Schooling as I have known it...

Evaluate the quality of schooling as you have known it.  Was it marked by the weaknesses identified by reformers in this chapter, or did you largely attend schools other than those that are being identified as deficient?  Do you have criticisms that school reformers have not identified?  How might schools in different neighborhoods fare in the reformers’ views of what counts as a school in need of reform?  How might the David School fare?  What ideological and political-economic insights might be drawn from this student assessment of the quality of their schools?

      As I have known it, schooling was much better than I really thought.  I went to a smaller school district growing up and did very well.  Once in college, I felt that my teachers did not care too much for students and scraped by doing the bare minimum to earn a paycheck in my little 'podunk' town.  The reality looking back now that I am an educator, is that the teachers in that small school worked their tails off.  We were held to very high standards and a lot was expected of us as students.  The biggest area we lacked was funding.  Some of the much larger schools in the area often did better then us academically (and athletically), but this was primarily due to money.  We could not afford the newest and latest gadgets.  I have not been out of school for that long, and we had five computers in the high school where I graduated from.  Working in a smaller district today, I see the students through the eyes that most of my own teachers looked through.  We make the best of whatever situation we are in.  We don't accept anything less than excellence from students, and they may not realize it today, but they will down the road.