Week 5 5.27

Sameness and fairness.

Everyone we’ve read so far for this class discusses the disparities in schools. There are disparities everywhere, from state aid to assessments, school demographic, everything!

After reading Dr. Tuck’s blog pertaining to the Abbott School Districts court case I was confused at first about why people would be in an uproar over the state giving the poor schools money in order to be equal with the rich schools, but then I started thinking critically about it and I made some realizations. I think there are two very different viewpoints on the issue of equality and social classes. I think there are two major ideas on this subject in terms of class and wealth. On one hand there is the belief and the notion that class and wealth should remain stagnant, the same concept of the Caste system in India. On the other hand there is a belief in upward mobility and the American dream.

I really enjoyed Malcom Gladwell’s talk, and I loved one of his final points about consumer products. Not only was Gladwell an excellent orator with a fascinating voice, I thought the way he compared industry with education was genius. He made a statement about spaghetti sauces that I thought was one of the best sentences I’ve ever heard about education, something that Howard Moscowitz is cited with inventing the concept of ‘horizontal segmentation’ According to Moscowitz, “mustard does not exist on a hierarchy, mustard exists just like tomato sauce on a horizontal plane, there is not good mustard or bad mustard, there is no perfect mustard or imperfect mustard. There are only different kinds of mustard that suit different kinds of people. He fundamentally democratized the way we think about taste...” I think this is a great way to view the classroom. I think it would be amazing if teachers viewed their students as all on one horizontal line: that all students are equal. There are just different variations of each individual. There is no “special ed” or “exceptional.” We as educators should just view our students as human beings. Unique human beings. We need to differentiate instruction in order to accommodate all of our students. Gladwell also said that all mustards are the same, no mustard should be more expensive then another, but the one mustard that is more expensive makes you want it more, it is something to aspire to. That is one of my core educational philosophies. I plan to hold my students to a very high standard. This is not just because I want to be a mean and difficult teacher but because I believe that if I demand the best I will receive the best. I think that an air of superiority in the room can only benefit my students to work their hardest.