Blog 7

Nick Matuszewski

Educ. 361

Blog 7

10/3/11

Blog 7 ESEA, Title IX, IDEA

It’s nice that there is a federal law in place that provides funds for schools or school related programs. ESEA helps high-poverty neighborhoods and gives parents a choice about where their children go to school. This act helps teachers by giving them the opportunity to get sufficient materials for their classrooms to create a better learning environment for their students. It also helps teachers become better prepared at handling different types of students. On the flip side this act helps the students by providing them proper resources to help prepare them better for their futures. It also helps struggling students become better students. This act sounds pretty good but still raises a few questions. I question how much money is given to schools and high-poverty neighborhoods only because I want to see if the money is being used efficiently and if enough money is even being provided to do so. This act is basically a waste if improper use of the funds is being done.

Title IX is in place to create equality between males and females in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. This act also protects the rights of both males and females. Title IX effects teachers mostly on the basis that majority of the teachers today are female. Teachers also have to make sure they engage both sexes equally in their classrooms. Students are affected by being kind of “forced” to interact with classmates of the opposite sex. I don’t mean forced in a bad way but am simply trying to say that it’s tough to get young students to accept the other gender as an equal. I think that the boys versus girls argument is always present at a young age and continues throughout their schooling. This makes it tough for teachers to teach students equally, especially when every student learns differently. I guess this may be part of the reason why Title IX is fairly lax and not really followed too closely by schools.

IDEA helps all children with disabilities receive free, appropriate public education. This act makes the teacher’s job more difficult by including disabled students into their classroom. Teachers are already on a demanding teaching schedule and having a disabled student may hinder a teacher’s teaching plan. Students may also be affected by being slowed in learning because the teacher is trying to incorporate everyone and is doing this unsuccessfully. I like this act and think that it is a good thing, but the demands of what the teachers need to teach and what the students need to learn may be too high for this act to be truly good. I feel that these reasons are a big part of why this act is hugely debated. I almost feel that this act encourages “survival of the fittest” a bit. To me this is wrong. I like the idea of this act but I feel that it needs to be looked at closely to see how this can be truly and positively beneficial to both students and teachers.