Blog #5

“Conservative Modernization” v. “Postmodern Curriculum Development” & Currere
I imagine a dialogue between Apple & Slattery would entail an explanation of their beliefs followed by some conversation about the differences between the two. If this factitious dialogue were to occur I believe it would be exciting to be a spectator because they are both so dedicated to their beliefs concerning educational policy. Please find some highlights below:
Michael W. Apple would begin his explanation citing that the educational policies that are promoted by a merger of rightist groups, also known as the forces of “conservative modernization”, have successfully convinced Americans that we can improve our schools by opening them to the free market. Throughout this movement toward marketization we are provided with a new means of evaluating schools: schools becoming factories whose aim is producing ONLY increased test scores. In other words, a student’s worth can only be based on testing. This movement necessitates an alliance of strong state models of accountability, standardized testing, and marketization.
The No Child Left Behind passed by the Bush’s administration, seems to accurately describe how the forces of conservative modernization enact their agendas. Apple questions does this agenda aim to fix the current problems? It is not coincidence that the four basic principles of NCLB align with the agendas of the four main groups, neoliberals, neoconservatives, authoritarian populists & the managerial/new professional middle class, responsible for the conservative modernization. This act specified reforms to please each of these groups, assisting all of them strengthen their rightist agendas. The NCLB Act should add to its title: NCLB except those who were historically and continue to be disadvantaged. It must also be noted that “conservative modernization” may have great intensions, however falls short in our unequal society.
Patrick Slattery would obviously have a differing opinion focusing on postmodern curriculum development and currere. Slattery prefers to speak to the disconnect between personal history and education. Slattery states that, “postmodern curriculum development today investigates narratives that will develop student-centered connections for long-term memory and individual enhancement.”

Traditional curriculum development programs have been devoted to organized goals, measurable objectives and assessment. Slattery’s perspective of education says we should not be focused on the functionality of students once finished with the educational system, but rather as an interdependent group of citizens. Slattery’s view does not look at the educational system as a factory, but rather an autobiographical and phenomenological experience. In addition, postmodern development, the method of currere, should challenge teachers to begin with their individual experience and interconnectedness of all experiences.

Blog #4: Chapter 2 Our Introduction to Slattery...

Currently in my Regular Education classes I am teaching about the election of 1800 and my advanced classes are studying the War of 1812. For the past two years we have utilized a textbook by Holt, called

As a social studies teacher, this chapter was really interesting to me in various ways. I find it difficult to embrace both authors, Apple & Slattery, idealistic views of education. Other difficulties I have are that sure I would love to take my kids to battle sites or where MLK was shot, but the state of Ohio has limited that by their implementation of state standards and high stakes testing. I did not enter the teaching profession to teach history as facts to be memorized, however in the "educational trends" have forced me to step away from the teachings of facts and mold a student's mind so they can pass that test.

Overall, I am having trouble understanding why we are reading perspectives on curriculum when we as teachers have no control over curriculum? State and now national governments have unfortunately done that for us. Therefore, shouldn't we be focusing on how to make the information relevant to students and using the standards given to us to find creative ways to present the information?

Slattery opens the chapter historical interpretation from two perspectives "one viewing it a progressive series of distinctly separate and chronological events on a time line and the other as a progressive experience of interrelated occasions, with the past and future embedded in the existential present reality." The "present reality" for middle school students is who fought when, what did she say about me, my boyfriend did this or that and the list goes on and on. Obviously not our reality.

I definitely agreed when Slattery brought up the destructive consequences when hegemonic structure dominate. At the high school, the school experiences are all organized about sports. IF they are failing your class the coach comes and pleads with you to raise his grade so he can play at the "big game" on Friday, even though he has a 7% in a class.

Slattery ends the chapter by saying "history of curriculum in the postmodern era must be recounted and understood from this autobiograplical perspective" and "our accountability must be to human person and not to tests and measures", sounds to me like its been a while since he has been in a classroom or a district meeting.

In Chapter 3, Slattery discussed the ideas of both autobiography and currere. I was unformilar to the concept of "currere", obviously as someone in education I know what curriculum. It was interesting to look at curriculum in a different form. I learned that currere means to run and describes it as over a racecourse. I feel that is a perfect explanation for education today (probably not the way he meant it) but with the birth of state standards/core standards, we are limited as teachers as are the students. In order to "properly" prepare as a teacher we must recognize that we need "make it through all the curriculum is taught in order to prepare for the state tests". Therefore, courses are merely snapshots of numerous topics, rather than allowing teachers to draw out many experiences from students in order for them to develop their autobiographies.
On a closing notes, I think Slattery is an "interesting" person. I will leave it at that :)

Who's Market? Whose knowledge?

