HW 46

As I have mentioned before on my blog, I am interning at Merricat's Preschool.  The woman who founded the school, Gretchen Buchenholz is very recognized in the education system.  Her ideas and philosophy's on school are quite similar to mine actually.  For HW 46 I read a portion of Lighting the Way - Nine Women Who Changed Modern America by Karenna Core Schiff.  In this novel Gretchen is honored for her work with not only Merricat's but many other preschools and other organizations she has founded.  It discusses her ideas of creating all inclusion classrooms.  "The policy today is to reserve one-third of the spots for homeless (or very poor) children, one-third for special needs children, and one-third for the typically developing children from families who can afford to pay.  "It's a tricky formula, but we keep the faith," Gretchen says with a smile." (Page 395) Essentially the main idea of the text is to inform us of being able to accommodate a large variety of people within a classroom.  That the things we learn at a very young age are extremely significant to later learning in life.  

In my HW 42 I asked the question: How can you be a good worker in the future, if you can't interact with people in the present? I still believe that if you go to a school with no diversity in both race but also ability to learn, your going to be less capable on being open minded.  I think what Gretchen is trying to do is make the  children of the future well rounded people.  Gretchen is thinking about others futures and being able to help them with their problems in the present.  One of her ways of solving these problems, is promoting education to anyone and not discriminating against someone because of a learning disability.  From both personal experience of going to Merricat's as a student and now interning, I can see the joy from these children's faces.  The fact that they enjoy coming to school and being able to experience new things while learning is exactly what all early childhood development should strive for.   

The description of Gretchen and her work seem quite similar to the ideas behind Blackboard Jungle... Gretchen is the ring leader of the teachers trying to make a difference within the educational system.  As much as Blackboard Jungle and other films based on it, seem quite cliche of what schools are like, Gretchen in many ways has made it reality.  She takes children with problems, without problems, and guides them to understand that regardless of your circumstances anyone who wants to learn, can.  As much as doing homework, writing papers and taking tests is not an ideal way of spending my time I honestly think it pays off.  The experiences we learn from day one guide us throughout our whole lives.  

If school were eliminated completely would our brains develop the way they do?  Or would they rot and would we die younger?  By learning we are pushing ourselves to do something with our lives or be someone.  Although we may not all be the president or the C.E.O of a company wherever we end up the skills we gained from school will probably be of at least some use.  As we get older school honestly does get quite repetitive but its because we are so used to it.  If we find ways to exceed our expectations and challenge our thinking then maybe it would be less boring.  No one ever said life was going to be easy, and school is just a part of it...