countries have.
Thank you for sharing! I think you bring up an interesting point of how government can affect education outside in America. Although the history of inequality in America is not knew to me, your article allowed me to think outside the perspective of the U.S. Historically, education and other civil rights and liberties were given/not given to individuals based on their race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. But inequalities still exists in counties racially and ethnically homogeneous countries. For example, if there is a federal policy implemented that a certain language needs to be taught in class, that will leave students who do not know the same language at a disadvantage. Unfortunately, I can not think of a solution to how education could be attained equally and equitably, regardless of government involvement. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this. First of all, I like the way that you summarize the article while talking about how you feel about it. As for me, the United States is a diversity country and Chicago is a diversity city. On the one hand, this diversity gives people more chances to get in touch of many culture and races. But on the other hand, this diversity can give people the conflict. The conflicts will be shown by society, school and family. As educator, what we can do is to solve the problems when it comes to school. That is what we can control. Like you said that government can affect the education outside of America. I think it can affect not only in negative way but in positive way. We can do what we can do the best to help education affect America in positive way.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing! I agree that it depends on the values of the nation as to why the national systems around education will be. I appreciate your perspective especially because you have seen first hand how a different country can manage education. These viewpoints are necessary because it gives insight to what can be done differently, what can be improved and why certain systems work for various formats of government. Some of the reoccuring issues of our education system are directly tied to the the vision and underlying agendas of our federal government.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I agree that every policy can reflect the unique national condition and historical background. I think that each policy is formed to solve a unique issue during a specific period. From my understanding, the federal government has the responsibility to make the policies and as for the implementation, it plays an important role to supervise the state government. However, in terms of the educational policy-making, it should not include too much details like the teaching methods or the curriculum. The federal government should give some autonomy to the states to determine how to implement the policy appropriately according to the local unique educational conditions.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated your analysis. It was thoughtful and insightful. What I enjoyed so much about the class is that we are not all starting with the same understanding about U.S. education. I also am happy to learn about China’s education landscape whenever you share in class.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting (and most frustrating) thing about federal education policy is that it is shaped by the desires of a few people trying to get a “win” from the American people. Education touches so many facets of American society, improving it cannot be in a vacuum. The issues with discrimination faced by Black children in schools cannot be fixed with more inclusive education policies. It most be a comprehensive change to policy impacting poverty, education, jobs and the economy.
Thank you for your sharing Lingling. I do agree with you that every children, every students can enjoy their rights of education, no matter where they live and grow, and no matter what kinds of government their countries have. Education is every important for our human beings and that will have a benefit influence for the whole world. Different countries have different education policies so does China. But there still have a problem in China or other countries. Many professional teachers would like to work in big cities to get a better chance, however, that may cause the education difference between rural areas and cities, and make them far away. That is also a kind of unequal. The rural areas’ students do not have the best teachers.
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