Reflection Log Week 2: Societal Influences on Curriculum

• What are some of the societal forces that influence school curricula today?
• How do curriculum definitions, curricular history, and theoretical approaches and policy progress relate to major societal forces such as technology and the world at large?
• How might a school leader be proactive in the advent of these types of influences in terms of curricular offerings?

When I entered education, for some reason I felt that students would act the way I did in school. I knew that I had no other choice but to get an education (thanks to my parents), to respect any adult at school because they knew what was best for me, and to always put my best foot forward because I did not want anyone to think I was a failure. I expected the school to be the place where I would learn so that I can make informed steps towards the rest of my life. I did not depend on the school for my basic needs. Was my mind blown when I stepped into the total opposite! Seven years later, I am still dumbfounded that there are still large percentages of students who will be a first-time high school graduate in their family. It is often said that schools have assumed the role of counselors, caregivers, social workers, disciplinarians, as well as educators. I can attest that we do all of that and much more!

Society is moving at such a fast pace that the average adult citizen has to adapt on their own, but the upcoming generations have to learn what they see as current daily living can be used for educational purposes and hopefully become aware of how things were done in the past to gain a sense of appreciation. Unfortunately, if you have a group that is still stuck in the past as far as knowledge and skills are concerned, there is now a huge learning curve that has to happen and the schools must fill that void to not only bring them through the past, but become productive in current times, and learn how to adapt for the future. Everything seems to affect how and what we need to teach in schools from the federal government, state governments, local governments, school systems, community members, professional organizations, parents, staff, and students. As our society endures certain events, it is then up to the school system to expose our students to the how, what, where, when, who, and why so that they can take that information and either avoid repeating the event or learn from it to improve the situation. For example, I never learned the details of how the President of the United States was elected, specifically  what the popular vote versus the electoral vote. Now that the elections have been such a source of controversy, the details are much more focused on in school. Also, society has moved to such technological dependence that learning using technology just seems natural, but when the resources and the know-how is not afforded to the schools, then those group of students are now at a disadvantage.

When looking at the written, taught, tested, and hidden curricula, it all depends on the state of those citizens of that school district. For the districts that serve high-poverty and/or high-minority students, the curricula looks much more different by containing numerous hidden curricula. While one district in a state may still be focusing on basic sentence structure in order to write a cohesive paragraph in the 9th grade, a different district in the same state can focus on writing 15-page research papers. However, both districts must still meet the same standards put forth by the state and federal government. Although this inequity exists, a curriculum and the standards that usually dictate what every student should learn about that content is intended to put every student on the same playing field. Unfortunately, the inequity comes prior to the curriculum even being taught and it is up to the individual schools to determine how to bring their students up multiple grade levels in a twelfth of the time. When these types of situations arise and it seems that new theories of instruction are spreading like wildfire, we see if it can work for our students who are struggling the most. When it seems that it only works for a small percentage of students, then we look back to see what worked for the generations before us. We are constantly in this flux to see what works the best for ALL students in the shortest amount of time because we have lost precious years trying to catch up to other countries and cranking out what looks good without taking into account the work and details it takes to change gears. 

As a school leader, the question should emphatically be, "What works best for the student?" At what point are those who create the curricula and decide what a student needs to know will actually take the student as a person into account?" We assess students to death, we constantly switch up how they will learn information, we introduce all of these new-found brain-imaging based techniques, and where has it gotten us? A society that now has to get citizens to put their trust back in our educational system. Now there is a huge competition between public schools, charter schools, private schools, religious-based schools, home schools, online schools, and alternative schools all while having more mandates and less funding. Administrators have to realize that there is no magic potion to getting students to learn and strategically taking into account what is best for each student in their school is what will allow them to see gains. Everyone wants to have a say in what will be best, but always putting the student at the top of the pyramid takes priority. It is then that school leaders need to present that plan to other stakeholders so that all have the same goal to achieve. A school cannot appease all who claim wants to help, but if the student is not a priority, those intentions will definitely show. Student achievement is the focus no matter what events occur in our world, no matter what laws are passed, and no matter who is in charge of the government.