What+Good+are+Schools?

Purpose: To examine the role of school in your formation as a knower. To start to question this role and discuss if there is a better way to do "schooling" and what way that would be.



Class Activity

pre-reading discussion: What role do schools play in how we approach knowledge?
 * Days One and Two**

Read the handout by Benjamin Franklin, entitled //Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America//. Take 7 minutes to compare your education to the education received by the "Indians" (Native Americans). Write down your thoughts.

Then, break into groups of 4 or 5 students. You represent the Ministry of Education for Ecuador. You will have today and the next class to design the best possible educational curriculum for the high school students in Ecuador. As you devise your curriculum, answer these questions:
 * What classes and activities will be part of the curriculum?
 * What do we expect the students to know and be able to do?
 * What will the ideal graduate be like?
 * Will you pay attention to moral/ethical education, community service, political education, physical education and sports, and arts education?

Each group will share their results in class. Take about 5 minutes, describing your curriculum. You may use the board or other visuals. We will have a short discussion, focusing on these questions:
 * Day Three**
 * What are the aims of Liceo Internacional (what are you expected to know?)
 * What are the ideals of the Ecuadorian society, that produced these aims?
 * Where did those ideals come from? How are they justified?
 * What conflicts can arise from those ideals?

Grading criteria:
 * group participation
 * how well the questions are answered/creativity of responses
 * participation in discussion

You will be given class time to respond to the following reflection questions (Journal #2): 1) What is the contribution of formal education to you as a knower? 2) To what extent do other people, in your school and in other parts of your life, guide your learning? 3) Are you the one who is responsible for your own knowledge, as well as for the actions that you take based on what you know or what you don't know?

Think critically about the role of school, of Liceo Internacional, in your life and in what you know and how you know it. This journal should reflect your thoughts on this topic.

Day Four Read the quote at the top of the page, by Lilian. The following article describes indigenous knowledge as a different way of knowing. Skim the article. Re-read the quote. Invent a question about the quote.