Dayzha A.

McKelley

SPF 203

Professor Nyachae

Critical Reflection Paper #1 October 1, 2017

How did Politics and Economy Affect Society

I will be writing my essay on what affects politics and economy had on society. When

schools were made they were not made with intent to guide everyone to their specific desires,

they were made to serve the public. According to Springs (2014) “Given the political control of

public schools, it is not possible for a principal of a public school to design the content and

methods of instruction to suit the wishes of individual parents or students(p.3). When students

enter a public school they are submitting to the will of the public as determined by local, state,

and federal governments”. I agree with this quote in the sense that because of the political

control the principal wouldn't have any kind of control under the materials that will be taught.

The principal is under the command of the government as well. This also means that although

the principal is at the school everyday and far more often than either of the controlling

governments, they still can not design the material that will be taught in the school. In my

personal experience I think that is not the smartest thing that could have happened. It makes no

sense to me that the people that are hired by the government aren't deemed fit to design and

create the structure that the school should teach. Teachers and school staff are so concerned with

things such as sticking to the curriculum and the principal automatically has to reinforce these

concepts and three types of governments have made up. Those rules don't always fit the ever

changing situations that schools encounter.

 As reported by Coleman (1968) “ There are two elements of critical importance here.

First, the families carried responsibility for its members’ welfare...the farmer's fields were

appropriate training grounds for sons, and the household was an appropriate training grounds for

daughters”(p.8). I believe what Coleman is saying is that the basis of social classes were formed

around the “job” that the families held, such as a shoemaker or a baker, and the amount of money

that the job would bring into the family, to remain in a specific social class. I feel as if these

political welfare classes and the economic step stools have created a rigged society. Later in this

reading Coleman(1968) also says “In this kind of society, the concept of educational

opportunities had no relevance at all. The child and adult were embedded within the extended

family, and the child's education or training was merely whatever seemed necessary to maintain

the family's productivity”(p.8). The political and economic prominence affected this group of

people in this social food chain severely. So much that they have made the public schools act in

agreeance of this by teaching the farmers sons, farming and the baker's sons baking. This way

because the children are succeeding the parents in the same footsteps, the families stay in the

same social and economic classes.

Springs (2014) later stated “Before the actual establishment of public schools, public

leaders argued that public schools were needed to create a national culture and to educate

qualified politicians for a republican government” (p.6). This sounds a lot like Coleman's reading

except these schools are more in favor of the political side of things. Instead of gearing the

schools to catering to the economic classes and to stay in the same social ranking, the schools

that Springs it talking about is gearing children to rise in the political and social ranks. This

affected the social ranks in the sense that going to college were only for the economically

equipped. In conjunction with that Springs(2014) also said “ To avoid the problem of elitism,
Thomas Jefferson suggested using education to promote a meritocracy; a term still used to

describe the effect of schools on society”(p.6). Without using education to promote meritocracy

the society would possibly have fallen into an era where only the rich could go to school and get

the jobs that would make more money. Leaving only room for those with money to rise in the

social class rankings of this time. Personally this reminds me of a classroom where only the top

percentage was picked to receive help to rise the ranks quickly and all of the students below the

elite of the class were left to struggle. Nor were they ever given their chance to prove themselves

worthy of being selected to be apart of the elite class.

Coleman (1968) says “As families lost their economic production activities, they also

began to lose their welfare functions, and the poor or ill or incapacitated became more nearly a

community responsibility” (p.9). As this was happening the economic and social classes

changed. With the Industrial Revolution taking place the living situations had changed therefore

a need for modulation of social classes and education structure needed to come around. Now the

families and the schools were becoming more concerned with giving children a general

education with general skills that would benefit for working outside the family. I can relate to

this because I am an arts kid. To me that means that I was apart of a generation that was more

interested in things other than general education. Music to a degree was more important than my

other classes, and I knew that i just wanted to teach music. Nowadays there's is a struggle for

music teachers and music programs are getting threatened to be cut from schools, so the need for

change in my life and importances have paid off.

Lastly the hold that economics and politics has on society is a strong one. It is like a three

legged chair and that can't stand on one leg. These concepts need each other to survive and
remain relevant. To me, Springs and Coleman have a good sense of relevance for the cause and

effects that happen when situations change politically, economically or both.

Referances

Coleman, J. S. (1967). The Concept of Equality of Educational Opportunity

Springs, J. (2014). The history and goals of American schooling. In J. Springs (Ed.), American

education (pp. 3 - 27). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill Higher Education