Philosophical Response

The Historical Foundations and Purposes of School:

Throughout the evolution of American education many ideas and concepts have played a large role in the way we now educate our children. For as long as schooling has been around, equality of education has played one of the most crucial roles in educating all of America's students in a fair and just manner. All schools strive to educate students in a way that they may be successful in their future and able to easily immerge into society. Due to locations and personal ability of some schools as well as policies, equal education and opportunities for success have been tough to maintain throughout the country over the years.

According to Joel Spring, "Meritocracy is an educational system that gives an equal chance to all to develop their abilities and to advance in the social hierarchy." Like others, Spring believed that by promoting such concepts as meritocracy in education, students' success or failure in school would determine their later position in society. He believed that by doing this each student would start out with an equal opportunity to succeed. Similar to Spring, Berliner & Biddle spoke of an ideology associated with such things as meritocracy and the myths surrounding them. Berliner and Biddle agree that, "There is a shared belief among American citizens that individuals in this country are largely responsible for their own outcomes, their own successes or failures." However, though the concept serves as a motivator, it often discourages students when learning, and is even sometimes used as an excuse for public support.

Though these concepts of motivating students to succeed in education remain, many obstacles have barricaded students from moving forward. As early as the beginning of American colonization, select minorities of students were unable to excel in particular learning environments. In Rury's article, it is brought to our attention that young women were commonly rarely schooled or able to teach and forced to grow up with little or no education. Eventually, as noted in the video "A Teacher Affects Eternity," women such as Catherine Beecher finally took a stand as advocates of female teaching and education and paved the way for the female teacher today. As one may similarly note in the video "The Bottom Line in Education," minority schools in East Harlem struggled severely with low student achievement and funding. Instead of children being given the equal opportunity to excel, many children were unfairly scrutinized due to their race, gender, and even location in the country. Reforms such as the Choice Experiment finally created more opportunities for the higher achievement of their students.

Oakes further researched the topic of inequality and education in addition to how schools are in actuality only worsening the situations taking place. Oakes explains in his article how many schools are involved in a tracking system in which students are placed in upper or lower tracks by their academic ability. These tracks are imposed to either aid those groups falling behind