Reflection on Eisner's Article
The first point that stopped me is the question “is it the case that the less able are less honorable or less worthy?” To me, the answer is clearly a No. As a math tutor, I have seen students trying hard on the subject and still cannot understand regardless of how or in what ways they were taught. For example, I have a student who reaches piano grade 10 and is very talented in designing. Not doing well in math and science does not mean that the person is any less worthy or honorable than people doing well in course subjects. I have had teachers who only cared about the high achieving students in the class, and it made me feel very uncomfortable and less valued as a student. There may be language barriers, learning disabilities or other factors that affect a student’s grade, so teachers should try to help the students to achieve their best instead of the best of a class or of the whole grade.
Another point is that “the implicit curriculum of school can teach a host of intellectual and social virtues: punctuality, a willingness to work hard on tasks that are not immediately enjoyable…”. I did not like math at first, because I only learned math about concepts and nothing interesting about it. Then, I realized that the reason that I like math is the enjoyment it brings after a hard problem is solved and became more involved in the subject. I think subject matter should not be the only focus of school, teachers also need to inspire interests so that students would be willing to learn and to work hard intrinsically.
I think the new curriculum provides teachers a lot more freedom on how and what to teach, so that teachers can think of activities or materials that are suitable for them to create curiosity and inspire interests for students. Teachers can also focus more on developing students' skills such as critical thinking skills and so on.
Thanks for a thoughtful post, Yijia!
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