Finn and Oakes

Finn and Oakes: Connections

While reading both Finn and Oates I found a lot of things that reminded me of other readings we have done in class and also they both connected very well to each other. First I read Oakes which I’m glad I started out with. While the article talked about tracking I found myself wondering if it really does have such a prominent effect on students and where they end up. All throughout high school I felt like everything was in some way “tracked.” We had AP, honors, college prep, then standard classes and everything was molded to some way fit to teach the certain group. While reading Finn and looking at Anyon’s study I found that this tracking was effecting the school and the way the students come out and in a way it was keeping everyone in their place in society. While Oakes mentioned a few ways to get rid of tracking, I think that with schools like the ones Anyon described it would be much harder to break that glass.

I also want to connect Oakes to a sort of “secret education.” While Oakes was discussing how certain tracking classes worked the children didn’t even know that they were being educated to fit their class, like with the study that Anyon did. Anyon discussed about what each class was being trained for-their place in society. So was I being trained to be working class because I went to a more working class school? I believe so and I think this is a hidden curriculum that no one really notices.

I also think both of the Oakes and Finn articles connect to our “Separate but Equal” topic. This education style of tracking really separates classes but does not give them equal opportunities. I guess it is sort of like when whites had better school book than blacks. The upper class and lower class schools both had the same materials but the upper class schools had better teachers, a more experienced curriculum, while the lower classes had average teachers who just focused on the book.

I also think that these articles connected well with Johnson in a way. Johnson says we need to talk about the issue so we can fix it. I think that Oakes and Finn are doing exactly what Johnson would want them to do, calling schools out on tracking so we can eventually find a solution so everything is equal.

I found this article online about tracking and how it is harmful and thought it was very relevant

Not really related to tracking, but a point that Finn brought up in his piece was that whenever he was in school he would think about how he could apply whatever he was learning to his classroom. I always find myself doing that, especially in FNED, I was just wondering if anyone else felt the same way.