Throughout my life I’ve been a rookie. I’ve been a rookie high school student, football player, college student and a rookie at marriage. Each time there was an uncanny excitement about all of the new things that I expected to learn. It seems that there is always someone there to give me advice about how to navigate the ropes. I’ve found that keeping an open mind to new opportunities has been a key to my success. So now I find myself once again a rookie at social networking. What a fun journey it has already been. I have found people on social networks who are jumping in to help someone who is new. It appears that thousands of people are joining these networks everyday. I admire all of the people who are sharing their wisdom to save people time, money and energy. The social networks are full of articles, blogs, business information, individual profiles and areas of special interest. I have received immediate responses to questions that I have been pondering for months. The social networks give you an opportunity to explore what others around the world are doing and to reconnect with friends from high school and college. This week I reconnected with students that I’ve taught over the last twenty-five years on Facebook. com. I have been so inspired that I started my own education social network at myedunetwork. com. I have my own business and joining Sta. rtup. biz. com has been an invaluable resource. When you are a rookie you look for every opportunity to get out on the field to play. Therefore, I recently started my own radio social network at blogtalkradio. com. It appears that people are looking for an opportunity to here from experts any time of the day. People who are in your network also get special information directly because they are your members. If you are looking for exciting news and hear what your peers are thinking than you cannot continue to wait on the sideline. You have the flexibility to determine who you want to participate as a member of your social network web page. People all over the world will express a desire to communicate with individuals in the social network. Sometimes people offer the right encouragement at the moment that you need it. I have noticed an overwhelming amount of words of congratulations that are passed from individual to individual. I recommend that you choose a social network that meets your specific needs. There are social networks for individuals who are interested in reconnecting, business, marketing, and personal videos. People are involved in social networks because they have decided that it will provide answers to a particular challenge they are facing. For example networks like linkedin. com offer a personal and business networking opportunity. I have asked questions and received an immediate response. I’m a rookie all over again and I’m enjoying the ride. Since I am a rookie I expect to learn something new every day. Just like exercising to become fit you must participate in your social networking sites every day to establish your footing. There is a bottomless amount of information to comprehend. The social networks have inspired the next internet revolution. Get on board the social network train and enjoy the ride.
Posts Tagged ‘Twenty Five Years’
The Rationale Behind Secondary Education Today
December 17th, 2009One hundred and fifteen years ago, a scholarly group of men released the Report of the Committee of Ten. The Report of the Committee of Ten was a comprehensive document detailing the spirit and substance of secondary school education. Twenty five years later, in 1918, the Committee’s thorough and cohesive report was refuted by the Department of the Interior Bureau of Education in a proclamation titled Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. Though not overtly stated, the Cardinal Principles was a contested response and re-direction to the Report of the Committee of Ten. While the Committee sought to enable and empower all students through education, the Cardinal Principles aimed to train boys and girls in prescribed roles and set values that would perpetuate the status quo. This article will discuss the polarity between the Committee of Ten and the Cardinal Principles as a contest between educating the student, and training the student.
The Committee of Ten wanted to enlighten the “immature mind of the school student”, (J. M. Taylor, 1894, p. 194) namely, both boys and girls, with an education that would last a lifetime. The Committee aimed to do this through a “continuity of study”. This “continuity of study” would develop in two ways. First, the “school student” would receive an in depth education in nine “principal fields of knowledge” and their respective auxiliary subjects. (The Committee of Ten: Main Report, Section 46, 1893) Secondly, the Committee having a concern for a student’s complete education and knowing only a small proportion of students would stay to the end of secondary schooling at eighteen years of age, wanted also to have this continuity of study commence in the elementary grades with the introduction to the nine “principal fields of knowledge”. For the Committee, it was vital to develop “all mental habits, which the adult will surely need …before the age of fourteen. ” (The Committee of Ten: Main Report, Section 16) Ultimately, the Committee of Ten believed that educating the student meant opening the intellect to thought and knowledge. (The Committee of Ten: Main Report, Sections 46 – 50) The Committee believed that this development of the intellect was the main purpose of education.
In response to the Committee’s view of education, the Cardinal Principles boldly retorted “its protest against any and all plans” of the Committee of Ten’s “formalism and sterility” because it resulted in “divorcing vocation and social-civic education. ” (Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, Chapters V – VII, 1918) The writers of the Cardinal Principles presented seven principles that were intended to re-organize secondary school education from the Committee’s intellectualism to “vocation” and “social- civic education”. These seven Cardinal Principles would replace formalized, developmental academic knowledge with training in life tasks, and, moral values for boys and girls.
By eradicating pedagogy and curriculum that would allow students to think in the abstract and replace this with training in concrete life skills, the writers of the Cardinal Principles hoped to maintain and sustain the current American economy and democracy. A boy was to be equipped with the ability “to secure a livelihood for himself and those dependent on him…” (Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, Principle 4 Vocation, Section 7) A girl was to be trained in the “household arts…because of their importance to the girl herself and to others whose welfare will be directly in her keeping. ” (Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, Principle 3, Worthy home membership, Section 6) With boys and girls trained to employ their proper places in society, it was expected that the American economy would prosper.
Of equal importance in secondary school instruction, was the immersion of boys and girls in moral values. These values were expected to “permeate the entire school –principals, teachers, and pupils”; this infusion of moral values would shape the primary ingredient needed in a democratic society, namely, “Ethical character”. (Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, Principle 7, Ethical character, Sections 9 & 10) For the writers of the Cardinal Principles, without the seven cardinal principles, secondary education was frivolous and wasteful since it did not prepare boys and girls for “the needs of life”. (Ravitch, 2000. p. 129)
While the Committee of Ten was intent on intellectualizing the student; the Cardinal Principles was fixed on training the student. The Committee of Ten believed, given an education, a student would develop the thinking processes necessary to make right decisions in adulthood. The writers of the Cardinal Principles held an opposing view. They believed that only through practical rote skills and values could the “right attitude”, “sterling character”, and “right principles” guarantee the right workings of adulthood. (Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education, Chapters I – XX)
The effects of the Cardinal Principles are imbedded in the systems of education today. It is the skills and training that a student garners by the end of Secondary School which are of most importance; not the development of his or her independence of thought. Given the turbulent times of today, it is debatable if the Cardinal Principles of ninety years ago can ensure an American society that is secure and sustainable tomorrow.
References
Elliot, C. W. (1893). Report of the Committee of Ten. Retrieved October 23, 2007 from http://tmh. floonet. net/books/commorften/mainrpt. html
National Education Association. (1918) Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. Retrieved October 23, 2007 from
http://tmh. floonet. net/articles/cardprin. html
Ravitch, D. (2000). Left Back, A Century of Battles Over School Reform. New York:Simon & Schuster.
Taylor, J. M. (1894). The Report of the Committee of Ten. The School Review 2(4), 193-199. Retrieved October 23, 2007 from http://www. jstor. org/journals/ucpress. html.
