5840 Syllabus

FDN 5840, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education

Holidays	Wed.	Class Topics, Assigned Readings, and Related Links
	Aug. 22	Introduction.
		Download syllabus. Remember, the online version is the official syllabus. You are required to consult it for readings and other class assignments.
	Aug. 29	Kozol, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. Pages 1-214.
		High school graduation rates by state and racial group. Click here.
		Incarceration rates for minority males from Human Rights Watch.
		Growing Good Principals
		Video: People Like Us: Social Class in America, Part I
	Sept. 5	No class. However, finish Shame of the Nation, pp. 214-338. Discuss online as your schedule allows.
	Sept. 6	10 AM Convocation at the Holmes Center. Speaker: Paul Caudros. Please arrange your schedule so you can attend one or more of the following events with Paul Cuadros, author of A Home on the Field: How One Championship Soccer Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America. .
		a. 2 PM, Sept 6, in I.G. Greer Auditorium. Author Cuadros will participate in a panel discussion with faculty members.
		b. 7:30 PM, Sept. 6, Caudros will speak in Plemmons Student Union as part of the Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers series.
		c. Friday, Sept. 7, at 10:30 AM Cuadros will give a presentation at Watauga Public Library as part of the Watauga Reads program.
Rosh Hashanah	Sept. 12	No class. Jewish New Year. A day of planning for the future and meditation. One hundred notes of the shofar are blown in synagogue on each day of Rosh Hashanah. No work is allowed.
	Sept. 19	Lemann, The Big Test, Book One: "The Moral Equivalent of Religion", pp. 3-122 and Book Two: "The Master Plan", pp. 123-173.
		Stephan Jay Gould on IQ. Click here.
		Video: People Like Us: Social Class in America, Part II
		Video: The American Dream at Groton
	Oct. 3	Cuadros, A Home on the Field: How One Championship Soccer Team Inspires Hope for the Revival of Small Town America. Read the complete book.
		Dewey, from School and Society, and Essays on Contemporary Thought. Click here.
		Adam Gamoran, "Is Ability Grouping Equitable?" Click here.
		Clotfelter, et al., "Segregation and Resegregation in North Carolina’s Public School Classrooms." Resegregation through tracking. Click here.
		North Carolina Middle School Association Research Bulletin on tracking and ability grouping. Click here.
		North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction, "Grouping Practices Research Brief." Click here.
		Teachers, Children, and EOG's
		Mid-term assigned. Click here.
	Oct. 10	Mid-term due, 10 pm, via e-mail attachment to gayle_at_gayleturner.net. MS Word format (or rtf as second best choice.)
	Oct. 17	Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed, pp. 1-221.
		Resources and links for Nickel and Dimed. Click here.
		Economic Opportunity Institute: An argument for an increased minimum wage. Click here.
		Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition: The minimum wage debate. Click here.
		Video: A Class Divided.
		Slides from keynote: PDF
	Oct. 23	7:30 PM I.G. Greer Auditorium. Migrant Labor And Immigration: North Carolina And Beyond. A Film Series. "Milagros: Made in Mexico." This documentary addresses migration’s impact on women in Mexico and offers a unique understanding of migration to the US from a Mexican perspective. In the rural town of Pozos in Guanajuato, Chata Garcia shares the secret of why her sons are still in Mexico rather than migrating to the US. Milagros provides an in-depth look at women’s successful efforts to revive their birthplace in an attempt to diminish the need to migrate to the United States. Director Monique Velásquez will be the guest speaker.
	Nov. 7	Quinn, Ishmael. Read the complete novel.
		Video: Genesis: A Living Conversation. "The First Murder."
		Philosophies of education and learning theories chart. Click here.
	Nov. 13	7:30 PM I.G. Greer Auditorium. Migrant Labor And Immigration: North Carolina And Beyond. A Film Series. "Help Wanted: Farm Workers in North Carolina." This film takes a critical look at the lives of the people who work in North Carolina’s fields, examining the tangled histories of the H-2A guestworker program, the NC Growers Association, and the successful Farm Labor Organizing Committee boycott of the Mt. Olive Pickle Company. FLOC spokesman Ken Barger will be the guest speaker.
	Nov. 14	Delpit, pp. xi-69. Click here.
		Without Sanctuary: Lynching in America. Click here. (The "official" site has been removed, but the photos and text from the exhibit are still available. Please browse, and be sure to click on the link that will tell you more about any postcard you view.)
		Rorty, "Solidarity or objectivity" and "Science as solidarity". Handout: Click here. Solidarity/Objectivity Chart.
		Video: The Sudbury Valley School.
	Nov. 28	Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible. Pp ix-278-543.
		Take-home final assigned. Click here.
	Dec. 3	Monday. Final due at 10 PM.