Understanding Education - Article Example

Kyle, Noeline. (1999). “Reconstructing Childhood.” Understanding Education. Eds. Daphne Meadmore, Bruce Burnett & Peter O’Brien. New South Wales, Prentice-Hall – SprintPrint. This chapter is an effort to stress the importance of changing social, political and economic structures in bringing about the education legislation and enforcement that emerged in the late 1800s and early 1900s as well as to describe the various ways in which these changes, in turn, affected society, politics, economics and education in the family. The author uses a revisionist/critical historical perspective to try to convince the reader that there was more involved than humanitarian concern in the new legislation and enforcement of free and compulsory education in Australia. Kyle outlines the argument in stages, first discussing the order of society regarding children and education prior to the late 1800s and then examining the reasons why such a fundamental shift in social structure would be imposed upon the populace. Compulsory education removed children ideologically from their parents, placed them under the control of the state and provided them with an education based upon the state’s expectations for their future social status. While removing children from factories did have several positive benefits for children, the purpose of the schools was to train young children in the proper obedient frame of mind that was expected of the social class. Material used to support the argument is scanty and widespread. A quote from one of the earlier writers on education in Australia is used to support the argument that school had never been meant to be free or compulsory, so there must have been other reasons behind the move. However, more studies are used to support the contention that free and compulsory education was effected as a means of the state gaining control over the middle and lower classes and to refute the claims of earlier liberal/traditional perspectives on the rise of the public school systems. I found the argument highly plausible thanks to the illustrative examples provided, such as the case of the Aborigines, and based upon my own studies into the development of the educational systems. On its own, however, the article did not provide a great deal of information regarding the studies it cited and served merely as a starting point for further investigation. Keywords: revisionist, mass schooling, social construction, working class, education Meadmore, Peter. (2004). “What does economic management have to do with education?” New Questions for Contemporary Teachers: Taking a Socio-Cultural Approach to Education. Ed. Bruce Burnett, Daphne Meadmore & Gordan Tait. New South Wales: Pearson Education Australia. Meadmore examines how the concept of devolution, or de-centralisation, applies within the school setting by taking a look at how it has worked in the past, how it has affected the present, and what it might mean for the future. His purpose in writing this chapter is to introduce teachers to the various concepts that will have a direct effect upon how they work both now and in the future and provides them with a socio-historical perspective on the issues involved. Meadmore begins his argument with a quick overview of the increasingly de-centralised nature of the Australian educational system, starting with the pros and cons of its heavily centralized and therefore uniform beginnings and tracing it through the 1973 Karmel Report which brought in true devolution of decision-making in isolated programs to the more devoluted Victoria programs. In doing so, Meadmore illustrates how devolution has been a top-down process in Australia that is fundamentally shifted from the bottom-up approach taken by the Karmel Report. He also highlights why a greater shift toward devolution occurred in the 1980s and 1990s as Australia felt a need to become more educationally competitive. Throughout the argument, Meadmore uses appropriate quotes and references to primary sources regarding the changes that have taken place and the ramification of these changes. The reports are all based upon professional and scientific studies and are therefore felt to be quite appropriate and supportive to the overall argument. By going into greater detail regarding how devolution practices have been instituted in Queensland, Meadmore provides both plenty of supportive evidence as well as working examples of the theories he’s discussing. The argument seems to be primarily aimed at encouraging further evaluation of how devolution is being carried out within the schools, but this is buried within the historical perspective that is offered. While the argument is well-founded, I did not find it overly convincing simply because it did not seem to challenge me to ask further questions about what was truly occurring. Keywords: devolution, centralization, Queensland schools, Karmel Report, school management Rodwell, Grant. (2003). “’Shoes Well Cleaned and Heels Repaired’: Scientific Management, Eugenics and Teacher Selection and Preparation in Australia, 1910-1970.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. Vol. 24, N. 1. Approaching his topic from a revisionist standpoint, Rodwell argues that scientific management and eugenics have played a large role in the selection and training of teachers and administrators for many of Australia’s schools. In making this argument, it is apparent that the author intends to make his readers aware of the extreme level of discrimination in education and teacher selection that emerged within the Australian school system as a result of scientific management and eugenics. The argument is well-outlined, beginning with a study into what is meant by eugenics and moving into a more detailed discussion of how this relates to scientific management. Rodwell then compares the Australian system to its own and other systems in which the use of scientific management was openly discussed. The development of scientific management as was applied to teacher selection is then linked with eugenics as racism became a part of the selection process, excluding those individuals who did not fit the ideal race, class, etc. Through the tremendous control this offered to the state, there was little chance of change as teachers were bred from within, regardless of the influx of students willing to become teachers themselves. The state mandated restrictive measures in an effort to maintain the standards they have set for their perception of the “ideal” teacher. This left little room for diversity. The argument is well-supported by a number of studies regarding the current argument as well as to present opposing viewpoints. The inclusion within the article of opposing viewpoints helps to raise the credibility of the argument as it is apparent that the researcher has spent appropriate time finding and analyzing the arguments against his particular stance. Moreover, by addressing these opposing viewpoints directly, Rodwell is able to answer them with reasons why his own understanding is superior. The use of multiple primary sources to support the many claims being made suggests deep research and a thorough knowledge of the subject. Keywords: eugenics, scientific management, standardization, examinations, teacher selection. Tait, Gordon. (2006). “What is the relationship between social governance and schooling?” Cultural Perspectives in Education. Ed. Austin Hickey, Burnett, Austin, & Meadmore, Burnett and O’Brien. New South Wales: Pearson Education Australia. Gordon Tait also takes a critical revisionist approach to the history of Australian education by arguing that rather than allowing the schools to reflect society, society was made to reflect the organization of the school. The purpose of the article seems to be to educate the reader regarding the underlying principles that contributed to our present understanding of the educational system as well as the impact this had had on our own way of thinking as individuals coming through this process. The argument is based on what the author describes as three key social changes that occurred to bring society to its modern conception. The first of these changes was the definition of a population. The concept of the population enabled classification and self-identification within the greater scheme of the general group. Another change that occurred was the rise of liberalism in which the lines of what should be governed were questioned and debated. As a result of this debate, it was deemed that family life should not be directly interfered with, but rather controlled through less direct means such as through the schools and teachers. Finally, Tait indicates the third great change affecting society was the birth of the institution. Tait relies on the philosophy of Foucault as well as several outside studies to help support his argument and provide background details. However, a large portion of the article seems to be based upon the works of a single author, which suggests a rather biased viewpoint and does not necessarily suggest a full understanding of the issues involved. Despite this, the argument is convincing thanks to the ease of reading and the logical sequence of its presentation as well as its appeals to common sense and understandable social progression. Keywords: institution, liberalism, individuation, differentiation, normalization Read More