How education has changed through the years - Essay Example

How Education Has Changed Through the Years Johanningmeir and Richardson (2008) suggest that education in public schools since the 19th century havebeen designed to resolve the difficulties facing the nation. In this regard, public education acts as an agent for setting and sustaining social, economic and political strategies for the country and its political leaders. Education has therefore changed to reflect national strategies (Johanningmeir and Richardson 2008, p. viii). In other words, as national agendas change so too does public education.

For instance, recent strategies for reducing obesity within the US have resulted in both nutrition education and nutrition changes in school (Contento 2010, p. 131). Violence has had a considerable influence on the national agenda and as such has influenced changes in education in US schools. Previously, there was a perception that even when the community was unsafe, schools offered a safe haven for children. However, since the 1990s, these perceptions have changed and schools can no longer be perceived as “islands of safety” (Elliott, Hamburg and Williams 1998, p. 254). Violence in schools was once perceived as a purely urban problem and the source of the problem was violence directed at teachers.

The 1955 film Blackboard Jungle is demonstrative of this perception. In Blackboard Jungle (1955) the violence was perpetuated by juvenile delinquents in an all-male school where teachers appeared to be passive, permissive and unmotivated. The suggestion is therefore that violence in school was specific to problem boys where discipline was lacking. Therefore, violence in schools was not only predictable but could be resolved by committed and serious teaching and administrative staff. Moreover, school violence was geographical in nature and could easily be tempered by identifying the juveniles and expelling them from the school.

There was no need to make broad educational changes since the problem was confined to urban schools with problem children. Those perceptions have changed dramatically since the escalation of violence in rural schools with the result that the violence is directed at students as well as teachers. Offenders are no longer predictable and can be average and at times the least likely of suspects. The Columbine episode which occurred in Jefferson County, Colorado at Columbine High School in April 1999 drew attention to a number of social issues that impact the education system in the US.

Cullen’s (2009) description of the killers who killed themselves after killing 12 students, one teacher and wounding several other students informs of the social issues involved. These social issues have had a number of consequences for education in our times. The main concerns for educators and policy makers are gun controls, social awareness, drugs, bulling, harassment, video games, depression, cliques and the internet. Each of these factors had a role to play in the Columbine High episode (Cullen 2009).

It is no longer possible to merely identify would-be student assassins. Likewise it is no longer possible to simply focus on urban schools as a magnet for violence and ignore the very real possibility that schools in rural areas are also vulnerable to violence. Social awareness has therefore become a part of the education system. Students are encouraged to be vigilant and to report any suspicions of would-be killers to hotlines or to authorities. The major concern for educators and policy makers is to ensure that both learning and teaching is unimpeded by a fear of violence (Congressional Record 2000, p. 17667). Unfortunately this means that fire drills have now been replaced by crisis drills (Elliot, Hamburg and Williams 1998, p. 254). The fact is, safety is no longer about instructions about crossing a street.

Safety covers a broad area of social issues from the internet to guns and have now become a part of the education system today. Works Cited Blackboard Jungle (1955) A Film. Congress. Congressional Record, V. 146 Pt. 12 July 27, 2000 to September 13, 2000. Government Printing Office, 2000. Contento, I. Nutrition Education: Linking Research, Theory, and Practice. Jones and Bartlett Learning, 2010. Cullen, D. Columbine. Hachette Digital Inc, 2009. Elliott, D.; Hamburg, B. and Williams, K. Violence in American Schools: A New Perspective.

Cambridge University Press, 1998. Johanningmeier, E. and Richardson, T. Educational Research, the National Agenda, and Educational Reform: A History. Information Age Publishing, Inc., 2008.