Chapter 4: Schools as the Workplace for Students and Teachers

In the Building a School activity, Brittany, Jake, and I created a school where we discussed who would be taught, the purpose of our school, how the purpose would be carried out, and who’s in control of the school. After reading Chapter four in The Joy of Teaching by Gene E. Hall, Linda F. Quinn, and Donna M. Gollnick, there are four key things that were talked about that can be related to the school that we created.
The first key is the staff and organization of a school. The school we created, while is more of a hands on school, it has the typical school where you have the same staff. We would have a principal and a vice principal, along with teachers. Our school would probably be organized in a way that is in a rotating schedule. A rotating schedule is a very good way to keep your school organized and running smoothly. This is a little different from the book, but it still our own way of running things.
The second key is the relationships of schools to school districts and the state. Our school (in my opinion) is more of a private school of sorts. It probably wouldn’t be involved in a school district because the parents pay to bring their kids to the school to get the hands on learning experience their child wishes to receive. Although we aren’t part of a school district and don’t have a superintendent we do have a policy for our school. They are empowering policies, which leave open means for achieving the desired end result. The State plays a bigger role in the relationship with our school, where they provide us with help with money, and help us set the rates at which our tuition should be.
The third key is the role of the federal government in public schools. If the school was a public school there are many ways in which the government is involved in the schools. Through the tenth, first, and fourteenth amendments. It is also involved through the new No Child Left Behind Act. Because of these things the way that we teach has to reach certain requirements. Sometimes it’s hard to do because we use a creative way to teach our students, but we are able to meet the requirements.
The fourth key is how are schools paid for? When they are public schools, taxes pay for your school and all of the things in it. But when you have a private school the way it is paid for is through the tuition the parents pay for their child to go to the school. So since I believe that our school would qualify as a private school we are paid for through the student’s parents.