Summaries of Discussions

 

Group One with Renee, Sara, Justin, and Mindy
Yerkes Want separate tracks in schooling, promote eugenics.
Binet:  Disagrees with Yerkes, and wants smaller classrooms
Immigrant Concerned with tracking her kids and limiting their options.
Immigrant2 Concerned that her kids have skills to get jobs.
Eliot All should have the same curriculum, for equality.
Dewey For democracy, there must be democracy in the classrooms.
Ewing No, education must be useful, because there is a need for workers with useful educations, not greek and stuff.
Dewey2 Classrooms should be set up for students’ interests and abilities
Froebel Children are not lumps of clay, we must let them grow into themselves and just “lay off”.
Yerkes We should let them grow into themselves and then pick out the intelligent ones for responsible positions.
Binet Still disagrees, and Yerkes has messed up his test!
Dewey Wants to ask for meaningful education with continuity of experience.
Thorndike It would be faster and more efficient to punish and reward, and students would learn faster.
Hobart There needs to be accountability for teachers and lesson plans in order to make sure they are teaching the right things, and lessons should tie into students’ aptitudes.
Ewing No more mollycoddling!  It is unfair to build up expectations in poor kids when life won’t give them those opportunities.
Eliot Who made you the judge of who goes to college?
Immigrant2 But how will this affect my children?
Eliot They can go to college.
Ewing2 We have to be realistic.  We have to compete in the world market.
Froebel Disagrees.  That’s pegging students, when they should be allowed to experience their own insides.
Dewey Yes, he’s seen the horrors of the industrial revolution, and there should be more options, like his lab school.
Yerkes He pegged people with testing during the war, and he helped win the war!
Eliot Correlation does not equal causation.  Give all kids a chance.
Ewing America has to compete, we need social efficiency.
Eliot Don’t you know the future of the world market is information?
Board What do you think about clubs and sports?
Yerkes They won’t effect education.  If someone isn’t intelligent, they just aren’t intelligent.
Dewey There are many meaningful experiences to be had in clubs.
Eliot And clubs look good on college applications, especially Greek and Latin club.
Immigrant2 Clubs are Americanizing her kids, and now she doesn’t know who they are anymore.
Immigrant She is taking night classes to become more American.
Froebel But is your real self American?  Social opportunities are great, but you should remain true to yourself.
Dewey We need to become one people.  And schools shouldn’t open up to all buffoonery.
Froebel Giving children opportunities to participate creates problem solvers and critical thinkers – it’s not buffoonery!
Board How can school be fair for immigrants?
Binet Tailor their education to them and make the classes smaller.
Eliot2 Give them all the same education, and they’ll learn the same.
Froebel They’re not all in the same developmental stage, so that won’t work.
Dewey They need more in common.
Binet2 Testing can make education fit the student.
Hobart Lesson plans can control that.
Thorndike We need to control and change human nature.
Eliot Standardized curriculums are easier.
Ewing Different curriculums is a good thing.

 

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Group 2 with Kate, Connie, and Guy
Ewing Everyone in education should know their place and we should have vocational education.
Eliot The ability to attend college is the best way to promote equality – everyone should have a college education.
Eliot2 Everyone should study the same things, and there should be a set curriculum for all high schools.
Binet We need to rate students, and the mentally retarded should be given
Binet2 Disagrees – shouldn’t rate students because intelligence is not set but can be increased by education.
Yerkes Intelligence is fixed, and low IQ people shouldn’t be breeding.
Hobart If new knowledge is presented correctly it will link to old knowledge.
Eliot  There should be a core set of curriculum
Froebel Children are flowers, and we need to cultivate each one, so that they can grow through the developmental stages.
Thorndike We need to use punishment and reward.
Thorndike2 Children are like dogs and can be trained.
Froebel People are all different, so some are meant to be in college  and some aren’t.  We should stop wasting resources on equality and find where we all fit.
Immigrant But I don’t want my son forced into a vocational school.  He should have a choice, a chance for success, an option.
Dewey Education should be based on prior experience.
Yerkes How is experience important?
Binet Intelligence is not fixed.
Dewey We should educate for democracy
Binet Yerkes, you not only screwed up my test, but your test in inherently biased!