Steiner Education

Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian Philosopher.  He was born on February 25, 1861 and died on March 30, 1925.  He is also a social reformer, architect and esotericist.  In the 20th century he founded Anthroposophy.  There is an education that was based off of the educational philosophy of Steiner.The education is based off of Steiner's theories of child development.  He states that early childhood learning is imitative and sensory based.  Then during elementary school learning is imaginative and artistic.  And adolescence it is developing intellectual understand and social responsibility.  The first Waldorf school was founded in 1919 for children of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory in Stuttgart, Germany. As of today, there are 1025 independent Waldorf schools, 2000 kindergartens and 629 institutions for special education located in 60 countries.

Thanksgiving and Columbus Day

When I was little in elementary school and they told us we had no school because of thanksgiving.  The main thing that went through my mind was that I get a day off!! But the teacher told us that thanksgiving is a "time of thanks"  we then had a lesson about pilgrims and Indians and I think that is exactly what should be done.  We did arts and crafts including turkeys and pilgrims and Indians.

Also, I remember Columbus Day, we had to sing, and it was a song about Christopher Columbus and how he "sailed the ocean blue".  I think the elementary schools do a good job trying to instill in the children that this isn't just a day off, it is a day off for a very good reason.  They also teach you that it is a time of family.  In the Elementary School Issues they state that it is the job of the educator to help the students understand the importance of the holiday.

"Hopeful, Joyful, Kind, Visionary"

Schools are always trying to find a way to make education fun.  When students are young they are always so excited about school and when you ask a kindergartner they will tell you that they love school.  They will have such enthusiasm in telling you what their favorite thing to do in school is.  They are full of gratefulness and learning.  If you ask your average high school student if they love school and they most likely will disagree with you.
In the article Rethinking our classroom is states that an organized classroom should make the child/student happy and willing to succeed and learn.  I agree that unless the students feel as if they are in a safe environment they will not be as open to sharing their thoughts and ideas.  As a student I feel as if in my high school I had the best and the worst.  Sometimes I really enjoyed going to class and other times I didn't.  It mostly depended on the class.

Mitt Romney and Education

Since today is the big voting day, I feel as if everyone is as irritated as I am.  What does it all mean?  You hear one person saying something bad about the other and vise-versa.  Education is a big thing in the election.  What stood out to me the most was that Mitt Romney says that states who have chosen to adopt the Common Core States Standards would be on their own to implement it.  “If you have chosen it, congratulations.  Work on it and do it within the resources of your own state.”  He seems to want to take away from the public schools.
Mitt Romney thinks mostly about money, he seems to not understand that not many people have money.  Therefore public schools are the best thing for middle to low class families and if that is taken away people will be very unhappy.  Thus, I believe that Mitt Romney is completely wrong in trying to do that.

Idealism

What is Idealism?  It is the "practice of forming of pursuing ideals."  How does Idealism contribute to Education?
Well, Idealism helps a person realize who they are  gives "importance to the aim of self-realization". A teacher is a Guru.  The teacher is shown as a "coworker with God".  Meaning that the teacher helps the student with anything and everything no matter the problem. The teacher helps the student develop very high values.  They want to also develop "eternal values in a child so that he can become and ideal human being".
There is a ladder at which idealists think.  It goes, matter, life, mind and idea.  There is an "inner Harmony between man, world and universe."

http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/2011/10/idealism.html
http://www.scribd.com/doc/31456268/Idealism-in-Education

College and Students with Disabilities

College is not for everyone.  But does this include students with disabilities?  There are many laws that concern students with disabilities.  Many colleges have laws and regulations for students with disabilities.  These laws protect the students from discrimination.  Colleges are to provide academic adjustments as necessary to make sure the student is not being discriminated upon.  When applying to colleges, a college cannot deny a student with disabilities because of their disability, as long as the student has the essentials requirements for admission.  You do not need to inform the school of your disability unless you would like academic adjustments.  Many student believe it is unfair from what I have heard.  In one of my classes the student had a visual disability and was able to have 2 hours to take the one hour test and many of the students at the end of the hour were very upset.  I personally don't think it is unfair because if you think about how much ridicule this student has gone through you can't even compare that to an extra hour.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transition.html

Gender Bias

There is a lot of gender bias that happens within a school.  Whether it is good or bad it is still a bias.When a student first enters school boys and girls are equal.  As the years progress people start to believe that girls receive less attention than boys.  They thing boys are inattentive and disruptive and therefore require more energy.  I don't understand why they can categorize us like that.  I feel as if they cannot judge us by our sex.  Some people are naturally more attentive and pay attention to detail. "Some teachers tend to offer classroom activities that appeal more to boys' interest than to girls' and to use instructional methods that favor boys."  I don't agree because through all my years of school I don't think that they would actually teacher more toward boys.  But what I did see is that the boys were a little more disruptive. Do teachers actually do this on purpose?

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/papers/genderbias.html
http://www.education.com/reference/article/gender-bias-in-teaching/