What were some functions of schools in the first part of the 20th century? How are some of these functions similar to schools of today? What are some differences and how influential do you think schools are in shaping and socializing youth to various concepts around justice?
Education beginning with the 20th century determined where one worked, what stature you had and what possibilities you would have in life. The three points of the triangle with education and how it centers around justice is that it has always been used to keep certain groups, races or sexes at a lower standard; and amazing with this was how even though we had many people willing to do any job they could possibly get one still had to worry bout child labor laws, how young children were treated and misused under the guise that they were not worthy of education. And last and most amazing is that while we still have so many problems with equality today we still teach that it is obtainable under the current systems that we have.
Something that squared with me in a sad manner regarded how the introduction of IQ testing was used in a sense to mark groups as “retarded” or of a lower standard. So many times people of different races were not allowed education or raised in education therefore with the introduction of testing not only were they not prepared but they had not had the grooming time that many others had with the fundamentals of structured education. This supports how one side may view justice as fair while the other does not; as if the scales of justice are tipped in favor of certain groups, races or sexes.
My circling point refers to how education is still the same, but that the focus of the types of work we do has changed. In the beginning of the 20th century education was not something that was needed to do many jobs and thus only those in higher stature would need to be educated. Other than that your focus was on manual labor; we still focus on that need factor only today the needs of our society are much smarter, faster, and technologically advanced. This means education standard increases even though the initial demand is still the same.
You bring up some important points and explore some changes in education that compare to trends today, specifically looking at technology issues which is great. However, I would have liked to see more detail and example pulled from the film itself to illustrate some of your points. For example, you mention racial inequalities and child labor practices, but don't draw from the specific examples provided by the film about how things like IQ tests and other practices like tracking were used to perpetuate racial inequalities. Also when discussing child labor, exploring the examples of the ways that various groups lobbied to end the practice but the interesting contrast where interviews with children of the time indicated they preferred labor to school due to the unsanitary and sometimes dangerous conditions of schools at the turn of the century would have been helpful for this section. For future posts, consider bringing in more specific examples. Be sure too to use parenthetical citations, even for films.
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