EMPOWERING EDUCATION IRA SHOR

EMPOWERING EDUCATION

IRA SHOR

Argument

I believe Shor is saying that socialization is one of the when teaching students.  He states that is super important for students to be able to socialize with other students and teachers. He opens up the reading with questions on what kind of system we have and what kind do we need? He adds a quote from Bettelheim, saying, “If I were a primary grade teacher, I would devote my time to problems of socialization. The most important thing children learn in not the three R’s. It’s socialization.”(Quoted in Merier 1990, 6). I think that socialization is a really important key in teaching young students. Every child will socialize different but if a student can’t socialize with their peers or teachers then it can harm their learning. Shor also goes on describing the many ways of Education. “On the one hand. Education is a socializing activity organized, funded, and regulated by authorities who set a curriculum managed (or changed) in the classroom by teachers. On the other hand, education is a social experience for tens or millions of students who come to class with their own dreams and agendas, sometimes cooperating with and sometimes resisting the intentions of the school and the teacher.” This totally relates back to what he is saying in the beginning of chapter 1, students need to be able to socialize mainly with their other peers.

Show also says that empowerment is critical for self and social change. When Shor talks about the empowerment in classrooms I immediately thought of the rules and codes of power.  When students are socializing with their teachers and peers every student should be taught all the different rules and codes of power.

Points to Share:

First I wanted to say that this story was very long, I found myself skimming towards the end. Besides that I would like to share the fact that I never really thought about socialization being taught to students. I thought it was just something that we picked up when we got to school. So my ultimate question is whether or not we focus enough on students socializing or if it’s more about the learning. Obviously learning is one of the main reasons why students have to go to school but should we be focusing a little more on ways to socialize? 

Ira Shor's opinion on what is a "good" pre-school!