Orals Tomorrow…One Last Day of Practice
One last day of studying for Orals. Tomorrow is the big day! Today Melissa and I met at Tartine Bakery for breakfast and practiced, then went and got lunch and sat in Mission-Dolores park practicing some more. The sun was hot and we delved deeply into how sociologists, economists, historians talk about the role of schools in society.
We focused a lot of our discussion on the purposes of education, and how those have played out over time. Individual vs. community. Equality vs. individual oppportunity. Preparation for work vs. learning for knowledge/learning’s sake (this second one is something we agreed our program doesn’t tend to focus on very much). Historically, the role education has played in U.S. society, the political debates over these different purposes, and how the people we have read implicitly or explicitly talk about them.
I think we’re ready for orals! The preparation has helped bring together the different classes we’ve had this year, and cemented a broad and deep understanding of the history, policies, and institution of education, schools, and learning. Talking through the questions with classmates, debating about what the authors we’ve read mean, and how they fit together–it’s been an invaluable learning process. This is why people do study groups! Hopefully this collective learning will continue with our cohort after the first year, as we embark on our own projects and begin specializing our interests beyond the core classes of our program.