I have currently re-evaluated my research topic and have now
come to the conclusion that I will be writing about the No child left behind
act and how it isn't working properly. Not all children are the same, so not
all children will learn the same. Some children carry disabilities, some
children cannot learn without hands on activities, there are so many different
variables the government did not think about during the conversation and
passing of this act. Some people think this act is the greatest thing to
happen, the current generation of children will be proficient in math and
reading but the structure of the act is working against the children instead of
with the children, something needs to be changed in order for the children to receive
the best education and individually be able to understand the concepts they
will need in order to be successful in life. The government has failed to look
into the children with disabilities and even the children with undiscovered
disabilities.
When talking about this topic I think I can relate this to
Plato’s dialogical approach. In the book it states that Plato believed that as
humans we do not see absolute truth directly, but only glean indirect images,
glimpses, or shadows of the truth. I believe that when this act was being
talked about it sounded like a good idea and something that should be passed
and taken seriously in the education system but I believe that it was not
thoroughly thought through enough and is now creating more problems for us as a
society than it should have ever made.
Another approach that stuck out to me in the book was the
Fisher’s narrative approach. The book states humans are as much valuing as they
are reasoning animals. In other words we make decisions based on arguments and evidence.
The act has passed because the arguments and evidence that backed it up but now
if we took it to court and re-evaluated it would it pass the same questions
asked years ago when this was being talked about. The government obviously
thought this would have taken a good impact on society but instead has hurt
some of us and has made education unequal. Education discriminates against
certain groups of people and it has become unfair.
What an interesting idea to apply Plato to this controversy. Consider just how easily the idea of "truth" can change when discussing the broad goals of public education and how best to achieve them. That works well in the context of "framing" the issue - do we want all students to achieve a certain test score? do we want "education" to be a process where each child can improve themselves? But then how do we measure if it is going well? The "Narrative Paradigm" is also appropriate here because so often "school" is a romanticized idea - with a sort of "Norman Rockwell" image (teachers and apples, spelling bees, etc.). This "story" contains certain expectations - students learning and achieving, etc. that result in assumptions about what "school" should accomplish.
ReplyDeleteRemember that the goal of the paper is to design a persuasive campaign - so are you going to try to advance a reform agenda for NCLB? Consider finding an organization with NCLB reform as their goal - how might you design a marketing campaign to achieve that goal? This is a great topic - Let me know how I can help!