WebQuest:
THE LACK OF DEMOCRACY
IN TRADITIONAL
EDUCATION SYSTEMS
Roger Dennis
School for Excellence
Social Studies
INTRODUCTION
For the most part traditional education in
the
There is a relatively new phenomenon
called Democratic Education, which claims that its core philosophy is to fully
respect the student and to allow young people the freedom to be in charge of
their own learning.
You have been selected to be a part of a
committee which will examine the strengths and weaknesses of Democratic
Education, and to make a determination as to whether it would be beneficial for
public schools throughout America, and especially here
in
TASK
After researching several schools which
define themselves as democratic, you and your colleagues will report your
findings in a typewritten, three- to five-page position paper which will be
presented to the Chancellor, the Mayor, the President of the Teachers Union,
the NYC Parents Association, the United States Commissioner of Education, and
various other individuals and education groups.
In addition to the position paper, you
will also be required to write a one-page essay on your general feelings
towards school, to keep a journal of your thoughts and experiences during this
project, and to prepare a presentation in a medium other than writing. These will be explained in more detail in the
PROCESS section.
You will also use the TIPS Public Policy
Analyst to record your research and ideas.
Obviously, this is an extremely important
assignment which could ultimately impact on millions of students. I trust you will take it seriously!
PROCESS
BEFORE
YOU BEGIN: Write
a one page essay describing what you like — and do not like —about school. Include a mention of which was the best
school you ever attended, and why you feel this way. We will review this essay
at the end of the web quest and see if you have any change of opinions.
Your assignment:
As you prepare the various parts of this
Web Quest, make sure to summarize your research and ideas on
the following six TIPS Public Policy worksheets: Read the instructions
on each web page. Then complete the worksheets using the internet links in the
resource section and other outside text material. You will use these worksheets
as resource material for completing your task.
Worksheet 1:
Define the Problem
Worksheet 2:
Gather Evidence of
the Problem
Worksheet 3:
Determine Causes
of the Problem
Worksheet 4: Evaluate Existing
Public Policy Solutions
Worksheet 5:
Propose
Original Public Policy Solutions
Worksheet 6:
Choose the Best
Public Policy Solutions
2.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: For the
remainder of this assignment you MUST keep a journal of all that you are thinking and feeling as you
read through the web sites below!!
3.
Go to http://sudval.org/ and read those
two paragraphs.
4.
Go to http://sudval.org/texts/kingdom.html
and read ‘
5.
Go to http://sudval.org/texts/bac2basc.html
and read ‘Back to Basics’.
6.
Optional: Go anywhere you want to
on this site.
7.
Go to http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/overview.shtml
and read the overview.
8.
Go to http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/internships.shtml
and look at the picture.
9. Go
to http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/endowments.shtml
and look at the picture.
10.
Go to http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/endowments.shtml
and look at the pictures.
11.
Go to http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/press.shtml
and read the second article, “Students Feel Slaves’ Fearful Flight.”
12.
Go to http://www.metcenter.org/ and read the
first paragraph.
13.
Now click on “each student’s curriculum” and “projects in real world
settings.” Read these.
14.
Go to http://www.bigpicture.org/images&portfolio/MET_Portfolio_Real_World.pdf
and read those four pages.
15.
Go to http://www.liberty-school.org/. Read this page and check
out, at the bottom of the page, their zine, “The
Fertile Turtle.”
16.
Go to http://educationrevolution.org/. All the schools you have visited are on this
site. Go wherever you want to go. Enjoy.
Spend as much or as little time on this as you choose.
17.
In some way of your choosing (for example: writing, video, drawing,
audio) prepare a presentation to be made to the group telling us what
Democratic Education is, how it compares to the education you have known, and
how you are feeling about all of this.
18.
During the presentations to the group and the
subsequent class discussion we will have, be sure to listen carefully and make
journal entries.
19.
Write your individual position paper.
Be sure to include an overview of the comparative strengths and
weaknesses of Democratic Education and traditional education. Finally, make your determination as to
whether public schools in
RESOURCES
http://sudval.org/texts/kingdom.html
http://sudval.org/texts/bac2basc.html
http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/overview.shtml
http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/internships.shtml
http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/endowments.shtml
http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/press.shtml
http://www.albanyfreeschool.com/publications.shtml
http://www.bigpicture.org/images&portfolio/MET_Portfolio_Real_World.pdf
http://educationrevolution.org/
GENERAL WEB SITES
EVALUATION
An “A” paper meets all of the criteria
mentioned above, and it is superior and/or exceptionally engaging. In addition the paper may draw upon any
number of factors: maturity of style, effectiveness of argument, use of
literary and/or rhetorical devices, depth of discussion, sophistication of wit
or quality of imagination.
A “B” paper is clearly adequate. The prose is able to convey the writer’s
ideas, but without flair or strong control.
Diction and syntax are usually appropriate, but lack variety. The reader
has a clear sense of the writer’s purpose, but is not engaged by the prose.
A
“C” paper is barely adequate. The paper
features underdeveloped paragraphs.
Transition may be weak or absent.
Although the reader may be aware of some purpose, errors impede the
fluency of the paper.
An unacceptable paper or a “U” paper is
compromised by its brevity and it deficiency of composition, content, diction,
syntax, structure, voice and conventions of language as to render its
meaning/purpose almost unintelligible.
STANDARDS
The
following
Social Studies, Standard 5:1, 5:3, 5:4 http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/socst/socstands/socstand.html
English Language Arts, Standard 1
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ela/elastandards/elamap.html
CONCLUSION
You should have learned a lot about a
radically different form of education and may very well have changed as a
person. You have hopefully made an
important contribution to your community and perhaps to society overall.
I say ‘hopefully’ because people in power
positions tend not to listen to the voices of young people, especially when
they are expressing opinions these “power people” do not want to hear; so there
is no guarantee that the Mayor, the Chancellor, and others will pay attention
to your contributions.
If we get no legitimate responses from the
people we send this to, we will bring this to the media, get it out on the Internet,
and decide as a group what else we might want to do to get our voices heard!
Then some more learning will begin!!!
