"Education Is Politics: An Agenda for Empowerment" by Shor

1. "Is the curriculum balanced and multicultural, giving equal attention to men, women, minorities, and nonelite groups, or is it traditionally male-oriented and Euro-centric?"

I chose this quote because it reminded me of the Delpit reading. It makes me think about the way in which students are taught based on the culture of power. It's unfair to present information that is based solely on white males. In order to fully understand history, one must be able to view it from all sides.

2. "To teach skills and information without relating them to society and to the students' contexts turns education itno an authoritarian transfer of official words, a process that severely limits student development as democratic citizens."

I found this quote to be very important. How are students expected to learn anything if they cannot relate to the information that they are being taught? We need to stray away from the Eurocentric male views in history and literature and take a look at that of women and minorities.

3. "To them, schooling supports existing power and divisions in society by sorting students into a small elite destined for the top and a large mass destined for the middle and the bottom."

This quote relates to the Oakes reading on tracking. It is unfair for minority students to be placed in lower level classes based strictly on their race. These students are stereotyped as being less capable than their white counterparts when this is not necessarily true.

I thought this reading was a good choice to end off with. It connects nicely with several of the readings including the Oakes and Delpit readings. Overall I think that Shor did a nice job showing how education gives us power, tying in the culture of power and the Johnson reading.