Economic restraints prove to be a deterrent for a place-based approach to education. How can we take students out of the classroom when we can hardly keep them in? Do economic constraints prove to be a significant obstacle?
1. Please read the abstract from the article, Colorado Education Cuts will Exceed Initial Expectations. Click the following link to read: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/05/colorado-education-cuts-w_n_451516.html
*Access to the full article can be found at:http://www.ednewscolorado.org/2010/02/04/2785-k-12-cut-now-looks-like-431-million
2. Consider the following comments:
In the flat stretch of land stretching westward from Parramatta
to the mountains lie some of the poorest areas of the city and hundreds of
thousands of people—young and old—whose lives and imaginations are
constituted and constrained by representations of the places they inhabit.
How might it be to live in, or to come from, a place that is a byword for
failure? What possibilities does this open and close for the futures of young
people who have the taint of this place on them when they enter the world
of work and schooling?
As “critical” pedagogies, these are pedagogies that make claims about social
justice, equity, and transformative and ethical practices. The research takes
up the central question, “What does place do?” (Somerville, 2005) and recognizes
that place learning is necessarily embodied and local (Somerville,
2006, 2008).
Points taken from the article,
Gannon, S. (2009). "Rewriting "the Road to Nowhere": Place Pedagogies in Western Sydney". Urban education (Beverly Hills, Calif.) (0042-0859), 44 (5), p. 608.
DOI: 10.1177/0042085909339377
3. Please respond to the following questions by returning to the threaded discussion on e-college. (This prompt will be given on e-college)
Does place-based education have a "place" in American schools today? Where does focus in schools need to be (better lessons, more concentrated curriculum, state standards, social justice...)? Would place-based education "cure" issues in the American education system or does place-based education serve as a mediator between curriculum and learning?
3. Thank you for taking time to visit this site, complete the activities, and provide feedback.
Road to Nowhere, by Talking Heads; commentary on education trends or the current state of American public schools?
Road to Nowhere, David Byrne-Talking Heads