Education in the U.S. it headed in the direction under the very broad “conservative umbrella”. This will be a challenging task for us to turn toward the right, however the political ideologies of Neoliberalism, Neoconservatism, and Authoritaria Populism are so intertwined, have potential for compromise in addition to conflicting values, that they create a whole new uphill battle in the area of education. The differences outlined in Chapter 2 concern: “current U.S. policy in comparison to global world, a closer connection between educating and the economy, the reinstallation of “Western Traditions”, religiously based ideals and the emergence of the New Right”. Understanding the contradictory tendencies of the three of these groups still fall under the conservative ideology or “conservative modernization” while also being cognizant of the known concept of the difficultness of sustaining any change. I am puzzled as to why the three groups do not come together to compromise. Nevertheless, I realize that in the midst of all the connections among groups each has a distinct set of values that they are weary and unwillingly to fully compromise. I do not believe I have ever seen such an overarching concept with countless similarities and differences. Each group has their own ideas for “reviving” education. Neo-liberals focus on the economic progress that can be made if schools concentrate on becoming “marketized”, creating a population of students who will eventually benefit and stimulate the economy. Neoconservatives on the other hand do stress economic benefits, however adding components of Western Traditions and are seemingly suspect of those currently in the educational world. Finally, the authoritarian populists are, as I refer to as dripping in religion, believe we should move backwards to the days of the development of education. In other words, the U.S. Constitution states that as citizens we have unalienable rights to freedom of religion. This group does not include all religions present in our multicultural country, but is populated by ONLY Christian Fundamentalists. If you would like religion to be a component of your child’s education, then by all means enroll in a religiously based school. My intensions are not meant to be offensive but this group makes no sense to me at all. Finally, we are introduced to the “New” Middle class. Middle class in general has been historically misunderstood & the preferences of the “New Right”, in my opinion should be left out of the outlines all together. Apple provided me with new knowledge and new viewpoints concerning educational practices and policies. I apologize for being long winded but I enjoyed this chapter! I am looking forward to discussing & evaluating this topic in class, should be exciting.

Establishing a Means of Questioning Apple...

In order to properly examine Apple's critical analysis of the growing power of conservative movements in educational policy and practice, as a class we should be mindful of both sides to every issue. For example, Apple has provided us with two distinct groups, the neoliberals, who are committed to markets and freedom of individuals, while neoconservatives are committed to discipline and traditional polices for education. This is the group that us as teachers debate constantly is the belief in standards and high stakes testing. In additon, the latter group centers around authoritarian policies which very often include religion. I believe it is difficult as a very reformed Jewish person to relate to an explanation of the world of education can be defined only using the Bible and the idea that "it is necessary to turn our lives over to God". In chapter one, Apple does an excellent job in presenting both sides of the argument. Another means of questioning concerns examining the former educational policies, the current educational policies and finally the future. Therefore, I believe that discussing the current educational system and the future of education. "Dwelling" on past educational systems, such as those during colonial times, proves to be "unimportant" since so many changes have been made since that time. The only reason to study past educational policies is to support the neoconservatives belief that religion has a place in education. In addition, I believe based on our individual belief systems concerning educational practices and policies may be vastly different, therefore as a class we must be mindful of views different from our own. Viewing education as a "business" may be a difficult task for some of us and whenever policies (educational and otherwise) are linked with politics, messy differing thoughts can arise, and eventually turning into a hot debate. My mom always told me there are three things you do not discuss with people and the first was always politics.

A Little About JB....

Hello! My name is Julie Butler, feel free to call me Julie or JB. I was born and raised in Lyndhurst, Ohio. My primary email address is jbutler143@yahoo.com. I am fortunate to teach in the district where I attended school from kindergarten to 12th grade! I teach 8th grade social studies, both regular education and advanced classes. I attended THE Ohio State University for my undergraduate in Integrated Social Studies. After OSU, I attended John Carroll University for my first masters in education and am currently work toward my second masters in educational administration. I am into music, especially Dave Matthews Band (I have attended upwards of 40 concerts all over the country) and playing with my dog Charli.

I always feel comfortable in classrooms! I am very outspoken and do not have any problems with taking intellectual and creative risks in the classroom. I consider myself a good student simply because I am an overachiever. I am always involved in active oral class participation and in addition to being a responsible, prepared and very timely. I am aware that my learning style is a acombination of both auditory and visual styles. If I could not understand a concept I would speak to my classmates as well as the professor. In my life situation, my mom died in November after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September. This is a difficult time however I will strive to for success in the class.
My best experience as a student was with Mrs. Joan Kelly. I learned so much from her including many lessons to live a successful life. She is the reason I entered the profession, only to hope to be half the teacher she was.
I believe in order to make this the greatest class ever, we should concentrate on activities, study content topics and compelling questions, interact with each other. I believe that research papers will take away from the books we are reading and I do not learn well that way. In addition, during the educational administrative masters pursuit we have written countless papers on various things in education. I believe it is important to stay in the here and now, rather than researching something. I believe the authors of our two books do exactely that, and I believe will teach me more than dated research.