WebLog4: Apple Ch 4 (dialogue)

A discussion between Apple and Slattery re: conservative modernization and postmodern curriculum development:

Apple: Mr. Slattery, I am very glad that you are here today in order to discuss all of these major problems that I incessantly uncover in my book.  As you may have noticed, I am in desperate need of some probable solutions to my rants and would appreciate any insight you may have.  The main item on my agenda is conservative modernization and more specifically, how it has infiltrated our curriculum.

Slattery: Well, Mr. Apple, as I have thumbed through your masterpiece of a text, I think you are most concerned about the political agendas that are gaining more and more steam in the world of education.

Apple: Why, yes!  The right is seeking to realize its goal of creating schools and curriculum that are engines of economic growth and models for efficiency in the workplace.  The hegemonic right continues to exercise its white, anglo-saxon, protestant power over the masses in this country.  It has resorted to one of its favorite pillars, Christian morality, in which the past has been appraised and will be resurrected in schools and curriculum across the country.  Fervent patriotism is running rampant through the right's traditional curriculum content, only further ostracizing and ignoring most of the groups that compose the American populous.  And lastly, Mr. Slattery, and I know I sometimes have the tendency to be long-winded, the No Child Left Behind Act is in fact crippling our children, leaving our educational system further behind than you can imagine.  Not only does it continue an established tradition of the conservative production of discourse that incorporates progressive language, while simultaneously advancing the key elements of the neoliberal and neoconservative agendas, it is biased against minority and immigrant students, and.....

Slattery: Thank you, I think I get the picture.  As I see it, we should be looking at curriculum and how we can reform it in order to promote success among ALL students, without tying ourselves down to common standards for every child, every state, etc. and without adhering to one single definition of success, failure, and good teaching.  I believe that the intimate experiences of the students need to be brought into the curriculum and the standards so what they learn is directly connected to something useful in their lives.  I like to reference this process of connecting our lives with curriculum as the process of currere.  As educators, it will help us understand our teaching experiences through considering our past, and ultimately through the past, we understand what our educational experiences are and what curriculum is as well.  Using this autobiographical means with ourselves and our students to create curriculum will provide a much more meaningful educational experience.

Apple: Well, the right and its conservative modernization ultimately have control of what curriculum looks like, so how what will be the process of convincing them that you are correct look like?  Do you think you could pull that off?

Slattery: If only we weren't in education and actually had some money.

WebLog 4: Slattery Chapters 2-3

Chapter 2:

Currently,  I am teaching Spanish I, Spanish II, and Honors Spanish II.  We use the Exprésate series.  Based on Slattery's points regarding curriculum and more specifically using curriculum for hegemonic purposes, I am lead to further question not so much the content but the academic experiences of my students.  Slattery says that curriculum in the postmodern era reflects eclectic interests and talents of the students and provides opportunity for contextual understanding of the material.  Although I am not thrilled with some of the textbook and its organization at times, it certainly is a product of the postmodern era curriculum design.  Unfortunately, however, the veteran teachers in my department are products of the "old school" method of foreign language instruction, which basically places emphasis on being as productive as possible with special emphasis on memorization and drilling.  Despite my constant attempts to move away from the way in which the book and its curriculum are used, I fear for my students that as a result of this implementation they are missing out on critical thinking, authentic tasks, and cultural education.  The speed in which my colleagues moves does not allow me to cover the culture sections of the text because we are too pressed for time, which is a disservice to my students because an extremely important component of language instruction is learning about the culture that surrounds the language and its people.

Chapter 3:

When Slattery talks about the theme of autobiography and the practice of currere, he emphasizes the importance of beginning with individual experience and then make broader connections.  Placing importance on the interconnectedness of all experience, he additionally emphasizes using experiences and interests of the students in order to present the knowledge that needs to be learned in an engaging way.  I always think back to my educational experiences, and those from which I learned the most were always intertwined with or involved examples involving something that interested me, like competition, sports, movies, etc.  In my own classes, I always try to learn as much about the students as possible in order to include their interests in many activities that we do along with explanations of certain grammar points.We could do a much better job with using an autobiographical perspective when planning lessons.  Unfortunately, I feel that right now I cannot change what our curriculum is, but as long as we are using it, I am going to relate it to the students as much as possible.   A quick anecdote from today: many of the students were struggling with negative expressions, and one of the ways that really worked in order to explain what to do was talk to those struggling individually using their interests to create personalized scenarios.  It was very effective! 

WebLog 3: Apple Chapter 2

According to Apple, the following are the major tensions surrounding education in the US as it moves in conservative directions.  Along with his listed tensions are my interpretations about why they may be tensions as well as what I would add to these tensions. 

1. Stress on higher standards, more rigorous testing: tensions that stem from the neoconservative agenda to reinstate a comon culture in the US that operates as efficiently as possible.  Reality tells us that there are many students that are disabled, not proficient in the English language, and/or poor standardized test takers for a variety of reasons (test bias, test anxiety, do not know the information, etc.).  Thus, if students are not able to pass these tests, then they are marked as unequipped, further suggesting the incompetence of our system of education in this country. Furthermore, Apple mentions the professional and managerial new middle class that is responsible for the technology that operates the rigorous testing, and because they provide the technical support, their jobs are on the line if these tests are no longer, which creates another tension.
   
2. Education for employment: a tension because it does not allow for a well-rounded education but rather education for a specific job.  Students may miss out on valuable experiences and information that would be important for them to have as a person not only for the purposes of their job.  This stems from neoliberalism and its ideology to make schools like a factory that produce workers that know how to compete efficiently and effectively.
   
3. Closer relationship between education and the economy in general: a tension that suggests schools are to be run like businesses or private corporations in order to succeed in creating efficient competitors.  This idea may remove the care for the individual and his or her intellectual development.  Additionally, something I would add to this point is the way in which schools receive their funding .  The wealthier communities have more money to put into their schools, thus guaranteeing better means to a potentially better education whereas communities with lower wealth suffer from lack of resources, ultimately hurting the quality of education.
   
4. Losing in international competition and the loss of jobs and money to Japan, Mexico, China: comes from the neoliberal stress on efficiency and competition.  The pressure of creating fierce competitors out of our students could be a headache for schools because it jeopardizes what is deemed "important" enough to make it into the set curriculum, and something important could be left out.
   
5. Pressure to reinstall the vision of a common culture in the US to place more emphasis on English, "Western tradition," patriotism, conservative variants of character education, and religion: a tension stemming from the neoconservative ideology.  According to Apple, this agenda is problematic because it ignores the groups that compose the American population.  With a stress on conformity to one "Western" way, the students and citizens are at risk of losing their freedom to be individuals so that the economy can operate more efficiently.  The potential sacrifice of personal liberty creates a tension here.